Bill Lee

Reflections on the use of case studies in the accounting, management and organizational disciplines

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explain the background to the special issue and to provide an introduction to the articles on case studies included in the issue.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a review of developments in both the qualitative tradition and case studies in management research to provide a backdrop for the articles that are included in the issue. The articles discuss: the merits of unique cases and singular forms of evidence within a single case; the comparability of case studies with tools in other areas; and methods of theorising from case studies.Findings – The merits of case studies have often been understated. The articles in this issue highlight a broader variety of uses of case study research than is commonly recognized.Originality/value – This guest editorial introduces the papers in this issue, which may be read either as individual contributions that have merits per se, or as part of a collection that this introductory paper helps to knit together.

More than a numbers game: qualitative research in accounting

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to outline the development of academic research in the discipline of accounting, paying particular attention to the important contribution made by qualitative research projects.Design/methodology/approach – Provision of a historical trajectory based on a review of developments in academic journals, the size and breadth of the academic community and other dimensions of the academic discipline of accounting.Findings – The review indicates that accounting has developed into a pluralist discipline in the UK. Qualitative research features in many sub‐disciplinary areas of accounting.Practical implications – The paper identifies the sibling discipline of finance as an area where qualitative research has not developed fully. It makes some suggestions and provides some indicators of how qualitative research in the areas of accounting and finance may develop in the future.Originality/value – The paper provides the only attempt to date to analyse and review developments of qual...

Early stages of crystallisation of lithium disilicate glasses containing P2O5 : An NMR study

The 29 Si nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of glasses with a 1:2 molar ratio of Li 2 O : SiO 2 , containing P 2 O 5 , showed contributions from Q 4 , Q 3 and Q 2 species, consistent with a disproportionated binary distribution and with removal of Li + from the silicate network to form lithium phosphate units. Crystallisation in the 0% P 2 O 5 glass was detected by X-ray diffraction before it was observed by nuclear magnetic resonance. The crystalline Q 3 resonance grew largely at the expense of the glassy Q 3 , the amounts of glassy Q 4 and Q 2 remaining constant. The width of the crystalline Q 3 resonance is related to the formation of metastable lithium disilicate phases which are precursors to the stable lithium disilicate. The presence of glass-in-glass phase separation, undetectable by transmission electron microscopy, was inferred from the chemical shift and relaxation time of the Q 4 species. Lithium disilicate was observed at shorter times, as the P 2 O 5 content was increased, and lithium metasilicate was also formed in glasses containing 2% or more P 2 O 5 . Crystalline Li 3 PO 4 was not observed prior to formation of the lithium disilicate.

Trade unions learning representatives: progressing partnership?

The statutory rights given to trade union learning representatives (ULRs) to facilitate and organize learning in the workplace has led to the creation of a new specialized union lay official role. This article investigates how the ULR initiative is facilitating the development of learning partnerships in the workplace. Empirical data is provided from a qualitative study that draws on interviews with full-time trade union officials from a range of unions. It is argued that although the ULR initiative provides opportunities for unions to promote the ideal of learning partnerships within the workplace, rights to learning remain a contested terrain between many employers and unions.

Employee and social reporting as a war of position and the union learning representative initiative in the UK

Abstract In the employee reporting and social and environmental accounting and reporting fields, disputes are commonplace between academics who advocate improvements to reporting as a means of making those who control capital more accountable within capitalism and Marxist writers who see such improvements as possible obstacles to a change to an alternative society. Gramscis war of position concept, which allows the interpretation of progressive change as valuable per se and as having the potential to create the conditions for advancement to an alternative economy, is proposed as a means of resolving these differences. This argument is illustrated by reference to the UKs trade union learning representative initiative.

Re-vitalising learning and development?: Exploring the role of the trade union learning representative

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to provide a piece of empirical work that examines the impact of trade union learning representatives in enabling access to learning by those groups traditionally less likely to access such opportunities. This aim is discussed in relation to the literature on the significance of organizational learning. Design/methodology/approach – The research conducted included an in‐depth qualitative interview study of full‐time trade union officials with some responsibility for learning in their union. Findings – The findings are discussed in relation to how trade union learning representatives are approaching their role; how learning is being facilitated; who is gaining access to learning and how; and the ownership of learning more generally. Originality/value – The paper presents original data on a new learning initiative about which very little is currently published.Purpose – The aim of this paper is to provide a piece of empirical work that examines the impact of trade union learning representatives in enabling access to learning by those groups traditionally less likely to access such opportunities. This aim is discussed in relation to the literature on the significance of organizational learning.Design/methodology/approach – The research conducted included an in‐depth qualitative interview study of full‐time trade union officials with some responsibility for learning in their union.Findings – The findings are discussed in relation to how trade union learning representatives are approaching their role; how learning is being facilitated; who is gaining access to learning and how; and the ownership of learning more generally.Originality/value – The paper presents original data on a new learning initiative about which very little is currently published.

Driving, Steering, Leading, and Defending Journey and Warfare Metaphors of Change Agency in Trade Union Learning Initiatives

The use of metaphors in understanding organizational change has become prominent in recent years, although most research focuses on the deductive application of metaphors, rather than on inductive explorations of metaphorical language-in-use. This article extends qualitative understandings of the experience of change agency through an inductive focus on the metaphorical language-in-use of change agents. Through case study data from the United Kingdom and New Zealand, the authors explore how a group of trade unionists involved in the development of a trade (labor) union–sponsored learning initiative draw on metaphorical language to talk about their experiences. Seven different metaphors are identified and the change agency roles implied by those metaphors are analyzed. In considering the similarities and differences between managerial and union change agency, the authors argue that although some metaphors such as journey and warfare might be widespread in the accounts of both types of change agents, attention to other metaphors that share entailments with these metaphors reveals agency roles unique to the union context. The advantages and disadvantages of this novel form of qualitative data analysis are evaluated.

The Real Life Guide to Accounting Research: A Strategy for Inclusion

Conventional texts on research methods research have a tendency to provide acontextual prescriptive accounts of how research should be carried out. The authors of this paper have recently compiled an edited collection of accounts of how qualitative research was carried out in a variety of social and organizational contexts. This paper seeks to convey some of the real life stories behind actual research projects. It explains the motivations for the book, reviews its central themes and documents some of the authors’ personal experiences in compiling the collection.

New public management, accounting, regulators and moral panics

Purpose – Accounting and regulators are an integral part of new public management (NPM) across public sectors. This article aims to look at one of their potential drawbacks by investigating how a policy was deemed as a failure by regulators because of its limited financial controls.Design/methodology/approach – A case study of Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) in the UK draws on secondary sources organized into a chronology of events to show how concerns about a small number of providers were followed by claims of widespread abuse of ILAs being reported by regulators; claims that were disseminated widely by the media, but which were not substantiated by prosecutions.Findings – There is insufficient evidence to substantiate claims of widespread abuse and fraud of ILAs. This suggests that regulatory bodies helped amplify concerns about fraud and abuse, contributing to a minor moral panic.Research limitations/implications – The absence of accounting that promoted concerns of financial abuse, also takes awa...

The incompatibility of standard costing systems and modern manufacturing: Insight or unproven dogma?

The paper contends that the strategic use of accounting at times of organisational change does not of necessity mean that organisations should adopt new accounting systems ‐ such as activity based costing or throughput accounting. Although not necessarily fully “compatible” with new manufacturing methods, standard costing systems can still continue to be useful. The article examines the changing role of the accounting system in two manufacturing organisations that have introduced a range of new manufacturing techniques over the last decade. These have included reducing inventories, the elimination of constraints and increased investment in automation. Despite these developments, both companies have made few changes to their existing standard costing systems. Possible problems identified in the literature as inherent with standard costing systems were, at least in part, overcome through a range of adjustments to existing accounting and other reporting systems, with the accounting system recognised as provi...