Joanna Dyczkowska

Examining Management Information Flows in Business Organisations

Background. The application of modern information technologies alone does not solve communication problems in companies. The effectiveness of internal information flow is contingent on many factors with employees’ participation in planning being supposedly the one. Research aims. The paper examines downward and upward information flows by looking through “the lens of employees” and considering their participation in planning processes. It links strategic awareness and operational planning on the one hand with performance reporting, scope of control, post-control information, and managerial feedback on the other.Methodology. The results presented in the paper are based on a survey comprising 179 Polish companies. The authors employed a qualitative approach based on mining descriptive comments provided by employees matched with quantitative results based on pre-defined answer options.Key findings. The content analysis revealed a certain level of reporting duties being delegated at a departmental level. It was also visible that control activities were a part of a corporate learning process, and that meetings of managers with their employees contributed to a performance related dialogue. On the other hand, the said effects were achieved by a small share of Polish companies, since only one fifth of those engaged employees in their planning processes.

Participative Planning and Information Flow within Management Control

The paper examines the relationships between two different approaches to planning processes (participative and non-participative) and information flows within management control in companies. It augments the existing theoretical and empirical research by coupling management control and management information with participative planning, not only in operational but also in the strategic perspective. The results presented in the paper stem from two consecutive studies, conducted between November 2010 and January 2012 and between November 2013 and January 2014. The studies comprised 397 and 179 Polish companies respectively. The authors formulated two hypotheses linking participative planning with upward and downward management information flows. The paper employed a quantitative approach, using the Spearman rank correlation analysis and hierarchical clustering using the Ward method, which enabled comparative analyses both in reference to various groups of companies included in particular research samples and over time. The results obtained showed the positive influence of participative planning both on upward and downward information flows in enterprises. In particular, participative planning reduced information imbalances between top (the management) and lower (employees of functional departments) tiers in organisation structures.

Do Annual Reports Communicate Strategic Issues? Insight into Reporting Practices of High-Tech Companies

Due to rapid technological progress high-tech companies are expected to be forward-looking in order to ensure shareholder value creation and respond adequately to customer needs. Moreover, stakeholders may expect that high-tech companies will inform them about strategic plans and related aspects which cover knowledge on current activities and business model, business environment and R&D achievements. Accordingly, this paper examines the extent of strategic disclosures included in 69 annual reports of IT companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. It explores also whether two factors: market value of a firm and its place of listing are related with the extent of strategic disclosures. Lastly, it scrutinizes whether a place of listing may be perceived as a moderator variable that influences a strength of a relationship between a market value of a firm and the extent of strategic disclosures. The research results suggest that the examined entities reported poorly on R&D activities and sufficiently on risk factors and future perspectives. The developmental strategy was disclosed often, however, only in annual reports of stock issuers listed on the primary market. The in-depth analysis shows that both the firm’s market value and the place of listing may be perceived separately as factors which induce managers to disclose more strategic issues. Nonetheless, the empirical results do not prove that a place of listing moderates an effect between market value and the extent of strategic disclosure.

An Influence of Strategic Awareness on Management Control: Evidence from Polish Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Abstract Purpose: The paper investigates whether employees’ strategic awareness influences the shape of management control systems (MCSs) in Polish micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (mSMEs). Methodology: The study is based on data obtained from 223 companies between November 2010 and January 2012. The quantitative analysis used a set of variables which depicted MCSs: ‘goalsetting process’, ‘control framework’ and ‘organisation of control’. Strategic awareness was considered an independent variable. Findings: The results showed positive correlations between strategic awareness and considered variables. Regression models developed by the authors proved statistically valid. The study evidences, that increasing employees’ strategic awareness stimulates their participation in goal-setting, contributes to the development of more comprehensive MCSs, or may even imply formalisation of management control. Research limitations: The study does not include an analysis of the extent to which employees find MCSs useful in their work. This will be considered in future research. Another possible extension of the project is to identify factors which enable the capturing of the dynamic character of MCSs and their changes over time. Practical implications: The knowledge of MCSs does not explain whether or not the strategic orientation of a company stimulates a need for MCS. Such knowledge may be important to managers who have to face Polish employees’ general aversion to control. Originality: The study contributes to the limited body of knowledge in a scope of relations between employees’ strategic awareness and control mechanisms in Polish mSMEs.