Managing through Uncertainty

Management control systems were developed to enable the management of organizations, including under conditions of uncertainty. However, in recent times, the level of uncertainty has increased and traditional management control approaches are struggling to cope with the speed of change and the increasing uncertainty in the business environment. In this chapter, I will start by discussing the history of management control and its enabling role in the creation of modern corporations. I will then argue how the development of performance management frameworks over the last 25 years is a continuation of this process whereby companies are endeavouring to cope with changes in the environment. Multi-dimensional performance measurement frameworks need to be designed, implemented and used. However, this takes time and has a cost. I will argue that as volatility and uncertainty increase, managers need new approaches to management control to keep pace with this change. This chapter will therefore describe two recent and very different approaches developed from practice to deal with situations of high uncertainty. They are provided to give illustrative insights into the way management control is developing to deal with an evolving environment rather than to give a comprehensive view of appropriate management control practices.