How Management Control Systems Coordinate Action - Managing Grand Challenges Through Coordinated Flexibility

Abstract: This thesis investigates how management control systems may be used to coordinate action when organizations engage in grand challenges. As of writing, more and more corporations are encouraged to engage in grand challenges, yet, research on how management control systems are used in these instances are limited. To investigate this issue, a case study was conducted of a company currently underway implementing a strategy in order to deal with an issue that can be categorized as a grand challenge. The study was conducted through interviews with employees and analysis of internal and external documentation of a municipally owned company. The study finds that issues characterized as grand challenges can be managed through coordinated flexibility. Consequently, the study contributes to previous management control literature by introducing the concept of coordinated flexibility as well as showing how this concept relates to previous findings on how balance of enablement and control might be achieved. The study also contributes by showing how the design and use of management control systems in cases of grand challenges relates to institutional logics. These findings indicate that the characteristics of grand challenges influence how management control systems may be used within companies seeking to contribute within these challenges.