Practice Theory Approach Research Articles

Management accounting as practice

In this paper we outline a distinctive practice theory approach to considering the role of management accounting in the constitution of organizations. Building on [Schatzki, T.R. (2002). The site of the social: a philosophical account of the constitution of social life and change. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press] notion of arrays of activity we emphasise the ways in which organisational members actively reconstitute their management control systems by drawing on them as a shared resource. By tracing the skilful practices through which social actors in a restaurant chain understand and mobilise accounting to contribute in specific ways to what they regard as the objectives of their organisational units, we develop a notion of situated functionality. Situating the interrelationships between technical and interpretive accounting processes in the wider field of organisational practices we elaborate the ways in which management control systems as structures of intentionality both shape and are shaped by shared norms and understandings.

Management Accounting as Practice

In this paper we outline a distinctive practice theory approach to considering the role of management accounting in the constitution of organizations. Building on Schatzki's (2002) notion of arrays of activity we emphasise the ways in which organisational members actively reconstitute their management control systems by drawing on them as a shared resource. By tracing the skilful practices through which social actors in a restaurant chain understand and mobilise accounting to contribute in specific ways to what they regard as the objectives of their organisational units, we develop a notion of situated functionality. Situating the interrelationships between technical and interpretive accounting processes in the wider field of organisational practices we elaborate the ways in which management control systems as structures of intentionality both shape and are shaped by shared norms and understandings.

The indigenous psychiatry of Ladakh, Part I: Practice theory approaches to trance possession in the himalayas

In traditional Ladakh (NW India) psychological distress is treated as possession necessitating identification and expulsion or control of the possessing agent. On marriage young women are commonly afflicted and men suffering stress from a variety of causes may also be affected. Aid for an individual may be sought from various helpers but a common treatment occurs in seance with a shamanic oracle‐healer (Iha.pa). These oracles are women or men who have themselves passed through an initiatory possession. Appeal may further be made to a high lama of a local monastery who places a persistent possessing agent under vow to manifest only when requested in order to help others through oracular pronouncements or healing. To achieve this the afflicted must undergo training with a senior lha.pa. Current theory of shamanic behaviour is examined to suggest that the prime mover here is psychological pressure within gender, family or social relations requiring an adjustment in an individuals sense of identity. Oracular consultation in trance is viewed as a mediating process limiting the potential for social discord where interfamilial reciprocation is a vital aspect of social life.

"Fire to Use": A Practice-Theory Approach to Paradise Lost

"Fire to Use": A Practice-Theory Approach to Paradise Lost