Berend van der Kolk, Assistant Professor in Management Control and Business Ethics at the IE University Madrid, discussed the role of dynamics and tension in management control systems with members of the WHU community during a WHU Research Seminar on March 19. In their study, Berend van der Kolk and his colleagues, Paula von Veen-Dirks and Henk ter Bogt, explore different tensions that might exist among management control elements used in organizations. Based on their qualitative in-depth analysis, Professor Berend van der Kolk also discussed the possibilities that organizations have to manage and balance such tensions.
Berend van der Kolk is interested in understanding the roles that management control plays in motivating employees, the interplay of management control instruments, and the antecedents and effects of the use of performance measurement in the public sector. His research is published in international academic journals, such as Financial Accountability and Management (FAM), Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ), and Journal of Management Control (JMAC), and also in practitioner-oriented outlets such as Holland Management Review (HMR).