Tomasz Dyczkowski

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.

Applying Text Mining to Analyze the Performance of PBOs on the Basis of Their Obligatory Annual Activity Statements

The paper’s aims is to investigate if the level of detail and selection of particular performance-related information by public benefit organizations (PBOs) in their obligatory annual activity statements can stimulate individual donations. The research encompassed 177 randomly selected Polish PBOs. It applied text mining methodologies and a laboratory experiment. The results obtained allowed the identification of nine key groups of topics that PBOs focus on the narrative parts of their obligatory annual activity statements. Moreover, it was proven that organizations that potential donors would like to support with their 1% tax write-off discuss their performance in more detail and focus on slightly different issues than other organizations.

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.