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Interfaces of control. Technocratic and socio-ideological control in a global management consultancy firm

Author

Summary, in English

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. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Publishing year

2004

Language

English

Pages

423-444

Publication/Series

Accounting, Organizations and Society

Volume

29

Issue

3-4

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Business Administration

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0361-3682