طراحی و استفاده از سیستم های مدیریت عملکرد : چارچوب گسترده برای تجزیه و تحلیل

Issues in the area of performance management and management control systems are typically complex and intertwined, but research tends to be based on simplified and partial settings. Simplification has made the work easier to carry out, but it has come at the price of increased ambiguity and conflicting findings from different studies. To help mitigate these issues, this paper puts forward the performance management systems framework as a research tool for describing the structure and operation of performance management systems (PMSs) in a more holistic manner. The framework was developed from the relevant literature and from our observations and experience. In particular, it elaborates the 5 questions of Otley's [Otley, D., 1999. Performance management: a framework for management control systems research. Management Accounting Research 10, 363–382] performance management framework into 12 questions and integrates aspects of Simons’ levers of control framework. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the extended framework provides a useful research tool for those wishing to study the design and operation of performance management systems by providing a template to help describe the key aspects of such systems. It allows an holistic overview to be taken while making this a feasible task. The paper uses material from two field studies to illustrate how the framework can be used to provide an overview of the major performance management issues within an organization.

The literature in the area of performance management systems (PMSs) and management control systems (MCSs) increasingly recognises the need for research to be based on more coherent theoretical foundations (Chenhall, 2003 and Covaleski et al., 2003). Researchers suggest that theory be used to contextualise findings and to provide a more systematic development of knowledge in the field (Chapman, 1997). Others note that the difficulty in making significant progress in the field partially derives from the compartmentalised approach typically followed by empirical research (Chenhall, 2003 and Covaleski et al., 2003). There has been a tendency to focus only on specific aspects of control systems, as opposed to adopting a more comprehensive and integrated approach (Chenhall, 2003, Dent, 1990 and Malmi and Brown, 2008). Although this may be due to access or time limitations, or to the difficulty of generating and managing such complex datasets, the lack of a more complete description of the totality of a control system contributes to spurious findings, ambiguity, and potentially to conflicting results (Chenhall, 2003). Others have maintained that our understanding of MCSs will remain ‘piecemeal’ for as long empirical research continues to ignore the interdependency between different control mechanisms operating at the same time in the same organization (Abernethy and Brownell, 1997). Therefore, we argue that research would benefit from a framework that provides a broad view of the key aspects of a MCS and that allows researchers to obtain an holistic overview in as efficient way as possible. This paper proposes such a framework. It is organized as follows. The following section outlines some of the frameworks found in the literature, placing particular emphasis on the two that our study builds upon. Section 3 puts forward the performance management systems (PMSs) framework itself, with its theoretical development being elaborated in Section 4. This is followed by a discussion on the use of the framework and a conclusion. Two applications of the framework to specific organizations are briefly presented in Appendix A.

The PMSs framework proposed in this paper draws on the extant literature, but also on personal observations of MCS design and use in a variety of organizations over the years. It represents the result of inductive reasoning applied to a variety of studies known to the authors. The PMSsframeworkisputforwardasaresearchtoolforexam- iningthestructure,operationanduseofPMSsinanholistic manner. We believe that the PMSs framework provides a tool whichresearcherscanemploytodescribethestructureand use of the ‘package’ of controls deployed by management and designed to ensure that an organization’s strategies and plans are effectively implemented. At the very least, the framework provides a powerful means of obtaining an overviewandappreciationofthestructureofthePMSsthat are currently in use in a specific organization. Research using the framework has considered it to be useful (e.g. BroadbentandLaughlin,2007;Collier,2005 )andanecdotal evidenceoftheuseoftheframeworkforteachingpurposes has also been very encouraging. Wehopetheframeworkwillprovetobeausefultoolfor empirical researchers and will assist them in documenting the PMSs of both for-profit and not-for-profit organiza- tions, to both describe their operation and to go on to explore the underlying reasons for such control configu- rations.