Coping with the COVID-19 pandemic: the technical, moral and facilitating role of management control
Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal
; 2021.
Article
in English
| Scopus | ID: covidwho-1246856
ABSTRACT
Purpose:
The study analyses how management control supports the organisation's response to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Design/methodology/approach:
Video interviews with top and middle-level managers who were directly involved in handling the response to the COVID-19 crisis in late winter and spring 2020 form the empirical base. The object-of-control framework and the distinction between organic and mechanistic management controls inform the exploratory case analysis of a large food retail cooperative in Italy.Findings:
Both organic and mechanistic management control mechanisms enabled an immediate response and management of the crisis. The use of cultural, action and results controls supported employees' health and safety coordination, a tight monitoring of financial performance and social interventions in support of the local community. Originality/value The study provides original exploratory insights on the use and role of management control in the context of an unprecedented emergency and an unplanned setting (i.e. a pandemic crisis), which is an under-investigated topic in the accounting literature. The study shows how management control operated, linking moral and technical aspects as well as facilitating organisational adaptation and pandemic effects mitigation. © 2021, Emilio Passetti, Massimo Battaglia, Lara Bianchi and Nora Annesi.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
Scopus
Language:
English
Journal:
Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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