Essay About Management Control And British Journal Of Management

Research in Management Control: An Overview of Its Development
British Journal of Management, Vol. 6, Special Issue, S31-S44 (December 1995)
Research in Management Control:
An Overview of its Development
David Otley*, Jane Broadbent? and Anthony Berry$
*Lancaster University Management School, ?Department of Accounting and Financial
Management, University of Essex and $ManChester Business School
SUMMARY This paper builds on a series of earlier reviews of the management control literature
(Giglioni and Bedeian, 1974; Hofstede, 1968; Merchant and Simons, 1986; Parker,
1986) and considers the development of the management control literature in the context
of organizational theories. Early themes which have provided the roots for the
development of the subject area are explored as is more recent work which has evolved
both as a continuation and a reaction against them, with Scotts (1981) framework being
used to organize this literature. It is argued that one of the unintended consequences of
the influential work of Robert Anthony (1965) has been a restriction of the subject to an
accounting-based framework and that this focus needs to be broadened. The review
points to the potential of the subject as a integrating theme for the practice and research
of management and some themes for future research are suggested.
Introduction
This paper reviews the development of research in
management control, building upon other reviews
both to examine the roots of the subject from the
turn of the century and to demonstrate the depth
and breadth of the subject. Four previous reviews
form the foundation for our overview.
Giglioni and Bedeian (1974) review the contribution
of the general management and organizational
theory literature for the period 1900-1972,
drawing out several different strands to conclude
‘even though control theory has not achieved the
level of sophistication of some other management
functions,