Researching the Human Side of Management Control: Using Survey-Based Methods

One of the more important internal factors determining the performance of (business) organizations is the human behaviour that originates within them. Using archival data, Hansen & Werner felt (1989) find that twice as much of the variance in firm performance is due to factors related to human behaviour than is due to economic factors. More recently, the importance of human behaviour has arguably increased due to the heightened levels of uncertainty firms currently face. Firms faced with uncertainty from growth opportunities due to technological innovations and the development of emerging markets saw opportunities for global expansion and earnings growth. However, lately, uncertainty has been fuelled by pressures in the capital markets and a sense of consumer pessimism. As firms struggle to maintain their earnings, human behaviour becomes increasingly important. Statements such as “Every crisis is a human crisis” (Braverman, 2003, p. 141) and ‘It is often the (mis) hand ling of crises, not the crisis itself, that can have the most consequences” (James and Wooten, 2005, p. 141) illustrate the importance of human behaviour to firm performance (see also Otley, 1994). It is imperative that firms align human behaviour within the organization to maximize its positive effect on performance and to achieve their organizational objectives.