The role of interactive control systems in obtaining internal consistency in the management control system package

Companies rely on multiple Management Control Systems to obtain their short and long term objectives. When applying a multifaceted perspective on Management Control System the concept of internal consistency has been found to be important in obtaining goal congruency in the company. However, to date we know little about how managers maintain internal consistency, when individual MCSs change and do not fit with the other MCSs. Based on a case study in a global Danish manufacturing company this study finds that it is necessary to distinguish between the design characteristics of MCS and use of MCSs when analyzing internal consistency in the MCS package and how managers obtain internal consistency in the new MCS package when a MCS change occur. This study focuses specifically on changes to administrative controls, which are not internal consistent with the current cybernetic controls. As top management is aware of this shortcoming they use the cybernetic controls more interactively to overcome this shortcoming, whereby the cybernetic controls are also used as a learning platform and not just for performance control.