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"You can't manage what you can't measure." Measurement is very important to management control. It lets managers know whether or not plans have been met. If plans aren't met, adjustments must be made. The board of J.C. Penny let CEO Ron Johnson go last week. Johnson had been very successful at Target and Apple before joining J.C. Penney. Retail analyst Robin Lewis blogged his "continuing and steadfast belief in Ron Johnson's ultimate vision for J.C. Penney's: that of a transformed, uniquely-compelling shopping experience, appealing to a more contemporary-minded consumer who would form a new customer base, perhaps a smaller, yet more productive business, but nevertheless poised for growth vs. maturity." Yet, let's look at some measurements during Johnson's employment at J. C. Penney. Revenue declined by $4 billion. Graphic from http://ycharts.com/analysis/story/apple_guy_cries_uncle_in_facesaving_language Same store sales fell 32 percent. Graphic from http://seekingalpha.com/article/1279621-will-institutional-support-for-j-c-penney-vanish The stock price lost half its value . Graphic from http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-11/j-dot-c-dot-penney-rehires-myron-ullman-to-clean-up-ron-johnsons-mess More than 20,000 employees were laid off. Graphic from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324345804578423081955213990.html By any measure, J.C. Penney has had one of the worst performances by a major retailer. Now, Robin Lewis says that Ron Johnson's performance as CEO of J. C. Penney was "the most colossal, dramatic, tragic, transparent, rapid and microscopically tracked meltdown in the history of retailing." Have any executives failed as badly as Ron Johnson? Did the board move too soon or too late? Will J. C. Penny come back?

We all have the same 24 hours in a day, but some people accomplish a lot more than others. Successful managers control their time by using the skill of delegation. They define objectives by answering, "What results does the company want?" Then, they get out of the way and let employees achieve those objectives. They trust employees to do the job. But, some employees know how to delegate. They manage the boss by using upward delegation . " Who's Got the Monkey" by William Oncken, Jr. and Donald L. Wass is a classic management article using the metaphor of a "monkey on the back" to illustrate upward delegation. Read the attached article. How can managers avoid taking responsibility for a monkey that belongs on the employee's back?

As a manager, you always need to be thinking of ways to help your business become more efficient. One way to be more efficient is to save on controllable expenses. The United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) is controlling expenses by helping delivery drivers become more efficient. Delivery drivers save time by not making left-hand turns, walking at a brisk 2.5 paces per second, and wearing a digital-remote fob on their belts, which turns on the ignition and unlocks the bulkhead door . In this video, Bob Stoffel, senior Vice President of UPS, discusses why UPS drivers never turn left. Watch the video at http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2010/12/13/n_cs_ups_no_left_turn.fortune . What else are managers doing to help businesses become more efficient?