When Organisations Deinstitutionalise Control Practices: A Multiple-Case Study of Budget Abandonment

Becker, Sebastian D.

doi:10.1080/09638180.2014.899918

Cited by 57 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 80 publications

(130 reference statements)

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“…This corresponds with Churchill's (, 151) normative statement that “business unit managers must be given explicit performance objectives because of economic crises…. In these situations, the knowledge necessary for good budget preparation usually resides at a managerial level one or two steps above that of unit managers.” Becker (, 40) gives an account of a European bank which, as a result of the 2008 economic crisis, reintroduced budgetary targets for performance evaluation and resource allocation even though it had abandoned them for these purposes several years earlier. Organizational participants observed that, because budgets had not been used for resource allocation, empowered managers “overspen[t] in areas previously controlled by budgets.” Janke, Mahlendorf, and Weber () provide quantitative evidence that management control systems are used more interactively in times of economic crisis and qualitative evidence that budgeting talks for target setting and budget deviation analysis intensified.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Budgeting in Times of Economic Crisis

Becker

Mahlendorf

Schäffer

et al. 2016

Contemporary Accting Res

Self Cite

105

124

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This article examines how corporate reliance on budgets is affected by major changes in the economic environment. We combine survey and archival data from the economic crisis that began in 2008. The results indicate that budgeting became more important for planning and resource allocation but less important for performance evaluation in companies affected more strongly by the 2008 economic crisis. Additional evidence from interviews and data gathered in a focus group further illustrate these results and show the changes organizations have introduced to respond to the economic crisis. Taken together, and contrary to more general conclusions from the literature such as an overall increase or decrease in the importance of budgeting, we find that companies emphasize certain budgeting functions over others during economic crises.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Budgeting in Times of Economic Crisis

Becker

Mahlendorf

Schäffer

et al. 2016

Contemporary Accting Res

Self Cite

105

124

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Yet these different historical constellations may give rise to varying organizational adaptation processes to new logics independently of the institutional conditions in an organization's contemporary environment. Only limited research exists about how settled political constellations in organizations influence internal processes for addressing new institutional elements (Becker, 2014;Hinings, Greenwood, & Meyer, 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional Complexity and Organizational Change: An Open Polity Perspective

Waeger

Weber²

2019

AMR

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Changing environments often expose organizations to institutional logics that are at odds with other logics that were imprinted into the organizations in the past, giving rise to conflict. We specifically propose that prior institutional environments imprint organizational coalitions and governance systems-the organization's polity-and that these polity imprints explain variance in organizational change processes in response to new logics. We argue that such polity imprints shape how different organizational groups construe their conflicting interests in relation to new logics, how they mobilize for and against changes emanating from these logics, and how the outcomes of group conflict become stabilized. To develop this argument, we identify four ideal types of organizational polities, based on differences in the centralization of authority and the unity of organizational elites. Each ideal type gives rise to a characteristic pattern of how organizations process the advent of new logics. Our analysis demonstrates the utility of conceptualizing organizations as open polities-political entities that interact with their external environment-and the importance of taking historically imprinted political features of organizations into account in studies of organizational responses to institutional complexity.

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“…Lukka, 1988;Merchant, 1985;Shields & Young, 1993), which has recently gained momentum as researchers have become interested in firms' use of rolling forecasts and the application of beyond budgeting ideas (e.g. Becker, 2014;Bourmistrov & Kaarbøe, 2013;Libby & Lindsay, 2010). Forecast accuracy represents one way of addressing concerns with planning quality.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Use of Forecast Accuracy Indicators to Improve Planning Quality: Insights from a Case Study

Jordan

Messner

2019

European Accounting Review

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Accounting studies have analyzed rolling forecasts and similar dynamic approaches to planning as a way to improve the quality of planning. We complement this research by investigating an alternative (complementary) way to improve planning quality, i.e. the use of forecast accuracy indicators as a results control mechanism. Our study particularly explores the practical challenges that might emerge when firms use a performance measure for forecast accuracy. We examine such challenges by means of an in-depth case study of a manufacturing firm that started to monitor sales forecast accuracy. Drawing from interviews, meeting observations and written documentation, we highlight two possible concerns with the use of forecast accuracy: concerns related to the limited degree of controllability of the performance measure and concerns with its goal congruence. We illustrate how organizational actors experienced these challenges and how they adapted their approach to forecast accuracy in response to them. Our empirical observations do not only shed light on the possibilities and challenges pertaining to the use of forecast accuracy as a performance measure; they also improve our understanding of how specific qualities of performance measures apply to 'truth-inducing' indicators, and how the particular organizational and market context can shape the quality of performance measures more generally.It's a forecast; the only sure thing about a forecast is that it's going to be wrong.

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When Organisations Deinstitutionalise Control Practices: A Multiple-Case Study of Budget Abandonment

Cited by 57 publications

References 80 publications

Budgeting in Times of Economic Crisis

Budgeting in Times of Economic Crisis

Institutional Complexity and Organizational Change: An Open Polity Perspective

The Use of Forecast Accuracy Indicators to Improve Planning Quality: Insights from a Case Study

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