ABSTRACT
The maxim of ‘divide and rule’, so it is argued, provides senior executives with an effective management control process, aiming to ensure that every part of the structure makes a positive contribution to the wellbeing of the enterprise. The performance of each unit can be evaluated by comparison with past performance, with the planned budget, or with other units, and the results can be used for planning exercises and for strategic realignment. The lesson to be learnt from the discourse is that administrative and organizational solutions can always be devised to promote the principle of accountability, but each solution breeds new problems and involves certain penalties. The computer department is working at 63% utilization and its manager estimates that the requirements of the new production-scheduling system would increase utilization to 75%. The doctrine of transfer pricing requires that the services are charged’ to customer departments’.
