Introduction
Overview:
The aim of the individual assignment is for you to research a common dysfunctional issue that arises when measuring performance in organisations. You will be required to submit a research report that describes your chosen issue, presents a real-world example of its occurrence, and suggests how it could be fixed. Your research report should also be accompanied by some documentary evidence of the real-world example that you describe.
Objectives:
This task relates to the following subject objectives:
- Critically analyse the institutional, organisational and individual influences on management accounting systems
- Form professional judgments about the appropriateness of the design and operation of management accounting systems
- Apply theory to design management accounting systems in real-world organisational contextsIndividual report components
There are many different problems that can occur when measuring performance in organisations. These include:
- Gaming
- Lack of validity
Select one of these dysfunctional aspects of performance measurement. Prepare a report which addresses the following sections and components:
1. Dysfunctional performance measurement in theory
a. Define and describe your chosen problem .Your description should provide sufficient depth on the topic and be clearly explained so that it is easy for the reader to understand your main points. This section should contain references to relevant academic journal articles on the topic.
b. Explain why the problem occurs. Your explanation should include all of the relevant factors that can contribute to the occurrence of the problem, as well as a clear explanation of how those factors cause the problem to occur. You should draw on your references and management accounting theory to support your explanation.
c. Explain the consequences of the problem for organisations and individuals. Your explanation should include all of the relevant dysfunctional consequences or outcomes of the problem, both for the organization as a whole as well as for individual employees. Again, you should draw on your references and management accounting theory to support your explanation.
2. Dysfunctional performance measurement in practice
d. Apply the problem to organisational practice. Find a source of documentary evidence (e.g. news article, case description, report, first-hand interview transcript etc.) that demonstrates the problem in a real-world organisation. You will need to make explicit the link between your problem as described in part 1 above and the real-world example. You will also need to attach your source of evidence to your report as an appendix.
e. Recommend a solution to the problem in your real-world example. Your description of your recommended solution should include sufficient detail for it to be implemented in practice. You should also justify your solution by explaining why it will successfully overcome the problem. In formulating your solution you should try to predict and describe any additional problems that might arise from implementing your proposed solution, and ways that these could also be overcome. This should result in your solution being more credible and will demonstrate your depth of knowledge on the topic.
It is expected that you will conduct your own independent research, reading a wide variety of sources from both academic and practitioner literature to expand your knowledge about the problem. A useful starting point is the suggested weekly reading material; however you are expected to conduct your own research and draw upon other sources.
When preparing your report, think carefully about what academic sources you actually would like to refer to in your report. It is expected that you will demonstrate a deep engagement with a selective group of sources rather than providing superficial reference to a larger group of sources. In your reference list refer only to sources that you engage with in-text in your report.
You are expected to show sufficient depth of understanding of the topic and to clearly express your ideas in a way that makes it easy for the reader to follow the main point of your argument. The main points you make should be explicitly stated in the body of your report - you should not assume that the reader can read your mind! However, you may assume that your reader has a basic understanding of the topic.
words: 1500 ( around 4 pages)
Harvard Style
Number of Ref: above 7