Acting the Municipality Vision: The Manifestation of a Management Control Model

Abstract

The role of management control systems (MCS) within the public sector has gained widespread attention among scholars in the field. Driven by a quest for legitimacy and the efficient management of public resources, many public organizations have applied management techniques traditionally developed for private corporations. This case study takes a managerial perspective and departs from two administrations of a Swedish municipality that has developed an own management control model (MCM). Even though proponents for management techniques suggest that it can help align overall goals with operations, other researchers question the use in practice, pointing towards increased management where control systems have been found de-coupled from operations. This study aims to describe and analyze the manifestation of a MCM in managerial practice using a loose coupling framework. The article will show how the MCM plays an interconnecting role where several couplings between the MCM and operations are identified. The findings contribute with knowledge of how different types of couplings can coexist in building a complete system.