A traditional operation control system assigns costs to organizational units and then holds the organizational unit manager responsible for controlling the assigned costs. Performance is measured by comparing actual outcomes with standard or budgeted outcomes. the emphasis is on financial measures of performance; nonfinance measures may be ignored. Managers are rewarded based on their ability to control costs. This approach traces costs to individuals who are responsible for the incurrence of costs. The reward system used to motivate these individuals to manage costs. The approach assumes that maximizing performance of the overall organization is achieved by maximizing the performance of individual organziational subunits(referred to as responsibility centers)