An effective control system is necessary for the success of any organization. Managerial control encompasses a number of facets that include bureaucratic, market, and clan controls. This report shall present recommendations for the improvement of your companies control system though the integration of the control systems drawn from two companies; Pine Tree and Organic Grocers. Pine Tree uses tight financial controls and loose operational controls while Organic Grocers use top-down controls. It is imperative to first present the pros and cons of the control systems used by these two companies so as to help in offering substantive recommendations for your company.

As mentioned above, Pine Tree has been using tight financial controls and loose operational controls for some time. A tight financial control entails very close monitoring of the financial aspects of the business. The advantages of a tight financial control as adopted by Pine Tree include providing guide for future activities, increases managerial efficiency by ensuring optimal utilization of resources, and maintenance of financial control. There are however a number of disadvantages associated with the tight financial control. The tight financial control is rigid and takes the assumptions that activities in an organization are ideal and must be run in full compliance with the set standards. This is often impractical. Tight financial controls are also very expensive to implement in terms of the tools in its implementation (Williams, 2013).

The loose operational control has one major advantage: it enhances freedom of operation of employees hence giving them a greater decision-making ability. This improves the flexibility of operations within the organization. The major disadvantage is the lack of clear accountability since it is hard to track operations and relate them with whoever runs such operations. Such a control system has made it hard for Pine Tree to correct mistakes perpetrated by the employees.

Organic Grocers uses a top-down control model. A top-down control is a tradition type of control in which bureaucracy is highly respected. Control runs down from the high leadership down to the junior employees. The senior managers are in charge of ensuring that all the functions are down in compliance with the set standards. These senior managers hardly consult the junior employees but rather design the controls and pass them down to the juniors. The advantage of this control model is that it is associated with high levels of accountability. The leaders are responsible for ensuring that all processes are run well hence assert a lot of authority to ensure that such activities are accomplished well and clearly. The major disadvantage of this control model is the fact that it discourages freedom among junior employees to practice their duties effectively. It appears as a “bossy control” where the opinions of other employees are least sought.

From the analysis above, it is recommended that an integrated model of the two organizations be used:
Adopt a clan control which revolves around the culture and shared values of the organization. A clan control would ensure that employees are empowered into making decisions while at the same time not losing the managerial control of the activities in the organization (Bateman & Snell, 2011). A clan control system would make it easy for you to introduce the control systems from the Pine Tree and Organic Grocers as employees feel some sort of autonomy over their actions in the company. It makes the employees to appreciate and adopt the values and culture of your organization.

Use market control to enhance financial performance. As analyzed earlier, the tight financial control used by Pine Tree is quite expensive to implement and also rigid in terms of adapting to change in standards. A market control that is based on prices, competition and profit centers would help in effective integration of the financial, top-down, and operation controls used by Pine Tree and Organic Grocers.