IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bracre/v51y2019i2p211-225.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the generative power of performance measurement systems design

Author

Listed:
  • Giovannoni, Elena
  • Quarchioni, Sonia

Abstract

Prior studies recognise the enabling power of incompleteness in the design of Performance Measurement Systems (PMS). We add to these studies by exploring the ‘time dimension’ of incompleteness as a way to delve into the generative power of design. To this aim, we rely upon the experience of a knowledge-intensive organization during the design of a new PMS. While knowledge complexity engaged the participants within an open-ended design process, incomplete measures were associated with unfolding memories of the past and confident beliefs in future solutions, which generated effects through the knowledge gaps that they entailed, as well as through the projections in the past and in the future that they enabled. By delving into the time dimension of incompleteness, we add to prior studies on PMS design by showing the relationships between managers' hopes for the future, patterns of memory (and forgetting) of the past and incompleteness in design. In particular, we show that although incomplete measures stimulate managers' aspirations and search for further possibilities, it is forgetting about the past (its evolving memories) that triggers this search, facilitates new actors entering the design process and enables unpredictable outcomes of design.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:51:y:2019:i:2:p:211-225
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2018.11.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890838918300817
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bar.2018.11.002?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. Margaret A. Abernethy & Jan Bouwens, 2005. "Determinants of accounting innovation implementation," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 41(3), pages 217-240, October.
    2. Lillis, Anne M., 2002. "Managing multiple dimensions of manufacturing performance -- an exploratory study," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 497-529, August.
    3. Ahrens, Thomas & Chapman, Christopher S., 2006. "Doing qualitative field research in management accounting: Positioning data to contribute to theory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 819-841, November.
    4. Paolo Quattrone, 2017. "Embracing ambiguity in management controls and decision-making processes: On how to design data visualisations to prompt wise judgement," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(5), pages 588-612, July.
    5. Quattrone, Paolo, 2009. "Books to be practiced: Memory, the power of the visual, and the success of accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 85-118, January.
    6. Mike Bourne, Andy Neely, John Mills, Ken Platts, 2003. "Implementing performance measurement systems: a literature review," International Journal of Business Performance Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 5(1), pages 1-24.
    7. Wouters, Marc, 2009. "A developmental approach to performance measures--Results from a longitudinal case study," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 64-78, February.
    8. Thomas Ahrens & Christopher S. Chapman, 2004. "Accounting for Flexibility and Efficiency: A Field Study of Management Control Systems in a Restaurant Chain," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(2), pages 271-301, June.
    9. Davila, Tony & Wouters, Marc, 2005. "Managing budget emphasis through the explicit design of conditional budgetary slack," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(7-8), pages 587-608.
    10. Hall, Matthew, 2010. "Accounting information and managerial work," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 301-315, April.
    11. Swieringa, Robert J. & Weick, Karl R., 1987. "Management accounting and action," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 293-308, April.
    12. Busco, Cristiano & Quattrone, Paolo, 2018. "Performing business and social innovation through accounting inscriptions: An introduction," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 15-19.
    13. Nandhakumar, Joe & Jones, Matthew, 2001. "Accounting for time: managing time in project-based teamworking," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 193-214, April.
    14. Ahrens, Thomas & Chapman, Christopher S., 2007. "Management accounting as practice," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 1-27.
    15. Cooper, David J. & Hayes, David & Wolf, Frank, 1981. "Accounting in organized anarchies: Understanding and designing accounting systems in ambiguous situations," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 175-191, July.
    16. 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.
    17. Chenhall, Robert H. & Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2017. "The expressive role of performance measurement systems: a field study of a mental health development project," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 46364, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Hopwood, Anthony G., 1987. "The archeology of accounting systems," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 207-234, April.
    19. Bol, Jasmijn C. & Kramer, Stephan & Maas, Victor S., 2016. "How control system design affects performance evaluation compression: The role of information accuracy and outcome transparency," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 64-73.
    20. Hopwood, Ag, 1972. "Empirical Study Of Role Of Accounting Data In Performance Evaluation," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10, pages 156-182.
    21. Delphine Gibassier & Michelle Rodrigue & Diane-Laure Arjaliès, 2018. "“Integrated reporting is like God: no one has met Him, but everybody talks about Him”," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 31(5), pages 1349-1380, June.
    22. 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.
    23. Anderson-Gough, Fiona & Grey, Christopher & Robson, Keith, 2001. "Tests of time: organizational time-reckoning and the making of accountants in two multi-national accounting firms," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 99-122, March.
    24. Wouters, Marc & Wilderom, Celeste, 2008. "Developing performance-measurement systems as enabling formalization: A longitudinal field study of a logistics department," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(4-5), pages 488-516.
    25. 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.
    26. Hall, Matthew, 2010. "Accounting information and managerial work," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28539, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    27. Hedberg, Bo & Jonsson, Sten, 1978. "Designing semi-confusing information systems for organizations in changing environments," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 47-64, February.
    28. Herbert A. Simon, 1996. "The Sciences of the Artificial, 3rd Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262691914, April.
    29. Chenhall, Robert H. & Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2017. "The expressive role of performance measurement systems: A field study of a mental health development project," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 60-75.
    30. Hoque, Zahirul, 2014. "20 years of studies on the balanced scorecard: Trends, accomplishments, gaps and opportunities for future research," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 33-59.
    31. Rowe, Casey & Shields, Michael D. & Birnberg, Jacob G., 2012. "Hardening soft accounting information: Games for planning organizational change," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 260-279.
    32. Chenhall, Robert H. & Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2013. "Performance measurement, modes of evaluation and the development of compromising accounts," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51294, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    33. Quattrone, Paolo & Hopper, Trevor, 2005. "A 'time-space odyssey': management control systems in two multinational organisations," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(7-8), pages 735-764.
    34. Jonsson, Sten & Macintosh, Norman B., 1997. "CATS, RATS, AND EARS: Making the case for ethnographic accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 22(3-4), pages 367-386.
    35. Mouritsen, Jan & Kreiner, Kristian, 2016. "Accounting, decisions and promises," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 21-31.
    36. Hopwood, Ag, 1972. "Empirical Study Of Role Of Accounting Data In Performance Evaluation - Reply," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10, pages 189-193.
    37. Ditillo, Angelo, 2004. "Dealing with uncertainty in knowledge-intensive firms: the role of management control systems as knowledge integration mechanisms," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(3-4), pages 401-421.
    38. Claire Dambrin & Keith Robson, 2011. "Tracing performance in the pharmaceutical industry: ambivalence, opacity and the performativity of flawed measures," Post-Print hal-00687848, HAL.
    39. Marc Wouters & Diana Roijmans, 2011. "Using Prototypes to Induce Experimentation and Knowledge Integration in the Development of Enabling Accounting Information," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 708-736, June.
    40. Sara Nadin & Catherine Cassell, 2006. "The use of a research diary as a tool for reflexive practice: Some reflections from management research," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 3(3), pages 208-217, September.
    41. 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.
    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. Jacobo Gomez‐Conde & Ernesto Lopez‐Valeiras & Ricardo Malagueño & José Carlos Tiomatsu Oyadomari, 2022. "Quality of performance metrics, informal peer monitoring and goal commitment," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(3), pages 4041-4077, September.

    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. 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.
    2. 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).
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Chenhall, Robert H. & Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2013. "Performance measurement, modes of evaluation and the development of compromising accounts," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51294, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. O’Leary, Susan & Smith, David, 2020. "Moments of resistance: An internally persuasive view of performance and impact reports in non-governmental organizations," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    7. 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.
    8. 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).
    9. Mouritsen, Jan & Kreiner, Kristian, 2016. "Accounting, decisions and promises," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 21-31.
    10. Lorino, Philippe & Mourey, Damien & Schmidt, Géraldine, 2017. "Goffman's theory of frames and situated meaning-making in performance reviews. The case of a category management approach in the French retail sector," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 32-49.
    11. Fasshauer, Ingrid, 2012. "Les interactions entre contrôle et stratégie : redéfinition du rôle des cadres intermédiaires et du levier interactif de contrôle," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/11150 edited by Berland, Nicolas.
    12. 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.
    13. David J. Cooper & Mahmoud Ezzamel & Keith Robson, 2019. "The Multiplicity of Performance Management Systems: Heterogeneity in Multinational Corporations and Management Sense‐Making," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 451-485, March.
    14. Giuliani, Marco & Skoog, Matti, 2020. "Making sense of the temporal dimension of intellectual capital: A critical case study," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    15. 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).
    16. Aziza Laguecir & Anja Kern & Cécile Kharoubi, 2020. "Management accounting systems in institutional complexity: Hysteresis and boundaries of practices in social housing," Post-Print hal-03134361, HAL.
    17. Martinez, Daniel E. & Cooper, David J., 2019. "Assembling performance measurement through engagement," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    18. 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.
    19. Ilse Svensson de Jong, 2021. "Misfit? The Use of Metrics in Innovation," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-20, August.
    20. 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).

    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:bracre:v:51:y:2019:i:2:p:211-225. 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/the-british-accounting-review .

    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.