Technology, change, and management control: a temporal perspective

Purpose – This paper aims to analyze the implications of technology change on management control. Specifically, the paper seeks to examine the deployment of an enterprise resource planning system (ERP), and to apply a temporal perspective of practice as a theoretical tool to discuss the effects of the ERP on the organization's management control systems. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on a longitudinal case study of a North American Financial. Data were collected during the deployment of a new management control system. The paper introduces the temporal view of agency as a means of examining the practices involved in control system. Findings – The observations suggest that ERP can create an illusion of control, and may jeopardize the systems they are meant to augment through the presence of practices meant to by‐pass the control system and invisible work (work‐arounds). Originality/value – The paper seeks to augment existing studies of technology mitigated change through framing the analysis in a temporal practice perspective to offer insight into the paths of action individuals adopt: the how and why.