This paper analyzes the ways in which accounting enables operations managers to enter and perform multiple roles in their interplay with organizational groups on the shop floor…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyzes the ways in which accounting enables operations managers to enter and perform multiple roles in their interplay with organizational groups on the shop floor and in management, and the associated negotiations that operations managers have with “the self.”
Design/methodology/approach
Using field-based studies in a mining organization, the study draws on Goffman’s backstage–frontstage metaphor to analyze how operations managers enter and perform several roles with the aid of accounting.
Findings
The findings show that accounting legitimizes operations managers when they cross organizational boundaries, as accounting gives them an “entry ticket” that legitimizes their presence with the group. Accounting further allows operations managers to embrace more than one role by “putting on a mask” to become an outsider or insider in relation to a group. In performing their roles, operations managers exhibit varying attributes and knowledge. Accounting can thereby be withheld from, or shared with, organizational groups. The illusion of accounting as deterministic presented frontstage is not necessarily negotiated that way backstage. Rather, alternatives discussed backstage often become silenced in the frontstage performance. The study concludes that operations managers cross boundaries, embrace roles and exert agency as they navigate with accounting, enrolling it into their performance simultaneously as they backstage reflect upon accounting and its role for their everyday work.
Originality/value
This study relies on the frontstage/backstage metaphor to visualize the discrepancies in how accounting is enrolled into role performances and how seemingly categorical fronts do not necessarily share that dominant position backstage.
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Amanda Curry and Anders Hersinger
The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which notions of space, constituted by management accounting and operations, interact, conflict and are understood by…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which notions of space, constituted by management accounting and operations, interact, conflict and are understood by operations managers in a variety of situations within the context of iron ore mining. The authors address a dual question: How do accounting space and production space relate to each other? And what does it mean for operations managers to reside in both those spaces at once?
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on field studies at a mining company involving operations managers who experience tensions between accounting and production responsibilities and must prioritize between different courses of action to create value.
Findings
In contrast to the view that management accounting poses a problem for operations managers in production environments, the authors show how especially discursive tensions foster reflection and choice. Operations managers prioritize their actions in accordance with management accounting or operations based on how they experience and reflect upon the tensions they encounter, dominating artifacts and their experienced relation to space. Operations managers are not tied to specific spaces, but they prioritize their responsibility to management accounting or operations depending on the space to which they feel a sense of belongingness.
Originality/value
Drawing upon a conceptualization of tensions between management accounting and operations as a spatial phenomenon, it is possible to understand the dilemmas experienced by operations managers in a dynamic and relational way. The authors propose that viewing tensions between management accounting and production as spatial phenomena enables a novel understanding of how such tensions can create reflexivity in responsibility with operations managers.
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Paul J. Yoder, Amanda Kibler and Stephanie van Hover
Using the systematic search and coding procedures of a meta-synthesis, this paper reviews the extant literature on English language learners (ELLs) in the social studies…
Abstract
Using the systematic search and coding procedures of a meta-synthesis, this paper reviews the extant literature on English language learners (ELLs) in the social studies classroom. The 15 studies making up the corpus adhere to both topical and methodological criteria. The Language-Content-Task (LCT) Framework informed the coding and analysis of the results. Discussion of the findings provides three primary implications: (1) the need for linguistically and culturally responsive instruction for ELLs in social studies classes, (2) the need for increased training for inservice and preservice social studies teachers in preparation for teaching ELLs, and (3) the need for future research among ELLs in the social studies context.
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Leading health care institutions have recommended greater alignment among health care and social services organizations as a strategy to improve population health. Deepening our…
Abstract
Leading health care institutions have recommended greater alignment among health care and social services organizations as a strategy to improve population health. Deepening our understanding of how interorganizational relationships among health care and social service organizations influence care for people with complex needs could improve the design of interventions aimed at aligning these organizations to achieve health goals. Accordingly, we used qualitative methods to (1) elucidate the functions performed by health care and social service organizations caring for older adults and (2) investigate corresponding relationship forms. In-depth interviews with 175 representatives of health care and social service organizations in 10 communities were analyzed. Three distinct interorganizational relationships functions emerged: First, interorganizational relationships gave organizations a deeper and more accurate understanding of how their work was interdependent with the work of other organizations in the community. This function was achieved through coalitions that loosely tied large numbers of organizations and allowed information to flow among them. Second, interorganizational relationships allowed organizations to take joint action toward a shared goal, a function achieved in the form of pairs or small groups of organizations working closely together. Third, interorganizational relationships fostered accountability, with one organization advocating for the needs of clients or patients with another organization. Our results suggest that initiatives to promote regional alignment among health care and social services organizations may benefit from flexible models that anticipate a narrowing of partners to achieve tangible outcomes. Initiatives also need to accommodate low-level conflict that routinely exists among organizations in these sectors.
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The purpose of this paper is to apply a self‐reflexive interpretive method of writing as a method of analysis of findings from a critical research based on videography documenting…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to apply a self‐reflexive interpretive method of writing as a method of analysis of findings from a critical research based on videography documenting the relationship between ethnicity, consumption, and place.
Design/methodology/approach
An innovative theoretical approach employed is interpretativist ethnography inspired by creative writing. This methodological approach allows the researcher to move beyond the rigidness of academic discourse and consequently enables a more intimate connection with the object of research.
Findings
The main outcome of this paper is realization that the presence of the researcher and her own autobiography affects the results of research and that articulation as much as execution of research is always subjective. A significant implication of this kind of approach is uncertainty and unreliability which questions the positivist objectivism dominating in both consumer studies and marketing. A subsequent limitation is a free reading which evades possibility of definite conclusions.
Originality/value
By providing a film and a commentary to it in one publication, this paper overcomes the traditional separation between the visual and the textual and contributes to the multisensory model of academic practice. It is particularly important for ethnography and visual studies where the application of the senses has both a theoretical and a practical value.
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The article aims to provide a practitioner perspective and case study of the challenges involved in sustaining a successful food operation in a UK public house.
Abstract
Purpose
The article aims to provide a practitioner perspective and case study of the challenges involved in sustaining a successful food operation in a UK public house.
Design/methodology/approach
The article uses a case study and the personal and professional reflections of an experienced publican to provide a practitioner viewpoint.
Findings
The paper uses a case study to illustrate the ways in which external and often uncontrollable factors affect the stability of pub food operations.
Practical implications
The article provides an array of practical insights on the challenges faced by publicans in creating and sustaining successful food operations.
Originality/value
The article draws on the personal and professional reflections of an experienced publican.
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This chapter critically examines how recent government papers and policies have informed and contextualised the new Higher Education and Research Bill (HERB) passed in April 2017…
Abstract
This chapter critically examines how recent government papers and policies have informed and contextualised the new Higher Education and Research Bill (HERB) passed in April 2017. In particular, it concerns itself with the issue of ‘teaching excellence’, through what has been termed the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) that has emerged as a key plank of the current government’s policy for future funding of higher education (HE). It will consider the other spurs for reform in HERB, such as the desire to create a culture in HE where teaching has equal status with research, the need to ensure that universities provide better information about their courses and the experiences that they can offer students and the predictable governmental requirement for institutions to give value for money and to be clearly held accountable for any failure to provide a quality service to students. Lastly, there is also a strong emphasis on widening student participation across the sector and ‘levelling the playing field’ so that new providers can set up with the minimum of red tape. It is interesting to note how each of these additional areas for reform is clearly linked to TEF, which, this chapter will argue, will be the key vehicle used to drive them forward.
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The takeover of Asda by US retail giant Wal‐Mart has created a great deal of speculation by business analysts and the media. Wal‐Mart is recognized as the world’s largest retailer…
Abstract
The takeover of Asda by US retail giant Wal‐Mart has created a great deal of speculation by business analysts and the media. Wal‐Mart is recognized as the world’s largest retailer and its move into the UK is creating interest in its future plans for Europe. Some consider that the move will cause a complete realignment of grocery chains across Europe and that the move will be revolutionary. Others consider that the move will simply augment and accelerate current retailing trends but will not completely change the face of supermarket retailing. This issue brings together a variety of viewpoints. First, Paul Whysall reviews and analyses the press coverage. He provides insights into the possible outcomes of the deal. The second piece is an industry insight prepared by Retail Intelligence, which is followed by an overview of the Institute of Grocery Distribution’s research document Wal‐Mart in the UK. Finally, we present a number of abstracts that offer further thoughts on the subject.