Management Control Systems
Chapter 13: Behavioral Considerations in
Performance Evaluation-
Control Tightness (or Looseness)
Prof. GURU PRASAD
FACULTY MEMBER
INC GUNTUR
pgp4149@[Link]
Control and “good” control ...
◆ “Good control” is said to take place when there is …
– a “high” probability that the firm’s objectives will be achieved;
– a “low” probability that major unpleasant surprises will occur.
◆ Hence, the benefit of a control system can be expressed
in terms of the amount of control achieved.
◆ In this respect, tight control is “good” because it
provides a high degree of certainty that people will act
as the organization wishes (assuming away harmful
side-effects … ).
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Tight action controls … (I)
◆ Behavioral constraints
– Physical constraints
» Extra protection usually costs more.
– Administrative constraints
» Restricting decision making to higher organizational
levels provides tighter controls if:
◆ Higher-level personnel can be expected to make
more reliable decisions;
◆ Those who do not have authority cannot violate
the constraints.
◆ Preaction reviews
– Become tighter if the reviews are frequent, detailed,
and performed by diligent, knowledgeable persons.
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Tight action controls … (II)
◆ Action Accountability
– The amount of tightness of control generated by action
accountability depends on:
» The definition of (un)desirable actions
◆ Definitions must be specific, yet complete;
– e.g., “act professionally” vs. “obtain three competing
bids before releasing a purchase order”
◆ Definitions must be understood and accepted.
» The effectiveness of the action-tracking system
◆ Employees should feel that their actions are noticed,
and noticed relatively quickly.
» The reinforcement provided
◆ i.e., the significance of the rewards or punishments.
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The achievement of tight results controls
depends on: (I )
◆ The definitions of the desired results areas
◆ The performance measures
◆ The reinforcements provided
– The definitions of the desired results areas
» Congruence
◆ Choosing measurable performance dimensions that
reflect an organization’s “true” objectives;
◆ e.g., # visitors for the success of a museum?
# of patents for the success of R&D-departments?
Annual profits for a firm with significant growth prospects?
» Specificity
◆ Disaggregation + quantification;
◆ e.g., “keep customers happy” vs.
“less than 1 pct. customer complaints.”
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The achievement of tight results controls
depends on: (II)
– The definitions of the desired results areas
» Congruence
» Specificity
» Communication and internalization
◆ Depends on:
– qualification of the personnel involved;
– the amount of participation allowed in the goal-setting process;
– the perceived degree of controllability; and,
– the reasonableness of the goals.
» Completeness
◆ What you measure is what you get !
◆ Hence, when the defined results areas are incomplete,
performance in the unmeasured areas is likely to slip.
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The achievement of tight results controls
depends on: (III)
– The performance measures
» precision (cf., amount of “noise”)
» objectivity (cf., freedom of “bias”)
» timeliness
◆ Refers to the time lag between the individual's
performance and the measurement of results.
» understandability
◆ What are we held accountable for?
◆ How can the measure be affected?
– The reinforcements provided
» Links between results and rewards should be:
◆ Direct: i.e., no ambiguity or buffers;
◆ Definite: i.e., no excuses.
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Tight people controls …
◆ The tightness of personnel controls depends a
great deal on the overlap between individual and
organizational objectives: the larger the overlap,
the lesser the perceived tightness
» Selection, training and job design are methods to
implement personnel controls
◆ Cultural controls are often more powerful +
stable
» Strong company cultures.
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Control combinations ...
◆ In order to achieve tighter control, managers
often use multiple forms of controls which can
either reinforce each other or overlap ...
◆ The aim is:
– to achieve (tighter) control over all the factors critical to
the entity’s success; or,
– to obtain a high degree of assurance that employees
will behave as the organization wishes.
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