Food-Service-Manual-for-Health-Care-Institutions

Food Service Manual for Health Care Institutions
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In addition, control systems can be placed into categories according to the timing of the
control function. Preliminary control determines the appropriateness of the organization’s
resources before they become part of the operation. The quality and quantity of raw materials
are monitored before the materials enter the operating system. Screening control measures the
quality of products and services during the production process. Finally, postaction control evaluates
the quality of completed products and services. Most organizations use more than one of
these control systems to ensure the quality of their products or services and to monitor the
effectiveness of their internal systems.
No matter what type of control system the organization uses, to be effective, control systems
should have the following characteristics:
• Most important, control systems should be extensions of the planning process. The
organization’s actual performance should be compared with its planned performance. Goals
and objectives should be reevaluated to assess where any discrepancies lie. If the original plans
are deemed appropriate, corrective action should be taken to bring about desired results. The
planning process may need to be adjusted in consideration of the organization’s actual performance
as identified in the control process.
• Control systems should be flexible enough to deal with changes in the business environment
inside and outside the organization.
• Control systems should provide accurate and up-to-date information.
• Control systems should be objective. That is, they should be based on fair observations
of actual data, activities, and conditions and not on the opinions of individuals.
Control Process
To varying degrees, almost all managers take part in the process of control. Managers help
establish standards. They measure performance and compare performance with established
standards. They take action as necessary to improve the organization’s performance or to change
the standards. Except for small organizations, most organizations—including most health care
institutions—also have managers who specialize in performing the control function. These
managers are called controllers or, in some organizations, comptrollers. The role of the controller
is to help line managers, such as the food service director, handle the control process.
The organization’s controller is also responsible for organizing the overall control system and
for gathering and distributing the information related to the process.
However, the food service director in most institutions is directly responsible for conducting
control activities in the department. The control process can be broken down into four
basic steps:
1. Setting standards
2. Measuring performance
3. Comparing performance with standards
4. Taking corrective action
Step 1: Setting Standards
Standards can be defined as the predetermined targets against which future performance will be
measured. To be effective, standards must be based—at least in part—on the formal goals of the
organization. Standards should also be similar to the organization’s objectives in that the objectives
and standards for performance should all be stated in measurable terms. For example, in a
health care institution, one organizational goal could be to become more competitive in offering
services to patients and to aggressively market these services. The food service department would
then have as one of its objectives providing room service, gourmet meal service, and on-demand
meal service. Therefore, the standard would be to offer on-demand meal service, room service,