Management control research from organization theory, accounting, and business policy is reviewed; and a two-stage qualitative study of management control systems (MCSs) used in business organizations is reported. The study identified four MCS components used at the middle management level: budget, policies and procedures, performance appraisal system, and statistical reports. Each MCS component played a role during the control cycle of target setting, monitoring, and corrective feedback. The findings were used to propose two models: One model links the MCS to business level strategy implementation, and the other defines primary and secondary roles for MCS components in the management control process.

Chief executives in 50 manufacturing companies were interviewed about the perceived strategic uncertainty in six environmental sectors, and the frequency and mode of scanning used for each sector. The findings suggest that customer, economic and competitor sectors generated greater strategic uncertainty than technological, regulatory and sociocultural sectors. When sector uncertainty was high, executives reported greater frequency of scanning and greater use of personal information sources. Chief executives in high‐performing companies scanned more frequently and more broadly in response to strategic uncertainty than their counterparts in low‐performing companies.

Behavioral accounting research suggests that (1) the design and use of a management accounting system is related to overall characteristics of the organization, and (2) a management accounting system is one element in a package of control systems. The research reported here investigated the relationship between the organizational characteristic of departmental interdependence and the design and use of three elements in a package of management controls — the operating budget, periodic statistical reports, and standard operating policies and procedures. The findings support the hypothesis that departmental interdependence is related to the emphasis placed on each management control system. Standard operating procedures were an important control device when interdependence was low. The budget and statistical reports were used more extensively when interdependence was modurate. When interdependence among departments was high, the role of all three control systems diminished.

Three models with the potential to explain significant organizational research outcomes are described and evaluated. One model focuses on antecedent conditions, another on research processes, and t...

A field study of middle- and upper-level managers was undertaken to explain managers' selection of communication media. The findings indicate that media vary in their capacity to convey information cues. Managers prefer rich media for ambiguous communications and less rich media for unequivocal communications. The data suggest that high performing managers are more sensitive to the relationship between message ambiguity and media richness than low performing managers. Implications for managers' use of information systems and electronic media are discussed.

Symbolic interactionism is presented as a theoretical approach for understanding media choice processes during managerial communications. In an exploratory study, 65 managers from 11 organizations were interviewed about communication incidents involving face-to-face, telephone, electronic mail, and written media. Managers were asked the reasons they chose the particular medium. A content analysis of the reasons suggests that three factors influenced managers' media choices: (a) ambiguity of the message content and richness of the communication medium, (b) symbolic cues provided by the medium, and (c) situational determinants such as time and distance. The findings also indicated the diversity of media use in management communications, with face-to-face selected primarily for content and symbolic reasons, whereas telephone and electronic mail typically were chosen because of situational constraints.

This paper explores the relationship between budgeting and perceived power in city government organizations. Data are reported from a survey of perceived budget influence in six city governments in Texas. The findings suggest that perceived influence varies by stage of budget cycle, city size, level of hierarchy, department function, and vertical vs horizontal direction of influence. For example, during budget formulation city managers were perceived as having the most vertical power. During budget implemetation, there was a perceived increase in department head vertical power and a decrease in city council power. Perceptions of horizontal power suggested that budget departments generally had greater perceived influence than operating departments for budget formulation, but not for budget implementation. The findings are used to develop a strategic contingencies model of budget-related power, and to suggest some research steps for testing the proposed model.

This paper answers the question, "Why do organizations process information?" Uncertainty and equivocality are defined as two forces that influence information processing in organizations. Organization structure and internal systems determine both the amount and richness of information provided to managers. Models are proposed that show how organizations can be designed to meet the information needs of technology, interdepartmental relations, and the environment. One implication for managers is that a major problem is lack of clarity, not lack of data. The models indicate how organizations can be designed to provide information mechanisms to both reduce uncertainty and resolve equivocality.

: This paper introduces the concept of information richness, and proposes three models of information processing. The models describe (1) manager information behavior, (2) organizational mechanisms for coping with equivocality from the environment, and (3) organizational mechanisms for internal coordination. Concepts developed by Weick (1979) and Galbraith (1973) are integrated into two information tasks: equivocality reduction and the processing of a sufficient amount of information. The premise of this paper is that the accomplishment of these information tasks and the ultimate success of the organization are related to the balance of information richness used in the organization.

MacMillan and Daft (a) have argued that ratio and component regressions dealing with relationships between organization size and administration yield the same inferences about administrative economies, diseconomies, or returns to scale, presumably removing much of the current confusion traced to the “definitional dependency” argument. Unfortunately, their claim is unwarranted because their mathematical proofs are inadequate, ignoring the correlation between component variables A and P, and the simulated data are highly restricted in the A, P relationship. Our simulated data, with varying error variance and 100 samples for each condition, show considerable inference inconsistency among the several analytical procedures. We suggest continued use of the A, P regression intercept as a test of the scale condition as long as the slope of the regression is significant.

This essay proposes that scholarly research is a craft and that significant research outcomes are associated with the mastery of craft elements in the research process. A tentative framework of the research craft is proposed, which includes error and surprise, storytelling, research poetry, nonlinear decision making, common sense, firsthand knowledge, and research colleagues.

Six instruments previously used to assess Perrow's dimensions of work unit technology are evaluated. The findings suggest convergent validity across measures of the analyzability and exceptions dim...

? 1981 by Cornell University 0001 -839218112602-02071$00.75 A model is proposed that relates the amount and equivocality of information processing to thevariety and analyzability of work-unit activities. New questionnaire scales were developed for the information and task variables, and an exploratory test of the model was conducted on 24 work units. The reported amount of information processing increased with both task variety and analyzability; the reported use of equivocal information decreased with task analyzability. The findings suggest a modification of the previously reported positive relationship between task uncertainty and amount of information processing

A framework is proposed in which changes in administrative component are related to organization requirements for managerial, institutional, and technical activities. Longitudinal data for a sample of high school districts are used to test the framework. Empirically, size of administrative component had impact on both revenue acquisition and service outputs. Findings suggest that an administrative component larger than required by organization size may have positive influence on both institutional and technical outcomes of school district organizations. The question has often been asked, what accounts for the relative size of the administrative component in organizations? Answers have been coming in for about 25 years, beginning with Melman and with Terrian and Mills. The extent of research answers since that time was captured by Kimberly (a), who reported 80 studies of organization size, most of which also opera

This paper examines relationships among ratio variables with common components. Simulation experiments are reported in which data samples with known relationships between ratios are analyzed. Observed ratio correlations are then compared to the known relationships. The simulation findings tentatively suggest the absence of bias or spurious correlation. The sharp contrast between our findings and the results of simulation experiments carried out by ratio variable critics is examined. Finally, based on a more general mathematical argument, ratio correlations with common components are shown to be a valid form of analysis.

Journal Article Administrative Intensity and Ratio Variables: The Case Against Definitional Dependency Get access Alexander Mac Millan, Alexander Mac Millan Queen's University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Richard L. Daft Richard L. Daft Texas A & M University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Forces, Volume 58, Issue 1, September 1979, Pages 228–248, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/58.1.228 Published: 01 September 1979

Information, that is both accurate and timely, is probably the most important resource needed by managers to make sound decisions regarding the problems and issues facing their organizations. Unfortunately, sophisticated information systems often fail to meet this need. Managers complain that the data produced by information systems arrive too late, are too general and lack accuracy. Daft and MacIntosh studied the system problems of a number of organizations, discovering that understanding their work activities is critical to the design of successful information systems. The authors also considered the volume of information, preciseness of information and the way in which it is handled by users to develop a model describing information systems. The article illustrates how the model was applied successfully to four case situations.