Drawing on the concept of « trial », developed by French sociologists, this article analyzes the dynamics of employees’ performance evaluation systems, particularly those involving accounting performance measures. A case study is presented as an illustration of our proposal to consider these...

Today creativity is considered as a necessity in ail aspects of management. This working paper mirrors the artistic and managerial conceptions of creativity. Although there are shared points in bath applications, however deep-seated and radically opposed traits account for the divergence between...

Clothed in various formulations, the question of “coherence” is central to management control. Thus it is widely accepted that different forms of control “cannot be used effectively in every situation” (Merchant, 1998: 32, 69) – a statement referring to the contingency framework. It is...

In this case study, we analyze in a French public company the adoption mode of a new management control system pertaining to New Public Management principles. We compare the formal system designed and deployed in the organization, the discourses of its promoters and users and the observed...

This paper argues that organization change programmes are frequently backed by appeals to "coherence" – this understood as a harmonious fit between different variables (strategy, policies, management systems) conducive to better performance. In comparison recourse to psychological notions of...