The Nature and Use of Formal Control Systems for Management Control and Strategy Implementation

Abstract

Management control research from organization theory, accounting, and business policy is reviewed: and a two-stage qualitative study of management control systems (MCSs) used in business organizations is reported. The study identified four MCS components used at the middle management level: budget, policies and procedures, performance appraisal system, and statistical reports. Each MCS component played a role during the control cycle of target setting, monitoring, and corrective feedback. The findings were used to propose two models: One model links the MCS to business level strategy implementation, and the other defines primary and secondary roles for MCS components in the management control process. ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR Copyright of Journal of Management is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s express written permission. However, users may print, download, or emai