IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/crpeac/v55y2018icp53-60.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Managing only with transparency: The strategic functions of ignorance

Author

Listed:
  • Roberts, John

Abstract

This paper offers a supplement or qualification to earlier arguments for the potentials of ‘intelligent accountability’. It explores the genesis and dynamics of its antithesis; a self-conscious choice by managers to focus exclusively on fulfilling, or being seen to fulfil, the demands of external transparency. Whilst ‘decoupling’ was originally conceived as a way for organisations to meet external pressures without compromising operational efficiency, the paper suggests that managing only with transparency serves to produce a less happy and more consequential decoupling whose contradictions are focused in management/staff relations. The paper builds on recent discussions of ‘tight coupling’, ‘functional stupidity’ and the importance of ‘spectacle’ in contemporary organisations to explore the dynamics of managing only with transparency; an exclusive focus on managing only what is transparent. It suggests that this can prove functional for managers as a way to deny any dependence on local knowledge, and avoid engagement with the complexity of operational interdependencies. However, it leaves staff to manage for themselves the demands of operational integration; a task made more difficult by the contradictions and conflicts created by the intrusion of managerial demands to meet ill-informed and thereby ill-conceived targets and objectives. In this way ignorance is knowingly and actively cultivated by management, whilst intelligence and reflection are self-censored out of organisational processes by subordinates. The analysis serves to further illustrate the power of transparency to play upon and mobilise a narcissistic preoccupation with either the defence or advancement of the self.

Suggested Citation

  • Roberts, John, 2018. "Managing only with transparency: The strategic functions of ignorance," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 53-60.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:55:y:2018:i:c:p:53-60
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2017.12.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1045235417301521
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.cpa.2017.12.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christopher Hood, 2007. "What happens when transparency meets blame-avoidance?," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 191-210, June.
    2. Martin Messner & Brian Jørgensen, 2010. "Accounting and Strategising: A Case Study from New Product Development," Post-Print hal-00528382, HAL.
    3. Dambrin, Claire & Robson, Keith, 2011. "Tracing performance in the pharmaceutical industry: Ambivalence, opacity and the performativity of flawed measures," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 428-455.
    4. Roberts, John, 2009. "No one is perfect: The limits of transparency and an ethic for 'intelligent' accountability," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 957-970, November.
    5. Mats Alvesson & André Spicer, 2012. "A Stupidity-Based Theory of Organizations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(7), pages 1194-1220, November.
    6. Qu, Sandy Q. & Cooper, David J., 2011. "The role of inscriptions in producing a balanced scorecard," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 344-362.
    7. Mouritsen, Jan, 1999. "The flexible firm: strategies for a subcontractor's management control," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 31-55, January.
    8. Claire Dambrin & Keith Robson, 2011. "Tracing performance in the pharmaceutical industry: ambivalence, opacity and the performativity of flawed measures," Post-Print hal-00687848, HAL.
    9. Cristiano Busco & Paolo Quattrone, 2015. "Exploring How the Balanced Scorecard Engages and Unfolds: Articulating the Visual Power of Accounting Inscriptions," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(3), pages 1236-1262, September.
    10. Jørgensen, Brian & Messner, Martin, 2010. "Accounting and strategising: A case study from new product development," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 184-204, February.
    11. Cooper, Christine, 2015. "Entrepreneurs of the self: The development of management control since 1976," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 14-24.
    12. Chua, Wai Fong, 1995. "Experts, networks and inscriptions in the fabrication of accounting images: A story of the representation of three public hospitals," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(2-3), pages 111-145.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hugo Letiche & Ivo de Loo & Jean-Luc Moriceau, 2023. "T(w)alking responsibility: a case of CSR performativity during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Post-Print halshs-03759518, HAL.
    2. Yasmin, Sofia & Ghafran, Chaudhry, 2019. "The problematics of accountability: Internal responses to external pressures in exposed organisations," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    3. Michelon, Giovanna & Rodrigue, Michelle & Trevisan, Elisabetta, 2020. "The marketization of a social movement: Activists, shareholders and CSR disclosure," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    4. Pedro Solana-González & Adolfo Alberto Vanti & María Matilde García Lorenzo & Rafael E. Bello Pérez, 2021. "Data Mining to Assess Organizational Transparency across Technology Processes: An Approach from IT Governance and Knowledge Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-17, September.
    5. Karen‐Ann M. Dwyer & Niamh M. Brennan & Collette E. Kirwan, 2023. "Auditor Materiality in Expanded Audit Reports: More (Disclosure) is Less," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 33(1), pages 31-45, March.
    6. Dillard, Jesse & Vinnari, Eija, 2019. "Critical dialogical accountability: From accounting-based accountability to accountability-based accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 16-38.
    7. Alessandra Allini & Rosanna Span? & Annamaria Zampella & Fiorenza Meucci, 2020. "Integrated Performance Plans in Higher Education as means of accounting change. Insights into the Italian context," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2020(1), pages 87-110.
    8. Gottlieb, Uliana & Johed, Gustav & Hansson, Helena, 2022. "Accounting and accountability for farm animals: Conceptual limits and the possibilities of caring," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    9. Frey-Heger, Corinna & Barrett, Michael, 2021. "Possibilities and limits of social accountability: The consequences of visibility as recognition and exposure in refugee crises," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    10. Power, Michael, 2021. "Modelling the microfoundations of the audit society: organizations and the logic of the audit trail," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 100243, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Vosselman, Ed & De Loo, Ivo, 2023. "Sociomateriality and the metaphysics of accounting information systems: Revisiting agential realism," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    12. Andrew, Jane & Baker, Max & Huang, Casey, 2023. "Data breaches in the age of surveillance capitalism: Do disclosures have a new role to play?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    13. Frémeaux, Sandrine & Puyou, François-Régis & Michelson, Grant, 2020. "Beyond accountants as technocrats: A common good perspective," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 67.
    14. Amanda Keddie, 2021. "NGOs working for gender justice with boys and men: Exploring challenges of accountability," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 1461-1474, July.
    15. Senkl, Daniela & Cooper, Christine, 2023. "On valuing (m)other nature in times of climate crises – A reflection on the non and nom of accounting for (m)other nature," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    16. Cooper, Christine & Lapsley, Irvine, 2021. "Hillsborough: The fight for accountability," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Tweedie, Dale & Luzia, Karina, 2023. "In place, with power: (Re)conceptualising accountability in national non-government organisations," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Boedker, Christina & Chong, Kar-Ming & Mouritsen, Jan, 2020. "The counter-performativity of calculative practices: Mobilising rankings of intellectual capital," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    2. Yu, Lichen & Mouritsen, Jan, 2020. "Accounting, simultaneity and relative completeness: The sales and operations planning forecast and the enactment of the ‘demand chain’," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    3. Lambert Jerman & Pierre Labardin, 2016. "Du pouvoir visuel des nombres comptables: les apports de la phénoménologie d'Husserl," Post-Print hal-01902585, HAL.
    4. Crvelin, David & Becker, Albrecht, 2020. "‘The spirits that we summoned’: A study on how the ‘governed’ make accounting their own in the context of market-making programs in Nepal," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    5. van Erp, Wil & Roozen, Frans & Vosselman, Ed, 2019. "The performativity of a management accounting and control system: Exploring the dynamic relational consequences of a design," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(4).
    6. 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.
    7. Mehrpouya, Afshin & Samiolo, Rita, 2016. "Performance measurement in global governance: Ranking and the politics of variability," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 12-31.
    8. Paul Andon & Jane Baxter & Wai Fong Chua, 2015. "Accounting for Stakeholders and Making Accounting Useful," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(7), pages 986-1002, November.
    9. Martinez, Daniel E. & Cooper, David J., 2019. "Assembling performance measurement through engagement," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    10. Muhammad Kaleem Zahir-ul-Hassan & Reinald A. Minnaar & Ed Vosselman, 2016. "Governance and control as mediating instruments in an inter-firm relationship: towards collaboration or transactions?," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(4), pages 365-389, June.
    11. Robson, Keith & Bottausci, Chiara, 2018. "The sociology of translation and accounting inscriptions: Reflections on Latour and Accounting Research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 60-75.
    12. Ronzani, Matteo & Gatzweiler, Marian Konstantin, 2022. "The lure of the visual: Multimodality, simplification, and performance measurement visualizations in a megaproject," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    13. Pollock, Neil & D’Adderio, Luciana, 2012. "Give me a two-by-two matrix and I will create the market: Rankings, graphic visualisations and sociomateriality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 565-586.
    14. Mohamed Toukabri & Maher Toukabri, 2023. "Football Industry Accounting as a Social and Organizational Practice: from the Implementation of the CSR Process to Integrated Reporting," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 36(5), pages 725-753, October.
    15. Cooper, Christine & Lapsley, Irvine, 2021. "Hillsborough: The fight for accountability," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    16. Baxter, Jane & Carlsson-Wall, Martin & Chua, Wai Fong & Kraus, Kalle, 2019. "Accounting and passionate interests: The case of a Swedish football club," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 21-40.
    17. Rajat Deb, 2019. "Accounting Theory Coherence Revisited," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 44(1), pages 36-57, February.
    18. Jordan, Silvia & Messner, Martin, 2012. "Enabling control and the problem of incomplete performance indicators," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 544-564.
    19. Wæraas , Arild & Agger Nielsen, Jeppe, 2015. "Translation Theory ‘Translated’: Three Perspectives on Translation in Organizational Research," Working Paper Series 16-2015, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, School of Economics and Business.
    20. Vijaya Murthy & Jim Rooney, 2018. "The Role of Management Accounting in Ancient India: Evidence from the Arthasastra," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 323-341, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:55:y:2018:i:c:p:53-60. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/critical-perspectives-on-accounting/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.