Technological developments and the digitalisation of businesses are changing the ways in which an organisation can be understood and managed. Advanced analysis of large amounts of data is one example of how modern businesses are changing and evolving with the help of technology (Haenlein & Kaplan, 2019). This type of analysis has been collectively referred to as machine learning or artificial intelligence, which in both cases indicates that the machine can learn something and develop a skill, an intelligence. Using AI-based tools and software, the management of an organisation is expected to create a new type of competitive advantage (Krakowski, Luger & Raisch, 2023). The application of AI is currently being adapted to virtually all functions of a company, ranging from accounting, to marketing, production and logistics. The company that succeeds in integrating AI into the decision-making of different functions to create an augmented management control function has much to gain.
As data collection becomes more detailed and can follow the performance of an organisation through sensors, various management accounting functions, for example, can work more efficiently (Varzaru, 2022a). The way a company chooses to work with its data enhances the picture management can get of the business and its position.
An important part of managing a company is the ability to plan for and monitor the work to be done (Emmanuel, Otley & Merchant, 1994). Using AI, different decision-making situations can be either automated or enhanced (Leyer & Schneider, 2021). AI then becomes a function that can be understood as a tool in decision-making or a form of novelty that can be understood more as a trend or an expression of fashion. The work of adapting the digital interface to the work situation and the context in which it will be used is therefore crucial. If done correctly, managerial skills can be enhanced and augmented by AI (Giraud, Zaher, Hernandez & Akram, 2022). There is an inherent risk of a conflict between human behaviour and the machine when an organisation and its managers become increasingly dependent on technological solutions (Leyer & Schneider, 2021).
From one perspective, this development is about how human behaviour interacts with machine behaviour (Haesevoes, De Cremer, Dierckx & Van Hiel, 2021). In many cases, it is not that human managers want to exclude machines, but they want to form a kind of partnership where humans still have the deciding vote in a decision-making situation. In a way, human intelligence is described as something that contrasts with machine intelligence. An alternative view is that there is no contradiction between man and machine; the machine is not the enemy of man. In the ongoing technological development, the machine then becomes not an opponent but a co-player (Kelly, 2016).
In this paper a narrative literature review have been used to address and develop an understanding of how phenomenon such as AI affects and drives an augmented management control function.
2024.
The 27th Nordic Academy of Management (NFF) Conference, Reykjavík, Iceland, August 14-17, 2024