Richard A. Colignon

Postcolonial Theory and Organizational Analysis: A Critical Engagement

A review is presented of the book “Postcolonial Theory and Organizational Analysis: A Critical Engagement,” edited by Anshuman Prasad.

A Weberian framework in the study of accounting

Abstract Webers work is shown to provide a meaningful framework for examining accounting practices in their socio-historical context. We argue that Webers writings suggests three analytic layers within which to situate the study of the relations of accounting to organizations and society. First, we discuss the configuration of institutional features of society facilitating the development of capitalism, the corporate enterprise, and accounting practices. Next, we consider the historical dynamics following from the tensions between formal and substantive rationalities as they apply to these institutional foundations. Third, these previous layers of analysis are shown to situate the examination of important tensions within the analysis of organizations generally and accounting practices more specifically. Webers framework suggests that although accounting practices may be considered analytically rational, their substantive rationality and the rationality of organizational operations are only understood as rational in their socio-historical context.

An examination of managerial accounting practices as a process of mutual adjustment

Abstract Managerial accounting practices are organizational control mechanisms which serve to constrain decision-makers yet, themselves, are the outcomes of emergent resistance, force and bargaining. The contradictory nature of managerial accounting practices as a form of social control is illustrated by a study of one firms accounting practices before and after a severe financial crisis. Here, managerial accounting is seen as a dynamic process of mutual adjustment, changing and being changed by the wider organization. Assessment of the process of mutual adjustment reveals an unfolding, reflexive decision-making process in which accounting strategies are designed to centralize the direction of resources and the monitoring of division performance. However, these accounting rules and procedures are neither neutral nor uncontested, as divisional controllers resist corporate decision-makers. New patterns of organizational autonomy and interdependency are highlighted and created by these accounting practices, as managerial interdependencies are more tightly woven around centralized corporate missions.

Organizational Permeability in U.S. Social Service Agencies

The concept of organizational permeability is operationalized and examined in relation to environmental contingency and organizational design characteristics. This study indicates that environmental contingency and boundary permeability have differential and selective impact on characteristics of organizational design. The results suggest that there is a dynamic relationship between organizational design and interorganizational linkages as two alternative forms of adaption to environmental contingencies needing further research and theoretical elaboration.