Performance Management

Course information

Learning outcomes

The objective of the course is to develop student s ability to design and implement effective performance management systems. Course reviews various practices to manage organizations performance, and develops understanding when and under what circumstances each of them are effective in dealing with various managerial challenges.

Course gives special emphasis on accounting based controls as part of the organizations management systems. The link between strategy and performance measurement is elaborated.

Moreover, various aspects of operational control are discussed. Course allows insights into the current research in this field as well as helps those who plan to do master s thesis in this topic area.

Content

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Teacher

Teemu Malmi

Study material

Reading material as indicated in Syllabus.

Compulsory reading for the exam: Merchant, K. & Van der Stede, W. (2012), 3rd ed, Management Control Systems - performance measurement, evaluation and incentives. Prentice Hall.

Suggested as a supplementary reading: Simons, R. (2005) Levers of Organisational Design. HBSP.

Workload

- Classroom hours, 24

- Class preparation, 46 h

- Case assignments, 40 h

- Exam preparation, 47 h

- Exam, 3 h

Prerequisites

Recommended prerequisites: Management Accounting II (22C00300 or ABL-C1144), Financial Accounting (22C00400 or ABL-C1133)

Evaluation

1. Lectures, cases and group assignments (50%)

2. Exam (50%)

Teaching time and location

The teaching time and the location of the course can be found at Sisu information system

1. The link leads to Completion methods tab of the course page
2. From the top of the page (Version drop-down menu), check that academic year 2025-2026 is selected  

3. From the blue bar, click Lecture and open the Groups and teaching times tab to see the teaching time and the location of the course. Exam times can be seen by clicking Exam.
    

   Exam instructions at the Open University

The teacher has four (4) weeks to grade the exam submissions starting from the exam date.

Further information

Equivalences to other courses: Accounting for Management Control (22E25000, A22E25000k, 22E250)
 

Online learning environment for the course  

MyCourses online learning environment is a tool for both students and teachers for communication and managing everyday course work. You need an Aalto User ID to log in to the course's MyCourses workspace and participate in teaching.

Digital workspace of the course:
MyCourses

More details on completing the course will be available at MyCourses closer to the start of the course.

Registration and course fee

Registration for Open University courses is done via the link below: 
Course registration

Registration for this course starts on 8.12.2025 at 9.00  
Registration for this course ends on 29.12.2025 at 23.59

It is not possible to register before the registration period has started or after it has ended.

The number of participants is limited to 10.

This course is organized by the Aalto University School of Business.

The course fee is paid upon registration for each course at a time and it is binding. Familiarize yourself with registration and payment rules as well as other guidelines for students:
Registration, payments and rules

Activating Aalto ID and Multifactor Authentication

You can activate your Aalto User ID the day after the registration and you should activate it no later than the day before the start of the course.
Instructions for activating your Aalto user ID

Once you have activated your Aalto user ID, also enable multifactor authentication. Some of Aalto University's services require multifactor authentication.

Instructions for using Multifactor Authentication