This paper aims to contribute to the literature in terms
of both theory development and furthering understanding
of management accounting in practice. It combines insights
of structuration theory and institutional theory to provide
a holistic analysis of change, given their capacity to reveal
the origins of contradiction faced by actors at the structural
level, and to highlight the role of performance management
systems in the mediation of power relations at the
action level, as they provide a focal point for conflict and
struggle through the enactment of praxis by organisational
actors.
The paper reveals how new developments in performance
management systems helped to reconstitute
understanding of legitimate organisational activity. Additionally,
it contributes to the understanding of management
accounting practice, by examining consequences of
major change in the NHS. It evaluates the effects, positive
and negative, for NHS Trusts of implementing new developments
in performance measurement and management,
and identifies important factors which facilitate or impede
change.
The study illustrates the value of structuration theory
as a sensitising device for understanding important contextual
factors which give rise to contradiction. It enables
examination of the inter-linking of structures of signification,
legitimation and domination, and how actors draw on
these sometimes to reinforce the status quo and sometimes
to effect change. The introduction of firstly star ratings
and secondly the annual health check are illustrative of an
effort to introduce anewshared language for assessing performance,
which could potentially enhance understanding
and co-operation between accountants, managers and clinicians.
Sanctioning of such change (legitimation) by all
actors was sought by combining in one performance management
system measures of both financial performance
and quality standards. New domination structures were
evident in the form of new regulatory bodies to oversee
performance and with power to allocate or withhold
resources. The most successful Trusts were rewarded with
more freedom and resources when they were granted
FT status, whereas the least successful were branded as
‘failing’, management was replaced and new leadership
imposed. These developments were legitimated in part by
the rhetoric of patient choice.
A performance management system incorporating
financial measures typically constitutes one of an organisation’s
major meaning systems, with managers having
shared understanding of accounting concepts. They are an
important foundation for sanctioning of managers’ actions,
legitimating the rights of some to hold others to account,
and are also crucial in relations of power and domination
(Roberts and Scapens, 1985). Structuration theory revealshow the shift from a focus on cost, which had characterised
the earlier introduction of NRCI, to a new focus on
income under PbR endeavoured to give a new legitimacy to
the language of accounting as a means of communication
about hospital activity. Accounting as the language of business
was increasingly prominent in praxis in some Trusts
as discussions between accountants and clinicians about
organisational activity came to require a more commercial
focus. While the shortcomings of NRCI information had
enabled some resistance on the part of clinicians to efforts
to exert more financial discipline over their practice, the
reality of PbR was becoming apparent to clinicians and
necessitating closer working relationships with accountants
to ensure maximisation of tariff income. The balance
of power appeared to have shifted in some institutions,
at least for the short-term, as clinicians acknowledged the
possible threat to their livelihood from possible cutting of
service provision in some hospitals if costs were too high
vis-à-vis tariff income.
Institutional theory is shown to offer potential for
understanding processes of change, as actors in specific
organisational settings deal with contradictions through
enactment of praxis, and how transformation of institutionally
– embedded practices does or does not occur.
Empirical analysis reveals how endeavours by actors to
overcome contradictions between more traditional understandings
of objectives of hospitals, and those engendered
as a result of new structures led to different outcomes
for different Trusts. Seo and Creed (2002) offer four
propositions for understanding how actors effect change,
highlighting four facets of institutional contradiction
which can result in actors mobilising for change to varying
degrees. In this study, considerable support was found
for their propositions. Perceived inefficiencies of institutionalised
practices in the running of the NHS, combined
with limited resources, constituted a contradiction that
provided an important initial impetus for change, and
was set in a broader political and economic context of
pressure to reform public s