The use of graphics in promoting management ideas

Purpose - This paper aims to focus on the role of graphics in the propagation of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) through the persuasive capacity of graphism to “scientize” management ideas. Scientization, through professionalization of knowledge, rationalization of management and the empowerment of human actorhood, is widely seen as an important element in embedding new management concepts and techniques; a determination based on some version of the positivist belief that science offers a privileged access to reality. Design/methodology/approach - Based on an analysis of popular literature of the BSC in core business media during 1992 and 2010, the paper focuses on the publications authored by Kaplan and Norton, the creators and authority on this topic. Findings - The paper argues that the use of graphics has played an important role in promoting the claims made by proponents of the BSC by portraying the technique as both scientific and as descended from a venerable tradition of knowledge. Specifically, it argues that graphics are mobilized to: enable the technique to be portrayed as developing cumulatively towards the present vantage, from flawed measurement to management break‐through; promoters of the BSC to defensibly extend claims about the BSC (i.e. rationalize management through the visual representation of causality and strategic focus); and open up multiple interpretations and iterations of concepts which enable the empowerment of human actorhood (i.e. management). Originality/value - This paper contributes to the accounting literature relating to diffusion of management innovations, and research examining the generative mechanisms and the processes through which management innovations come about.