The external coherent control over the dynamics of quantum systems has been the aim of many studies in recent years, and several theoretical frameworks have been devised for that purpose. However, several of the proposed methods have been developed to control isolated quantum systems, disregarding the decoherence effects that impinge on the ubiquitous open quantum systems that exhibit a more complex dynamics than their isolated counterparts. In this paper, we investigate the effects of dissipation and decoherence for a quantum-control procedure based on sequences of reverse optimized electromagnetic pulses. Although the method performs well for pure quantum systems, moderate decoherence and dissipation hinders its accomplishment for ordinary conditions, irrespective of the pulse sequence rate. The method can be appropriate, nonetheless, for dynamical decoupling of the quantum subsystem from the environment.