New development: Management control for emergent risks in the public sector—a levers of control perspective

At a time when public service organizations (PSOs) are facing increasing pressure to account for a heterogeneous array of risks, this article discusses the insights that the levers of control framework can offer regarding the dynamic tension between competing notions of risk subsumed by different control mechanisms an organization adopts; the way in which ad hoc risk management tools can be meaningfully integrated in pre-existing management control system (MCS) arrangements; and the limits that reliance on MCS poses to a PSO’s conceptualization of risk. Overall, the framework can support practitioners in realizing the possibilities associated to designing MCS to holistically manage risk.ABSTRACTTo what extent are competing notions of risk captured by management control systems (MCS) in public service organizations (PSOs)? The authors revisit the conceptual underpinnings of the levers of control framework and argue that it offers a point of departure for theorizing the dynamic interplay between risk and control in PSOs. At both intra- as well as inter-organizational levels, the framework can reflect competing notions of risk and uncertainty, offering valuable insights for practice.