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To excel one needs freedom-an unbounded mind-and efficacy to do whatever one commits to do. The same is also true in an organizational setting. However, because management wants to assure that employeess ambitions concur with the organization's goals, it introduces checks and corrective actions, which we know as management controls. With the basic function of assuring compliance of work activity with the set goals, management controls are built into all stages of the firm's processes. Further, as an organization grows, management enhances and adds controls in an attempt to increase its sense of understanding of the organization. This is how eventually every aspect of the organization comes under control. The emphasis on compliance takes priority over creativity and innovation. It results in an environment that impedes change, becomes antagonistic to productivity, and become a ubiquitous obstacle to excellence. A large part of the organizational effort is allocated to taking care of the mundane-i.e. the organization continues to transact its business in the usual way and operates in control of all subfunctions. Performance criteria are set based on how well one works within constraints of the control. There is little emphasis on how efficiently or effectively the organization is executing its underlined function and, more than anything else, how well it is working to enhance these functions for the future.
Corporate organizational theory accepts that control is a management function, but for the greater good...