TY - JOUR
T1 - Interfaces of Control
T2 - Technocratic and Cosio-Ideological Control in a Global Management Consultatncy Firm
AU - Alvesson, Mats
AU - Kärreman, Dan
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - This paper investigates a variety of forms of management control in a large management consultancy company. The very high level of compliance with corporate objectives among employees is highlighted and singled out as a phenomenon worth exploring. The company exhibits a rich variety of various formal control devices focusing on financial issues as well as human resources. The paper shows that these do not fully work according to intention and that their control effects do not comply that well with the bureaucratic- technocratic logic they rest upon. Technocratic control systems are instead identified as non-obvious sources of socio-ideological control. The paper emphasizes the interface between different forms of control and argues for a more symbolic, meaning-focusing view on bureaucratic and output measurement control.
AB - This paper investigates a variety of forms of management control in a large management consultancy company. The very high level of compliance with corporate objectives among employees is highlighted and singled out as a phenomenon worth exploring. The company exhibits a rich variety of various formal control devices focusing on financial issues as well as human resources. The paper shows that these do not fully work according to intention and that their control effects do not comply that well with the bureaucratic- technocratic logic they rest upon. Technocratic control systems are instead identified as non-obvious sources of socio-ideological control. The paper emphasizes the interface between different forms of control and argues for a more symbolic, meaning-focusing view on bureaucratic and output measurement control.
U2 - 10.1016/S0361-3682(03)00034-5
DO - 10.1016/S0361-3682(03)00034-5
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0361-3682
VL - 29
SP - 423
EP - 444
JO - Accounting, Organizations and Society
JF - Accounting, Organizations and Society
ER -