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The practices of managing performance : accounting, accountability and cultural practices in a privatised pharmaceutical organisation
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Zakaria, Zamzulaila (2011) The practices of managing performance : accounting, accountability and cultural practices in a privatised pharmaceutical organisation. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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WRAP_THESIS_Zakaria_2011.pdf - Submitted Version Download (1022Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk:80/record=b2580996~S1
Abstract
This study seeks to understand the practices of managing performance in a privatised
pharmaceutical organisation. In particular, it examines the interplay of accounting,
accountability and cultural practices in the everyday practices of managing performance
in the organisation. Based on an intensive field study of five months, an ethnographic
approach was selected and data collected through observations, interviews and reviews of
documents. Drawing on practice theory, this thesis provides an insight into how
accounting as part of the constituents of organisational control systems was implicated in
the practices of managing dual accountability, cultural change and the process of goal
alignment. Contrary to the notion that accounting is mainly associated with the exercise
of hierarchical accountability, the case illustrates practical and general understandings of
accounting were enacted through socialising accountability. Additionally, it describes the
way in which accounting and strategising were implicated in the practices of managing
dual accountability in the organisation. In light of the implementation of KPIs in the
organisation, the mesh of accounting and other organisational practices are explored, the
consequences of which are explained in two findings. Firstly, the study argues that the
coexistence of change and stability of accounting practices is the outcome of the interplay
between agency and subcultural practices. This study suggests that subculture resides in
practices, which influences the way in which accounting is used in the organisation.
Secondly, the thesis discusses the uses of performance measurement in managing the
interdependence of practices and to promote goal alignment. The implementation of the
management programme and the change of organisational structure are illustrative of the
process through which accounting and non-accounting control relate in the process of
goal alignment.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HF Commerce | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Pharmaceutical industry -- Case studies, Accounting -- Case studies, Corporate culture | ||||
Official Date: | May 2011 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Warwick Business School | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Ahrens, Thomas, Ph.D. ; Scarparo, Simona | ||||
Sponsors: | Malaysia ; International Islamic University Malaysia ; Warwick Business School | ||||
Extent: | 284 leaves | ||||
Language: | eng |
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