Natural Learning in Committee B

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONThis article focuses on the ability of managers to handle financial management information. Because financial management information has become increasingly important to public sector organisations, the article reports a study conducted with a top management Committee of a Regional Health Authority.The study set out to ascertain if the managers in this Committee had the ability to handle the financial management information with which they were provided, and if this ability changed over time, with or without training. A REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURESince the study was to be conducted with managers at their work, and so using the financial management information available to them, an examination was made of previous literature for any similar studies conducted in natural settings. These types of studies, including financial management information, are sparse, but parts of the three most relevant ones are discussed briefly here. One study of the industrial relations (IDE, 1980) and industrial democracy (IDE, 1981) practices of twelve nations noted that within such issues, information is important. However, it was a subject which was too complex to confront (IDE, 1980) and there was no indication of what information did for the individuals.The study assumed that if an individual indicated involvement then that respondent was implied to have received information (IDE, 1981 ~. A second study focused upon the conditions which facilitate or restrain the positive consequences of company information (Centre for Decision-Making Studies, 1979). The study was conducted in ten companies and covered eleven areas of information: 36 key people completed a questionnaire which included the clarity of the company information. The study assumed that if the information was considered to be clear, then this was taken to mean that the information was easily understood by employees. Amongst other things, a better management-employee relationship was found to be associated with clearer information (Centre for Decision-Making Studies, 1979). This suggests that the at UNIV OF MICHIGAN on June 27, 2015 mlq.sagepub.com Downloaded from 61 information was acting more like a hygiene factor in the sense of Herzberg (1968) used this term, rather than as a piece of knowledge which could be used to effect and to influence affairs or decisions.The third and earliest published study was conducted with male blue-collar employees in a local authority's outdoor recreation department (Wall and Lisheron, 1977). The employees' responses to an initial questionnaire showed a very strong desire for information about matters and decisions which were at a local level to their work, and a strong desire for information concerned with issues at medium and distant levels from their job task. It was also found that the perceived information received was slightly more strongly related to the satisfaction of the employees rather than their influence (Wall and Lisheron, 1977).After this initial survey, Wall and Lisheron and the local authority starte...

Towards a Framework to Study Influence and Accounting Use

“…These are deliberately brief because full details can be found in each publication. The study with managers in the Regional Health Authority used conversations and personal construct grids in relation to the accounting data received and used (Purdy, 1991a). The study with Ward Unit Managers was with open conversations about the accounting data received and used (Purdy, 1993a).…”

“…It was conducted with managers in a UK Regional Health Authority and showed that the managers varied in their ability to understand the accounting data provided. The ability to understand might have affected their ability to handle the data and might have altered with training but did alter with learning on the job (Purdy, 1991a).…”

Pondering the principles: a personal general model of the psychology of users, providers and preparers of published accounts used to comment upon the Accounting Standards Board's draft statement of principles for financial reporting

“…The study found that each member of the committee indicated different abilities to construe financial management accounting data. Those who had been trained, even on the job, indicated more ( ) financial management accounting constructs Purdy, 1991b . With the second study, the managers of ward units in a teaching hospital received data relating to their own unit in the same format.…”

Ward Sisters and Financial Management Accounting

“…What accounting data do Ward Unit Managers provide to their Ward Sisters; how do the Ward Sisters view this; and does natural learning occur? Natural learning in this context being the facility of individuals to learn on the job and discover something about financial management accounting (Purdy, 1991).…”