The evolution of management control combinations in the transformation toward hybridity: a case study
研究了一家中国国企从政府导向转向混合商业模式时，文化控制、预算控制和绩效测量三种管理控制实践如何从松散耦合演变为紧密耦合，揭示了控制灵活性来自组织调整实践组合的能力。
This paper investigates how management control (MC) practices evolve in nature and interrelationship as control problems develop in a dynamic environment. Drawing on coupling theory, it examines how three MC practices – cultural control, budgeting control, and performance measurement – are (re)coupled across two distinct periods in a Chinese state-owned company. During the organisational transition from a government-oriented model to a more complex hybrid-business model, the findings indicate that control problems increase in both scope and complexity. Correspondingly, the combination of MC practices shifts from more informal culture control loosely coupled with budgeting, towards a more rigid and comprehensive budgeting and performance measurement system, supported by more formal culture control in a tightly coupled combination. The study illustrates how MC combinations evolve from loose to tight coupling through simultaneous adjustments in individual practices themselves and in their responsiveness and distinctiveness when combined. This suggests that flexibility in control may lie in an organisation’s capability to adapt – by revitalising existing MC practices, introducing new ones, and reshaping their combinations – rather than in the fixed nature of any single practice or type of coupling. The findings contribute to the literature on MC combination in general, and on MC in hybrid organisations in particular, while offering important practical insights into enhancing the effectiveness of MC in organisations.