Section I.

Introduction
The underlying feature of management is the concept of control. According to
Mullins (2010, p. 664), control systems exist in all spheres of the operations of the
organisation and are a necessary part of the process of management. Control is
defined as
a regulatory process of establishing standards to achieve organizational
goals, comparing actual performance against the standards and taking
corrective action when necessary to restore performance to those standards.
(Williams & McWilliams, p. 319).
The objective of control in an organisation is to promote an identity between goals
of individuals and groups and the organisation as a whole (Flamholtz 1979).
Therefore, a control system helps in ensuring unity among employees which leads
to their performance being efficient and effective.
Williams and McWilliams, in the chapter Controlling of their book MGMT (2010)
illustrate the basic control process. The control process begins by setting
performance standards, measuring actual performance, comparing it to the set
standards and taking corrective actions when an organisation fails to achieve its
objectives or if there are any form of performance deviation. The chapter asserts
that control is continuous and requires constant attention from managers. The three
basic control methods described are feedback control, concurrent control and feedforward control. Control, however is not always worthwhile or possible due to the
regulation cost and unforeseen consequences.
The authors further describe five methods that managers use to achieve
organizational control. These methods are bureaucratic control, objective control,

normative control, concertive control and self-control This chapter provides clear
explanation on the dimensions that need to be controlled in an organisation. The
authors explain how a balanced scorecard approached can be used to measure
company performance from four dimensions financial, customers, internal
operations, and innovation and learning. Further exploration on how to achieve a
balanced control from these dimensions are thoroughly discussed. Concertive
control, a theory presented in this chapter as one of the method used to achieve
control in an organisation, is the core of this paper and further explored. Thus the
remainder of the paper is organized as follows:
Section II. explains the definition of concertive control, Section III describes the
elements of concertive control and in Section III the examples of concertive control
that can be found in Sunway College are presented. Finally, Section V contains the
conclusion.

Section II. Definition of Concertive Control

Concertive control is defined as the regulation of workers behavior and decisions
through work group values and beliefs (Williams & McWilliams, 2010 p.326). Barker
(1993) developed the notion of concertive control system which was initially
articulated conceptually by Tompkins and Cheney (Hawkins 2013). They argued that
concertive control emerged as a result of a continual push towards increased worker
participation and a flat management structure (Wright & Barker, 2000). According to
Larson & Tompkins (2005), control shifts from a bureaucratic system to a valueladen

premises

where

control

is

established

organizational values and is enforced by peers.

by

workers

identifying

with

According to Barker (1993) teams operating with concertive control system evolve
through three phases as they develop the system. In the first phase, members learn
how to work together and supervise each other functionally. Work teams develop
their own values and beliefs to control their behavior. Since these values are
developed by themselves, they feel strongly about following them (Williams &
McWilliams, 2010 p.326). The second phase of the evolution of concertive control is
the emergence of normative rules (Barker 1993). The existing team members
develop their concertively generated values into normative rules so it is easier for
the new members joining the team to understand and follow these values. As a
result, strong norms are developed from the old members value consensus and
these norms are enforced on each other as a set new rules. In third phase, the
established normative rules become increasingly rationalized and serve as a
controlling force of team actions. (Barker 1993). Their works become more
formalized which gives the teams a sense of stability. (Barker 1993). The author
explained that the social rules which were established throughout the development
phases of concertive control, become increasingly rigid and members try to
permanently fix these social rules.

Section III. Elements of Concertive Control

Papa, Auwal and Singhal (1997) asserts that empowerment, identification and
discipline are the three elements of concertive control. Empowerment is a
construct that ties personal competencies and abilities to environments that provide
opportunities for choice and autonomy in demonstrating those competencies
(Zimmerman & Rappaport, cited in Short 1994).Opportunities for individual and
collective empowerment emerge when employees collaboratively create their own
social values and norms. Empowerment is developed as workers collaborate with

one another to achieve their organizational objectives without any influence of

external forces. The effectiveness of concertive control system in regulating
employees behaviour also depends on workers identifying with the concertively
generated set of values and factual premises that guide their decision making and
work tasks (Papa, Auwal & Singhal 1997).
Barker and Tompkins (1994) conducted two studies to investigate the degree of
identification by workers in self-managing teams and the larger organisation that
created them. The research suggests that employees working in a concertive
control system report higher level of identification with their teams than they do
with the company they work in. Worker express greater level of loyalty towards their
teams which are operating under concertive control than they do with the
company.Furthermore, the strength of employee identification increases with the
tenure years on the job.
Hawkins (2013) provides new insights on identification by workers in a concertive
control system. Her findings show that gender is linked together by concertive
control practices in teamwork. Evidences suggest that gendered discourses act as a
resource during concertive control interactions and team members are expected to
identify with the team values and demonstrate them. Three ways were found on
how gender acts as a resource for the concertive control processes within the
organizations. Author asserts that concertive control interactions which contain
messages about team behaviour can take place in formal situations like team
meetings and informal situations like in banter and gossip.
The third element of concertive control is discipline. According to Miller (2012, p.
112) employees identify with the management values and use these values as basis

for disciplining themselves and other work team members. Individual and collective
actions in organisation are regulated and normalized as a result of disciplinary
techniques used in concertive control system. When these techniques are
internalized, they eventually become part of standard operating procedure (Papa,
Auwal & Singhal 1997). When members violate the team norms and values, their
behavior is punished and when their behavior comply with the values, their
behavior is rewarded (Foucalt, cited in Miller 2012, p. 112).
There are negative outcomes of practicing concertive control and these are
presented in various literature, such as demotivation and dissatisfaction of team
members due to a system which is too constraining (Wright & Barker 2000), and
pressure on workers to conform to expectations of peers (Williams & McWilliams
2010, p.327). Hence, it is highly possible that workers may show resistance towards
concertive control system.
Larson and Tompkins (2005) investigated the challenges posed by changes in
concertive control system to the identities of managers. They presented findings in
which they propose some methods for managers to handle resistance by workers
towards concertive control. Evidences demonstrated by the authors show that in
order

to

suppress

employee

resistance,

managers

utilize

ambivalence

communication where they can subtly undermine their efforts to change, hence
supporting employee resistance. Larson and Tompkins proposed two solutions to
communicate

ambivalence.

One

method

is

for

the

managers

to

explain

contradictions between managements communication about change and the

practice of daily work life and the other method is to brag about past performance
while promoting change.

Section IV Examples of Concertive Control in Sunway College

The study groups found in Sunway College comprises the elements of concertive
control. The members (i.e. students) control their behaviours according to the set of
values that have been negotiated and established among themselves. Punctuality,
respect for each other and commitment are the values the members use to guide
their actions. Team members reach this consensus experientially which leads to
them express strong identification with these values. These values become the rules
and everyone is expected to follow them strictly. Team members are also
empowered to make their own decisions in determining their schedule of study
meetings, the practice exercises they do collaboratively as well as the discussion of
assignments and homework. They have developed their own disciplines which
eliminates procrastination habit most of the members possessed prior to joining the
team.
The Student Service Department (SSD) of Sunway College is a supporting unit that
focuses on stimulating the academic environment to further enhance the personal
development and career preparation of students. (Student Services, n.d.). The SSD
staffs work as a team to provide support services such as assisting students to
organize events in college. As stated in Student Services (n.d.), their objective is to
develop graduates with leadership skills and prepare them for the dynamic and
competitive global employment market. To achieve this goal, the team draw on
Sunway Colleges vision, which is to be a premier private college in the Southern
Region. (Mission and Vision, n.d.) and have developed its values and rules by
using

the

vision

as

guideline

for

daily

work

practices.

The members of the team work in isolation from the management, hence they
possess the control on their daily schedule and decision making. They have the

authority to determine how each member works together to address the needs of
students. A meeting is conducted occasionally for them to discuss strategies to
fulfill their roles, and to resolve any conflicts that rises within the team. Since they
take personal responsibilities for their own actions, they do not seek the consult of
the management to resolve the conflicts which leads to the team being empowered
to find solutions collectively.

Section V. Conclusion
It can be concluded that concertive control, which emerged as a response to the
trend towards a flat management hierarchy and increased employee participation,
evolved through three phases. Barker (1993) demonstrated that the first phase
involves the employees learning how to work together and supervise each other
functionally. He explained that the second phase comprises emergence of normative
rules from the value consensus followed by the third phase in which the normative
rules become increasingly rationalized.
Identification, empowerment and discipline are the element of concertive control.
Workers strongly identify with the team values which results in team members
acting in accordance to those values. They are empowered to make their own
decisions without external influences and the established values act as a basis for
disciplining the team members. Examples of concertive control found in Sunway
College are the student study groups and the Student Services Department (SSD).
Several literatures have provided detailed findings on elements of concertive control
and the implications of the system. However, further studies on the antecedents
and consequences of concertive control and their relationship is necessary.
Research on antecedents such as group composition, characteristics of tasks and

the external team supervision as well as on consequences such as effectiveness,

peer pressure and team conflicts can be conducted. One of the literature reviewed
presented findings on relationship between gendered discourses and concertive
control. Similarly, more research should be done using other social dimensions like
age and ethnicity to determine how concertive control practices are affected them.

Reference List

Mullins, LJ 2010, Management & Organisational Behaviour, Prentice Hall,

Italy.
Williams, C, McWilliams, A 2010, MGMT, Cengage Learning, Australia.