Controlling strategy through dialectical management

•We use an actor-based approach to conceptualise controlling strategy.•Functional areas are conceptualised as topoi following pragmatic constructivism.•Tensions are used in a dialectical manner.•Model is illustrated using evidence from the hospitality industry.•The functional area acting as “corporate policeman” varies between cases. Controlling strategy has been portrayed as a matter of managing tensions. But what are these tensions and how do they arise in firms? In this paper, organisational strategy is represented by a target operating model that is maintained by dialectical relationships between functional areas. Using a pragmatic constructivist framework, the functional areas may be conceptualised as specialised managerial topoi. Drawing on field work in the hospitality industry, the paper employs an actor-based research methodology to show that organisational tensions may develop out of conflicts between the different goals and logics associated with the various functional areas such as marketing, sales, revenue management and finance. Although there was evidence of accountants acting as custodians of the budgetary system, in some situations, other functional areas such as marketing or revenue management seemed to be the corporate policemen as they protected the corporate brand against unplanned price discounting or short term cost saving tactics. Rather than seeing functional specialisation as a disruptive obstacle to organisational coherence, the paper presents arguments and evidence which suggest that with the deployment of the principles of dialectical management, tensions between the different business functions can enhance strategic control and development.