The effect of culture on work values has been studied in a number of ways, largely from a western perspective. Studies have predominantly employed questionnaires as the principal agent of data collection. Yet the Confucian work ethic attributes greater emphasis to collectivist values which bear more centrally on personal relationships. This research used discourse analysis in order to try to identify the implicit features of cultural values as they affected the transmission of financial information, a problem highlighted by the Asian currency crisis in 1997/98.



The international hotel industry operates in a multicultural environment where very often foreign operators manage locally owned premises. In these circumstances, budgetary planning and control is an important mechanism. A sample of the interactions between 18 hotel general managers and their financial controllers were studied in Hong Kong. Financial controllers are already subject to a number of role conflicts and it was found that these may be exaggerated by culture.



Chinese financial controllers seem to distort the outputs of budgetary planning and control processes in recognition of important organizational relationships. It is suggested that recognizing the direction and effect of these relationships has implications for leadership and performance judgements generally.

/pdf/executive-values-and-decision-making-the-relationship-of-2nh8co7417.pdf

Executive Values and Decision Making: The Relationship of Culture and Information Flows

markdown__Research Summary:__ We investigate the conditions under
which authority can be deployed without reducing subordinate
motivation. We show that lateral authority, the
legitimacy to resolve task-specific problems, is welcomed
by members of an organization in the resolution of coordination
conflicts, the more so (a) the fiercer the conflict to
be resolved, (b) the higher the competence-based status of
the authority, (c) the lower the tenure of, and (d) the more
focused the organizational members are. Analyzing the
discussion behavior of members of Wikipedia between
2002 and 2014, we corroborate our allegations empirically
by analyzing 642,916 article–discussion pages. Our findings,
obtained for a modern collective production community,
provide learning opportunities for how traditional
organizations may want to govern activities of their idiosyncratically
motivated staff. 
__Managerial Summary:__ When managers use their (legitimate)
power to take decisions on behalf of their staff, they
risk setting back employees and making them detach from
the firm. This danger is particularly salient whenever
highly motivated teams of staff autonomously work on
corporate problems and are used to governing themselves.
Examples range from skunkwork initiatives within traditional
firms to entire team-based organizations, such as
Valve or Zappos. When and how managers can add value
by resolving conflicts within and across these teams once
their self-organization fails is what we study in this article.
Inspired by data from Wikipedia, we suggest that managers
should not intervene prematurely, benefit from visible
competence, and are respected most for their actions
by specialized peers who recently joined the organization.

/pdf/on-the-effects-of-authority-on-peer-motivation-learning-from-4obypel6v5.pdf

On the effects of authority on peer motivation: Learning from Wikipedia

Dans cette these, nous nous interessons a la question de recherche suivante : le management de la responsabilite societale influence-t-il significativement les caracteristiques instrumentales et organisationnelles de la fonction de controleur de gestion? Il s'agit principalement de savoir si le management de la responsabilite societale entraine une modification des missions du controleur, de son rattachement hierarchique et des outils de gestion qu'il utilise. Dans un premier temps, en nous basant sur les approches contingentes de la fonction de controleur, nous proposons une analyse theorique de la question de recherche. En mobilisant les modalites "dissocie/integre" du management de la responsabilite societale (Capron et Quairel 2006), nous suggerons que dans une approche dissociee le management de la responsabilite societale n'influence pas significativement les caracteristiques de la fonction de controleur, alors que dans une approche integree l'influence est significative. Dans un deuxieme temps nous realisons une etude empirique qualitative dans cinq contextes organisationnels pour evaluer la pertinence de notre propos theorique et aboutir a la formulation d'hypotheses testables. L'etude qualitative met en evidence que le management de la responsabilite societale semble systematiquement dissocie et que les controleurs de gestion sont maintenus dans leurs finalites economiques classiques. Sur cette base, nous formulons douze hypotheses relatives a l'influence significative du management de la responsabilite societale dans le but de les tester. Les donnees collectees sur la base d'une enquete par questionnaire aupres de 192 controleurs de gestion (92 repondants) nous permettent de refuter les hypotheses emises. En definitive, ces donnees nous permettent de soutenir que du fait de sa dissociation, le management de la responsabilite societale n'a pas d'influence significative sur les caracteristiques instrumentales et organisationnelles de la fonction de controleur de gestion.

https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01226446/document

L'influence du management de la responsabilité sociétale sur les caractéristiques instrumentales et organisationnelles de la fonction de contrôleur de gestion

Cette these examine comment se construit et evolue la legitimite individuelle du controleur de gestion en situation dans l'organisation. Dans un premier temps, un cadre conceptuel est elabore pour permettre l'etude de la legitimite professionnelle individuelle d'un controleur de gestion. Est en particulier mise en evidence la presence de natures et de sources de legitimite distinctes, sur lesquelles se fondent les strategies de legitimation des controleurs. La recherche se fonde sur des etudes de cas multiples realisees sur trois terrains distincts. Elle permet de degager des trajectoires individuelles de construction de legitimite. L'analyse transversale des cas revele les mecanismes collectifs qui peuvent orienter les trajectoires. Elle detaille les mecanismes d'evaluation qui conduisent les trajectoires a etre fructueuses, mais aussi infructueuses. Elle demontre egalement " l'attraction " que les pressions institutionnelles exercent sur ces trajectoires individuelles de construction de legitimite.

https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00997829/document

Le processus de construction de légitimité des contrôleurs de gestion

This paper reports the results of a survey of the occupational roles of management accountants. The study investigates the major components of accountants' roles as perceived by themselves and by others, using the task typology of score-keeping, attention-directing, and problem-solving (Simon, Guetzkow, Kozmetzky & Tyndall, Decentralization in Organizing the Controller's Department ). The results of 134 questionnaires suggests that the traditional task of score-keeping is the most important dimension of an accountant's role. The results also show that as accountants progress to senior positions within an enterprise, they evolve dual roles: first, they continue their role as score-keeper and second, they are active in determining management information needs.

Occupational role dimensions: The profession of management accounting

In this study of the controller's decision-making authority, controllers, their peers, and superiors in 25 firms were interviewed for their perceptions of the controller's authority in specific decisions. The data indicate that controllers do not have the same authority in all their functions or in the various decisions within those functions. Also controllers, their peers, and superiors have different perceptions of the controller's authority. A comparison is made with the findings of an earlier study on personnel managers, and some implications are noted.

Dale A. Henning

Papers

Authority Role of a Functional Manager: The Controller.