Understanding management control systems in a traditional clannish society: an interpretive case study in Somalia

Purpose- The main purpose of the paper is to understand and report the nature of management control systems (MCS) that is designed and used by the business organizations in the traditional clannish society of Somalia. Design/methodology/approach- A qualitative case study of a telecommunication company was adopted to gather both primary and secondary data. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with the executive directors of the main divisions. To triangulate the data sources, observations and document analysis were also used. Findings- The findings of the study reveal that the MCS of the case organization is extremely affected by the traditional norms of the Somali clannish environment.Although, the company practices some formal MCS techniques; i.e. budgeting and performance evaluation, compensation management and financial reporting, however, the role of the traditional clanism is visible in all aspects of the company’s daily operations. Hence, the main patterns of MCS include: clannish ownership, selective staffing and investors, collective responsibility of the clan/sub-clan members, personal trust and friendship, horizontal relationships and verbal communication. These control patterns have rendered the formal MCS techniques to become less relevant. Originality/value- The paper adds to the literature of MCS in the traditional societies especially in the African social context. Furthermore, the paper offers an insight to the academicians and practitioners about the business practices in the African traditional environments. Finally, the results of the study call for further researches, particularly in the traditional social settings that are mostly found in the less developed countries

Management Control Systems: A review of literature and a theoretical framework for future researches

The conventional perspectives of management control system (MCS) restrict MCS scope to economic rationales and merely emphasize on the single theme MCS techniques; i.e. planning, budgeting, performance measure and motivation related issues. Similarly, conventional perspective focuses on the internal processes within an organization. On the other hand, the current perspectives of MCS attempt to address the behavioral issues within and outside organizational operations. However, both perspectives fail to provide enough attention to the important central factors of MCS issues in the developing nations. The role of socio-cultural factors in MCS design and use is an emerging matter that has received less concern in the both conventional and contemporary MCS literature. In an attempt to broaden the scope of MCS functions, the paper reviews the main themes of MCS literature and offers a theoretical framework that considers the different social settings of the different nations. The theoretical framework is intended to enable us to understand the forms of MCS in the developing nations as well as developed nations. The methodology of the paper is mainly driven by theoretical reviews of MCS literature, which is hoped to be useful to reduce the research gaps of the earlier concepts. Keywords: management control systems, literature review, theoretical framewor

Management control practices in Somalia's traditional clannish society

The aim of the study is to report the management control practices (MCP) of a Telecommunication firm operating in Somalia's traditional clannish environment.Through qualitative case strategy, semi-structured interviews, observation and documents analysis were used to gather data.The executive directors of the firm were interviewed. The findings of the study show that MCP of the firm is highly affected by the traditional cultural norms of the Somali clannish society.The prevalent MCP includes “clan business-power sharing”, clan-based ownership, paternal governance, friendship and horizontal relationships, verbal communication and clannish selection of employees.Such MCP has promoted centralized decision making processes in all aspects of the firm's operations.These findings call for further researches

Management control patterns in the traditional societies: a case study in Somalia

This study presents the management control patterns within the business governance of the traditional clannish society in Somalia. The study attempts to understand and report the nature and dynamics of control approaches that are used for business governance in Somalia.A qualitative case study was used to gather the data.Semi-structured interviews with the top executive directors, observation and document analyses were employed to triangulate the data sources.The findings of the study show the role of traditional cultural settings on the control systems in Somalia’s traditional context.The prevalent control patterns include clannish ownership, paternal leadership, friendship and horizontal relationships, verbal communication and selective employment of owners and staff.These control patterns have promoted centralization of decisions including; performance measurement, incentives management and restricted financial information.The outcome of the study calls for further researches to better understand management controls, particularly that of the developing nations

The role of qualitative research methods in understanding management control systems

To understand a socially-constructed management control systems (MCS) requires an in-depth study of daily habits, routines and processes that takes place in the organizational operations.It is obvious that such behavioral aspects of organizations’ operations might not be captured through the prevailing conventional quantitative (positivist) research strategies. The current conventional (positivist) research approaches failed to provide adequate information of the socially constructed phenomena such as MCS.Thus, to cope with the specific social phenomenon, qualitative research approaches is deemed to be the most appropriate device that does not only penetrate into the organizations’ social aspects, but also facilitates to genuinely explore the subjective meanings that associates with the specific MCS forms that is constructed by the sociocultural factors of the respective society. Qualitative research approaches may offer wealthy information about the MCS phenomenon in its social settings. Drawing upon the role of qualitative research methods, in constructing meaningful relationships between MCS theory and practices, this paper attempts to enrich the descriptions and explanations regarding the critical issues that justify the use of qualitative research strategies, particularly MCS imbedded in its social contexts

Additional file 1: of Stories for change: development of a diabetes digital storytelling intervention for refugees and immigrants to minnesota using qualitative methods

Let’s Talk About Diabetes: Focus Groups to Inform a Digital Diabetes Storytelling Intervention. (DOCX 42 kb