Managerial Decision Making as an Application for Control Science and Engineering

The principles and methodology of control science and engineering are relevant beyond engineered systems to all dynamical systems. In this paper we discuss how control terminology and concepts can be interpreted in the context of decision-making by human managers, and the benefits that can accrue from the analogy. Examples of managerial decision making are presented in a control systems context. A selected review of earlier literature in the area is included. The connections of some popular business practices with control principles are reviewed. Points of differentiation, especially human-in-the-loop aspects of managerial control, are highlighted. Two examples, on return-on-investment dynamics and short interval control in process plant operation, are discussed. A number of control concepts are mapped to the management domain, revealing what we hope are useful insights for decision makers. This is the main paper for a tutorial session at the 2022 American Control Conference. An appendix is included that contains abstracts of the other papers and presentations in the session.