Management control in the 21st century

Nixon, William A.; Burns, John

doi:10.1016/j.mar.2005.07.001

Cited by 63 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Hence, while there have been other areas of management control and sustainability examined, notably full cost accounting and related techniques (Antheaume, 2007, Fraser, 2012, Xing et al, 2009, these are generally examined in isolation from other management controls. Further, to date, none have examined core values, despite suggestions that these types of controls may have an important role to play (Nixon and Burns, 2005) and may also prompt greater levels of responsible decision making (Norris and O'Dwyer, 2004). Little is known, for instance, whether core values purporting to be focused on sustainability can assist with opening up other perspectives within an organisation beyond "institutional appropriation" and "organisational change" (Ball, 2007, Larrinaga-Gonzalez andBebbington, 2001).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Core values as a management control in the construction of “sustainable development”

Jollands

Akroyd

Sawabe

2015

Qualitative Research in Accounting &Amp; Management

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Purpose – This paper aims to examine a management control constructed by senior managers, a core value focused on sustainability, as it travels through time and space. The criticality of sustainable development suggests the need to understand the effects that core values have on organisational actions. Design/methodology/approach – A case study methodology carried out at a multinational organisation is used. This analysis was informed by an actor-network theory which allowed placing the organisation’s sustainability focused core value at the centre of this research. Findings – It was found that management control, in the form of a sustainability-focused core value, took on an active role in the case organisation. This enabled the opening of space and time that allowed actors to step forward and take action in relation to sustainable development. It is shown how the core value mobilised individual actors at specific points in time but did not enrol enough collective support to continue its travel. The resulting activities, though, provided a construction of sustainable development within the organisation more in line with traditional profit-seeking objectives rather than in relation to sustainability objectives, such as inter- and intra-generational equity. Research limitations/implications – These findings suggest possibilities for future research that examines the active role that management controls may take within sustainable development. Originality/value – This paper shows the active role a management control, a sustainability focused core value, took within an organisation. This builds on the research that examines management control in relation to sustainability issues and sustainable development as well as the literature that examines core values.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Core values as a management control in the construction of “sustainable development”

Jollands

Akroyd

Sawabe

2015

Qualitative Research in Accounting &Amp; Management

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“…While there have been some attempts at refining the definitions of diagnostic and interactive control systems (Bisbe et al, 2007;Ferreira and Otley, 2009), belief and boundary control systems have received less attention. As a result, there have been calls for these levers of control to be investigated in more depth (Collier, 2005;Nixon and Burns, 2005) and more recent papers now include all four levers (Granlund and Taipaleenmäki, 2005;Marginson, 2002;Mundy, 2010;Tuomela, 2005;Widener, 2006). However, no specific attempts have been made to improve their definition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A conceptual development of Simons’ Levers of Control framework

Tessier

Otley

2012

Management Accounting Research

343

452

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“…Secondly, the MCSs included in our 'package', as far as possible, are relevant to contemporary organizations. We note, for example, the argument of Nixon and Burns [72] that there is a gap between the extant management control literature and practice as well as between the concepts in management control literature and conceptual developments in strategic management. Controls presented in prior literature (see Berry et al [73] for a recent review of literature on management control) have been adjusted to have general applicability to national and multinational organizations operating in a competitive environment.…”

Section: Management Control As Strategy-makingmentioning

confidence: 94%

Configuring management control systems: theorizing the integration of strategy and sustainability

2012

Strategic Direction

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Although organizations have embraced the sustainability rhetoric in their discourse and external reporting, little is known about the processes whereby management control system contributes to a deeper integration of sustainability within organizational strategy. This paper addresses this gap and mobilizes a configuration approach to theorise the roles and uses of management control system (MCS) and sustainability control system (SCS) in the integration of sustainability within organizational strategy. Building on the levers of control framework, we distinguish two possible uses of a MCS and a SCS-a diagnostic use and an interactive use-, and we specify the modes of MCS and SCS integration. We rely on these two core dimensions to identify eight organizational configurations that reflect the various uses as well as their modes of integration of SCS and MCS. We characterize these ideals-type configurations, explain their impact on the triple bottom line, and describe which mechanisms allow organizations to move from one configuration to another. In so doing, we highlight various paths toward sustainability integration or marginalization within organizations. Finally, we explain how our framework can support future research on the role of MCS and SCS in the integration of sustainability within strategy.

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Management control in the 21st century

Cited by 63 publications

References 25 publications

Core values as a management control in the construction of “sustainable development”

Core values as a management control in the construction of “sustainable development”

A conceptual development of Simons’ Levers of Control framework

Configuring management control systems: theorizing the integration of strategy and sustainability

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