Management Control Flashcards
What is management
- managers are agents of the capital
- managers have taken away control from the owners to ensure efficient operation and to achieve its relevant goals (Rose, 2008)
Labour process theory
nature of work, employment relations, necessary skills and compensation for work
Management control starts with
labour process theory
What are the concepts of power
- coercion
- consent
(Fox, 1985)
Coercion
managers rely only on the exercise of naked power to force employees to do his will
Consent
exercise of power is less obvious and direct ways to engineer voluntary compliance with a decision or policy
Friedman (1977) types of control
- direct control
- responsible autonomy
Problem with Friedman, 1977
over simplistic, presents 1 dimension of control
Direct control
- Taylorism, centralised decision making
- clear chain of command, high levels of supervision
- top-down communication
- hierarchical structures
Responsible autonomy
- decentralised decision making, encourages innovation
- degree of freedom and empowerment within predefined boundaries and guidelines
Edwards (1979) types of control
- simple
- technical
- bureaucratic
Simple control
- Taylorism, direct supervision
- use of personal authority to regulate and monitor employees
- used in small organisations
- often results in demotivated employees
- railroad construction in early years of industrialisation
- managers control work, employees execute it
- seen as inhumane
Technical control
- use of technology, systems, procedures to monitor (Fordism)
- standardised process to ensure consistency
- assembly line didn’t improve working conditions
- motivation relied on fear and punishment
- authority in the organisational structure
- deskilling of workers, fragmented work
Bureaucratic control
- rules and regulations (attendance, job descriptions)
- authority in the social structure
- sets targets for monitoring e.g., scanning targets
- bureaucracy constrains and enables
- solved some motivation problems
- not found in creative industries
- emotional labour and aesthetic labour
Why is control complex and continuous
- managers need to respond to new challenges
- depends on the organisation and industry
Control in the service economy
- Fordism worked but motives changed (worker resistance, technological improvements)
- post-fordism (move from mass production to service economy, specialised products and jobs)
- co-existence of fordism and post-fordism (McDonalds)
Four dimensions of McDonaldisation
- efficiency (focus on speed and accuracy)
- calculability (quality = quantity)
- predictability (standardisation)
- control (direct - manager and customer, technical - time clock, bureaucratic - dress code)
Control in the gig economy
- uber uses technical and bureaucratic control (electronic surveillance, performance targets)
- customers as managers - ratings by customers on speed
Emotional labour (Hochschild)
- flight attendant
- employees requires to manage emotions
Aesthetic labour
- Hollister
- has a dimension of emotional labour
Example of control
call centres
