ABSTRACT
EMERGENCE OF AN INTERTWINING OF ACCOUNTING AND INDUSTRIAL
RELATIONS.
2.1 Introduction
The rationale underlying this attempt to explore an extended network of
relationship had been forged, the antecedents of the phenomenon are
line of enquiry to be undertaken. This relates to the special opportunity the
research material presents to reconstruct, albeit inevitably in a partial and
fragmented manner, the rise of accounting in one particular organisation and
more specifically the beliefs and pressures which led to its encroachment into
an aspect of organisational ife with which it might be claimed to have no
accounting literature which recognised that very little research was actually
based or grounded in specific organisations. Tomkins and Groves (1983), for example, in a major review of the relevant literature discovered that during the period 1976-79 only 7 out of more than 650 research papers examined
could be identified as being undertaken in such a way. This observation
tended to reinforce earlier exhortations for a more careful consideration of
the nature of accounting research. Hopwood (1978) in an influential editorial for the journal Accounting, Organizations and Society had advocated the exploration of 'accounting in action' placing the onus firmly upon researchers
to undertake work more specifically oriented towards understanding specific
relationships between accounting and actual organisational structures and
processes, arguing:
(Hopwood, 1978, p 10) The persistence of the demand for accounting researchers (Boland and Pondy, 1983; Colville, 1981; Hopwood, 1983; Otley, 1984; Roberts and Scapens,
much previous work. Although the pivotal element of this type of research
This type of historical analysis which seeks to reassemble some of the
contextual pressures (both institutional and environmental) which led to the emergence of accounting systems in specific organisations although
advocated in the literature (Flamholtz, 1983; Johnson, forthcoming; Kaplan, 1984) has rarely been undertaken. Furthermore, the research which has been pursued (Chandler, 1977; Johnson, 1972, 1975, 1981 and 1983) has often tended to adopt a very narrow conceptualisation of both the aims and
upon organisational structures by the search for profits. Although this is a valid
and indeed valuable line of enquiry, it does present the problem of having to accept
and control organisational processes and the singularity of economic purpose and
role underlying its functioning. In other words, explanations of the rise of
role or function "(Burchell et al., 1985, p.409) and that such a function transcends any legitimate dispute as to the desirability of its objectives and purposes. (Tinker, 1980; Tinker et al., 1982; Tinker, 1985).
