Moving the axis and tracking the position are two different things. Generally it's better to give the motion control to the motion controller, and just monitor the position. Each motion controller has its own command set, but all have the capability to command the motion controller to go a relative (i.e. 10 units in the positive direction) or absolute distance (i.e. go to position 24 on axis 1) and let the controller take some control over the motion. During these moves you should be able to monitor the movement using another command in the command set, such as load_pos(1) for axis 1, for instance. However, using rs232 sometimes this communication can be slower than you would like. You can put a do..while loop that monitors a motion_done flag and in the loop
constantly query the controller for the current position. Or, some controllers have a method by which the user can toggle on a constant echo of the position. Refer to your motion controller user manual. Certainly at the end of your motion you can query the position to see where you are.
Hope this helps.
