Reading D
Reprinted fromAccounting, Organizations and Society, Vol 16, No 8, J. F. Dent, Accounting
and organizational cultures: A field studyof the emergence of a new organizational
reality, pp 705 – 32, Copyright 1991, with permission from Elsevier Science.
Questions
1 How does Dent define culture in his study of EuroRail?
2 What was the research method used by Dent in this study? Why do you think
he chose this particular method?
3 How does the transition from a ‘railway’ to a ‘business’ culture take place in
Dent’s study? What was the role of accounting in this transition? What meaning
did accounting have to each of the two cultures?
4 How does accounting help to construct a particular knowledge?
Further reading
Allaire, Y. and Firsirotu, M. E. (1984). Theories of organizational culture.Organization
Studies, 5(3), 193 – 226.
Atkinson, A. A. and Shaffir, W. (1998). Standards for field research in management account-
ing.Journal of Management Accounting Research, 10, 41 – 68.
Deal, T. E. and Kennedy, A. A. (1982).Corporate Cultures. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Humphrey, C. and Scapens, R. W. (1996). Theories and case studies of organizational and
accounting practices: Limitation or liberation?Accounting, Auditing and Accountability
Journal, 9(4), 86 – 106.
Langfield-Smith, K. (1995). Organisational culture and control. In A. J. Berry, J. Broadbent
and D. Otley (eds),Management Control: Theories, Issues and Practices, London: Macmillan.
Otley, D. T. and Berry, A. J. (1994). Case study research in management accounting and
control.Management Accounting Research, 5, 45 – 65.
Pettigrew, A. M. (1979). On studying organizational cultures.Administrative Science Quar-
terly, 24, 570 – 81.
Scapens, R. W. (1990). Researching management accounting practice: The role of case study
methods.British Accounting Review, 22, 259 – 81.
Smircich, L. (1983). Concepts of culture and organizational analysis.Administrative Science
Quarterly, 28, 339 – 58.
Smith, C., Whipp, R. and Willmott, H. (1988). Case-study research in accounting: Method-
ological breakthrough or ideological weapon?Advances in Public Interest Accounting,2,
95 – 120.