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Since several high-profile companies announced that they were radically redesigning their performance management systems and processes (PMSPs), commentators and scholars argue that these changes represent a trend that many companies are following, and even more are considering pursuing. The present paper aims to provide an overview of these redesigns and their rationales from the companies' point of view and theoretically reflect on their organisational value.

The analysis is based on a review of articles from journals, professional magazines and the business press that describe how nine high-profile companies from the debate changed their PMSP design.

The PMSP redesigns are directed towards what in the literature has been referred to as people PMSPs. The authors identify five organisational challenges to which the people PMSPs are exposed and specify the design elements that the companies have changed to meet these challenges. Finally, the authors outline a set of theoretical propositions that demonstrate some of the trade-offs involved with the redesigns.

The paper contributes to researchers and practitioners by providing more insight into why and how companies have redesigned their people PMSPs. Answers to these questions are vital in understanding the trends and redesigns that practitioners are currently considering. Furthermore, since the empirical research of the effects of these redesigns is still limited, we outline a set of theory-based propositions helpful for future empirical investigations.

This paper aims to organise, in a general typology, the different purposes of performance management systems and processes (PMSPs) that are discussed across the performance management literature in different functional areas.

The typology is developed based on a traditional review of the performance management literature from three types of functional areas, represented by operations and production management, management accounting and human resource management.

The cross-functional typology illustrates how the different types of purposes discussed in the literature can be organised in a hierarchical structure. In this way, the basic purpose of organisational value creation for PMSPs can be decomposed into two layers of sub-purposes, the first specifying the domain and the second outlining the specific managerial use of PMSPs.

The presented typology may help managers across different functional areas map the purposes of their PMSPs; this mapping will not only provide the basics for understanding a PMSP's potential value for an organisation but also serve as an important input for PMSP design.

The presented typology has a broader scope than existing typologies of purposes in research and, consequently, better interrelates and tracks the various types of purposes discussed across different functional areas. This contributes not only to our understanding of performance management as a cross-functional field but also to research on the use and design of PMSPs in organisations.

The present paper explores the multiple management control systems (MCSs) involved in productivity improvement (PI) in manufacturing and how they interrelate. Research has largely neglected the multiplicity and interrelationships of these MCSs.

Drawing on an abductive case study approach, the authors collected empirical data from a global automotive supplier that produces complex systems for passenger cars. Recent PI activities are analysed to identify and explain the interrelationships among the multiple MCSs affecting these activities.

The study shows how a broad range of MCSs are involved in PI. The study identifies and explores both complementary and conflicting relationships among the MCSs and demonstrates how managers rely on a set of mechanisms to alleviate tensions and strengthen complementarities among these MCSs.

As this paper is based on a single case study, future research can contribute further generalisations (analytical and statistical) with respect to the MCSs involved in PI, how they are interrelated and which mechanisms managers use to manage their interrelationships.

Managers seeking to control and improve productivity should consider the complete control package and its interrelationships instead of focussing on each MCS separately.

The present paper contributes to the knowledge of the multiplicity and interrelationships of MCSs involved in PI and the type of managerial work required to manage their interrelationships.

The purpose is to assess the impact of clinical costing approaches on the quality of cost information in seven countries (Denmark, England, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Portugal).

Costing practices in seven countries were analysed via questionnaires, interviews and relevant published material.

Although clinical costing is intended to support a similar range of purposes, countries display considerable diversity in their approaches to costing in terms of the level of detail contained in regulatory guidance and the percentage of providers subject to such guidance for tariff setting. Guidance in all countries involves a mix of costing methods.

The authors propose a two-dimensional Materiality and Quality Score (2D MAQS) of costing systems that can support the complex trade-offs in managing the quality of cost information at both policy and provider level, and between financial and clinical concerns.

The authors explore the trade-offs between different dimensions of the quality (accuracy, decision relevance and standardization) and the cost of collecting and analysing cost information for disparate purposes.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Questions about effectiveness of performance management systems have prompted many leading companies to redesign elements of the performance management systems and processes (PMSPs). Changes to key aspect of “people” PMSPs can help meet challenges, although need some trade-offs can also be possible.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

This paper aims to explore the role of line-item budgeting in film production in an effort to illustrate the positive effects that budgetary constraints can have on creativity.

Using Elster’s (2000) constraint theory as a basis for the research, this paper conducted a case study on the making of a Danish adventure film and analysed the role budgeting plays from the film director’s point of view.

This paper suggests that the constraints of the line-item budget imposed on the director had positive effects in terms of the pre-commitments entailed, which aided in protecting the director against the negative aspects of passion (e.g. distorted thought processes, myopia and weakness of will) in the creative process and in terms of the ability of the constraints to channel creativity in certain directions, thus preventing the availability of too many options from hampering the creative process.

The paper contributes to management control research in two ways. By addressing calls to provide more insight into the positive effects management control constraints might have on creativity, this study explores somewhat ignored aspects of line-item budgeting, adding greater insight into the interrelations between creativity and control. By exploring the ways in which line-item budgeting might take on the role of pre-commitment advice and devices in the creative process, this paper further exposes the links between accounting constraints and self-control.

The methodological debate relating to accounting research using actor‐network theory (ANT) has primarily focused on how ANT generates performative studies that significantly differ from ostensive studies. These discussions have in many ways (and for good reasons) distanced performative from ostensive research. Recently, however, several scholars have emphasized the interdependencies between ostensive and performative aspects when it comes to knowledge development, thereby underlining the need to coordinate ostensive and performative studies and bring them closer together. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the methodological opportunities and limitations for ANT researchers who seek to move closer to ostensive research.

The basis for exploring the opportunities and threats stemming from integration at the methodological level is a comparison of performative and ostensive case study methodologies as they have been presented in research. Robert K. Yin's case study methodology is chosen to represent an ostensive view whereas performative case study methodology is represented by the methodological reflections of Bruno Latour, John Law, and Michel Callon.

The paper illustrates how the process is a balancing act. On the one hand, it requires performative researchers to relate more closely to aspects decisive for ostensive researchers; yet, on the other, they need to preserve the distinctiveness of the performative approach.

This paper exemplifies these issues with reference to management accounting research and contributes by clarifying the methodological implications of moving performative research closer to ostensive research.