An Extended Model of IS Project Control

Abstract

IS project controls research focuses on identifying the appropriate sets of controls for managing complex IS projects. The literature is dominated by the situational view of control, which argues that situational factors such as the visibility of outcomes or behaviors identify the appropriate controls to employ. The controls literature in management has two alternate views on control. The balancing view suggests that organizations must have a healthy mix of formal (i.e., behavior and outcome) and informal (i.e., clan and self) controls, while the more controls view argues that control predicts project performance. These alternate views can potentially shed light on unexplained IS project control phenomena. For example, because the balancing view advocates the need for balance (Cardinal, Sitkin, & Long, 2004), it explains why all control modes are present in every project- an explanation that is absent from the situational view.