Painting the Relevant Organisation

In this chapter by Alf Westelius and Johnny Lind, “Painting the relevant organisation”, the authors discuss how it is increasingly less self-evident which entity should be the focus of strategic management control. Although the relevant organisation may be the whole, or some parts, of an organisation, it may also be a somewhat broader entity such as a joint venture, an imaginary (i.e. virtual) organisation, a network (Uppsala School network theory style), a value constellation or a partnership. The chapter discusses all these, less obvious, possibilities. Because different people are likely to have different views on what constitutes the relevant entity, an essential aspect of strategic management control is establishing and maintaining the dialogue on associations and boundaries. The dialogue may involve a strong party, perhaps aiming to inspect and influence external parties (e.g. suppliers and customers), but can also be conducted among more equal partners. The authors conclude that people who want to take an active management role, or who want to include others in the exercise of management control, should learn how to paint a convincing picture of what they view as the relevant entity to control (or the relevant parties that should cooperate in jointly controlling their collaboration).