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Organizational Innovation PDF
Organizational Innovation PDF
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those directly connected with merchan- cluding those in the merchandise divi-
dise operations. The merchants appear sion, have a more favorable view of the
to believe, as one controller reported, controllersand their reportingactivities
that the workof the staff is unproductive (because they themselves lack direct
and parasitic. The negative stereotype information on the operations of the
merchants hold of staff executives ap- decentralized subunits), but they tend
pears to be derived from the buyers' to prevent the controllersfrom holding
beliefs that staff-imposed rules restrict an influentialrole in the generalmanage-
their ability to react to market changes ment of the firms.2'It is the beliefof most
and that all store revenues are solely controllersthat their potential contribu-
the result of merchandisingdecisions.'9 tion to the general management of the
Departmental operating reports listing firms has been greatly undervalued.
user charges and contributionsto over- Status comparisons with industrial
head-remind the buyers that they di- controllers have become distressing for
rectly support the activities of the staff the retail controllersin recentyears. The
units. Controllers, in contrast to mer- spectacular success of certain industrial
chants, are quite dissatisfied with their controllers in shaping the policies of
organizationalposition.20Originally,they important government and business or-
were financial trustees for the founding ganizations is but one indication to the
entrepreneurs,recording and reporting retail controllersof the changingposition
all commercialactivities of the stores. As of their industrial counterparts.In self-
the stores grew in size and as manage- description, industrial controllers claim
ment separated from ownership, the to be as concernedwith policy planning
controllersgainedjurisdictionover many and program evaluation activities as
essential sales-supportingactivities, such they are with traditional accounting
as credit authorizationand payroll prep- activities.22More and more company
aration, but their main tasks remained presidenciesand top management posts
accounting and auditing. Among lower- appear to be opening up to industrial
level organizational participants, the controllers. Shedding completely their
controllersare still viewed as the com- bookkeeping image, the industrial con-
pany spies, the internalinvestigatorsand trollers have changed the name of their
conservativebookkeeperswho searchfor professionalgroup from the Controllers
error and demand burdensome docu- Institute to the Financial Executives
mentation. Higher-level executives, in- Institute.
Contact with national public account-
19A continuing organizationalconflict between ing firms also creates dissatisfaction
merchantsand staff executiveshas frequentlybeen among retail controllers.In serving the
noted in the literatureon departmentstores. See,
e.g., Paul M. Mazur, Principles of OrganizationAp- stores as external auditors, the public
plied to Modern Retailingg (New York: Harper & accounting firms keep the controllers
Bros., 1927);David A. Moore,"ManagerialStrate-
21 Retail ResearchInstitute, op. cit.; and ErickA.
gies and OrganizationalDynamicsin Sears Retail-
ing" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Chicago, Helfert, EleanorG. May, and MalcolmP. McNair,
1954);and Retail ResearchInstitute, EDP-Update Controllership in Department Stores (Boston: Har-
(February15, 1965). vard University GraduateSchool of Business Ad-
20 In interviews,ten of fifteencontrollersand six
ministration,1965).
22 See, e.g., J. Brooks Heckert and James D.
of forty-fourbuyers indicated dissatisfactionwith
the power of their respective organizationalposi- Willson,Controllership(2d ed.; New York: Roland
tions. Press, 1963).