Este trabalho teve como objetivo estudar o sistema de controle gerencial como fator de influência na transição entre estágios do Ciclo de Vida Organizacional de uma empresa familiar brasileira. Embora as empresas familiares são a forma predominante de negócios no mundo inteiro, as pesquisas em Contabilidade Gerencial, considerando suas peculiaridades na gestão, ainda são escassas. A teoria do Ciclo de Vida Organizacional visa classificar as diversas etapas do ciclo de vida das organizações de acordo com as características ao longo de sua existência, desde o nascimento, passando pelo crescimento, maturidade, possível renovação e eventual declínio; por outro lado o sistema de controle gerencial age como facilitador viabilizando a estruturação e definição de metas e estratégias, direcionando as ações de acordo com os objetivos da organização. Com isso, a presente pesquisa procura compreender como o sistema de controle gerencial, apoiado no modelo de (Malmi e Brown, 2008), podem ter influenciado, no sentido de ter viabilizado a empresa a passar pelas diversas etapas em seu ciclo de vida até o estágio atual. O estudo foi realizado em um grupo educacional privado, com mais de 50 anos de existência, que começou com apenas duas salas de aula e hoje é um dos maiores grupos privados no ramo educacional no país, gerenciado ainda por um dos fundadores, em conjunto com a segunda geração. Quanto à metodologia, foi adotada como estratégia de pesquisa o estudo de caso longitudinal retrospectivo, de natureza qualitativa. Para a coleta de dados, foram utilizadas múltiplas fontes de pesquisa, como a observação direta, análise de documentações e entrevistas semiestruturadas para identificação dos diversos estágios e entendimento da evolução do sistema de controle gerencial ao longo do tempo, além de aplicação de questionário para identificação do ciclo de vida atual da empresa. Entre as contribuições do estudo, destacam-se, as dinâmicas do sistema de controle gerencial como fator de sustentação e viabilização na mudança de estágios, assim como a identificação de subestágios de transição não identificados de forma explícita nas teorias de ciclo de vida organizacional ou estudos cross sectionals. O estudo de caso demonstrou as características de gestão, enquanto empresa familiar, o desenvolvimento e evolução do sistema de controle gerencial viabilizando as transições entre estágios, especialmente do estágio do Crescimento para a Maturidade e da Maturidade para Renovação, onde é necessário um período de preparação e reorganização dos controles para avançar nos estágios do ciclo de vida organizacional. / The study seeks to describe and understand the role of management control systems as factor of influence in the Organizational Life Cycle as result of a case study in a 50-year-old Brazilian University family-controlled business as it has been transformed from a small education business to one of the biggest private conglomerate of Universities in Brazil. Although familiar firms are predominant form of business around the world, the studies considering their peculiarities of management in managerial accounting are scarce. Organizational Life Cycle categorizes the various stages of firms considering predominant characteristics in each life cycle. Management control systems works offering tools to establish and direct actions in order to accomplish organizational goals. This study attempts to understand the nature of familiar management and dynamic of management control systems based in the framework of Malmi e Brown (2008) through Planning, Cybernetic controls, Reward and Compensation, Administrative Controls and Cultural Controls acting as influence becoming viable the development of the organization through Organizational Life Cycle stages. The research method for the study is a longitudinal case study using qualitative methodology where data for analyses are gathered from multiple sources including document analysis, observations, semi-structured interviews to identify the various stages and the level of management control systems, furthermore, a questionnaire was applied to identify the actual stage of Organization Life Cycle. Contributions of this work to the literature involves understanding the nature and peculiarities of familiar business through stages, their values and the adoption of management control system as factor of evolvement in the organizational life cycle and the identification of sub-stages in life cycle not presented in the traditional models or cross sectionals studies. The Case demonstrated characteristics of controls and involvement of the family during the various stages of Family Business, the role of management control systems as factor of influence in maintenance or development in Organizational Life Cycle, transition time (sub-stages) whereas it is necessary preparation and implementation of controls to achieve advanced stages, especially to Maturity and Renewal stages.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo estudar o sistema de controle gerencial como fator de influência na transição entre estágios do Ciclo de Vida Organizacional de uma empresa familiar brasileira. Embora as empresas familiares são a forma predominante de negócios no mundo inteiro, as pesquisas em Contabilidade Gerencial, considerando suas peculiaridades na gestão, ainda são escassas. A teoria do Ciclo de Vida Organizacional visa classificar as diversas etapas do ciclo de vida das organizações de acordo com as características ao longo de sua existência, desde o nascimento, passando pelo crescimento, maturidade, possível renovação e eventual declínio; por outro lado o sistema de controle gerencial age como facilitador viabilizando a estruturação e definição de metas e estratégias, direcionando as ações de acordo com os objetivos da organização. Com isso, a presente pesquisa procura compreender como o sistema de controle gerencial, apoiado no modelo de (Malmi e Brown, 2008), podem ter influenciado, no sentido de ter viabilizado a empresa a passar pelas diversas etapas em seu ciclo de vida até o estágio atual. O estudo foi realizado em um grupo educacional privado, com mais de 50 anos de existência, que começou com apenas duas salas de aula e hoje é um dos maiores grupos privados no ramo educacional no país, gerenciado ainda por um dos fundadores, em conjunto com a segunda geração. Quanto à metodologia, foi adotada como estratégia de pesquisa o estudo de caso longitudinal retrospectivo, de natureza qualitativa. Para a coleta de dados, foram utilizadas múltiplas fontes de pesquisa, como a observação direta, análise de documentações e entrevistas semiestruturadas para identificação dos diversos estágios e entendimento da evolução do sistema de controle gerencial ao longo do tempo, além de aplicação de questionário para identificação do ciclo de vida atual da empresa. Entre as contribuições do estudo, destacam-se, as dinâmicas do sistema de controle gerencial como fator de sustentação e viabilização na mudança de estágios, assim como a identificação de subestágios de transição não identificados de forma explícita nas teorias de ciclo de vida organizacional ou estudos cross sectionals. O estudo de caso demonstrou as características de gestão, enquanto empresa familiar, o desenvolvimento e evolução do sistema de controle gerencial viabilizando as transições entre estágios, especialmente do estágio do Crescimento para a Maturidade e da Maturidade para Renovação, onde é necessário um período de preparação e reorganização dos controles para avançar nos estágios do ciclo de vida organizacional. / The study seeks to describe and understand the role of management control systems as factor of influence in the Organizational Life Cycle as result of a case study in a 50-year-old Brazilian University family-controlled business as it has been transformed from a small education business to one of the biggest private conglomerate of Universities in Brazil. Although familiar firms are predominant form of business around the world, the studies considering their peculiarities of management in managerial accounting are scarce. Organizational Life Cycle categorizes the various stages of firms considering predominant characteristics in each life cycle. Management control systems works offering tools to establish and direct actions in order to accomplish organizational goals. This study attempts to understand the nature of familiar management and dynamic of management control systems based in the framework of Malmi e Brown (2008) through Planning, Cybernetic controls, Reward and Compensation, Administrative Controls and Cultural Controls acting as influence becoming viable the development of the organization through Organizational Life Cycle stages. The research method for the study is a longitudinal case study using qualitative methodology where data for analyses are gathered from multiple sources including document analysis, observations, semi-structured interviews to identify the various stages and the level of management control systems, furthermore, a questionnaire was applied to identify the actual stage of Organization Life Cycle. Contributions of this work to the literature involves understanding the nature and peculiarities of familiar business through stages, their values and the adoption of management control system as factor of evolvement in the organizational life cycle and the identification of sub-stages in life cycle not presented in the traditional models or cross sectionals studies. The Case demonstrated characteristics of controls and involvement of the family during the various stages of Family Business, the role of management control systems as factor of influence in maintenance or development in Organizational Life Cycle, transition time (sub-stages) whereas it is necessary preparation and implementation of controls to achieve advanced stages, especially to Maturity and Renewal stages.

Organization theory proposes that managers exert control over the behavior of salespeople and the outcomes salespeople are expected to deliver. The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental study was to examine the relationships between activity control, capability control, and outcome control and salesperson performance, as well as the moderating effects of product complexity, task complexity, and number of accounts on the control-performance relationships for business-to-business sales personnel. The framework for the study was based in the concept of organizational control. Data analysis included hierarchical regression of a convenience sample of 374 survey responses from salespeople to analyze the direct and moderating relationships between perceived sales management control and salesperson performance. Data were collected using Fluid Surveys. Although significant positive effects were identified between outcome control, activity control, and capability control on salesperson performance, as well as a significant negative effect of task complexity on salesperson performance, no moderating effects were found. Because sales management behavior impacts salesperson satisfaction, retention, and performance, identifying the positive impact of activity, capability, and outcome control, and the negative impact of task complexity on salesperson performance provides sales managers with important guidance when considering the elements of an effective approach to sales management. Finally, providing managers with specific guidance regarding management approach has implications for positive social change within organizations by improving salesperson satisfaction with their jobs, their manager, and the organization for whom they work.

<p>The main aim of this thesis has been to compare psychosocial working conditions in workplaces with different forms of ownership, i.e. public, private and cooperative. A second aim has been to study how organisational characteristics of relevance for psychosocial working conditions (in terms of management control strategies and prerequisites for management) are manifested in these ownership forms. The empirical data is based on structured interviews with managers at 60 workplaces within the service sector and on a questionnaire to all employees working in the participating workplaces, resulting in a set of 1384 individuals. An additional seven interviews with first-line managers within geriatric care were also conducted for the last study. The results show that employees in cooperatives perceived that they had better opportunities to influence decisions concerning the workplace as a whole, although there were also results showing advantages for public and private employees. Regarding opportunities for employees to influence their own work situation, there were no differences between the ownership forms. Differences were found in the prerequisites for first-line geriatric care managers. As a result of an earlier organisational change, the public managers were now further away from the strategic level and had to focus on daily, operative work tasks, while simultaneously also being responsible for keeping within the budget. The private managers, on the other hand, having group leaders to deal with the daily work concerning personnel and operations, could focus more on strategic work related to financial results in terms of planning and follow-up of the budget. One conclusion is that there are certain differences in both psychosocial working conditions and organisational characteristics between the ownership forms, but when the comparisons were restricted to only one type of service, in this case the provision of care, it is rather the similarities within the care organisations, regardless of ownership form, that are most pronounced.</p>

<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p><strong> </strong><strong>Title: </strong>A messy story – a case study of Secorocs process flow of DTH-pipes</p><p><strong> </strong><strong>Presentation date: </strong>2010-06-02<strong> </strong></p><p><strong></strong><strong>Course: </strong>Bachelor thesis in business</p><p><strong></strong><strong>Author: </strong>Kristoffer Forsman</p><p><strong></strong><strong>Advisor: </strong>Kjell Gustafsson</p><p><strong></strong><strong>Keywords:</strong> Management control, process control, lean production, process flow analysis</p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to develop an overview of the process flow for a specific product, and with the help of this mapping based on a lean production philosophy show possible improvement proposals and how these can lead to a more efficient process flow.</p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Methodology: </strong>I have used a case study of Secorocs DTH-pipes and my primary data are gathered through interviews and observations. I have used theoretical framework to establish a process flow analysis. This is to obtain data on process activities and whether they are creating value or not. This leads to a current mapping of the situation in Secoroc on DTH-pipes and then analyzed and suggestions for improvement are developed.</p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>That by using the above mentioned mapping of process flow of DTH-pipes, problem areas could be illustrated. Subsequently proposals for improvement could be produced from a lean production philosophy. Process flow analysis showed the non-value-adding process activities as primarily transport and delay. These activities could be rationalized and eliminated from developed proposals for improvement which resulted in a layout flowchart (bilaga3) as a proposal on how a better flow might look for Secoroc.</p>

<p>SammanfattningBakgrundI alla tider har människan sökt nya organisationsformer för att effektivisera sitt arbete. Sedan 1900-talets början har organiseringen i projekt fått en alltmer framträdande roll. En effektiv projektorganisering kräver även ett väl avvägt urvalsbeslut för vilka projekt som ska genomföras. Denna studie har valt att undersöka förbättringsmöjligheter inom urvalsprocessen hos multiprojektorganisationer med avseende på effektivitet, konsekvens i besluten samt transparens och styreffekter för organisationen.GenomförandeVi har genomfört en kvalitativ studie med ett fallföretag. Syftet har varit att få ett djup i undersökningen och en god förståelse för processen inom flera hierarkiska nivåer. Totalt genomfördes nio intervjuer som tillsammans med en teoretiska referensramen ligger till grund för våra resultat.ResultatGenom att använda ett projektselekteringsverktyg som innehåller information kring projektförslagets strategiska bidrag, ekonomiska nytta, resurspåverkan och förslagets plats i projektportföljen menar vi att förslagen som kommer till beslut är mer genomarbetade. Därigenom torde beslutsprocessen bli mer tidseffektiv då inga förslag som inte är genomarbetade tillåts komma till beslut. Dessutom kommer resursanvändningen att bli mer effektiv då resursaspekten analyseras i ljuset av befintliga resursoptimeringsverktyg redan innan nya projekt implementeras. I tillägg till effektivisering för beslutsfattaren ges även mer konsekventa beslut då förslag värderas på samma beslutsgrunder. Dessutom ges indikationer för vilka områden som organisationen anser som viktiga. Viktigt att tillägga är att förutsättningarna måste anpassas av varje användare efter dennes unika förutsättningar.Vi menar att en organisation kan öka sin konkurrenskraft genom att förbättra detta första steg i organisationens projektkompetens.</p> / <p>AbsractBackgroundAt all times man has searched for new ways to organize themselves in order to work more efficiently. From the beginning of the 20th Century organizing in projects has had an even more distinguished role. An effective organizing of projects demands a balanced selection of which projects is to be executed. This study is examining opportunities for improvement in the project selection phase in multi-project-organizations, stressing effectiveness, consistency and control implications for the organization.ExecutionThis study is conducted as a qualitative case study. The aim of the study is to get depth and a good understanding of the project selection process within several hierarchal levels of the organization. A total of nine interviews were conducted. The information given in these interviews combined with theoretical references are the foundation of our conclusions.ResultsBy using a project selection tool containing the project’s strategic contribution, financial contribution, effects on the organizations resources and the project’s effect on the organization’s project portfolio. It is of our opinion that the project proposals for decision will be better prepared, therefore should the project selection phase be more time efficient since only well prepared proposals are to be considered. Also, the use of the organizational resources should be more effective, given that the resource aspect is more integrated in the selection-decision. Furthermore, the decisions should be more consistent within the organization with general criteria to be followed. The tool also provides important indications of which strategic areas that ought to get special attention. It is of importance though that the tool is adjusted to the given organization’s unique conditions.Our opinion is that an organization will improve its competitiveness by improving its competence in project selection</p>

<p>The purpose of this essay was to examine whether small businesses can avoid ac-counting crimes with a well-conducted internal control system. The questions we asked ourselves was, whether and if so, companies can prevent this from happening by using a internal control.</p><p>In this essay we used a qualitative approach. Essential information was given to us from four different interviewees. We also worked from an inductive approach which means that we interviewed people without any earlier research to build on. The method also had a hermeneutical approach, which means that we made different interpretations based on the reference framework and the empirics.</p><p>After the study had been carried out, we concluded that all evidence from this essay suggested that even small businesses need an internal control to protect their business. Therefore, we cannot see any reason for smaller companies not to have an internal control, as we understand that control is of paramount importance to protect their businesses against economic crimes of all kinds. We also believe that economic crime will increase and that it will find new ways, which means that this type of control system will become even more important in the future. Another support system for companies to detect inaccuracies has been the investigative accountant, but when the duty now will vanish for smaller businesses, we believe that internal control will become even more important to prevent economic crime.</p> / <p>Syftet med den uppsatsen var att undersöka om mindre företag kan undvika bokföringsbrott med en bra intern kontroll. Frågorna vi ställde oss är med andra ord om, och i så fall hur, företag kan undvika att en anställd begår ekonomisk brottslighet genom att ha en in-tern kontroll.</p><p>Vi använde oss av en kvalitativ metod i den här uppsatsen och har därmed samlat in väsentlig information från olika intervjupersoner. Vi har även arbetat utifrån en induktiv ansats som innebär att vi har intervjuat personer utan att ha någon egentlig forskning att utgå från. Metoden utgörs även av ett hermeneutiskt tolkande perspektiv vilket innebär att vi gör olika tolkningar utifrån referensramen och empirin.</p><p>Efter genomförd studie kom vi fram till att allt tyder på att även mindre företag behöver en intern kontroll för att kunna skydda sin verksamhet. Vi kan inte se att det finns någon anledning för mindre företag att inte ha en intern kontroll då vi förstått att kontrollen är av oerhörd stor vikt för att skydda sitt företag mot ekobrott av alla dess slag. Då vi även tror att den ekonomiska brottsligheten kommer att öka och att den kommer finna nya vägar så blir kontrollerna ännu viktigare i framtiden. En annan hjälp för företagen att upptäcka felaktigheter har varit revisorns granskande men då revisorplikten nu kommer att försvinna för mindre företag så tror vi att den interna kontrollen kommer få ännu större betydelse för att gardera sig mot felaktigheter.</p>

Background: Performance measurement as a management control tool has received considerable academic attention. As the number of inter-organisational relationships, such as customer-supplier relationships, increases, there is a new scope for performance measurement as a management control tool. In order for a company to assess the effectiveness of its supplier relationships it has to define, measure and evaluate variables that are critical for the success of the relationship. The role of management control, and thereby of performance measurement, has increasingly been discussed in theory. However, empirical research in this area is still somewhat limited. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to analyse how performance measurement in inter-organisational relationships should be designed in order to be effective. Results: Theory which is applicable on performance measurement as a control tool in general also appears to be applicable on performance measurement as a control tool in inter-organisational relationships. Exactly which requirements performance measurement should meet, in order to be effective, is difficult to establish since they often imply a trade-off between different factors. In order to be effective, performance measurement partly needs to be adjusted to the situation, which adds yet a dimension to, and difficulty of, performance measurement in inter-organisational relationships.

The main aim of this thesis has been to compare psychosocial working conditions in workplaces with different forms of ownership, i.e. public, private and cooperative. A second aim has been to study how organisational characteristics of relevance for psychosocial working conditions (in terms of management control strategies and prerequisites for management) are manifested in these ownership forms. The empirical data is based on structured interviews with managers at 60 workplaces within the service sector and on a questionnaire to all employees working in the participating workplaces, resulting in a set of 1384 individuals. An additional seven interviews with first-line managers within geriatric care were also conducted for the last study. The results show that employees in cooperatives perceived that they had better opportunities to influence decisions concerning the workplace as a whole, although there were also results showing advantages for public and private employees. Regarding opportunities for employees to influence their own work situation, there were no differences between the ownership forms. Differences were found in the prerequisites for first-line geriatric care managers. As a result of an earlier organisational change, the public managers were now further away from the strategic level and had to focus on daily, operative work tasks, while simultaneously also being responsible for keeping within the budget. The private managers, on the other hand, having group leaders to deal with the daily work concerning personnel and operations, could focus more on strategic work related to financial results in terms of planning and follow-up of the budget. One conclusion is that there are certain differences in both psychosocial working conditions and organisational characteristics between the ownership forms, but when the comparisons were restricted to only one type of service, in this case the provision of care, it is rather the similarities within the care organisations, regardless of ownership form, that are most pronounced.

Abstract  Title: A messy story – a case study of Secorocs process flow of DTH-pipes  Presentation date: 2010-06-02  Course: Bachelor thesis in business Author: Kristoffer Forsman Advisor: Kjell Gustafsson Keywords: Management control, process control, lean production, process flow analysis Purpose: The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to develop an overview of the process flow for a specific product, and with the help of this mapping based on a lean production philosophy show possible improvement proposals and how these can lead to a more efficient process flow. Methodology: I have used a case study of Secorocs DTH-pipes and my primary data are gathered through interviews and observations. I have used theoretical framework to establish a process flow analysis. This is to obtain data on process activities and whether they are creating value or not. This leads to a current mapping of the situation in Secoroc on DTH-pipes and then analyzed and suggestions for improvement are developed. Conclusions: That by using the above mentioned mapping of process flow of DTH-pipes, problem areas could be illustrated. Subsequently proposals for improvement could be produced from a lean production philosophy. Process flow analysis showed the non-value-adding process activities as primarily transport and delay. These activities could be rationalized and eliminated from developed proposals for improvement which resulted in a layout flowchart (bilaga3) as a proposal on how a better flow might look for Secoroc.