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2020 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

6. Controlling and Being Controlled

Authors : Bino Catasús, Mikael Cäker

Published in: Strategic Management Control

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Abstract

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.

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previous chapter Strategic Pricing: The Relationship Between Strategy, Price Models and Product Cost

next chapter The Controller’s Role in Management Control Dialogues

The “levers of control” (Simons 1995) are further explained in Chap. 4.

From a management perspective, compliance with strategy is desirable. However, even poor compliance can, over time, lead to strategic development—a positive organisational result.

This reasoning suggests that different activities may require different management approaches. Organisations with strong qualitative elements, such as development activities or situations that require a high degree of flexibility, are often difficult to evaluate fairly. There is also a greater risk that accountability based on measurements may seem inadequate in comparison with simpler methods.

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Title: Controlling and Being Controlled
Authors: Bino Catasús
Mikael Cäker
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Strategic Management Control
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-38639-9

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-38640-5

Copyright Year: 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38640-5_6