On the (re)construction of numbers and operational reality: A study of face-to-face interactions
Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management
ISSN: 1176-6093
Article publication date: 20 June 2016
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the mobilization of management accounting (MA) numbers and metrics in social interactions. The purpose is to develop a model of how and why managers perceive and mobilize (new) MA numbers/metrics in a changing way over time in situated face-to-face interactions.
Design/methodology/approach
An observation-based qualitative field study of a change project in a large manufacturing company is used as the basis for our analysis.
Findings
The empirical study shows that MA numbers and metrics are essential when semi-distant managers strive to solve problems and achieve radical improvement targets, but that the ways in which existing and new metrics are perceived and mobilized during face-to-face interactions change over time. The study provides both a detailed account of the emergent nature of the transformation process and a number of mechanisms as to why managers (inter-)act the way they do to produce such change.
Originality/value
The paper problematizes the generally held view that MA numbers and metrics primarily work as a structuring device in face-to-face interactions, and also, how the processes are constituted through which MA is transformed into such a structuring device. The paper also adds new insights to our understandings of why managers (inter-)act the way they do to produce MA change.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the useful comments made by participants at workshops at Centre for Empirical Research in Organizational Control (CEROC) and at Stockholm University. Financial support for this project was provided by Örebro University, the Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation and Stiftelsen Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.
Citation
Abrahamsson, G., Englund, H. and Gerdin, J. (2016), "On the (re)construction of numbers and operational reality: A study of face-to-face interactions", Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 159-188. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRAM-01-2016-0009
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited