The relationship between management control system usage and planned change achievement: An exploratory study

Abstract

Although the relevance of management control systems to successful change achievement has been conceptually acknowledged, empirical matters such as measuring the contribution of control systems to effective change implementation lack practical investigation. Using data obtained from managers in 22 organizations, we explore the extent to which managers believe their management control systems are employed when implementing planned change. Relationships between commonly employed management controls and implementation success are also estimated. Results indicated that managers used management control systems less extensively than other elements of change process, although usage of control systems increased with implementation. A strong relationship was found between the use of control systems based on outcomes monitoring and implementation success. However, there was no significant relationship between the use of behavior-based controls and implementation success. Overall, the findings suggest that many organizations may underutilize formal controls, particularly those related to outcomes monitoring, when managing change.

Leadership competencies for implementing planned organizational change

“…Prior conceptual and empirical works (despite differences among them) recurrently emphasize these three sets of activities (e.g., Beckhard & Harris, 1977;Beer, 1980;Ford & Greer, 2005;Kanter, 1983;Nadler & Tushman, 1989;Tichy & Devanna, 1986). Building on Lewin's (1947) three-phase model of change, these studies distinguish between these three types of change implementation activities, highlighting that understanding how change unfolds requires understanding what induces a leader to emphasize these activities (for reviews see Armenakis &Bedeian, 1999, andKanter et al, 1992).…”

“…While most studies (e.g., Burke & Litwin, 1992;Ford & Greer, 2005;Galpin, 1996;Kotter, 1995;Simons, 1995) that examine the evaluating activities involved in change implementation emphasize formal feedback systems (corresponding to formal systems of measurement), evaluating might also involve less formal forms of evaluation-such as one-on-one discussions with employees (Tichy, 1983;Zand & Sorensen, 1975). Future research should explore the influence that different leadership competencies have on both types of evaluating activities (formal as well as more informal ones).…”

“…To this end, leaders employ measures to monitor and assess the impact of implementation efforts and institutionalize changes. Such processes are typically based on formal systems of measurement (Burke & Litwin, 1992;Ford & Greer, 2005;Galpin, 1996;Kotter, 1995;Simons, 1995). Person-oriented leaders have been shown to be reluctant to place too much emphasis on method, productivity and on the imposition of impersonal standards (Bass, 1990).…”

“…On change activities, we emphasize three key activities involved in organizational change implementation: communicating the need for change, mobilizing others to support the change, and evaluating the change implementation. Building on Lewin's (1947) three-phase model of change, prior conceptual and empirical work (despite differences among them) recurrently emphasizes these three sets of activities, which cover most of the activities involved in change implementation (e.g., Beckhard & Harris, 1977;Beer, 1980;Ford & Greer, 2005;Kanter, 1983;Nadler & Tushman, 1989;Tichy & Devanna, 1986).…”

Leading organizational transformation: an action research study

“…6 From a managerial perspective, the literature emphasizes three key managerial drivers relating 7 to planned transformations: communicating, mobilizing, and evaluating (e.g. Ford and Greer, 2005;8 Battilana et al, 2010). Communicating refers to ongoing actions taken by leaders to engage 9 organizational members by explaining their decisions and actions, for example explaining their vision 10 and expected outcomes, and communicating the need for change (Kotter, 1995).…”