Managing Values and Financial Accountability: The Case of a Large NGO

Abstract

A significant challenge for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is constructing a management control environment that allows them to maintain their historical and founding values alongside the pressures created by organisational growth and funding agencies. The primary objective of this study is to explore how a large Indian NGO, founded on the principles of Mahatma Gandhi, designs and uses management control systems (MCS) to manage these pressures. Utilising a case study methodology, we found that the NGO relies heavily on cultural controls to protect the founding values of Mahatma Gandhi to achieve its mandate. However, the funding institutions demand their own set of conflicting controls which materially impact the cybernetic, planning and administrative controls. We re-orient an established MCS framework into the conceptualised MCS packages of belief controls and funding controls, and relate previous spirituality and management concepts to extend our knowledge of MCS in NGOs.