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firm’s knowledge-building activities. For example, if a firm is introducing a new product
or service into a new market, it may not be sure how best to arrange the launch. But
if the launch is the first of several, the strategic objective must be not only to make as
good a success of the launch as possible, but equally (or more) important, it must learn
from the experience. The organisation must put in mechanisms to gain knowledge and
embed the learning into its decision making. It is these knowledge-building skills that
will ultimately determine the effectiveness of trial-and-error control.

Intuitive control
If strategic objectives are relatively unambiguous but effects of interventions not
known, nor is strategic decision making repetitive, learning by trial and error is not
possible. Therefore, says Hofstede, the organisation has to view strategic control as
more of an art than as a science. And in these circumstances, control must be based on
the management team using its innate intuition to make strategic control decisions.
Many competition-based strategic decisions fall into this category. Objectives are clear
(survive in the long term, make an acceptable return and so on), but not only are con-
trol interventions not repetitive and their effects not fully understood, there are com-
petitors whose interests are in conflict with yours. Yet, simply stating that ‘intuition’
is needed in these circumstances is not particularly helpful. Instinct and feelings are,
of course, valuable attributes in any management team, but they are the result, at least
partly, of understanding how best to organise their shared understanding, knowledge
and decision-making skills. It requires thorough decision analysis not to ‘mechanisti-
cally’ make the decision, but to frame it so that connections can be made, consequences
understood and insights gained. Put another way, instinct may thrive best when used
in the context of refined decision-making skills.

Negotiated control
The most difficult circumstance for strategic control is when objectives are ambiguous.
This type of control involves reducing ambiguity in some way by making objectives less
uncertain. Or, as Hofstede (who calls it ‘political’ control) puts it, ‘resolving ambiguities
so that external uncertainties become internal certainties’. Sometimes this is done simply
by senior managers ‘pronouncing’ or arbitrarily deciding what objectives should be irre-
spective of opposing views. More consensually, a negotiated settlement may be sought
that then can become an unambiguous objective. Alternatively, outside experts (e.g.,
consultants) could be used, either to help with the negotiations or to remove control
decisions from those with conflicting views. The success of this method will depend
partly on whether the ‘expert’ has credibility within the organisation as someone who
can resolve ambiguity. Yet, even within the framework of negotiation, there is almost
always a political element when ambiguities in objectives exist. Negotiation processes
will be, to some extent, dependent on power structures.

how is progress towards strategic objectives tracked?

Especially in times when their environment is changing rapidly, organisations feel the
need to detect change by tracking performance, scanning the environment, interpret-
ing the information that it detects and responding appropriately. Monitoring, in our
terms, involves the first three of these activities. If the information resulting from this
monitoring activity is to be useful for control purposes it should collect useful data

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