Management controls and team effectiveness: the mediating role of team structural empowerment

This study utilises a survey to examine the mediating role of team structural empowerment on the association between different aspects of management controls, specifically team structure (team standardisation and team discretion) and the use of controls (interactive and diagnostic use of controls), with team effectiveness (team performance and team viability). The findings indicate that team structural empowerment mediates the association between team structure (both team standardisation and team discretion) and the use of controls (both interactive and diagnostic) with team effectiveness (both team performance and team viability). Hence, it is recommended that managers leverage team structural empowerment in order to achieve greater team effectiveness, by placing greater emphasis on team standardisation and team discretion, and greater (less) emphasis on the interactive (diagnostic) use of controls. Such findings highlight the importance of team structural empowerment in enhancing team effectiveness, which is crucial given empowerment represents an essential component in the functioning of teams. The findings also contribute to the management accounting contingency literature by providing an important insight into the influence of organisational contextual factors, specifically management controls, in empowering teams and enhancing team effectiveness.