The development of controller tasks: explaining the nature of controllership and its changes

Abstract

In the recent past, controllers have become responsible for an increasingly broad range of tasks. The shift is empirically evident, but a theoretical model of these new roles has yet to be developed. This paper describes a framework based on an economic perspective. It combines qualitative and quantitative effects as well as aspects of internal task competition, and shows a pattern of changes compatible with empirical findings. It describes tight linkages between various task levels in relation to content and process, indicating that the stages of development are not merely a reflection of alternative, or even mutually exclusive sets of tasks, but rather, progression to a higher level of additional responsibilities and functions.