Suchergebnisse

Väitöskirjassa tutkitaan modernin tietotekniikan roolia yrityksen taloudellisessa ohjauksessa, sekä sitä, kuinka yrityksen talousjohto aktiivisella toiminnallaan kykenee paitsi ohjailemaan taloudellisia resursseja, myös kontrolloimaan päätöksentekoa sekä määrittelemään uuden tietojärjestelmän käyttöönottoon liittyviä merkityksiä. Erityisesti tämän tutkimuksen tarkoitus on jäsentää johdon laskentatoimen mahdollista muuttumista otettaessa käyttöön yrityksen kaikki toiminnot integroiva ERP järjestelmä. Tässä tutkimuksessa kysymystä lähestytään neljästä eri näkökulmasta: (i) johdon laskentatoimi teknologiana, (ii) johdon laskentatoimi tietämyksenä, (iii) johdon laskentatoimi ohjausrakenteena ja (iv) johdon laskentatoimi ammattina. Toisin kuin aikaisemmissa vastaavissa tutkimuksissa, tässä painopiste on uuden järjestelmän käyttöönottovaiheessa, ei sen myöhemmissä vaikutuksissa johdon laskentatoimeen. Rakenteellisesti väitöskirja koostuu johdantoluvusta, sekä neljästä aikaisemmin julkaistusta artikkelista. Metodologisesti tutkimus etenee yleisestä kohti yksityiskohtaisempaa tapaustutkimusta. Ensimmäisessä artikkelissa käytetty survey-menetelmä osoittaa sen, että tutkittava ilmiö on mielenkiintoinen, mutta tutkimuksellisesti haastava. Kolme muuta artikkelia on toteutettu dynaamisempana reaaliaikaisena tapaustutkimuksena yhdessä yrityksessä. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, miten suuri rooli yksittäisellä aktiivisella toimijalla voi olla uuden tietojärjestelmän käyttöönottoprojektissa. Koko yrityksen kattavan integroidun järjestelmän avulla voidaan siirtää paikallista kustannuslaskentatietämystä nopeasti ja tehokkaasti. Samalla aktiiviset määrätietoiset toimijat voivat piiloutua tietojärjestelmien ja laskentastandardien taakse pyrkiessään aikaansaamaan haluamiaan muutoksia. Tämän lisäksi tutkimus tarjoaa yksityiskohtaisen kuvauksen tapahtumasarjasta, jossa projektista vastaava henkilö joutuu rakentamaan erilaisia sosiaalisia verkostoja sekä aina uudelleen ja uudelleen myymään projektin eri osapuolille erilaisten kielikuvien avulla. Lopuksi tutkimus osoittaa sen, kuinka uudet laskenta- ja tietotekniikat hallitseva henkilö voi hyödyntää niitä omassa urakehityksessään. ; The overall purpose of this dissertation is to study the role of ICT in the controlling process of organizations, and specifically how financial management as an active agency is able to mobilise resources, control decision-making and manage meanings within the ERP implementation process. Thus, the purpose here is to shed light from four different perspectives on management accounting change in the ERP systems context: (i) management accounting as a technology, (ii) management accounting as knowledge, (iii) management accounting as a control structure, and (iv) management accounting as a profession. However, unlike in earlier studies, the focus here is on the implementation phase, not on the impacts of ERP systems on management accounting. The dissertation consists of an introductory chapter and four published papers. In this dissertation, the direction is from a preliminary and explorative survey to detailed and in-depth case studies. The survey used in the first paper not only indicated that the phenomenon is popular and interesting, but also showed how difficult, even impossible, it is, using the survey method, to capture a continuously changing target such as an information system, which is not only a stable system but also a dynamic and unstable process. Therefore, the last three papers were carried out as a case study in one company. In these papers, analyses on three levels were used: the institutional, organizational and individual levels. The institutional level means changes on the social and political level, i.e. EU integration and competition legislation. On the organizational level the focus is on the changes in organizational structures and processes, and on the individual level on single actors. As a conclusion, the dissertation replies to the question of how it is possible, using a company-wide integrated information system (ERP), to mobilize local management accounting knowledge to dis-embed it from the local level to headquarters, and then globalize it by re-embedding the knowledge on all sites. Besides this, the dissertation also offers a rich description of the series of events in which the actor responsible for the project, is in a situation to establish different social networks, and, over and over again, to sell the whole idea of the project to different actors by using suitable metaphors for the situation. In contrast to some other management accounting studies, this dissertation suggests that instead of a panopticon, the centre of calculation created by ERP systems may be more like an oligopticon. The nature of the oligopticon, however, includes a propensity for errors, as its functioning depends on the existence of many accounting information system agencies and the connections between them. As a final contribution, this dissertation explains how technology by its definition and implementation can help an accountant in his/her personal career.

Purpose The recent discussion on changes in the controller's role has mainly focused on the national and organizational level culture aspects of that professional role. While earlier studies have demonstrated how the role changes have been stimulated by corporate culture, IT systems, new accounting technologies and inter-professional competition, we contend that such changes cannot be achieved without active individuals in organizations. Methodology/Approach Our study is informed by the concept of institutional entrepreneurship, concentrating on changes in institutions, such as professional roles, which are achieved by an active agency. Thus we concentrate on the individual level by tracing how the role of a single controller was changed from that of a 'bean counter' towards that of a business partner. Findings We illustrate how new cost accounting techniques (ABC) and modern information technology (ERP) serve as critical momentum for this role change, and how the aspiring controller must creatively combine multiple competencies in order to change the institutionalized professional role. Research Implications Organizational roles and other social institutions defining accounting practices may change and are changed only as a result of active agencies. Therefore, in order to understand the conditions for these changes, we need to pay more attention to what active individuals are doing when bringing about these changes. More attention should be paid to the political and discursive action of accountants. Originality of the Paper This paper focuses on an active agency in the process of changing social institutions. The research task is organized as a longitudinal study concentrating on the critical phase of a single individual's work career. Classifications: Research paper

Higher education has been subject to substantial reforms as new forms of performance management are implemented in universities across the world. Extant research suggests that in many cases performance management systems have disrupted academic life. We complement this literature with an extensive mixed methods study of how the performance management system is understood by academics across universities and departments in Finland at a time when new management principles and practices are being forcefully introduced. While our survey results enabled us to map the generally critical and negative view that Finnish scholars have of performance management, the qualitative inquiry allowed us to disentangle how and why our respondents resent the ways and means of measuring their work, the assumptions that underlie the measurement, and the university ideal on which the performance management system is rooted. Most significantly, we highlight how the proliferation of performance management can be seen as a catalyst for changing the very ethos of what it is to be an academic and to do academic work.