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Accountability dilemmas and identity struggles

Accountability dilemmas and identity struggles The purpose of this paper is to add to our understanding of how external factors such as funding and external accountabilities affect the organisational inner workings, especially identity issues.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a comparative case study of two professional chamber orchestras, one in Sweden and one in the UK. The two orchestras had significantly different funding conditions and had different relations with funders and were thus exposed to different kinds of accountability dilemmas. The two organisations were studied using and ethnographically inspired approach. The developments of various parts of the organisations were studied, such as funding, management, strategy, management control and identity issues.FindingsThe paper illustrates how the solution to accountability dilemmas in an organisation can, over time, result in the protection or the dilution of a perceived organisational core and thus in an identity struggle. Especially, management has to deal with the balance between financial and operational accountability, where organisational members could perceive the decisions to be confirming or rejecting what they perceived as being the higher purpose of their work.Practical implicationsThis paper may help managers become more aware of the long ranging consequences of managerial decisions and how such decisions may affect the identity orientation of organisational members.Originality/valueThe paper combines the concept of identity with the concept of accountability, something that has not been done to a large extent in previous research. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change Emerald Publishing

Accountability dilemmas and identity struggles

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References (104)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
© Emerald Publishing Limited
ISSN
1832-5912
DOI
10.1108/jaoc-02-2013-0017
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to add to our understanding of how external factors such as funding and external accountabilities affect the organisational inner workings, especially identity issues.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a comparative case study of two professional chamber orchestras, one in Sweden and one in the UK. The two orchestras had significantly different funding conditions and had different relations with funders and were thus exposed to different kinds of accountability dilemmas. The two organisations were studied using and ethnographically inspired approach. The developments of various parts of the organisations were studied, such as funding, management, strategy, management control and identity issues.FindingsThe paper illustrates how the solution to accountability dilemmas in an organisation can, over time, result in the protection or the dilution of a perceived organisational core and thus in an identity struggle. Especially, management has to deal with the balance between financial and operational accountability, where organisational members could perceive the decisions to be confirming or rejecting what they perceived as being the higher purpose of their work.Practical implicationsThis paper may help managers become more aware of the long ranging consequences of managerial decisions and how such decisions may affect the identity orientation of organisational members.Originality/valueThe paper combines the concept of identity with the concept of accountability, something that has not been done to a large extent in previous research.

Journal

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change – Emerald Publishing

Published: Apr 9, 2019

Keywords: Performing arts; Accountability; Identity; Case study; Organizational change

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