Efficiency, advice, and supervision: Instrumental determinants of the territorial management controller

Abstract

This article is situated at the crossroads of the fields of sociology, local public management, and management control. Its aim is to shed a sociological light on the contribution of management tools to the role of the territorial management controller in France. In other words, it investigates how management controllers use their instruments to act in organizations. This research is initially based on a cross-explanatory analysis of the role of the management controller, management tools, and their connectedness. It also incorporates a quantitative empirical study on these instruments in municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants. The aim of this research is to highlight the critical, institutional, and interactional syntheses of Chiapello and Gilbert (2013) in relation to our conceptual framework. Built around the theory of organizational learning, the framework highlights the sociological triad of “efficiency – advice – supervision,” thus reinforcing the definition of the territorial management controller.