Automation and management control in dynamic environments: Managing organisational flexibility and energy efficiency in service sectors |
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| Affiliation: | 1. School of Finance, Nankai University, Tianjin, China;2. Department of Finance and Economics, School of Business, Rutgers University, Janice H. Levin Building, Rockefeller Rd., Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA;3. Providence University and PAIR Labs, Taiwan;1. Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Bristol, Priory Road, Bristol, BS8 1TN, United Kingdom;2. Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester, AMBS Building, Booth Street West, Manchester, M15 6PB, United Kingdom;1. Southampton Business School, UK;2. University of Rome III, Italy & Middlesex University, UK;3. Universitas Sebelas Maret, Indonesia;1. University Rey Juan Carlos, Paseo Artilleros s/n, 28032, Madrid, Spain;2. Santalucía and Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain;3. Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico, Spain;1. Department of Management, University of Bologna, Via Capo di Lucca 34, 40126, Bologna, Italy;2. Bangor Business School, Bangor University, Hen Goleg, Room 1.07, College Road, LL57 2DG, Bangor, United Kingdom;3. Department of Finance and Economics, College of Business Administration, University of Sharjah, P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates;1. Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, Department of Accounting, Finance and Banking, Manchester, M15 6BH, United Kingdom;2. Lancaster University Management School, Department of Accounting and Finance, Lancaster, LA1 4YX, United Kingdom |
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| Abstract: | Automation has been conceptually explained in management accounting research as an antecedent to control problem avoidance (Emmanuel, Merchant, & Otley, 1990). However, the question of how automation is implicated in more dynamic service-based environments remains unanswered. We apply the Adler and Borys' (1996) bureaucracy framework to explain how enabling controls allow organisations to simultaneously pursue organisational flexibility and energy efficiency (Ahrens & Chapman, 2004; Jorgensen & Messner, 2009). Subsequently, we examine how automation and its related management control are designed and used in a dynamic service-based organisation, where goal attainment and the energy efficiency of its buildings are critical. In doing so, we explain how automation-related standardisation is adjusted by enabling control attributes (repair, flexibility, internal transparency) to advance user flexibility. Additionally, standardisation minimises the loss in energy efficiency when less optimal repair control behaviour manifests. Our study adds more depth to the work by Merchant and Van der Stede (2017) by exploring how automation complements labour in dynamic environments. Our findings offer greater understanding of how automation and management control systems are designed and used to enhance organisations' energy efficiency in dynamic service-based environments. In doing so, we advance extant environmental management accounting studies (Virtanen, Tuomaala, & Pentti, 2013). |
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| Keywords: | Automation Standardisation Enabling control Organisational flexibility Energy efficiency |
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