Crafting Compromises in a Strategising Process: A Case Study of an International Development Organisation

Hall, Matthew

doi:10.1111/faam.12119

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Boomsma and O’Dwyer, 2014; O’Dwyer and Unerman, 2010). Other dimensions to understanding accountability are in terms of upwards–downwards accountability, internal–external accountability and functional–strategic accountability (Ebrahim, 2003a; Hall, 2017). Accountability can be imposed (in terms of coercive compliance based forms), felt (driven by a sense of individual values towards responsibility and transparency) and adaptive (which balances the former two perspectives) (O’Dwyer and Boomsma, 2015, pp.…”

Section: Prior Literature and Theoretical Groundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Internally, NGOs may “craft compromises” in terms of their strategic planning to achieve consensus in reconciling diverse perspectives and responding to external demands (Hall, 2017). There is evidence that NGOs may be engaging in “counter-conduct” where NGOs may seek to co-opt the influence placed on them, especially from government funders, to achieve their own purposes (Boomsma and O’Dwyer, 2019).…”

Section: Prior Literature and Theoretical Groundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, there is a need to further explore the nexus between how internal and external forces shape and are shaped by conceptions of accountability from a practitioners’ perspective. Especially, as various conceptions of accountability and their attendant logics are important in determining the intervention approaches that are adopted (O’Leary, 2017; Hall, 2017). For instance, Vakil (1997) discussed direct-implementation type NGOs as involved in welfare-based or development activities such as housing construction or education.…”

Section: Prior Literature and Theoretical Groundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Shaping accountability at an NGO: a Bourdieusian perspective

Kuruppu

Lodhia

2019

AAAJ

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of accountability as it relates to a non-governmental organisation (NGO) evolving through a period of considerable change in Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach An in-depth single case study of a large NGO working in Sri Lanka is presented. Data collection involved conducting semi-structured interviews with a range of NGO employees and stakeholders, undertaking participant and non-participant observation and document analysis. Findings This paper shows how accountability is a contested notion that is shaped by struggles among stakeholders within a field. The authors explore how the “widespread field” consisting of the aid context in Sri Lanka and internationally is rapidly shifting. This creates unique pressures within the “restricted field” of the case NGO and its constituents. These pressures are manifested in the contest between the different capitals held by various stakeholders to shape the NGO. The nature of access to these capitals is important in the way that the NGO is shaped by external forces, and also by the individuals within it. Research limitations/implications This study adds fresh perspective to the growing body of work in NGO accountability. The paper highlights the tensions NGOs face through a holistic application of a Bourdieusian conceptual framework. The authors show how the habitus of the organisation is shaped in such a way that conceptions of accountability were captured by powerful external and internal constituencies. Ultimately, the nature of an organisation’s agency is questioned. Practical implications The authors present a more nuanced understanding of forces which shape accountability in an NGO setting which is of practical relevance to NGOs and their stakeholders. The authors highlight the struggle for an NGO to maintain its agency through resisting external forces that impact on its operations. Originality/value This study presents a comprehensive and holistic application of Bourdieu’s concepts and their interactions in an organisational setting. The struggle to harness various forms of capital in the field, shapes doxa and the habitus of NGO actors, illuminating the role of symbolic violence in the creation of an organisational identity.

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Section: Prior Literature and Theoretical Groundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Prior Literature and Theoretical Groundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Prior Literature and Theoretical Groundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Shaping accountability at an NGO: a Bourdieusian perspective

Kuruppu

Lodhia

2019

AAAJ

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“…their actions through adapting and responding to others' critique, in an attempt to facilitate consensus -whenever that is necessary for progression (Hall, 2017). Another take on strategizing as 'doing' is that, sometimes, a strategic objective may be cited as a rationale for engaging in a preferred action even if this action is not actually integral to the stated goal (Jørgensen & Messner, 2010).…”

Section: Strategizing In Episodes and Stagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategizing in English hospitals: accounting, practical coping and strategic intent

Begkos

Llewellyn

Walshe

2019

AAAJ

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the intricate ways in which accounting is implicated in the unfolding of strategizing in a pluralistic setting. The authors treat strategizing as a practical coping mechanism which begins in response to a problem and unfolds over time into an episode. This approach enables the authors to explore strategizing pathways and the ways they can mobilise accounting to advance from practical coping to explicit strategic intent. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with Clinical Directors, Business Managers and Finance personnel at three NHS hospitals. Documents were also collected, such as business cases and financial reports. The authors employed theories on strategizing agency, episodes and practical coping to select examples of strategizing and indicate how strategizing is constructed and performed. The authors present the results of this qualitative analysis in three strategizing narratives. Findings The analysis highlights how Clinical Directors’ strategizing with accounting, in response to their financial problems, can take on contesting, conforming and circumventing modes. As the strategizing pathway unfolds, accounting acts as an obligatory passage point through which Clinical Directors pursue their strategic intent. Along each pathway the authors identify, first, where practical coping takes on a clear strategic intent and, second, whether this emergent strategy proves efficacious. Originality/value The authors contribute to the nascent body of accounting and strategizing studies through seeing strategizing with accounting, not as the formulation of explicit organisational strategy as “done” in board rooms and strategy meetings, but as an impromptu response to a critical financial problem within a localised organisational setting. In response to a problem, actors may realise their immanent strategizing through their engagement with accounting practices.

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“…In these contexts, management and other administrative activities including accounting tend to be viewed at best as a distraction from 'real' activities or at worst a waste of time and money (Agyemang et al, 2017). Relatedly, there can be strong resistance or even outright rejection of attempts to use basic accounting procedures as part of attempts to operate NGOs like a 'business' (Chenhall et al, 2010;Hall, 2017). Again, although potentially more prominent in NGOs, many organizations can face contexts where values are important, where organizational participants are likely to have a mix of motives, and where there may be resistance to and/or lack of understanding of accounting and control practices.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accounting, non-governmental organizations and civil society: The importance of nonprofit organizations to understanding accounting, organizations and society

Hall

O’Dwyer

2017

Accounting, Organizations and Society

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This introductory essay illustrates how our understanding of accounting, organizations and society can be enriched by closely studying the character and contexts evident in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and non-profit organizations. These organizations represent diverse, complex, and frequently atypical contexts. We contend that these contexts are especially enthralling for accounting scholars given their performance measurement challenges, accountability to diverse sets of stakeholders, and the need to frequently balance and reconcile logics of efficiency and effectiveness. To support our contentions, we unpack a number of distinct control and accountability-related themes underlying the four papers included in this Special Issue. We reflect on how these themes offer future empirical and theoretical research directions for accounting and accountability research in the realm of NGO/non-profit organizations and in organizations more generally.

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Crafting Compromises in a Strategising Process: A Case Study of an International Development Organisation

Cited by 6 publications

References 39 publications

Shaping accountability at an NGO: a Bourdieusian perspective

Shaping accountability at an NGO: a Bourdieusian perspective

Strategizing in English hospitals: accounting, practical coping and strategic intent

Accounting, non-governmental organizations and civil society: The importance of nonprofit organizations to understanding accounting, organizations and society

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