In recent years there has been widespread discussion concerning the purported shift away from Taylorism towards a new production paradigm premised upon techniques of high performance management (HPM). This paper argues that in seeking to capture the essence of the phenomenon commentators...

The relationship between organisational culture and financial control systems (FCSs) is one of increasing interest (Dent 1987, Bourn and Ezzamel 1987, Ferguson and Lapsley 1988, Birnberg and Snodgrass 1988, Broadbent 1992, Harrison 1992). Many of these studies have looked at the interaction...

This paper investigates the phenomenon of accounting in non-governmental organisations (NGOs). It seeks to understand accounting processes and reporting practices in NGOs and the conditions that sustain those processes and practices. NGOs have become important institutions in world affairs but...

This paper presents evidence to show how vocational qualifications act as boundary objects in the stimulation of learning at work and how they, in turn, become the catalyst for the creation of artefacts that have a purpose and existence beyond the life cycle of an accreditation process....

This paper examines two competing systems of organising theconstruction process and their consequences for learning. Under the adversarial system, contractors compete solely on price, risks are shifted onto those next in line and disputes are institutionalised through complicated, but inevitably...

Ordering and managing stock is a key function to organisationalperformance in the retail sector in general and in food retail in particular. The advent of such technologies as EDI (electronic data interchange) and EPOS (electronic point of sale scanners) has allowed retail companies to...

Sales work is a key feature of the contemporary service economy which has prompted considerable academic debate. This has centred on the processes of standardization exemplified by sales routines and scripts. It is frequently suggested that these management devices are unproblematically embraced...

This chapter provides an overview of the development of apprenticeships in the UK, exploring the extent to which contemporary apprenticeships resemble their historical predecessors and whether they have relevance for young people and employers today. The chapter is presented in four sections:...

This paper explores the nature of the relationship between Head Office and stores in a large British supermarket chain. It focuses on the role played by a range of technological tools available for managing the stock and connecting different parts of the productive system and the implications...

This paper uses Gramsci’s theory of hegemony to analyse the development of the public sector accounting profession and accounting practices in the UK since the nineteenth-century. Three periods of hegemony and accounting development are identified and the relationship between the two phenomena...