HEC Research Papers Series,
HEC Paris

Abstract: Driven by changing workforce expectations, digital transformation and AI, and environmental uncertainty, New Ways of Working (NWW) are reshaping organizations. Yet these empowered practices often collide with management control systems rooted in command-and-control orthodoxy, creating 'frustrated transformations'. This chapter examines these tensions by identifying misalignments between NWW-oriented leadership principles and legacy control routines. Drawing on the Viable Map, it starts from the premise that every organization operates with a management model-a configuration of leadership principles and management processes-and shows how their alignment shapes empowerment and adaptability, and thus performance. It then outlines a spectrum of alternative controls that expand the managerial repertoire beyond traditional practices while supporting such alignment. In doing so, it provides a structured way for managers and researchers to diagnose and design management controls suited to specific organizational contexts, enabling more empowering and adaptive management models in which autonomy and accountability reinforce each other.

Keywords: New Ways of Working; Management Control Systems; Alternative Controls; Management Models; Adaptability; Viable Map

JEL-codes: D23; M10; M12

25 pages, April 13, 2026

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