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Appendix B: Levers of Control Revisited
by Robert L. SimonsThis chapter discusses the use and misuse of information technology in applying the concepts around the four levers of control in practice.
ATH MicroTechnologies: Making the Numbers
by Robert L. SimonsAn exercise that takes students through five stages of growth in an entrepreneurial start-up in the medical devices industry: 1) founding, 2) growth, 3) push to profitability, 4) relocation process, and 5) takeover by new management. At each stage, students must confront tensions in balancing profit, growth and control. Difficulties encountered in the business are due to management's attempts to design and use formal control systems to achieve profit and performance goals.
ATH MicroTechnologies, Inc. (A): Making the Numbers
by Robert L. SimonsAn exercise that takes students through five stages of growth in an entrepreneurial start-up in the medical devices industry: 1.) founding, 2.) growth, 3.) push to profitability, 4.) refocusing process, and 5.) takeover by new management. At each stage, students must confront tensions in balancing profit, growth and control. Difficulties encountered in the business are due to management's attempts to design and use formal control systems to achieve profit and performance goals.
ATH MicroTechnologies, Inc. (C)
by Robert L. SimonsSupplements the (A) case. Designed as an in-class handout.
ATH MicroTechnologies, Inc. (D)
by Robert L. SimonsSupplements the (A) case. Designed as an on-class handout.
ATH MicroTechnologies, Inc. (E)
by Robert L. SimonsSupplements the (A) case. Designed as an in-class handout.
Balancing Act: Strategy, Organizations, and Control
by Robert L. SimonsThis chapter introduces the tensions that arise in attempting to align organizations, business strategy, and human behavior. Balancing these tensions is at the heart of implementing strategy.
Beliefs and Boundaries: Framing the Strategic Domain
by Robert L. SimonsAs an organization's opportunities expand and the pressures for performance increase, a clear belief system and enforceable boundary system become increasingly important to organizational life. This chapter examines the countervailing forces generated by belief systems and boundary systems, and suggests how managers can control these levers to support business strategy.
Codman & Shurtleff, Inc.: Planning and Control System
by Robert L. SimonsDetailed description of the planning and control systems in use at Johnson & Johnson. Focuses on the actions of managers in one subsidiary in revising budget targets. Illustrates intensive strategic planning and financial planning process in a large, decentralized company. Includes interviews with the president and senior executives concerning benefits of the system. Raises issue of the role of formal control systems in decentralized organizations.
Control in an Age of Empowerment
by Robert L. SimonsA problem facing managers in the 1990s is how to exercise adequate control in organizations that demand flexibility, innovation, and creativity. How do senior managers protect their companies from control failures when employees are encouraged to redefine how they do their jobs? Today's managers must permit employees to initiate process improvements and new ways of responding to customers' needs--but in a controlled way. Fortunately, the tools to reconcile the conflict between creativity and control are at hand: Belief systems communicate core values and inspire all participants to commit to the organization's purpose. Boundary systems establish rules and identify pitfalls. Diagnostic control systems allow managers to ensure that employees are meeting goals efficiently and effectively. And interactive control systems enable top-level managers to focus on strategic uncertainties.
Control Levers in Action: Controlling Business Strategy
by Robert L. SimonsProviding insight into how control systems influence behaviors and drive strategic renewal, this chapter describes the results of a study of 10 newly appointed managers and their use of the four control levers.
Designing Organizations for Performance: The Alignment of Design and Strategy
by Robert L. SimonsIn this chapter, the author brings the analysis down to the ground level--the level of individual people and business units--to test whether different designs are capable of implementing strategy successfully.
Diagnostic Control Systems: Determining Critical Performance Variables to Support Strategic Goals
by Robert L. SimonsThis chapter introduces the second of the four Cs of organization design-critical performance variables--and examines how accountability and resistance factor in to designing an organization that creates value.
Diagnostic Control Systems: Implementing Intended Strategies
by Robert L. SimonsDiagnostic control systems are the backbone of traditional management control, designed to ensure predictable goal achievement. Unfortunately, managers typically pay little attention to these feedback systems. This chapter discusses the importance of diagnostic control systems, performance measurement, and goal achievement for the execution of business strategy.
Dynamics of Controlling Strategy
by Robert L. SimonsControl of business strategy is achieved by integrating the four levers of control. This chapter presents an integrated framework, illustrating that the power of the control levers lies in how they complement each other when used together.
How Risky Is Your Company?
by Robert L. SimonsIn boom times, it is easy for managers to forget about risk. And not just financial risk, but organizational and operational risk as well. Now there's the risk exposure calculator, a new tool that will help managers determine exactly where and how much internal risk is mounting in their companies. The risk calculator is divided into three parts: The first set of "keys" alerts managers to the pressures that come from growth. Now that the company has taken off, are employees feeling increased pressure to perform? Is the company's infrastructure becoming overloaded? And are more new employees coming on board as the company rushes to fill positions? If the answer is yes to any one of those questions, then risk may be rising to dangerous levels. The second set of keys on the calculator highlights pressures that arise from corporate culture. Are too many rewards being given for entrepreneurial risk taking? Are executives becoming so resistant to bad news that no one feels comfortable alerting them to problems? And is the company's level of internal competition so high that employees see promotion as a zero-sum game? The final set of pressures, the author says, revolves around information management. When calculating these pressures, managers should ask themselves, what was the company's complexity, volume, and velocity of information a year ago? Have they risen? By how much? How much of the time am I doing the work that a computer system should be doing? High pressure on many or all of these points should set off alarm bells for managers. To control risk, managers have four levers of control at their disposal that will show them where they need to make organizational adjustments.
Interactive Control Systems: Adapting to Competitive Environments
by Robert L. SimonsManaging the tension between creative innovation and predictable goal achievement is the essence of management control. This chapter looks at how senior managers use interactive control systems to build internal pressure to encourage the emergence of new strategic initiatives.
Interactive Networks: Determining the Right Degree of Creative Tension to Support Business Strategy
by Robert L. SimonsIn this chapter, the author explains how to manage creative tension--one of the four Cs of organization design--to facilitate the required levels of interunit communication, learning, and adaptation that support the implementation and evolution of strategy.
Introduction: Strategy, Organizations, and Control
by Robert L. SimonsUnderstanding how to control empowered organizations in highly competitive markets is important for both theorists and practicing managers. In this chapter, the author introduces a new, comprehensive theory for controlling business strategy, illustrating how managers gain control of strategy using four basic levers.
J Boats, Inc.
by Robert L. SimonsDuring the 20-year evolution of a family-owned, entrepreneurial sailboat company, two founders leverage their design and marketing skills to build one of the most recognized brands in the recreational boating industry. The founder then considers management succession and the need to improve financial planning and control systems to capitalize on brand value.
Note on Identifying Strategic Risk
by Robert L. SimonsOutlines: 1) the sources of business risk, 2) how to assess internal risk pressures, and 3) the antecedents of misrepresentation of fraud.
Polysar Ltd.
by Robert L. SimonsCanada's largest chemical company produces and markets butyl rubber in two divisions, each treated as a profit center. The new plant in the North American Division operates below capacity resulting in a significant volume variance and an operating loss. The European Division is at capacity and is profitable. The actions of the European Division affect the capacity utilization of the North American Division. Includes divisional financial statements and interviews with the vice-presidents of each division.
Share Responsibilities: Managing Human Behavior to Advance Organizational Strategy
by Robert L. SimonsTwo critical tasks of senior managers are determining how individuals should act within their organization and then creating the necessary conditions for them to act in the desired way. This chapter focuses on the last of the four Cs of organization design: analyzing the level of commitment to others that is needed to support organizational strategy.
Tensions of Organization Design: Optimizing Trade-offs
by Robert L. SimonsTo be fully effective, all managers must understand the implications of the organization design choices on their business units. This chapter makes the case for the development of a new theory of organization design by reviewing the tensions that today's managers must navigate to succeed in designing or redesigning organizations for enduring performance.