What are Organizational Control Systems?

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Organizational Control Systems

Organizational control systems are the ways leaders guide and check what happens in an organisation so it doesn’t drift off-course. They are the methods used to see “Are we doing what we said we’d do?” and “Do we need to correct anything?”​

Three basic control systems

Most organisations use some mix of these three:​

Output control – focus on results

• Looks at what comes out: sales, profit, number of clients helped, quality scores, deadlines met.
• Leaders set targets, measure performance against them, then reward, coach, or change plans based on the numbers.

Behavioural control – focus on actions

• Focuses on how people work, not just the end result.
• Uses rules, procedures, supervision, checklists, approvals (for example, “two signatures needed on payments,” “safety steps must be followed this way”).​

Clan (cultural) control – focus on shared values

• Relies on culture: shared beliefs, stories, habits, and expectations.
• People are guided by “how we do things here” and by wanting to live up to the group’s standards, rather than by detailed rules or constant measurement.​

Other common lenses on control

You will also see these practical categories:

Financial vs. non‑financial controls: Budgets, costs, profits versus customer satisfaction, error rates, staff turnover, etc.​

Timing of control:

• Before work (feedforward controls, like training and careful hiring).
• During work (concurrent controls, like live dashboards, spot checks).
• After work (feedback controls, like reviews and reports).​

How to think about them in everyday terms

• Output control = “What did we achieve?”
• Behavioural control = “Are we following the agreed way of working?”
• Clan control = “Does our culture naturally pull people in the right direction?”

Healthy organisations blend all three, instead of relying only on strict rules or only on trust and culture.

Further Reading​