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Controlling and Being Controlled

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Strategic Management Control

Part of the book series: Management for Professionals ((MANAGPROF))

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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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Notes

  1. 1.

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

  2. 2.

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

  3. 3.

    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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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stockholm Business School, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Bino Catasús

  2. School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Mikael Cäker

Authors
  1. Bino Catasús
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  2. Mikael Cäker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mikael Cäker .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Studies, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Fredrik Nilsson

  2. Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

    Carl-Johan Petri

  3. Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

    Alf Westelius

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Catasús, B., Cäker, M. (2020). Controlling and Being Controlled. In: Nilsson, F., Petri, CJ., Westelius, A. (eds) Strategic Management Control. Management for Professionals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38640-5_6

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