Accounting, Remuneration and Employee Motivation in the New Organisation

The paper draws upon two detailed case studies of global manufacturing companies to examine the role of accounting in redesigned remuneration systems which are emerging as organisations delayer their structures, change their production methods and move to team-based systems of work and reward. In this way, changes in the content and application of accounting measures are framed within new approaches to rewarding and motivating employees that have been stimulated by efforts to develop alternative, ‘leaner’ manufacturing practices. The focus is principally upon the remuneration of shopfloor employees, but we also consider the implications of team-based reward systems for managerial staff. We argue that despite the recent complementing of financial with non-financial forms of reward (e.g. skill acquisition, improvements to health and safety), and an emphasis upon peer pressure from team members in addition to individual incentives as a source of motivation, the language and calculations of accounting remain central and pervasive in developing, justifying and mobilising support for the new reward system.