288 ACCOUNTING FOR MANAGERS
the firm. Most of the management control literature has concentrated its attention
at the level of the firm (or sub-units within it). There has been comparatively little
exploration of control from a more macro or societal perspective. Although these
issues have been addressed to some extent by the radical theorists, the ‘micro’ and
the ‘macro’ have been seen as distinct areas. Despite the quite radical changes that
have occurred in the UK environment over the past 15 years (not least due to the
Thatcher government) the general issue has not been well explored in the control
(as distinct from the economic) literature. In particular, the role of competition as a
control mechanism is under researched: Further, such institutional arrangements
affect the legitimacy of different methods of control within organizations, such as
the appropriate boundaries for managerial action and the role of consultation and
participation amongst the workforce and these issues need fuller exploration.
This also raises the issue of what have been called embedded organizations.
We have already alluded to the fact that control systems increasingly operate
across both the legal boundaries of firms and national boundaries. The needs of
managing business processes in an extended supply and distribution chain that
crosses many organizational boundaries raise challenging control issues. These
have been explored to some extent in both the operations management and
management information systems literature, and have surfaced in the popular
management literature under the banner of ‘business process re-engineering’, but
have yet to receive proper attention from an overall control framework. The open
systems framework appears to be especially appropriate in this area.
We have also found very little research addressing the problems of control
in multinational and international organizations, in either the public or private
sector. This is an issue that seems to have been given much more attention in the
fields of strategy and marketing, then in control. Undoubtedly a complex field,
issues as disparate as the impact of differing legal and institutional structures,
financial and exchange control constraints, and the varied impact of national and
corporate cultures all seem worthy of attention.
Wider fields also need to be addressed. The advent of environmental man-
agement and the attention now paid to ‘green’ issues has yet to impact on the
control literature. However, the developing understanding of both human ecology
(including issues of demography, population, ethnicity and religion) and physical
ecology suggests that wider considerations need to be brought into the conceptu-
alization of the problems of regulation and control of, and within, organizations.
Clearly, these considerations raise new ethical issues for both control theorists and
practitioners.
Gender issues in management control have received scant attention, despite
an emerging set of questions about the extent to which there are ‘feminine’ and
‘masculine’ styles of managing. It may be that the language of management control
needs reframing to encompass a wider range of possibilities. There is some support
in the popular management literature for styles associated with the feminine
gender stereotype, such as empowerment, group or mutual accountabilities and
upward appraisal. The whole concept of the learning organization suggests
approaches to management which are more supportive than directive in their
orientation. Numbers of women in the workforce continue to increase, although