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Developing Enabling Performance Measurement Systems: On the Interplay Between Numbers and Operational Knowledge

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  • Hans Englund
  • Jonas Gerdin

Abstract

Performance measurement systems (PMSs) are generally regarded to serve the needs of top managers. However, a growing literature has started to explore what it takes for these systems to be(come) enabling also for those whose performance is being measured. In this paper, we build on and add to this literature by providing ethnographic insights into how and why a group of middle-managers transformed a set of performance measures, initially developed as monitoring devices for top management, into a so-called enabling PMS. Regarding how this came about, we elaborate on how actors mobilised two different forms of mental models of the operations (specific and generalised), and a set of number-to-number tactics, as important means in their development work. Regarding the why-question, we identify a high evaluation pressure from top management, in combination with recurrent reconstructions of the existing mental models of operations, as important conditions that worked to initiate, fuel, and, eventually, cease the process.

Suggested Citation

  • Hans Englund & Jonas Gerdin, 2015. "Developing Enabling Performance Measurement Systems: On the Interplay Between Numbers and Operational Knowledge," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 277-303, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:euract:v:24:y:2015:i:2:p:277-303
    DOI: 10.1080/09638180.2014.918517
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    Cited by:

    1. Leanne Johnstone, 2021. "Facilitating sustainability control in SMEs through the implementation of an environmental management system," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 559-605, December.
    2. Kraus, Kalle & Kennergren, Cecilia & von Unge, Amelie, 2017. "The interplay between ideological control and formal management control systems – A case study of a non-governmental organisation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 42-59.
    3. Giovannoni, Elena & Quarchioni, Sonia, 2019. "Exploring the generative power of performance measurement systems design," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 211-225.
    4. Daff, Lyn & Parker, Lee D., 2021. "A conceptual model of accountants' communication inside not-for-profit organisations," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(3).
    5. Brown, Paul & Ly, Tuan & Pham, Hannah & Sivabalan, Prabhu, 2020. "Automation and management control in dynamic environments: Managing organisational flexibility and energy efficiency in service sectors," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(2).
    6. Bisbe, Josep & Kruis, Anne-Marie & Madini, Paola, 2019. "Coercive, enabling, diagnostic, and interactive control: Untangling the threads of their connections," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 124-144.
    7. Fallahnejad Ali & Nazari Reza & Fard Mehdi Moradzadeh, 2023. "Analysis of the Relationship Between the Development of Performance Criteria and Job Performance of Employees with Respect to the Mediating Role of Employee Participation," Studia Universitatis „Vasile Goldis” Arad – Economics Series, Sciendo, vol. 33(2), pages 1-26, June.
    8. Leanne Johnstone, 2019. "Theorising and conceptualising the sustainability control system for effective sustainability management," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 25-64, April.
    9. Palermo, Tommaso & Power, Michael & Ashby, Simon, 2022. "How accounting ends: self-undermining repetition in accounting lifecycles," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115278, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Gerdin, Jonas & Johansson, Tobias & Wennblom, Gabriella, 2019. "The contingent nature of complementarity between results and value-based controls for managing company-level profitability: A situational strength perspective," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    11. Thomas Borup Kristensen & Henrik Saabye, 2021. "Increasing the enabling use of performance measures: a longitudinal quasi natural experiment," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 401-433, September.

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