David Marginson and Stuart Ogden
The interplay between accounting and organisational change has been a topic of considerable interest in recent years. This paper is concerned with exploring the ways in which…
Abstract
The interplay between accounting and organisational change has been a topic of considerable interest in recent years. This paper is concerned with exploring the ways in which managers’ attitudes towards budgets may be influenced by processes of organisational change. Traditionally a high reliance on accounting measures of performance has generally been associated with provoking unfavourable reactions from managers on account of the pressure they experience to meet pre‐determined budgetary targets, with concomitant dysfunctional consequences for the achievement of organisational objectives. In contrast the paper argues that processes of organisational change, particularly the increasing use of “stretch” targets and empowerment strategies, may be prompting a more positive disposition towards budgets amongst managers. Drawing on recent research evidence, and building on notions of “psychological empowerment”, the paper suggests that managers may value the existence of pre‐determined budgetary targets as an “empowerment facilitator” in conditions of uncertainty. This possibility opens up new directions in behavioural accounting research.
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Senior management in the newly privatized water companies have beenkeen to secure employee commitment to the new commercial goals they arenow pursuing. Considers the use of profit…
Abstract
Senior management in the newly privatized water companies have been keen to secure employee commitment to the new commercial goals they are now pursuing. Considers the use of profit sharing as a rhetorical device for this purpose. The introduction of profit sharing schemes was intended by management not only to assist in the construction of a new version of organizational reality, but more particularly to communicate to organizational members the quite different ideological conceptualization of organizational purposes and activities associated with the change in status from public sector water authority to private sector water company. Reports research based on documentary evidence and interviews with managers from six of the new water companies which provides scope for comparisons between the companies high‐lighting different interpretations of the role profit sharing may play in the processes of organizational change.
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Philip Bougen and Stuart Ogden
The use of accounting information in industrial relations has reached a critical stage in its development. Further studies which merely serve to ornate the existing framework of…
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The use of accounting information in industrial relations has reached a critical stage in its development. Further studies which merely serve to ornate the existing framework of analysis (for example by continuing the debate as to the type and amount of appropriate information disclosure; the dangers of non‐disclosure; the costs and benefits of disclosure, etc.) we believe to be of little value. The subject area needs to be exposed to a much wider critical analysis encompassing specific alternative perspectives as to the nature and roles of organisations, accounting, and industrial relations. In this paper we review first some of the orthodox perspectives derived from models of organisation which have been employed to analyse the role of accounting. Secondly we discuss the conceptualisations of industrial relations which have informed much of the discussion as to the use which may be made of accounting information to promote good industrial relations. Our discussion of both these areas suggests that the role of power, although largely ignored, is of central importance to analysis of these areas.
The Government's privatisation programme has had a number of objectives. Moreover the relative importance of objectives has changed over time. Bishop and Kay (1988) for example…
Abstract
The Government's privatisation programme has had a number of objectives. Moreover the relative importance of objectives has changed over time. Bishop and Kay (1988) for example state that “privatisation was a policy devised in opposition by a section of the Conservative Party, and was seen primarily as a means of reducing the power of public sector unions” (p.1). As the policy developed the publicly stated emphasis changed. In the early 1980s reducing the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement and raising revenue for the Government were seen as important, but “with the acceleration of the privatisation programme, competition, efficiency and wider share ownership have been emphasised as the dominant themes” (Veljanovski, 1987, p.9). Not surprisingly with such fluctuations it is not always the case that there is consensus as to what the Government's aims are. In contrast to Veljanovski, Thompson (1988) for instance argues that in recent years “in practice privatisation policy has come to be increasingly focused upon the transfer of the assets of state enterprises into the private sector. The promotion of competition has increasingly taken a back seat” (p.29).
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This paper aims to explore how organizations use annual reporting for legitimacy purposes in the context of the ten recently privatised regional water companies in the UK…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how organizations use annual reporting for legitimacy purposes in the context of the ten recently privatised regional water companies in the UK. Although privatization required the water plcs to establish a distinctly different organizational legitimacy for themselves as customer‐focused companies commensurate with their new private sector status, it was clear from the nature of their privatization that they would experience difficulties in achieving this. Privatization did little to change their previous monopoly character, and this created discrepancy with the model of private sector companies operating in customer‐led competitive markets.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a content analysis of statements concerning customer service in annual reports. The analysis examines the variety of ways in which the ten water plcs deployed both assertive and defensive impression management techniques in their attempts to gain, maintain and repair their legitimacy as customer‐focused companies.
Findings
The analysis emphasises the importance of the role of corporate reporting as a resource in legitimacy management. The paper also argues that, despite sustained efforts, the water plcs did not wholly succeed in persuading all their customers that the privatization of water was “a good thing”.
Originality/value
The paper will be valuable to researchers and practitioners alike, as it attempts to take further one's understanding of how organizations use corporate reporting for legitimacy purposes by examining a much more extreme case of the legitimacy problem than has been previously considered in the literature: namely, the need for an entirely new basis for corporate legitimacy.
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Pawan Budhwar, Andy Crane, Annette Davies, Rick Delbridge, Tim Edwards, Mahmoud Ezzamel, Lloyd Harris, Emmanuel Ogbonna and Robyn Thomas
Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce �…
Abstract
Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales.