A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration in International Business

Research Studies Project Report (M.B.A.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2007

Companies traditionally have seen human resource management as a necessary expense, rather than as a source of value to their organizations. Economic value is usually associated with capital, such as cash, equipment, technology and facilities. However, research has shown that HRM can be valuable. Decisions such as whom to hire, what to pay, what training to offer and how to evaluate employees directly affect company performance. Therefore, how to control the performance of HR department and make sure it is aligned with current company strategies and goal is an important task. By adopting management control system, the company will be able to plan, monitor and measure the HR functions to make performance a "value/cost duo". Moreover, the management control can also contribute to timely correction of current plans and provide continuous improvement of performance. This paper will demonstrate how companies apply management control system to ensure a well-performed HR mechanism. Societe Generale, a French company, will be given as an example. In addition, two kinds of management control tools will be illustrated and compared, namely tableau de bord (French Method) and balanced scorecard (American Method).