Workability of a Management Control Model in Service Organizations: A Comparative Study of Reactive, Proactive and Coactive Philosophies

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to compare and contrast the three philosophies of management control models in the process of decision-making, namely reactive, proactive and the coactive. Research methodology was based on literature review and descriptive/exploratory approach. Additionally, a survey of 20 service organizations was carried out in order to make the analysis wider-reaching. In order to do that, the following steps were followed: firstly, fundamentals of reactive, proactive and coactive models were highlighted; secondly, management behaviors in the three approaches were compared, with concepts and their practical application being highlighted, thus retrieving managerial relationships in the organization. In so doing, we draw the hypothesis that middle and top managers who adopt control models that are distant from a more coactive one, usually spend a greater number of working hours in problem-solving, leaving little or no time for planning purposes. Finally, for study consolidation purpose, we have adopted qualitative data collection, whereby a content analysis was carried out with the assistance of six categories. Results have shown the need for a change in management paradigms so that firms are not only compared through financial perspectives, without considering the analysis of management control models which, according to this study, directly influence the operational results of the organizations.