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A conceptual framework for the design of organizational control mechanisms

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Readings in Accounting for Management Control

Abstract

The problem of organization is the problem of obtaining cooperation among a collection of individuals or units who share only partially congruent objectives. When a team of individuals collectively produces a single output, there develops the problem of how to distribute the rewards emanating from that output in such a manner that each team member is equitably rewarded. If equitable rewards are not forthcoming, members will, in future cooperative ventures, adjust their efforts in such a manner that all will be somewhat worse off (cf. Simon [41], Marschak [26], Alchian and Demsetz [1]).

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Ouchi, W.G. (1979). A conceptual framework for the design of organizational control mechanisms. In: Emmanuel, C., Otley, D., Merchant, K. (eds) Readings in Accounting for Management Control. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7138-8_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7138-8_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-412-41490-9

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