Trust and management control system: a study on meta-sinthetic interactions

Abstract

Management accounting has been associated to the institutionalization of trust inside organizations. Trust allows the implementation of systems which grant freedom to choose without trying to process more information about the world than it ought to be done. (TOMKINS, 2001). Regarding such aspects, this paper questions: how have previous studies been relating trust and Management Control Systems (MCS) towards reaching organizational objectives? To achieve this, we object to examine the role of trust in Management Control System, and its relation with organizational objectives, according to Hoon’s (2014) methodology, which allow the construction of a theory based on primary case studies. On developing the methodology four causal networks have been examined on selected studies: institutions, Management Control Systems, trust and organizational objectives. The institutions represent the effective background of the case studies, specially as a series of habits, rules, routines and procedures; the approaches regarding management control systems include budget and performance evaluation; in relation to trust, previous studies have primarily discussed it through contract, communication and competence approaches; and, as to organizational objectives, changes on current systems, focus on performance and business risk reduction are tackled. Feedback, however, was dealt with after achieving objectives, when management incorporates trust on personnel relationships – the primary step towards goals and objectives.