Strategic control systems in action: manager's use of information devices in creational and institutionalising work

In recent years, the number of managerial processes and information devices with a claim to strategic importance has increased significantly, while the environments in which they are working have become increasingly chaotic and unpredictable. This paper sets out to increase the level of understanding with respect to Strategic Control Systems (SCS) by mapping and discussing strategically important managerial processes and information devices – and the links between the two phenomena – as experienced by a corporation in the midst of radical strategic change in a chaotic setting. The study shows that the creational dimension of managerial work was the principal source from which the realised strategies sprang, and that the most important information device in this work was the organisation per se. The creational dimension of managerial work was further supported by ad hoc, fragmented information devices which were detached from the corporation’s intended strategy. The patterns emanating from the creational dimension were institutionalised through strategy-based, integrated control systems and some other means. The systems appeared to be more of an end result than the starting point for strategic work.