GRA 6243 Management Control, Performance, and Technology
GRA 6243 Management Control, Performance, and Technology
Management control is a key feature within the Finance & Accounting (F&A) domain, assuring that strategies are implemented as intended by means of translating high-level objectives into actionable devices and systems that change the behavior of an organization. Management controls include all the devices and systems that are used to ensure that behaviors and decisions are consistent with the organization’s objectives and strategies and include devices such as financial and non-financial information, administrative systems, and cultural controls. As such management control is strongly defined by the technological platforms that provide a multiplicity of information. A core assumption is accordingly that information and systems drive behavior, and behavior drives information and systems.
This course provides the students with an understanding of the conceptual management control frameworks and allows interpretations of practical phenomena as patterned symptoms of larger constructs, i.e., to see beyond problem situations and conceptualize the interrelatedness of symptoms and evidence emerging from different organizational domains. The aim is to enhance the student’s ability to apply management control frameworks in real-life situations and be able to understand the meaning and intentions of the frameworks and critically evaluate them in practice.
This course addresses the knowledge and skills necessary to fulfill a Controller or Chief Financial Officer (CFO) role.
- Knowledge of relevant advanced management control frameworks in contexts characterized by increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA).
- Knowledge of theoretical perspectives on the conceptual frameworks acting as backgrounds and platforms for the Controller & CFO toolbox.
- Knowledge of how advanced management control frameworks and processes inform the formulation, evaluation, and choices of transformative courses of action.
- Knowledge of the current trends and emerging future topics within management control
- Analyze, interpret, and conceptualize (‘framing’) the existing management control assumptions and expectations of companies.
- Select and motivate the conceptual choices that lead to changes in existing management control configurations, including their technological and digital aspects.
- Analyze and interpret the organizational changes, behavioral aspects, drivers, and outcomes of existing performance management and management control frameworks and choices.
- Identify, interpret, and theorize on the outcomes and actions of changes in the management control configuration of companies as well as public sector and non-profit entities.
- Have the skills to develop relevant and topical research questions based on sound argumentation and research design.
- Apply knowledge of management control concepts and frameworks to the analysis and management of organizations in addressing organizational challenges.
- Apply knowledge of management control theories and concepts to formulate and further develop future change and digital transformation courses of action in real-life organizations.
- To be able to place management control within its broader economic, behavioral, and organizational context. The course aims to provide students with the ability to select and evaluate different management controls to address the challenges and problems of specific organizations and situations.
- Communicate key challenges, insights, and analytical interpretations concisely and clearly that would correspond with the requirements of a master thesis.
The course combines management control analytical frameworks and broader theoretical conceptualizations. Course topics will typically include, but are not limited to, the following themes:
- Core analytical frameworks such as Malmi and Brown’s (2008) Management control package, Simons’ (1994) Levers of control framework, and Ferreira and Otley’s (2009) Performance management framework. These frameworks provide both practical guidance and a structured and systematic approach to how management control is, and can be, executed in modern organizations.
- Agency theory and transaction cost economics as a way of understanding the relationships between principals (owners) and agents (managers) and issues of delegation and monitoring. This relates to how organizations are structured and organized to make decisions in the face of various economic and behavioral factors.
- Contingency theory and the understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to management control. Effective practices depend on the unique circumstances of each organization, and its environment and management controls need to align with this.
- Institutional theory. Neo-institutional theories and dynamic routines as platforms for new ways of working and their management control implications (e.g., the use of AI, agile teams, local information systems). In addition, the concepts of institutional logics and institutional work provide tools to understand the underlying belief systems, values, norms, and rules that guide individuals and organizations in their decision-making and how these logics are maintained, changed, disrupted, and created.
- Structuration theory and behavioral theories include how organizational systems of rules guide behavior and emphasizes the interplay between structure and agency and offers insight into how digitalization in organizations is both shaped by and shapes social structures, norms, and individual agency.
- Legitimization theories, governance, and stakeholder approaches towards the restructuring and change of management control for environmental sustainability, the circular economy, and societal Grand Challenges (e.g., implementation of UN-SDGs in organizations, anchoring of measurement and control concepts in creative or knowledge-based enterprises and entities, corporate digital responsibility).
- Critical perspectives such as actor-network theories and their application to digital transformation of management control in specific industries (e.g., health care, municipalities, regional agencies, maritime industries).
The course is based on 12 three-hour sessions that includes a combination of lectures, class exercises, case learning, and class discussions. The course is designed into three streams - Theory, Tools, and Tradecraft – with the emphasis on Theory. The theory sessions provide conceptual and research perspectives on management control. The tool sessions cover the methodological approaches towards researching management control. The tradecraft sessions focus on the demonstration and practicing of the relevant control and technology platforms for the Controller/CFO-role.
The course is designed from a constructive alignment between learning outcomes, teaching activities, and assessments. The aim of the course is to provide the students with a comprehensive understanding of management control concepts and theories. This equips the students with the capacity to identify, assess and select appropriate management controls, designed to address specific challenges within distinct contexts. Furthermore, the course aims to initiate the students’ progression towards their master thesis. To fulfill these intentions, the teaching process centers around research articles and is assessed by a group term paper (40 %) and a written final individual school exam (60 %).
All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have specific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.
Disclaimer
Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.
| Assessments |
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Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Submission PDF Exam/hand-in semester: First Semester Weight: 40 Grouping: Group (2 - 3) Duration: 1 Semester(s) Comment: Term paper Exam code: GRA 62431 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
Exam category: School Exam Form of assessment: Written School Exam - digital Exam/hand-in semester: First Semester Weight: 60 Grouping: Individual Support materials:
Duration: 3 Hour(s) Exam code: GRA 62432 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
All exams must be passed to get a grade in this course.
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.