This paper highlights that the problem of externalities is not only caused by myopic decision makers with no incentive to internalise the external effect of their decisions. The problem is also caused by decision makers with the best intensions that nevertheless lack information about how their actions affect others or how to correct them to act in the interest of the organisation. This paper illustrates how controllers’ choice of performance measures and target setting plays a central role in terms of providing decentralised agents (i.e., workers and engineers) with information about how to act to internalise their externalities.
Furthermore, by means of a case study, this paper illustrates that despite the coordination mechanisms present in the two lean manufacturers studied, including multi-functional skilled workers, cross-functional teams, value-stream mapping, and pull production, there was still a need for more information about how to balance interdepartmental decisions. The study illustrates how nonfinancial performance measures played a critical role with respect to fulfilling this need. By emphasising the nonfinancial performance measurement system's role as a centralised planning system, the paper supplements the analyses of externality resolutions in management accounting research, which have been primarily focused on the design of incentive systems rather than planning systems.
The planning of nonfinancial performance in the two organisations was based on the principle that if nonfinancial performance created a negative (or positive) externality, the externality could be internalised by adjusting the performance target in a downwards (or upwards) direction. Furthermore, the choice of performance measures was also used for the provision of information about externalities. When the negative externalities that occurred from a nonfinancial performance measure were so high that they eliminated the value of performing along this dimension of nonfinancial performance, the performance measure was not implemented because the companies were better off without enhanced performance along this dimension.
An additional point derived from the case study is that although the two organisations were very similar, the same measures had different effects in each of the organisations. This illustrates some of the obstacles that are encountered when trying to produce general knowledge about which nonfinancial performance measures fit best into different types of organisations. The case study illustrates how the details related to the operational, organisational, and technological sides that often escape general characterisations of the organisations nevertheless determined the externalities of the performance measures and thereby their value and fit in the individual organisation. The capability to include these details in the analysis illustrates again how case studies supplement and add to other types of research methods. The importance of studying accounting in the context in which it operates (Hopwood, 1983) is emphasised, especially when it comes to producing specific knowledge of how the externalities are created in practice and how the economics of multiple dimensions of nonfinancial performance are determined.
This paper highlights that the problem of externalities is not only caused by myopic decision makers with no incentive to internalise the external effect of their decisions. The problem is also caused by decision makers with the best intensions that nevertheless lack information about how their actions affect others or how to correct them to act in the interest of the organisation. This paper illustrates how controllers’ choice of performance measures and target setting plays a central role in terms of providing decentralised agents (i.e., workers and engineers) with information about how to act to internalise their externalities.
Furthermore, by means of a case study, this paper illustrates that despite the coordination mechanisms present in the two lean manufacturers studied, including multi-functional skilled workers, cross-functional teams, value-stream mapping, and pull production, there was still a need for more information about how to balance interdepartmental decisions. The study illustrates how nonfinancial performance measures played a critical role with respect to fulfilling this need. By emphasising the nonfinancial performance measurement system's role as a centralised planning system, the paper supplements the analyses of externality resolutions in management accounting research, which have been primarily focused on the design of incentive systems rather than planning systems.
The planning of nonfinancial performance in the two organisations was based on the principle that if nonfinancial performance created a negative (or positive) externality, the externality could be internalised by adjusting the performance target in a downwards (or upwards) direction. Furthermore, the choice of performance measures was also used for the provision of information about externalities. When the negative externalities that occurred from a nonfinancial performance measure were so high that they eliminated the value of performing along this dimension of nonfinancial performance, the performance measure was not implemented because the companies were better off without enhanced performance along this dimension.
An additional point derived from the case study is that although the two organisations were very similar, the same measures had different effects in each of the organisations. This illustrates some of the obstacles that are encountered when trying to produce general knowledge about which nonfinancial performance measures fit best into different types of organisations. The case study illustrates how the details related to the operational, organisational, and technological sides that often escape general characterisations of the organisations nevertheless determined the externalities of the performance measures and thereby their value and fit in the individual organisation. The capability to include these details in the analysis illustrates again how case studies supplement and add to other types of research methods. The importance of studying accounting in the context in which it operates (Hopwood, 1983) is emphasised, especially when it comes to producing specific knowledge of how the externalities are created in practice and how the economics of multiple dimensions of nonfinancial performance are determined.
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