Management Control Systems.

This brief discussion of management control systems suggests a two-pronged attack to describe and explain the nature of the control function so that progress toward an integrated theory of control can be achieved.

Abstract

The discussion of management control systems, as I see it, has the following five aspects: 1) General requirements of a typical control system; the problems involved in the design and operation of these requirements; and the resolution of these problems. 2) Defining the nature and scope of a given management control system. 3) Designing the structure of the control system in terms of man-machine ingredients with due consideration of human and communication problems. 4) Examination with special emphasis on sensitivity analysis of the control system in operation, either in actual practice or by simulation methods, and 5) Developing an integrated theory of management control. This brief discussion of management control systems suggests a two-pronged attack. 1) A qualitative and for quantitative analysis to describe and explain the nature of the control function so that progress toward an integrated theory of control can be achieved. 2) Study of control systems along the lines of Professor Forrester's Industrial Dynamic philosophy so that some principles of management control system design can be evolved. The papers presented today contribute to a further understanding of management control systems. Much research, however, remains to be done before the goal of an integrated theory of control is achieved.