A Field Study of Control System “Redesign”: The Impact of Institutional Processes on Strategic Choice*

TLDR: This article studied the role of an organization's accounting control system (ACS) as part of an interrelated control package, in which other control systems function either as substitutes or complements.

Abstract: . This paper studies the role of an organization's accounting control system (ACS) as part of an interrelated control “package,” in which other control systems function either as substitutes or complements. Drawing on resource dependence and institutional theories, it argues that this control mix is not only contingent on the organization's technical environment but also on its institutional environment. In addition, the paper draws on empirical evidence to demonstrate how the design of the “package” is actively shaped by the strategic choices of its dominant coalition. The empirics are based on a longitudinal field study of one large, public teaching hospital in Australia that underwent material changes in its governance structure, culture, and accounting control system. Resume. Les auteurs etudient le role du systeme de contole comptable d'une organisation, a titre d'element d'une « famille » de systemes de controle relies entre eux a l'interieur de Iaquelle les autres systemes de controle jouent le role de substituts ou de complements. S'inspirant de la theorie de la dependance des ressources et de la theorie institutionnelle, ils affirment que cette combinaison de systemes n'est pas seulement tributaire de l'environnement technique de l'organisation, mais de son environnement institutionnel. Ils se fondent, en outre, sur des constatations empiriques pour demontrer comment la structure de la « famille » de systemes est activement faconnee par les choix strategiques du groupe dominant. Les donnees empiriques proviennent d'une etude longitudinale sur le terrain, menee aupres d'un important hopital public universitaire australien dont la structure de regie, la culture et le systeme de controle comptable ont connu des transformations majeures.