Syllabus
Registration via LPIS
| Day | Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | 10/01/24 | 08:00 AM - 09:00 PM | D5.0.001 |
| Monday | 10/07/24 | 01:00 PM - 05:00 PM | TC.3.01 |
| Monday | 10/14/24 | 01:00 PM - 05:00 PM | TC.3.01 |
| Monday | 10/21/24 | 01:00 PM - 05:00 PM | TC.3.01 |
| Monday | 10/28/24 | 01:00 PM - 05:00 PM | TC.3.01 |
| Monday | 11/04/24 | 01:00 PM - 05:00 PM | TC.3.01 |
| Monday | 11/11/24 | 01:00 PM - 05:00 PM | TC.3.01 |
| Monday | 11/18/24 | 01:00 PM - 05:00 PM | TC.3.01 |
| Monday | 11/25/24 | 11:00 AM - 01:00 PM | TC.1.01 OeNB |
| “The best-laid strategies of any organization are useless without proper implementation.” With this statement, The Economist Intelligence Unit opened their special unit report in 2013 on why good strategies fail. They show the most important success factors for the competitiveness of the organization is the execution of the formulated plans. This goes in line with other research showing that the cause of organizational failure is often not the initial strategy chosen, but the implementation of the formulated strategies. The major factor to successfully implement a strategy in an organization is to assure that all employees work towards the common organizational objectives. In particular, once organizations grow and get larger, the owners/managers cannot fulfill all duties themselves, but rely on other employees. This increases the likelihood that some members do not work towards the overall objectives. For example, not everyone might know what the desired objectives are, they might follow their own agenda, or they might not even have the necessary skills or resources available. Thus, the owner/managers needs to find ways to ensure their employees follow the organizational goals. This is what management control systems are for. With properly designed management control systems, organizations influence their employees in such a way that they contribute towards achieving the organizations’ objectives. In this course we will focus on the existing knowledge about management control as well as on the research efforts undertaken to obtain knowledge about management control practice. After you have finished this course, you will have a good understanding of at least three themes. First, you will be able to understand and discuss the meaning and importance of management control as a basic part of managerial activity. Second, you will be able to understand and assess the interaction between control problems and organizational arrangements, such as performance evaluation and budgeting. Third, you will have gained significant insights into academic research in the area of management control. Finally, you will have obtained skills to adequately address control problems in actual practice. |
- Gain a profound understanding of management control.
- Understand and discuss the meaning and importance of management control as a basic part of managerial activity.
- Understand and assess the interaction between control problems and organizational arrangements, such as performance evaluation and budgeting practices.
- Gain significant insights into academic research in the area of management control.
- Pay significant attention to contemporary research in management control.
- Solve diverse case studies to simulate management control practice.
- Obtain skills to adequately address control problems in actual practice.
In this course we attempt to provide a mix of theory and practice. We will include control practice along two lines. First, we will make extensive use of cases, simulating management control practice. Second, we will pay significant attention to contemporary research in management control. As you will see, the traditional ‘textbook’ literature is full of opinions about what management control is and how it should work. Empirical research, however, puts these opinions to the test. Understanding this research is therefore an important part of academic training in the field of management control. Being able to interpret the results from this research allows you furthermore to contribute to practical control problems, which will cross your way in your later working experience.
Every week we will organize two sessions blocked on one day. These sessions are dedicated to the discussion of the assigned materials and the application of the readings to real life problems. This assures that all remaining questions about the theories are resolved and students learn how to apply their theoretically acquired knowledge to real life cases. However, importantly, a large part of the learning will also take place outside the classroom. That is, for every session students need to come fully prepared. A proper preparation for the meetings means that students need to have read the assigned literature and hand in the case questions/preparation questions before they come to class.
The sessions themselves will then follow a case-based and student-centred learning approach, instead of a typical lecture style. In some sessions, the course coordinator will lead the discussion of the case and the assigned readings. Other sessions will be fully organized by a student-team who is responsible for structuring that session and making sure that all relevant topics are covered sufficiently. That said, in any case, preparation and participation of all participants is absolutely crucial. This is also highlighted by the fact that 30% of the final grade depend on adequate contributions before and during the sessions!
1. Individual preparation and participation 30%
2. Group performance as session facilitator 15%
3. Group performance on hand-in case 15%
4. Written final exam 40%
Final Grade 100%
The following grading scale applies:
Excellent (1) 87.5%-100.0%
Good (2) 75.0% -<87.5%
Satisfactory (3) 62.5% -<75.0%
Sufficient (4) 50.0% -<62.5%
Fail (5) <50.0%
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