Administrative Controls Paper

Posted: September 3rd, 2013

Administrative Controls Paper

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Administrative Controls Paper

Administrative controls work in enhancing or demonstrating corporate governance. Administrative controls mainly refer to the laid out directions by the reigning authority directed to the subordinates regarding how various duties are assigned performed, the allocation and utilization of recourses, unit logistics personnel training methods and procedures and technical and physical controls. They also include many other aspects of operational missions. Corporate governance on the other hand refers to the manner in which the managers or administrators of a given company are directing or controlling the given organization.

Administrative controls show how a company is performing corporate governance because administrative controls tend to meet reasonable and standardized measures concerning a given industry. With this regard, the controls work in showing how the organization is performing in terms of corporate governance in comparison with other organizations that share similar working environments and in the same industry. Companies below par indicate poor corporate governance while those above par demonstrate effective and efficient corporate governance.

By setting up proper administrative controls, the organization’s managers are able to demonstrate how efficient and effective they are directing and controlling their organization. The reverse is also true. One aspect of administrative controls regards to organizational health and safety procedures for the company staff. By setting up proper work practices that ensure the safety and health of the entire staff, the organization is able to demonstrate efficient and effective corporate governance. This shows that the organization values its work force and works to the extent of shielding the organization form litigation and hefty fines (Copland, 1945).

When a company sets up proper administrative controls regarding duties and responsibilities of the members of staff in addition to the access and utilization of company assets, the company is further able to demonstrate good corporate governance. In recent days, corporate governance has been on the limelight regarding high-profile scandals that engross abuse of corporate power. There have been other cases where there has been alleged criminal activity by the company personnel. By putting in place proper administrative controls regarding staff duties, in addition to access and utilization of company resources, the company is able to stay clear of the issues indicated above. In this way, administrative controls work in demonstrating how the company has effective and efficient corporate governance (Copland, 1945).

The absence of administrative controls adversely affects corporate liability. Whenever a company or organization fails in setting up proper and efficient administrative controls, the company renders itself open or rather prone to legal litigation and fines. This is mainly because the organization has failed in setting up the standardized measures that are considered reasonable, relevant and that have been set up by similar organizations that share the same working environments aimed at the protection of data and resources. The standardized procedures above, are expected by every company and tend to be similar regarding companies grouped in the same industry or sharing similar working environments. Lack of administrative controls, can lead a company to facing litigation and legal suits for breach of security or safety.

For instance, in the subject of occupational health and safety, organizations depicting high noise environments are supposed to protect their members of staff from noise pollution by supplying them with safety earplugs, limiting access to high noise areas, damping the machines or through any other reasonable and standardized means. However, the absence of any of the above administrative controls could lead to injury of the staff. This could further lead to the company being held liable to the breach of health and safety of the concerned staff. This is because the organization is mandated with the responsibility of protecting the workers from such by setting up the relevant control measures. However, in the case where the organization had already set up the relevant administrative control measures concerning the health and safety of the workforce, then any breach could be treated as negligence, ignorance, or carelessness in the part of the worker as opposed to the company.

Administrative control measures work a lot in influencing the choice of technical and physical controls. In reality, the set out physical controls and technical controls are entirely dependent on the administrative controls that have been set out in an organization. The administrative controls dictate the procedures and measures that will be undertaken while physical and technical controls simply outlay the relevant materials and systems that are required in carrying out the procedure. With this regard, it is the administration controls that dictate the relevance or irrelevance of a given physical control or technical control. As an example, if a given organization lacks the relevant control measures regarding safety of information, then physical controls such as access cards, passwords and facility construction materials are all rendered irrelevant. In addition, technical controls such as physical access control and monitoring systems also become obsolete. However, if the organization later adopts such an administrative control, then all the above physical and technical controls can now be incorporated.

The absence of administrative controls adversely affects projects in the information technology department. First, IT projects involve many security concerns pertaining to the information saved in the system. Within the projects, contains sensitive information whose access mainly is supposed to be restricted. With this regard, not every member of staff is supposed to access this information. This therefore creates the necessity for setting up proper and effective administrative controls aimed at controlling the personnel accessing the given information. The absence of administrative controls means that vital information can be accessed by all and sundry, thereby rendering the project prone to malpractices such as sabotage. This therefore works to the extent of determining the success or failure of an information technology project. The absence of control measures such as the limits of the duties of the personnel involve and the access and use of company resources adversely affects projects in the information technology department. The absence of control measures could lead to possible litigation if the project execution fails in meeting the expected administrative controls (Karwowski, & Marras, 2003).

In conclusion, we find that proper administrative measures are important in the smooth running of any organization. Administrative controls ensure that a company complies with the expected standards that therefore prevent the organization from possible litigation. Administrative measures indicate the level of corporate governance in a given organization and therefore work in ensuring the organization meets the laid out objectives and goals. We also find that administrative controls dictate the choice of technical and physical controls that are applicable in a given organization. In addition, administrative controls are very important in IT projects since they highly influence the success of the projects (Karwowski, & Marras, 2003).

References

Karwowski, W., & Marras, W. S. (2003). Occupational ergonomics: Engineering and administrative controls. Boca Raton, Fla: CRC Press.

Copland, D. B. (1945). The road to high employment: Administrative controls in a free economy. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.