Informally Exerting Managerial Control

What is it about?

Eight case examples of managers informally exerting control from the U.S. are described. These findings were compared to the prior literature dealing with formal control measures. Aspects of these informal methods violated virtually all of the conventional prescriptive wisdom. Prior research on negotiated social orders, status degradation, labeling and stigmatization, however, proved to be highly related to the contents of these case examples.

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Why is it important?

Informal supervisory control measures were clearly evident in these cases. Since the informal means managers employ can have both complementary and contradictory aspects relative to the formal means employed, they deserve careful study. This field study examined deviant behavior from the perspective of the controllers. This is quite different from prior studies that examined the reactions of those who were on the receiving end of control measures.