Author(s): Rui Silva, Margarida Rodrigues, Cidalia Oliveira, Marcio Oliveira, C. Machado-Santos
Over several decades, management control theory has raised managers' attention and carried out several research projects to develop knowledge in both areas, namely academia and organisations. Managers and academics felt that the focus on single traditional accounting indicators was not enough to guide decision towards the defined strategy.Following this path, Management Control Tools have been recognized as relevant tools to guide managers in monitoring an organisation’s performance, considering a relationship between the organizations’ strategic objectives and their performance measurement. To achieve this alignment, organizational leaders are uninterruptedly facing the challenge of measuring their performance to fit shareholders' expectations, which led them to implement Management Control Tools to meet this challenge. On the hand of management tools, managers can align the measurement of performance according to the individual indicators, which at the end flow towards the fulfilment of organisational strategy. Bearing in mind the review of the relevant literature, managers are still seeking more trustful and integrated Management Control Tools from time to time. This search is linked to the fact that they still need to define what they intend to measure and precisely. Considering that this research field is not embryonic but still is not exhaustively detailed, this research highlights the relevance of Management Control Tools to foster further empirical research of management control tool implementation in organisations related to services and industries. This research aims to clarify in which way Management Control Toolscan be used to support managers in engaging their performance objectives. The contribution of this conceptual research is helpful for both academicsand managers as it aligns the features of Management Control Toolswith performance management in organizational strategy.