ØABED4500 Management Control Systems Course description

Management control is essential in all organizations. Inappropriate management control systems can result in underperformance, large financial losses, damaged reputation, and bankruptcy. This course focuses on how management control systems should be designed to achieve value creation in decentralized organizations. Based on economic, psychological, and sociological perspectives on human behavior in organizations, the various forms of responsibility centers, transfer pricing approaches, budgeting processes, performance measures, and incentive systems are discussed aiming to foster holistic understanding of the mechanisms that different management levels can use to stimulate effort and focus on value creation for the stakeholders in line with the organization’s strategy.

None

After completing the course, the student should have the following overall learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills, and general competence:

Knowledge

The student has

• ability to apply a broad set of perspectives on human behavior in evaluation of the effects of management control levers
• advanced insight into the most important issues relating to elements of management control systems
• very good understanding of the trade-offs associated with different performance measures
• strong capability for critical reflection regarding the relationship between formal reward systems and other forces driving internal and external motivation

Skills

The student is capable of

• applying motivation theory, principal-agent theory, accounting concepts and microeconomic insights to complex management control problems in companies
• relating the choice of management control approaches to the company's strategies at group and entity level

General competence

The student

• can reflect on ethical and moral dilemmas related to management control and strategy
• has developed analytical competence further

Through their professional practice, physiotherapists come into contact with people with different diseases and injuries and at all stages of life. A person’s functional ability must be understood as an interaction between the individual, task and environment. When examining and assessing functional ability, the physiotherapist must be able to address the needs of and interact with people who find it challenging to carry out activities and tasks at home, in kindergarten, at school, at work and in their free time. The learning outcomes of the course represent basic competence required to examine, assess and identify factors that promote and impede a person’s functioning and health. Cooperation with other professions requires a common understanding of concepts, and the course introduces the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) as a common conceptual framework.

The following coursework requirements must have been approved in order for the student to take the exam:

• Coursework 1: Three written assignments must be handed in by set deadlines during the term. Students work individually or in groups of up to four members. The scope of the assignment (number of pages) varies depending on the nature of the assignment. The expected number of pages is less than 20 in total for the three assignments.

The purpose of the work requirement is for the students to achieve a deeper understanding of the syllabus and to develop skills in assessing management control systems.

All required coursework must be completed and approved by the given deadline in order for the student to take the exam. If one or more coursework requirements have not been approved, the student will be given one opportunity to submit an improved version by the given deadline.

The student must have been admitted to the study programme.

The following aids are permitted:

• All written and printed aids
• Calculator (see regulations for the use of calculators in the programme description)

Grade scale A-F

The work and teaching methods include self-study, group work, seminars, lectures, practical skills training and experience-based practical training. Experience-based practical training takes place in different practical training arenas.

Einar Belsom

The following must have been approved in order for the student to take the exam:

• completed experience-based practical training, 4 days
• a minimum attendance of 80 % in teaching specified as ‘compulsory attendance’ in the lecture schedule programme (TP)
• three (3) oral/audio-visual presentations in groups of 3-6 students in accordance with more specific criteria, up to 7 minutes per group
• experience-based practical training: completed patient consultation and subject note written in pairs. Subject note, 700 words (+/- 10%). The subject note will be subject to assessment