Self-rationalised production of professional services through use of knowledge management systems (in French)

Citation

(2012), "Self-rationalised production of professional services through use of knowledge management systems (in French)", Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Vol. 8 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jaoc.2012.31508aaa.002

Self-rationalised production of professional services through use of knowledge management systems (in French)

Article Type: Doctoral research abstracts From: Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, Volume 8, Issue 1

Purpose - Analyse how work processes and organisational controls have evolved since the introduction of first generation knowledge management systems (KMS) in professional service firms (PSF).

Design/methodology/approach - A socio-ethnographic study was carried out from 1999 to 2008 in the Parisian office of a large PSF, member of an international network of accountants, lawyers and consultants. Data sources included interviews, electronic and archival documents as well as non-participant observation in meetings.

Findings - The study suggests that using KMS makes it possible to mass-customise and standardise the delivery of certain types of professional services. In addition, it showed KMS use reinforces rather than weakens the social and self-controls on work. These results lead the author to claim that a pervasive “soft rationalization” of work is taking place, chosen as much as undergone, by professionals.

Research limitations/implications - More work is necessary to understand how and why the targets of organisational supervision become involved, consciously or unconsciously, in structuring the surveillance of their own productivity.

Practical implications - The study reveals that lawyers who do not experience an Organizational-Professional Conflict (OPC) appear to struggle, instead, with a novel type of conflict: resentment towards colleagues who operate in a different field of expertise. To address this issue, new management techniques must be created to restore and protect the collaborative ethos of the case firm and, by extension, of professional service firms that choose to bureaucratize their processes.

Originality/value - Building on the “PSF archetypes” literature, this study suggests that professional service firms might not need more explicit regimes of governance and control, even if they are attempting to increase their productivity and cost efficiency. In fact, the analysis points to the proliferation of lateral networks of surveillance where peers are involved in inspecting the technical reliability of one another’s work, irrespective of the official hierarchies and formal lines of command and control. This thesis also contributes to the management control literature by highlighting the notion of “control” from angles that take into account the ambiguities and unpredictability of professional relationships, especially in digitalized environments.

Discipline area – Management AccountingAwarded Institution – HEC ParisSupervisors – Veronique MalleretContact e-mail: marion.brivot@fsa.ulaval.caMarion Brivot, PhD, MBA, CGAAssistant Professor of AccountancyÉcole de comptabilité. Faculté des sciences de l’administrationQuébec, Canada