Management Control

Accounterability and the problematics of accountability

by Vassili JOANNIDES

In press Critical Perspectives on Accounting

This paper seeks to contribute to the emerging stream of literature on the problematics of accountability (Messner,... more This paper seeks to contribute to the emerging stream of literature on the problematics of accountability (Messner, 2009; Roberts, 2009; McKernan, 2011) and the possibilities of accounterability (Kamuf, 2007) by questioning whether and how accounterability can appear as a response to the problematics of accountability’s operationalisation. To answer this question, this research considers the problematics of accountability found in the limits inherent to the giving of an account (Messner, 2009), in the ambiguous relationship between accountability and transparency (Roberts, 2009), and in the as yet unresolved contradictions of accountability (McKernan, 2011). Accounterability is seen as a practice of resisting accountability demands whilst giving an account. Alternative practices arising out of such resistance are inductively identified through an ethnographic study of the day-to-day practices of the Salvation Army used as an extreme case. This case shows how an ideal form of accountability raises more questions than it answers in practice, thereby leading individuals to develop their own counter-abilities. Because accountability to a Higher-Stakeholder appears to be an unreachable ideal, identifying to whom one should give an account of oneself becomes problematic. A working response to the problematics of accountability, accounterability emerges as the mechanism whereby the limits and contradictions of account giving are transformed into the conditions of its realisation: unreachable accountability is transformed into tangible day-to-day practices that may differ slightly from expected ideal conduct. It transpires from this study that the main strength of accountability lies in its ability to absorb and to override its limits and contradictions, transforming them into conditions of its possibility. As such, accounterability emerges as the ultimate manifestation of this strength.

Achieving Contextual Ambidexterity in R&D Organizations: A Management Control System Approach

by Ian McCarthy

McCarthy, I.P., & Gordon, B.R. 2011. Achieving Contextual Ambidexterity in R&D Organizations: A Management Control System Approach. R&D Management, 41(3), 240-258

Research on how managers control R&D activities has tended to focus on the performance measurement systems used to... more Research on how managers control R&D activities has tended to focus on the performance measurement systems used to exploit existing knowledge and capabilities. This focus has been at the expense of how broader forms of management control could be used to enable R&D contextual ambidexterity, the capacity to attain appropriate levels of exploitation and exploration behaviors in the same R&D organizational unit. In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework for understanding how different types of control system, guided by different R&D strategic goals, can be used to induce and balance both exploitation and exploration. We illustrate the elements of this framework and their relations using data from biotechnology firms, and then discuss how the framework provides a basis to empirically examine a number of important control relationships and phenomena.

Understanding control in voluntary sport organizations

by Terri Byers

Leading IT-Enabled Change Inside Ericsson: A Transformation Into a Global Network of Shared Service Centres

by Einar Iveroth

Iveroth, E. (2010). Leading IT-Enabled Change Inside Ericsson: A Transformation Into a Global Network of Shared Service Centres. Doctorial thesis No. 146, Department of Business Studies, Uppsala University, 116 pp., ISSN 1103-8454.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore—from a managerial perspective—how IT-enabled change is designed, led, and... more The purpose of this thesis is to explore—from a managerial perspective—how IT-enabled change is designed, led, and sustained from-within an organisation. This is an issue of central concern because there is a considerable lack of research that directly incorporates IT in management and organisational change studies. In addition, earlier research has recurrently focused on abstract theorising, aggregated perspectives, and exploring organisational change from the outside, from-without. Consequently, the present body of research provides limited knowledge of how organisations in practice lead large-scale IT-enabled transformations.

The thesis herein sets out to explore this question, and does so by following the change designers and agents of the telecommunications company Ericsson, that transformed its finance and accounting unit from a highly decentralised structure into a shared service centre structure (SSC) entitled: “The Global F&A Transformation Programme”. The formal transformation lasted three years, was enabled by an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, and was driven in the majority of Ericsson’s sub-units situated in more than 140 countries.

Theoretically, this thesis addresses the research question: how do actors and structures influence large-scale IT-enabled change? The principal finding of the thesis is a four-stage analytical framework built on the concepts of common ground, common meaning, common interest, and common behaviour: The Commonality Framework for IT-enabled Change. The value of the framework is that it depicts the interplay between actors and structures on a micro-level. In doing so, the framework explains the different levels of complexity in a transformation and how they require different structures to be used, different activities to be performed, different skills to be applied, and different roles to be played. The framework can be used by both academics and practitioners to develop, assess, and improve IT-enabled change projects.

In a broader perspective, the findings further suggest that change comes about as an upward spiral, within which the moving targets of IT and organisation are intimately interconnected. This reciprocal interconnectedness between IT and organisation across time implies that if changes are done to technological properties, this necessitates changes to the organisational properties, and vice versa. Organisations at the hands-on-level more or less have to change to make use of the IT-enabled advantages. Thus, successful IT-enabled change is more than the technology artefact per se, and requires thoughtful attentiveness not only to the technological and material side, but also to the organisational, social and human side of change.

The theoretical contribution of this thesis is the in-depth exposition of different aspects and interplays between the properties of actors and structures from-within the organisation. The empirical contribution is the description of how contemporary multinational organisations initiate, lead, and sustain large-scale IT-enabled change.

Creating a Global Network of Shared Service Centres for Accounting

by Einar Iveroth

Lindvall & Iveroth (2011) “Creating a Global Network of Shared Service Centres for Accounting”. Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Vol. 7, Issue 3.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the practice of IT-enabled management... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the practice of IT-enabled management control change, in particular how IT-driven change is made possible from a practical perspective in a global context. It does so by investigating the redesign of the telecommunications company Ericsson’s global finance and accounting function from an independent structure of numerous national CFO units into one interdependent global network of shared service centres.

Design/methodology/approach – Ericsson’s transformation was followed by drawing mainly on interviews and documents. The data were analysed using narrative and temporal bracketing strategies for theorising from process data.

Findings – The paper illustrates how IT-enabled management control change unfolds as a continuous interaction between a dynamic organisational structure (social dimension) and a less, but still, dynamic IT (material dimension) across time. The study also highlights how such a process is metaphorically similar to the form of a hermeneutic spiral rather than the common perspective of an arrow from the present to the future.

Practical implications – This paper stresses the importance of pre-understanding, an openness to trials and learning, and a dynamic stance towards the moving targets of IT and organisation.

Research limitations/implications – The focus of the paper is on positive organisational change and how transformation is possible from a strategic and managerial point of view. Hence, less focus is placed on the employee perspective.

Originality/value – The paper provides rich empirical material. The analysis includes contemporary issues, and the practice of IT-enabled management control change.

Paper type – Case study

Keywords – IT-enabled management control change, organisational transformation, globalisation, shared service centre, finance function, ERP system.