Hans Englund

Developing Enabling Performance Measurement Systems: On the Interplay between Numbers and Operational Knowledge

Abstract Performance measurement systems (PMSs) are generally regarded to serve the needs of top managers. However, a growing literature has started to explore what it takes for these systems to be(come) enabling also for those whose performance is being measured. In this paper, we build on and add to this literature by providing ethnographic insights into how and why a group of middle-managers transformed a set of performance measures, initially developed as monitoring devices for top management, into a so-called enabling PMS. Regarding how this came about, we elaborate on how actors mobilised two different forms of mental models of the operations (specific and generalised), and a set of number-to-number tactics, as important means in their development work. Regarding the why-question, we identify a high evaluation pressure from top management, in combination with recurrent reconstructions of the existing mental models of operations, as important conditions that worked to initiate, fuel, and, eventually, cease the process.

On the (re)construction of numbers and operational reality: A study of face-to-face interactions

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.

Managing performance evaluation uncertainties in schools: When teachers become struggling performers:

Performative technologies are increasingly relied upon as a means of controlling the work of teachers. As noted in the literature, one possible outcome of this trend is the performer, a teacher identity that presupposes the internalization of, and adaptation to, a performative logic. Based on the findings from an empirical study of a Swedish upper secondary school, we suggest that teachers who actually submit to the underlying logic of performative technologies – i.e. who intentionally strive towards a performative identity – will encounter a number of performance evaluation uncertainties, due to how performative technologies may: (a) reflect and recognize teacher performances based on qualitative judgements, (b) fail to take into account their entrepreneurial endeavours, (c) depict essentially collective effects as individual performances, and (d) reflect and recognize performances in a relativizing way. Such performance evaluation uncertainties will, in turn, provoke perceived tensions as performative teachers want to be (perceived as) performers but become uncertain as to when and why they did (not) perform well. And importantly, we find that such tensions tend to turn the ongoing reproduction of a performative identity into a cognitive struggle. Based on this, we introduce and elaborate on a particular type of performative teacher identity; the struggling performer.

What can(not) a flat and local structuration ontology do for management accounting research?: A comment on Coad, Jack and Kholeif

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on “Structuration theory: reflections on its further potential for management accounting research”, a paper by Coad Design/methodology/approach - This paper presents, discusses and challenges the critique that Coad Findings - This paper offers a number of reflections upon Coad Originality/value - This paper expands the current understanding of a flat and local structuration ontology in management accounting research.

Performative Technology Intensity and Teacher Subjectivities

ABSTRACT Critical educational literature suggests that an increased reliance upon neoliberally inspired management technologies transforms the very foundations from which images of the ideal teacher are constructed. The purpose of this paper is to add to this literature by (i) identifying and analysing a number of theoretical qualities associated with performative technologies, and (ii) discussing how such qualities contribute to the emergence of performative teacher subjectivities. Drawing upon the findings from a qualitative interview study into the extensive use of performative technologies in a Swedish upper-secondary school, we discuss four key roles of performative technologies—referred to as territorializing, mediating, adjudicating, and subjectivizing—and the intensity by which they play out such roles. A key conclusion is that the intensity by which performative technologies territorialize, mediate, and adjudicate educational practices affects self-reflection and internalization among teachers and, hence, is important for understanding the subjectivizing role of performative technologies.