Configuration of Control Mechanisms in Innovative Corporations

According to traditional management theories, control and innovation are two opposite sides of a continuum. Theories discuss that control systems create serious obstacles for creativity and innovation. In principle, the degree of organization’s formality is in reverse relation with innovation. But the new proposed approaches in control literature and experimental researches show that control is not only a rigid and static concept concentrated on standardization and minimizing the diversity and novelty, but formal control systems could affect innovation management process positively. This paper tried to develop a new framework for making innovation, compatible with control in organizations via configuration approach; which presents four conceptually organizational configurations. Two configurations from the selected ones provide the necessary context for innovation. In other words, the organizations can use these two configurations to make the emergence of innovation possible.