Mastering Controlling Skills for Managerial Excellence

Every successful tour operator, hotel manager, or travel desk supervisor shares one quiet superpower: they know the difference between a plan that looks good on paper and a plan that actually works on the ground. Bookings get cancelled, flights get delayed, a chef quits mid-season, occupancy drops in monsoon. The thing that turns these surprises into solvable problems instead of full-blown crises is the controlling skill. It is the manager’s ability to track what is happening, compare it to what was supposed to happen, and act before small gaps become big losses.

What controlling really means 🔗

Controlling is the management function that keeps actual results aligned with planned results. Henri Fayol, who first defined the function in 1916, described it as making sure everything is being carried out according to the plan adopted, the orders given, and the principles laid down, with the aim of pointing out mistakes so they can be rectified and prevented from recurring. In simpler terms, controlling answers three questions on repeat. Are we on track? If not, why? And what should we do about it?

It is tempting to think of controlling as the last step a manager performs after planning, organizing, and leading. In reality it runs alongside all the others. Planning and controlling are two inseparable functions of management – without planning, there is nothing to measure against, and without controlling, plans become wishful thinking. A front-office manager who sets a target of 85 percent occupancy is planning. The same manager who reads the daily night audit report and adjusts room rates is controlling. Both happen in the same shift.

Why this skill matters more in tourism 🔗

Tourism and hospitality are unforgiving service industries. The product is intangible, often consumed the moment it is produced, and impossible to recall once it has been delivered. A bad room-service order on a guest’s anniversary cannot be put back into inventory. A delayed transfer to the airport cannot be redone. This is why quality in the tourism and hospitality industry depends on consistently delivering products and guest services according to expected standards. Controlling skills are what allow that consistency to survive seasonal swings, staff turnover, and unpredictable guest expectations.

The four-step control process 🔗

Most management textbooks describe controlling as a process of four connected steps. The steps look simple on the page, but each one demands judgement, data, and a calm head.

Step 1: Setting performance standards 🔗

Standards are the yardsticks against which performance is measured. They flow directly from the goals set during the planning stage. A standard might be “average guest satisfaction score above 4.5 out of 5”, “food cost not exceeding 32 percent of revenue”, or “tour group complaints below two per quarter”. Standards are generally classified into measurable or tangible standards – things like cost, output, expenditure, time, and profit – and non-measurable or intangible standards such as employee attitude and managerial performance.

In tourism, both kinds matter. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) is a tangible standard. The warmth of a doorman’s greeting is intangible but equally critical to repeat business. Good managers find ways to make even soft standards observable, often through mystery audits and guest feedback scores.

Step 2: Measuring actual performance 🔗

Once standards are in place, the manager needs reliable, timely data on what is actually happening. This is where systems come in: property management software, point-of-sale reports, GDS booking dashboards, employee performance reviews, social media listening tools. Measurement should be done in the same units as the standard, and as objectively as possible. If the standard is “complaints per quarter”, you cannot measure it with a vague sense of how the season went.

Step 3: Comparing performance with standards 🔗

The third step is comparing what was achieved with what was expected, and identifying the size and direction of any deviation. A good management control system stimulates action by spotting significant variations from the original plan and highlighting them for the people who can set things right. Not every gap matters. A 1 percent variance in housekeeping supplies is noise. A 15 percent variance demands attention. The skill lies in setting tolerance limits and managing by exception, focusing energy only on deviations large enough to threaten the goal.

Step 4: Taking corrective action 🔗

This is where controlling earns its keep. After analysing the cause of a deviation, the manager decides what to fix. Sometimes the process needs adjusting, sometimes resources need reallocating, sometimes the standard itself was unrealistic and must be revised. A travel agency that consistently misses its outbound package targets in the first quarter may not have a sales problem – it may have a seasonality problem that the original target ignored.

Three types of control every tourism manager uses 🔗

Controlling is not just about reacting to problems. The most effective managers spread their attention across three time horizons – before the activity begins, during the activity, and after the activity is complete.

Feedforward control: preventing problems before they happen 🔗

Feedforward controls, sometimes called preliminary or preventive controls, attempt to identify and prevent deviations in the standards before they occur, focusing on human, material, and financial resources within the organization. A resort manager who runs a thorough background check before hiring a new chef, or a tour operator who confirms vehicle insurance and driver licences before the season starts, is using feedforward control. The cost is upfront effort. The reward is fewer fires to fight later.

Concurrent control: catching problems in real time 🔗

Concurrent control happens while the work is being done. The supervisor walking through the breakfast buffet at 8 a.m. to check temperatures and presentation, the GPS tracker monitoring a coach as it moves between Jaipur and Agra, the duty manager intervening at reception when a check-in queue forms – these are all concurrent controls. The process of monitoring and adjusting ongoing activities is known as concurrent control, often described as real-time control because it deals with the present. In a service industry where the experience is the product, this real-time vigilance is non-negotiable.

Feedback control: learning from what already happened 🔗

Feedback control reviews results after the fact. Monthly P&L statements, post-stay guest surveys, year-end audit reports, and post-tour debriefs are all feedback mechanisms. They cannot change what has already happened, but they shape future plans. A travel company that analyses why its Kerala houseboat package underperformed last year is doing feedback control. The insight feeds back into next year’s planning, completing the management cycle.

How controlling connects to the other managerial skills 🔗

Controlling does not exist in a silo. It is woven into planning, organizing, leading, and decision-making. Although controlling is often thought of in financial terms, managers must also control production and operations processes, procedures for delivery of services, compliance with company policies, and many other activities within the organization.

Planning sets the standards that controlling later measures against. Organizing decides who is responsible for what – and that accountability is the backbone of any control system. Leading shapes the culture in which controls are accepted as helpful rather than resented as policing. And every corrective action a manager takes is, at heart, a decision. So a manager weak in decision-making will struggle to convert control data into useful change.

Controlling and quality assurance in tourism 🔗

In hotels, restaurants, and travel agencies, controlling is the engine behind quality assurance. International standards such as ISO 9001, eco-labels, star-rating audits, and HACCP food-safety checks are all formal control systems. The Indian Ministry of Tourism’s classification scheme for hotels, for instance, uses a checklist of tangible and intangible standards that properties must meet to earn or retain their stars. Star classification is overseen by the Hotel and Restaurant Approval Classification Committee, which inspects and rates hotels against published criteria. A hotel that wants to retain its rating runs an internal control system that mirrors what the inspectors will check.

Common controlling tools used in the industry 🔗

Tourism managers rely on a mix of financial and non-financial tools to keep their operations on track. Budgets and budgetary control compare actual revenue and expenses against forecasts. Standard costing is widely used in food and beverage to keep portion costs in line. Statistical reports track key performance indicators such as occupancy rate, average daily rate, RevPAR, GOPPAR, and average length of stay. Internal audits and mystery shopping programmes test whether service standards are being met when no one from head office is watching. Balanced scorecards link financial measures to customer, internal-process, and learning-and-growth metrics, which suits service businesses where customer perception is the real product.

Pitfalls that weaken controlling skills 🔗

Even experienced managers stumble when their control systems become rigid, punitive, or disconnected from the work. Employees may resist control measures, especially if they feel micromanaged or if the controls are perceived as punitive, which is why managers must communicate the purpose of control and involve employees in the process to gain buy-in.

Other common pitfalls include setting too many standards (so nothing actually gets monitored), measuring what is easy rather than what matters, ignoring intangible standards like employee morale, and chasing past data while ignoring forward-looking signals. Controls should also adapt to a changing environment – a control system designed for pre-pandemic travel volumes will mislead a manager trying to navigate post-pandemic recovery patterns.

Building strong controlling skills 🔗

Controlling is a learnable skill, not an innate trait. Future managers can sharpen it by getting comfortable with numbers and reading a P&L without flinching, by practising the discipline of setting clear, measurable standards before any project begins, and by building the habit of walking the floor, reading the reports, and listening to guests instead of relying only on second-hand summaries. It also helps to develop emotional steadiness – controlling often means having difficult conversations with team members about gaps in performance, and that takes tact as much as it takes data.

The managers who do this well share a quiet trait. They treat control not as a way to catch people out, but as a way to keep promises – to guests, to owners, to colleagues, and to themselves. In an industry built on trust and repeat business, that is the most valuable skill of all.

What do you think? Which is harder in a tourism business – setting the right standards, or finding the courage to take corrective action when the numbers turn against you? And in your experience, do controls feel like a safety net or a straitjacket?

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_(management)
2. https://www.managementstudyguide.com/controlling_function.htm
3. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224172669_Quality_Management_in_Tourism_and_Hospitality_an_Exploratory_Study_among_Tourism_Stakeholders
4. https://www.taxmann.com/post/blog/controlling-a-function-of-management/
5. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-control-function-of-management/
6. https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/principles-of-management/control-the-linking-function/types-of-organizational-controls
7. https://pressbooks.cuny.edu/principlesofmanagement/chapter/15-4-types-and-levels-of-control/
8. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-tc3-management/chapter/planning-organizing-leading-and-controlling/
9. https://tourism.gov.in/star-classification-hotels
10. https://www.aiu.edu/blog/essentials-of-controlling-in-management-a-key-to-organizational-success/