Authority or Domination: Alternative Possibilities for the Practice of Control

John Roberts

Chapter 13 in Critical Perspectives in Management Control, 1989, pp 271-291 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: If management control simply concerned the actions of managers then it would probably be a fairly easy and uncomplicated subject to understand. In practice, however, management control involves managers seeking to control the actions of subordinates. Although the ideal of management control might be to reduce subordinates to mere passive extensions or instruments of their will, such a perfection of administration is impossible. By virtue of being self-conscious subjects subordinates will always retain both the ability and interest in exercising control over their actions. In any concrete relationship both manager and subordinate will be seeking to exercise control. Although individually both manager and subordinate may judge control in terms of their own individual intentions, effective control will in fact be the product of their relationship as it unfolds over time

Keywords: Management Control; Sales Director; Collective Goal; Manipulative Action; Personal Inadequacy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1989
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DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-07658-1_13

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