A critical study of the interrelationship of management control systems and workplace friendships in SMEs : a Greek case study
Abstract
Management Control (MC) and Management Control Systems (MCS) have been
examined mostly in large organisations. This study attempts to understand more about
them in the SME context. Additionally, the lens is turned to workplace friendships
when looking at the human factor from a critical perspective. The SME environment
allows for more human interactions, providing the participants with more chances for
strong organisational culture, high trust, and the development of friendships, which
can also occur between manager-owner and employee. The interest of this study is to
identify if these friendships are influenced by MC and MCS, or if they influence the
nature of MC and MCS in SMEs. An additional step is taken to identify ways forward
in which workplaces can use friendships in their environments to be emancipated
from oppressive accounting practices by shaping accounting practices with an aim to
realise their emancipatory potential.
This research project was based on two case studies, in Agriculture and Clothing. The
researcher observed the two organisations for approximately 100 hours, and
interviewed 19 of their organisational participants, between 12-45 minutes. The
findings show that the SME context provides grounds for workplace friendships to
develop and through them the shape of MC and MCS from formal and impersonal to
informal and engaging, to even providing chances for a collective management and
participation ignoring the structures of the status quo. Where MCS seem to have an
impact on workplace friendships is when management, in the name of rational
decision-making, chooses to detach itself and force formal controls. Then, not only
the employees and the management are distant from each other, but internal trust
building also becomes difficult. The theoretical contribution of this research lies in
understanding the importance of critical research in SMEs and their fruitful context,
as well as reimagining SMEs and their internal structures from a critical standpoint,
by understanding their pressures in the capitalist world.