Chapter 3:
Action, Personnel, and Cultural
Controls
Merchant, Management Control Systems PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2012
Slide 3.2
Action controls
Ensure that employees perform (or do not perform) certain actions known to be beneficial (or harmful) to the organization
Prevention / detection
– Most action controls are aimed at preventing undesirable behaviors
Merchant, Management Control Systems PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2012
Slide 3.3
Effectiveness of action controls
They are usable and effective only when managers:
– Know what actions are desirable
» Difficult in highly complex and uncertain task environments
(e.g., research engineers or top-level managers)
– Have the ability to make sure that the desirable actions occur » For example, effectiveness of organizational procedures?
Merchant, Management Control Systems PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2012
Slide 3.4
Behavioral constraints
Physical
– Locks, passwords, limited access, etc.
Administrative
– Restriction of decision-making authority
– Separation of duties, etc.
Merchant, Management Control Systems PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2012
Slide 3.5
Preaction reviews
Scrutiny of action plans, investment proposals, budgets – Review and approval
– Part and parcel in (capital) budgeting processes, which are otherwise mainly a results control mechanism
Merchant, Management Control Systems PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2012
Slide 3.6
Action accountability
Holding employees accountable for the actions they take
It requires:
» Defining what actions are (un)acceptable
» Communicating these definitions to employees
For example, work rules, policies and procedures, codes of conduct » Observing or otherwise tracking what happens
Direct observation/supervision
Periodic tracking (e.g., mystery shoppers)
Evidence of actions taken (e.g., activity reports)
» [Rewarding good actions, or] punishing actions that deviate
Merchant, Management Control Systems PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2012
Slide 3.7
Redundancy
Assigning more people (or machines) to a task than necessary
– For example, “backup” people or facilities
Merchant, Management Control Systems PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2012
Slide 3.8
Pros and cons of action controls
PRO
CON
The most direct form of control
Only for ‘routine’ jobs
Tend to lead to documentation of the accumulation of knowledge as to what works best
May discourage creativity, innovation and adaptation
May cause sloppiness
May cause negative attitudes
– Organizational memory
An efficient way of coordination
– For example, little opportunity
– That is, they increase the for creativity and selfpredictability of actions and reduce actualization the amount of inter-organizational information flows to achieve a
Sometimes very costly coordinated effort
Merchant, Management Control Systems PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2012
Slide 3.9
Personnel/cultural controls
“People controls” (for short) ensure that employees:
» Will control their own behaviors
– Personnel control
– Self monitoring
» Will control each other
– Cultural controls
– Mutual monitoring
People controls are part of virtually every management control system, and indispensable in … “flatter and leaner organizations with empowered employees”
Merchant, Management Control Systems PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2012
Slide 3.10
Personnel controls
Personnel controls build on employees’ natural tendencies to control themselves, because most people …
– have a conscience that leads them to do what is right
– find self-satisfaction when they do a good job and see their organization