6. Controlling and Being Controlled

Given contemporary business life, management control needs to develop from a technology of monitoring employees to an instrument for facilitating work and formulating goals and strategies. By embracing complexity instead of hiding it behind a handful of targets, management control may help the organization to learn. This chapter focus on reviewing ideas on the active contribution of the controlled in hierarchical dialogues. This perspective is essential, especially since organizations have multiple objectives and a dialogue can mitigate the risks of ending up with fragmented strategic directions. As far as we see it, dialogues are key to make control systems enabling. The possibility of dialogue is dependent on management accepting that control is something that is developed in interaction. It also depends on the controlled trusting that being heard is linked to qualitative and supportive feedback; dialogical control is a two-way street.