Controlling defense operations
disclosures of the Royal Netherlands Army 2001-2005Controlling defense operations
disclosures of the Royal Netherlands Army 2001-2005Samenvatting
This article stresses the need to adjust performance management to deficiencies in results controls, whenever such deficiencies prove to be inevitable. The authors argue that management control has to reach beyond results into the underlying activities. Deficient result controls should be supplemented by action controls embedded in transformation processes. They argue that performancecontrols should be based upon opportunity costs implied in the actual use of resources, whenever these costs themselves can be disclosed. They outline a framework for such a disclosure as a basis for management contracting between central management and lower level organization units. They illustrate the framework for the operational units in the Royal Netherlands Army (RNLA), using disclosures in the Budget Memoranda issued between 2001 and 2005.