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"Seeing without Being Seen": Toward an Archaeology of Controlling ScienceAuthor(s): Claus Jacobs and Loizos HeracleousSource: International Studies of Management & Organization, Vol. 31, No. 3, OrganizationalDiscourse (Fall, 2001), pp. 113-135Published by: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40397511 .
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8/18/2019 Lectura en Inglés - Seeing Witout Been Seen - Article
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Int.
tudies
fMgt.
Org.,
ol.
31,
no.
3,
Fall
2001,
pp.
113-135.
©
2001M.E.
Sharpe,
nc.All
rights
eserved.
ISSN
0020-8825 001
$9.50
+
0.00.
Claus
Jacobs and
Loizos Heracleous
Seeing
Without
eing
Seen
Toward n
Archaeology
f
Controlling
cience
Abstract:Whats
the
elationship
etweenurrent
erman
management
ccount-
ing echniques
referred
o
s
Controlling
in
German-speaking
reas),
Taylorism,
and
an
eighteenth-century
risondesign
by Jeremy
entham,
he
Panopticon?
Using Foucauldian archaeological pproach ombined ith genealogical
concerns,
e
argue
hat
anopticism
s a
disciplinary
nstrument
nd
as
an
orga-
nizingmetaphor
an
stillbe
discernedn current erman
management
ccount-
ing
oncepts
s
well
s
inone
of
ts
onceptual
ncestors,
aylorism.
ur
nalysis
constitutes
critical
eflectionf
the
mpacts
fpanopticism
s
an
underlying
metaphor
orpresent-day
erman
management
ccounting,specially
with e-
gard
to
the
successful mplementation
f management
ccounting
ools and
their
rganizational
onsequences.
Claus
Jacobss
Ph.D. candidatet the chool
f
Business
tudies,
rinityollege,
Dublin,
Dublin
2,
Ireland
Tel:
353-1-6082257;
fax:
353-1-6799503;
email:
oizosHeracleous
s associate
rofessor
t he
epartment
fBusi-
ness
Policy, aculty
f Business
dministration,
ational
niversity
f
Singapore,
Singapore
17591
Tel:
5-8743142;
ax:
5-7795059;
mail:
he
authors
ish o
hankhe
uest
ditors
f
his
ssue f
nternational
tudies
fManage-
ment
nd
Organization;
he
ournal
ditor,
rofessor
ean
oddewyn;
rofessor
.
Kappler,
r.
T.
Scheytt,
ndDr. M. Habersam
f
the nstitute
or
Organisation
nd
Learning,
niversity
f
nnsbruck;
nd wo
nonymous
eviewers
or heir
nsightful
and constructive
ommentsn
earlier rafts
f this
rticle. laus Jacobs
ratefully
acknowledgeshe inancialponsorshipfDeutscherkademischerustauschdienst,
which
llowed
is
participation
n
the ourth
nternational
onferencen Discourse
and
Organization
t
King'sCollege,
ondon.
oizos
Heracleous
ratefully
cknowl-
edges
esearch
unding
rom
he
aculty
f
Business
dministration,
ational
niver-
sity
f
Singapore.
113
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114
JACOBS
IRELAND)
AND
HERACLEOUS
(SINGAPORE)
ThePanopticons a machine or issociatinghe ee/beingeendyad: n the
périphérie
ing,
ne s
totally
een,
withoutver
eeing;
n he entral
ower,
ne
sees
verything
ithout
ver
eing
een.
Michel
oucault,
iscipline
ndPunish
1977c,
.
202)
Using
Foucauldian
rchaeological
pproach
ombined
with
enealogical
on-
cerns,
we
propose
n
this rticle hat
eremy
entham's
anopticon,
prison
e-
signed
o
observe
he
nmates
n a
way
n
which
hey
reunable
o ee the
guards,
can stillbe discerned
n current
erman
managementccountingoncepts
nd
their
pplication
o
other
rganizational
omains.Foucault
1977c)
used the
Panopticon etaphor
o
explain
he
evelopment
f
disciplinaryractices
uch s
hierarchicalbservationnd
normalizing
udgment
the
dentificationnd sanc-
tioning
f deviations rom
given
norm)
n different
nstitutionsf
society.
he
Panopticon
s
a
highly
fficient
nstrumentor
ontrolling
nd
nfluencing
ndi-
vidual
ehavior,
s the
ssumption
f
being
bserveds often ufficient
o nduce
the
xpected
ehavior.n
other
ords,
he
anopticon rinciple
reates
elf-disci-
pline,
hat
s,
the bserved
erson
xercises ehavioral elf-control
without
ec-
essarilynternalizing
he
norms f the
bserver).
The term
Controlling
s
a
foreign
ord
n German: he
apitalized nglish
term asbeenused ince he1950s nGerman-speakingreas odenotemanage-
ment
ccounting
echniques
hat re
firmly
ooted
n a traditional
heory
f
costs
and
cost
ccounting
echniques.1
Controlling
hould
herefore
ot
e
identified
with
theory
f
controlnd
monitoring
n an
Anglo-Saxon
radition.
ainstream
proponents
f
Controlling
iew
managementccounting
ssentially
s a
practice
aimed
t
rendering
isible nd
measuring
ndividual
s
well s
organizational
er-
formance,
nd
thus
ropose
n
efficient
ontrol
nd
managementystem
s
a
con-
tributing
actor o
a
company's
bility
o
change
nd
nnovate
Horvàth,
996;
Küpper,
995; Weber,
995).
We
propose
hat
ome scholars
nalyzing
ontrol-
ling
ften
o
not
ecognize
hat
heir
uggestions
mplicitly
ontribute
oward
he
operationalizationfpanopticismndthe reation f anorganizationalrison,n
a
metaphorical
ense,
hereby
ronically
tifling
he
very
apability
or
rganiza-
tional
hange
nd
nnovationhat
hey
re
aiming
o enhance.
Drawing
rom
oucault's
1977c;
1997)
work
nd
Hopwood's
1987)
nterpre-
tation f he
rchaeological
pproach,
e
aim
o
examine
he
historical
onditions
of German
ccounting
oncepts
Controlling
cience ),
hat
s,
to
identify
he
historical
ancestors f
such
oncepts.
oing
so
helps
o fulfillhe
genealogical
aim
of
dentifying
ow he
ominant,
nitary,
nd
otalizing
iscourse
f
Control-
ling
cience
roduces
ts wn
truth
ffectshat re
bound
p
with
ower
iffer-
entials.
ighlighting
his
rocess
llows
us to
critically
valuate
ts ffects
nd s
thefirsttep owardnlightenedction.Weproceednthree
rchaeological
o-
ments:
irst,
we
examine
he
onceptual
oundations
f
Controlling
cience
s
exhibited
ykey
uthors
n
his rea.
econd,
we
dentify
unctional
imilaritiesf
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8/18/2019 Lectura en Inglés - Seeing Witout Been Seen - Article
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SEEING
WITHOUT BEING SEEN 115
these onceptions ith aylor's cientific anagement,hown obe a conceptual
ancestor
f
Controlling
cience.
Third,
we
show
that
anopticism
s
a
common
unifying
etaphor
or
oth
Taylorism
nd
Controlling
cience.
n
the
final ec-
tion,
we discuss n more
etail he
ffects
f
panopticism
n
Controlling
cience.
We
propose
hat
ontrolling
cientists
ay
e somewhat
yopic
othe
histori-
cal
foundations
f
the
oncepts
hey nconditionally
spouse.
t
might
husbe
helpful
o raise
he
wareness
f the
discourse-restricting
ffects
f
designed
nd
implemented
anagementccounting
oncepts.
s
Argyris
1994a,
1994b)
tates,
naivelymplemented
anagementccountingystems
ill ead
to
defensiveou-
tines
fthe
gents
o
that
o
valid
nformation
an be
gathered
rom
he ccount-
ing
ystem;
ltimatelyeading
owider
rganizational
ndbehavioral
ysfunctions.2
For
both
heorists
nd
practitioners
esigning,mplementing,
nd
running
man-
agement
ccountingystem,
hefact hat he
ystemmay
have
unintended
nd
surreptitious
ffects
n
action
hrough
ts
assumptions
ased on
panoptic rin-
ciples
has
to be
made
xplicit
nd
critically
valuated.
Given
that
metaphors
an
illuminate idden
spects
f
the
domain
hey
re
applied
o
Lakoff
nd
Johnson,
980),
we
suggest
hat
yusing
he
metaphor
f
the
anopticon
o
explore
he ancestors
f
managementccounting
oncepts
ts
surreptitious
ffects
an
be
identified.
he
archaeological
econstructionf
Con-
trollingciencentermsfthe anopticon rinciplentroduceshistoricaldepth
of
focus
hat
nables
oth heorists
nd
practitioners
o
gain
deeper
nderstand-
ing
of
the urrent
perations
nd
organizational
onsequences
fcontrol
ystems
through
more
laborate
nderstanding
f
their istorical
ntecedents.
The
archaeological
pproach
nd
genealogical
oncerns
The
archaeological
pproach
[Archaeology's]roblem
s to
define iscourses
ntheir
pecificity;
o how
n
whatway he et f uleshatheyutnto perations rreducibleo ny ther;
tofollow
hem
he
whole
ength
ftheir
xterior
idges.
..
It
defines
ypes
f
rules
or iscursive
ractices
hat
un
hrough
ndividual
euvres,
ometimes
govern
hem
ntirely,
nd
dominate
hem
o
such
n extent
hat
othing
ludes
them.
Foucault,
997,
.
139)
For
Foucault,
he
rchaeological
pproach
ims
o
analyze
iscourses
hrough
n
identification
f
the
verriding
ules
hat tructure
nd
determine
hem. oucault
has
far
rom
rovided
clear
definition
f
discourse,
owever.
t east ive
nter-
related
meanings
ave
been
given
odiscourse
n The
Archaeology
fKnowledge:
(1) discoursess groupsf tatements;2) discoursess rule-boundractices;3)
discourses
s
practices
pecified
n
archives;
4)
discourses
s
practices
onstitut-
ing
objects;
and
(5)
discourses
s
totalities
eterminingubject positions
(Heracleous,
000).
Foucault
iewsdiscourses
s
groups
f
statements
hat be-
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8/18/2019 Lectura en Inglés - Seeing Witout Been Seen - Article
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116 JACOBS
IRELAND)
AND HERACLEOUS
(SINGAPORE)
longto the ame discursiveormation.. forwhich group f conditions f
existence
an
be
defined
1997,
p.
1
17).
Discourses
redetermined
y
a
body
f
anonymous,
istorical
ules
ibid.,
.
117),
nd
systematically
orm
he
bjects
for
which
hey
peak
ibid.,
.
49).
Drawing
rom oucault'sdiscussion f discursive
ractices,
we view Con-
trolling
cience as
a
discursive
ractice
hat
as
real
effects
n
organizational
functioning
hrough
ts
production
f
truth
advocating
he
best
way
to or-
ganize
and
control
ndividuals o maximizefunctional
utcomes).
Foucault
(1977a,
pp.
199-200)
has
provided
succinct
iew
of
the
nature
nd
opera-
tions
f discursive
ractices:
Discursive
ractices
re
haracterized
y
he elimitationf field f
objects,
thedefinitionf
a
legitimate
erspective
or
he
gent
f
knowledge,
ndthe
fixing
f
norms
or he
laborationf
oncepts
nd heories.
hus,
ach
discur-
sive
practice
mplies
play
f
prescriptions
hat
esignate
ts
xclusions
nd
choices.
. .
Discursive
ractices
re
not
urely
nd
imply
ays
f
producing
discourse.
hey
re
mbodied
n
technical
rocesses,
n
nstitutions,
n
patterns
for
eneral
ehavior,
n
formsor
ransmission
nd
iffusion,
nd
n
pedagogical
forms
hich,
t
once,
mpose
ndmaintainhem.
Burrell
1988)
suggests
hat
he
rchaeologist
eeksto
identify
the
Same
in
theDifferent,o uncoverhoseruleswhich egulatendgovernocialprac-
tices,
nd
which
re unknown
y
the
ctors
nvolved
Burell,
1988,
p.
229).
It
is assumed
hat
partial istancing
rom
hese
nstitutionalonds s
possible
bybracketing
f
accepted
ruth. he
key
oleof
a
researcher
sing
n archaeo-
logical
method,
n
this
view,
s to act as an excavator
ho
reveals
depth
nd
interiority.
Hopwood
1987)
applies
his
kind
f
archaeological
method o
management
accountingystems.
e
points
othe nterrelation
etween
ccountingystem
nd
organization,
hich re
een
s
inextricably
inked. e
argues
hat
n
he
rganiza-
tional ontext
ccounting
egularly
urpasses
ts
implemonetary
eproduction
f
organizationalctivities;very ccountingechnique rovides newperspective
on
the
rganization
nd
renders
ew
hings
isible.
onsequently,
ew
organiza-
tional
ractices
re
nvented,
o
which
he
ccounting
ystem
must eact
gain.
Accounting ay hereby
ecome n
enabler
or
rganizational
hange,
ncluding
the
ossibilities
or
nd
necessity
f ts wn
ransformation.ue
to
such
mutual
process
f nteraction
nd
hange,
ccounting
an no
onger
laim obe
a
neutral,
apolitical,
etached
unction ithin
he
rganization
Hopwood,
987,
.
228).
An
archaeological
pproach
llows
he
esearcherotrace
ack
rganizational
istory
as
well as
theoretical
istory
n
order o
dentify
onceptual
ncestors f current
accounting
ools nd
nstrumentsn
their
ocial and
organizational
ontext
e.g.,
Hoskin ndMacve,1986;Miller ndHopwood, 994;Puxty, 993). norder o
explore
Controlling
cience,
we
thus
carefully
nd
cautiously
ort
hrough
he
sediments
Hopwood,
1987,
p.
230)
of
German
management
ccounting
on-
cepts
the
irst
tep
oward
n
archaeology
f
Controlling.
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8/18/2019 Lectura en Inglés - Seeing Witout Been Seen - Article
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SEEING
WITHOUT
BEING SEEN 117
Genealogical oncerns
Around
he imeThe
Archaeologyf Knowledge
as
published,
oucault
ues-
tioned
he
lleged
neutrality
f
knowledge
nd ruthnd
rgued
hat selfishnter-
est comesbefore
nowledge
1977a,
p.
203).
Shortly
fter
hat,
n a
discussion
with
eleuze,
henoted hat the
uestion
f
power
emains total
nigma
1977b,
p.
213)
that
hould
e further
nvestigated.
uchcomments
ere clear
ndication
ofFoucault's
ubsequent
enealogical
nterests
ith henature nd
operations
f
power
nd ts nterrelationith
knowledge.
few
years
ater,
or
xample,
e
stated
hat theformationf discourses
ndthe
genealogy
f
knowledge
eed
o
be
analyzed
.. in ermsf acticsnd
trategies
f
power
1980a,
p.
77).
Foucault's
thinking
n
discourse
n
The
Archaeology
f Knowledge
ad
thus
ubsequently
moved
o
concerns ith
ower/knowledge
inkswhere iscourses
re
manifesta-
tions
f
the willto
power :
We hould
dmitatherhat
ower roduces
nowledge
that
ower
nd
knowl-
edge
irectly
mply
ne
nother,
hathere
s no
power
elation
ithouthe orrela-
tive
onstitution
f
field f
knowledge,
or
ny nowledge
hat
oes
not
resup-
pose
nd onstitute
t he
ame
ime
ower
elations.
Foucault,
977c,
.
27)
Foucault's
enealogies
im
n
particular
o
oppose
dominant,
nitary,yranni-
cal discoursesndtheirlaims f truth,ndtoallowalternativesobe seen nd
previously
arginalized
oices o
be heard
Foucault,
980b).
Despite
hediffer-
ences
between
is
archaeological
nd
genealogical
eriods,
oucault
1980b,
p.
85)
posits
continuity
n his
work nterms
f
archaeology
s
a
method
nd
gene-
alogy
s
praxis:
Archaeology
ould
e
the
ppropriate
ethodology
f
his
nalysis
f ocal
discursivities,
nd
genealogy
ould
e
the actics
hereby,
n
the
asis
f
he
description
f
these ocal
discursivities,
he
ubjected
nowledges
hich
were
thus eleased
ould e
brought
nto
lay.
In this ontext, e conductnarchaeologicalnalysisfControllingcience s
a discursive
ractice,
aking
nto
ccount
enealogical
oncerns
hat
ighlight
ow
this
iscursive
ractice
roduces
truth r
knowledge
hat s
far
rom
eutral
but
s
intimately
ound
p
with
onsiderations
f
power
nd control
hat eedto
be
made
xplicit
nd
critically
valuated.
Critiques
f
Foucault's
work
Foucault
as
been
riticizedn
several
ronts,
ncluding
or
is
mpenetrable
rit-
ing
tyle
Kermode,
994),
he
mployment
f
ogical autologies
nd
mbiguities
(Brown
ndCousins, 994;Frank, 992), he tructuralisteparationfdiscourse
from
ts
context
n
the
archaeological
pproach
Habermas,
987,
p.
250),
his
refusal
o
accept
human
ubjects
s
anything
ther
han etermined
y
discourse,
and
the
onsequent
ifficulties
n
theorizing
uman
gency
nd
ts
possibilities
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118 JACOBS
IRELAND)
AND
HERACLEOUS
(SINGAPORE)
(Freundlieb,994;Newton, 994,1998;Racevskis, 994), s well s his refusal
to retain ne
position
or
onger
han he
period
etween
is
ast book and
the
next
Burrell,
988,
p.
222).
Brown
ndCousins
1994,
pp.
198-99),
for
xample,
mphasize
he
mbiguity
of
Foucault's
se
of
rules
f
discursive ormation
nd
ts
mplications:
The
question
ust emain.
hat re hese
ules
ndhow
do
they
unction?
. .
Without
he
egularity
f
tatements
t
would e
mpossible
o
ohere
discursive
formationnto definite
dentity,
venwhile
tressing
hat
his
identity
s
com-
posed
f
divisionsnd
differentiations.
ut
his oads
he
oncept
f
rulewith o
many isqualifications
hat
t
sdifficult
o
ee
how
oucault'sree f erivationan
permithepecificationf regularity.t s not omanyhingshatt sdifficulto
see
whatt s.
This
ifficulty
s
compounded
y
he act hat he
ule unctions
n
three ifferent
ays.
.
.
Possibility,egulation
nd
regularity
ll tend o
be
run
together
n he
ervicef
protecting
he iscursiveormation.t
begins
o eem
hat
it
s
the
ery
oncept
fdiscursive
ormationhichs
at
risk.
.
Foucault's
efusal
o
accept
he
elevance fhuman
gency
or
nalytical ur-
poses
n his
rchaeological
eriod
s
particularly
roblematic.
n The
Archaeology
of
Knowledge,
or
xample,
oucault tated
hat
he
position
f
speaking
ubjects
is determined
y
anterior
ystems
f
discourse:
he
nunciativeomain
the
do-
main f
things
aid)
s
thus
an
anonymous
ieldwhose
onfiguration
efines
he
possible osition
f
speaking ubjects
1997,
p.
122). nearlier
writings
e had
stressed
hat
discoursingubjects
orm
part
f he
iscursive
ield
they
ave heir
lace
within
it
..
and
heir
unction.
. .
Discourses
not
place
nto
which he
ubjectivity
irrupts;
t
s a
space
f
differentiated
ubject-positions
nd
ubject-functions.
Fou-
cault, 991,
.
58)
Critics
ave
maintained
hat ven n
his
genealogical eriod
oucault dvances
a
theory
f
subjectivity
hich
eaves
out he
ubject,
n the
ense hat
xplana-
tion t
he
evel
of
he
ubject
s
generally
voided
Newton
994,
.
894).
There s
no account fhow, or xample,ndividualshoosewhereopositionhemselves
in
relation
o
discourses,
r
how
they
an
actively egotiate
ith,
manipulate,
r
employ
iscursive
ractices
or
arious nds.
Ourown
position
ith
egard
o
agency
s not
deterministicne.We believe
that or ritical
nalyses
o hold
anypossibility
f
making
difference,
gency
must
e seen
s the
apability
omake
hoices ndtake
ction
Giddens,
984,
.
9).
In
this
ense,
our
concern
o
unmask he
mplicit
anoptic ssumptions
n
Controlling
cience
s
aligned
with
oucault's ater
enealogical
ritings,
s
dis-
cussed
bove.
Notwithstanding
ritiques
o
Foucault's
work,
t
has served
o
problematize
existing
nstitutionalnd
organizational
rrangements.
esearchersre
urged
ot
to take
hese
rrangements
or
ranted
ut
o
question
nd
probe
he
historically
contingent
rocesses
nvolvedn
nstitutional
roduction
nd
eproduction;
s well
as
in
nstitutional
onsequences
or
ractice
and
ndeed
otential
raxis).
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•'SEEING
WITHOUT
BEING SEEN 119
Introducinghe rchaeological iteofControllingcience
Thedifferent
heoretical
nd
practical
erspectives
n
Controlling
an
be sum-
marized
urprisingly
asily:
ontrolling
s concerned
ith
nsuring
ationality
in
management.
Weber
nd
chäffer,
999,
.
743)
We
draw hecore
premises
f
Controlling
ciencefrom
hree
uthors Weber
(1995),
Küpper
1995),
and Horvàth
1996)-
who have
successfully
ublished
standard
extbooksnd re
onsidered
ajor
roponents
f
the
Controlling
isci-
pline
n
Germany. eyond
hese
extbooks,
e
draw
from hedebate
within he
disciplinever he ast enyears r so. Atthe enter fthis ebate as beenCon-
trolling
cience's
emancipation
rom
managementccounting
n theone
hand
and
general
management
n the ther n order
o
establish n
independent
heo-
retical
ield
e.g.,
Küpper,
eber,
nd
Zünd,
990;
Müller, 996;
chneider,991a,
1991b, 991c;Weber,
991,
1995;
Weber
nd
Knorren,
998).
The nternationalebate n
management
ontrol nd
managementccounting
has
been
ignificantly
oncerned
ith
ts
rganizational
nd
ocial
ontext
Puxty,
1993).
Whereas he
Anglo-Saxon
radition
as
been oncerned
ith
imely
nfor-
mation
or
ecision-making,istorically
ontrolling
nd
ts
ost
ccounting
ech-
niques
have focused n
the
productionrocesses
f the
firm,
ence ts
emphasis
ontechnicalationality.
According
o
proponents
f
Controlling
heory,
ts
key
purpose
s to
ensure
rationality
f
managemente.g.,
Weber nd
Schäffer,
999).
This
claim
of Con-
trolling
heory
o
provide,
nd contribute
o,
what could
be
considered
metacoordination
of
management
s
complemented
by
its
suggested
operationalization
hrough
raditional
ost
accounting
ools. t is
the im
of this
article
either
o
critically
xamine
onceptual
nconsistencies
esulting
rom his
rather
mbitious
laim nd ts
operationalization
hrough
ost
ccounting,
or o
assess
the
ppropriateness
fthese ost
ccounting
ools
n
ight
f
his laim.
But
an
awareness
f
these
spects
hould
rovide
ome
larity
or
eaders nfamiliar
with ontrollingoncepts.
For
the
purposes
f
our
nvestigation,
e
will
mainly
raw rom
he
extbooks
of
proponents
f mainstream
ontrolling
Horvàth,
996;
Küpper,
995;
Weber,
1995).
We
do,
however,
ecognize
heories
nd
approaches
n German
rganiza-
tion
heorye.g.,
Baecker, 999a, 1999b;
Kirsch,
992,
1997a,
1997b;
Ortmann,
1995;
Ortmann
t
al.,
2000)
as
well
s
in
Controlling
heorye.g.,Kappler,
999,
2000;
Habersam, 997;
Scheytt,
997;
Scheytt
t
l.,
forthcoming;
aecker, 992;
Willke,
989)
that
re
more
oncerned
ith heir wn
underlying
pistemological
assumptions.
Controlling
cience
s
part
f
Betriebswirtschaftslehre,eneral
usiness
d-
ministration
cience
n
German-speaking
reas,
istinguishes
womain unctions
in
company:
anagement
nd
perations.
hecoordination
f
operations
hrough
the
management
ystem
s called
primary
oordination
Weber,
995,
p.
34;
Horvàth,
996,
p.
124).
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120
JACOBS
IRELAND)
AND
HERACLEOUS
(SINGAPORE)
Due tothe ncreasingomplexitynd ize ofbusinesses,ivision f abor nd
specialization
ncreases
ithin
he
managementystem
s
well.
Controlling
heory
identifies
ive
subsystems
ithin
he
managementystem:
lanning,
ontrol,
organization,
nformation,
nd
personnel.
he
function
f
Controlling
s
to
en-
sure
ationality
ithin he
management
ystem
Weber
nd
Schäffer,
999),
nd
to
centrally
oordinate
rganizational
ubsystems.3
ince
the
most
prominent
function
f
management
s
to coordinate
perations, ontrolling
heory's
ims
of
coordinating
the
management
system
can
be
seen
as
a
claim
of
metacoordination.
encethe
focus
n coordination
n
Controllingheory's
on-
ceptual
ramework.
Coordinations
Controlling's
ain unctionenotes
goal-oriented
nterven-
tion
o
lign
nterdependent
lements.
eber
1995)
proposes
coordination
hrough
plans
as
themost
fficient
orm f
coordination.4
onsequently,
he
planning
system
s
of
outstandingignificance
o
Controllingheory:
lanning
asto nsure
efficiency
f
management
nd
trategic
lignment
oward
he
goals
of
the
rgani-
zation.
Moreover,
hrough
lanning,
rational,
utcome-oriented
esign
f
the
futureanbe
anticipated.ationality
n
his ontext eans to
proceed onsciously
and
goal-orientedKüpper,
995,
p.
59).
Control
s
indispensable
or he
plan-
ningprocess
n
terms f
dentifying
eviations rom
he
plan.
The
information
systems considereds a service unctionoprovide he relevant nformation
for
he
managementystem
n
depicting
he
organization
aithfully.
ithin he
personnel
ystem,
eward nd
ncentive
chemes,
ncluding
raditional
areer e-
velopment
ools,
hould
roduce
n
appropriateoal
orientationfthe
ndividual
organizational
ember
Weber,
995).
Archaeology
f
Controlling,
:
Examining
onceptual
oundations
Interrelationship
etween
heory
nd
practice
Controllingheorys a whole trives o meet he tandardsf thedominating,
mainly
uantitativegeneral
usiness
dministration
cience,
which
epresents
prescriptive,
echnocratic
anagement
heory
n
the
German-speaking
ountries.
General
usiness
dministration
cience
ims
o
xplain
management
ractice
nd,
secondarily,
ims
o
prescribe
anagement
racticee.g.,
Gutenberg,
95
Heinen,
1991).
Controlling
s
a
subsidiary
cience
hus
dapts
his
elation
etween
heory
and
practice:
theory
recedes
ractice.
With
egard
o
practice,
ontrolling
s
disguised
s cost
ccounting
hat
reates
neutral nformation
sing
neutral
ools.
Controlling
heory's
ocus
n
the
de-
velopment
f neutral
ools
reduces he
potential
heoretical
cope
of
such ost
accountingools. nneglectingoengage ncriticaleflectionsn the heoretical
foundationsf
Controlling
cience nd
on the
rganizational
mpacts
n
Control-
lingpractice,methodological
nd
epistemological
spects
re not
dequately
d-
dressed
y
ts
proponents.
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122
JACOBS
IRELAND)
AND
HERACLEOUS
(SINGAPORE)
whilemaximizingndividual enefitHorvàth, 994,p. 121;Küpper, 995,p.
59).
Agency
heory
wes ts
eputation
ithinhe
Controlling
cience
ommunity
to ts
hree
major isciplinarian
nstruments:
1)
rewards
hatead to
goal-oriented
behavior;
2)
norms o
directly
nfluencehe
gent's
ehavior;
nd
3)
the
stab-
lishment
f a
monitoringystem
o reduce
he
existing
nformation
symmetry
between
rincipal
nd
agent.
ince
Controlling
heory
raws
onceptually
rom
Agency
heory,
ts
isciplinarian
nstruments
an
be seen
from
Foucauldian
iew-
point
s
hierarchical
bservation
nd
normalizing
udgment.
hese are
key
as-
pects
f
a
regime
f
disciplinary
ower
hat
hould
e
explored
when
xamining
this
rea.
n
sum, ontrolling
s
positivist,eterminisi,
ndnomothetic
cience s
rootednthefunctionalist
aradigm
Burrell
nd
Morgan,
979).
It
s
worth
xaminingaylor's
cientific
anagement
[1911]
1993)
as
a
con-
ceptual
ncestor f
controlling
cience
or
hree
rimary
easons.7
n
the
irst
n-
stance,
nd
s
a
preliminary
onsideration,
aylor's
cientific
anagement
[1911]
1993)
s considered
n
nfluentiallassic
n
organization
heory
nd
management
studies
Bedeian
nd
Wren,
001),
so further
nderstanding
f tsnature nd
ef-
fectswould
be
useful
o
organization
heorists
nd
management
cholars
Wrege
and
Hodgetts,
000).
Second,
he
high
egree
f
similarity
etween
aylorism
nd
Controlling
ci-
ence, nepistemologicalndmethodologicalermsincluding aylorism's ery
strong mphasis
n
improvingrganizational
fficiencyhrough
ontrol f
ndi-
viduals),
uggests
he
otential
ruitfulnessffurther
xamination,
specially iven
that
aylorismredates
ontrolling
cience.Historical
tudies,
or
xample,
ug-
gest
hat
aylorism
xemplifies
a
shiftrom
ersonal
o
mpersonal
ontrol,
shift
romhe
ersonal
nd
ndirect
exercise
f
upervisory
nd
disciplinaryowers
..
to
systems
fbureaucratic
discipline
nd
inally
he
evelopment
f
ncreasingly
laborated
ystems
f ol-
lecting,
toring
nd
processing
nformation.
Dandeker,
990,
.
196)8
TheTayloristunctionalupervisoryystemsa clear llustrationf uniformp-
erating
rocedures
.
.
planned
nd
monitoredrom
n
office
fcentraltaff hich
stood
at the
apex
of
a
functionally
ifferentiatedabor
managementystem
(Dandeker,
990,
p.
185).
Third,
aylorist
nfluences
n
Controlling
heory's
ntological
nd
epistemo-
logical
orientation
an be
discerned
rom nother
irection;
ithin
erman
en-
eral
business
dministration
cience nd the
writings
f ts
prominentroponent,
Erich
Gutenberg
1929,
1951),
urther
uggesting
he
otential
ruitfulness
f
pur-
suing
his ink.
Gutenberg's
icroeconomics-based
pproach
imed
o
develop
n
objective,
universalheoryf he roductionnterprise,sing ost ccountingonsiderations
to determine
theoretically
chievable
ptimum.
his wouldbe
achieved
y
ap-
plying
functional
ationality
hile
xcluding
ny
mpirical
disturbances uch
as
organizational,
ocial,
or
human
actors. oth
Gutenberg's
nd
Taylor's
p-
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SEEING WITHOUT BEING SEEN 123
proaches reclearly ootedn a managerial,unctionalistaradigm. utenberg
can
be
consideredn
ancestor
f
Controlling
cience
n
German-speaking
reas.
While
cknowledging
utenberg's
imilarities ith
aylorism
nd
his nfluence
on
Controlling
heory,
e imit ur
nvestigation
ere o
Taylorist
nfluences,
iven
that
n
nternationaludience
might
e
more
amiliar ith
t,
due to
imited
pace
andfor
higher
larity
f
argument.
Archaeology
f
Controlling,
I:
Taylor's
cientific
anagement
s an
ancestor
f
Controlling
cience
[The]
rganization
onsisted
..
of
one setof
men,
whowere
ngaged
n
the
development
f
the cience
f
aboringhrough
ime
tudy;
. .
another
et
of
men,
mostly
killed
aborers
hemselves,
ho
were
eachers,
nd
who
helped
and
guided
hemen
n
their
ork;
nother
etoftoolroom
enwho
provided
them
ith
he
ropermplements
nd
kept
hem
n
perfect
rder,
nd
notheret
of lerks
ho
lanned
he
work
well n dvance
. .
and
properly
ecordedach
man's
arnings.
Taylor,
1911]
1993,
.
70)
Taylor's
cientific
anagement
s
based
on
individual
ork
nstructions
nd
re-
muneration:
he ask
ndbonus
ystem.
cientific
n this
ontext enotes
he n-
deavor, sing ime ndmotiontudies,oemulate hemethodologyf natural
scientific
xperiments
ith he imof
dentifying
niversal
rinciples
f
efficient
functioning
the
positivist
pproach).
he labor
ffice
nd thefunctional
lerks
are
accountable
nd
responsible
or hese tudies
y
observing
nd
measuring
individual
erformance
n the
hop
floor. cientific
management
ims o
render
visible
he ndividual
orker
ndhis9
erformance
Taylor,
1911]
1993,
.
129)
through
he
panoptic
rinciples
f
hierarchical
bservation
by
functional
lerks)
and
normalizing
udgment
whether
he et
production
uotas
re
met,
hedevia-
tions
oted,
nd
appropriate
eward
r
sanction
anded
ut).
Taylor
dentified
hewaste f
resources
t
the
national
nd
corporate
evels s
the
key problem
f histime.He
diagnosed
hedominance f rule-of-thumb
practices
t the
workplace
nd assumed
hat
uman
ature as
a
preference
or
shirking.
he
management
tyle
hat uilt
n the
worker's
bility
or
motivation
and
self-management
as no
longer
een as
able to
cope
with
hese
wo
factors.
Taylor
trived
o
challenge
waste
nd
tscauses
by
keeping
etailed ecords
nd
conducting
nalyses
f
single
moves
n
order
o
extrapolate
eneralizable rin-
ciples.
The
goal
was
to
dentify
he est
physiological
ay
o
fulfill task
nd
to
identify
he
ppropriate,
orresponding
orking
ool
Taylor,
1911]
1993,
.
67).
10
Based
on ndividual
ime
ndmotion
tudies,
he
aily
workload
or ach
worker
andthemost fficientay fproducingtwere efined.heworkloadepresents
an
individual
orm
hat s
directly
inked o
the emuneration
f theworker.
he
task
nd
bonus
ystem
s
based on
four
rinciples.
irst,
he raditional
ule-of-
thumb
methods
replaced
y systematic
nd
scientific
andling
f
each
work
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124
JACOBS
IRELAND)
AND
HERACLEOUS
(SINGAPORE)
element.econd, he ppropriateorkersre dentified,rained,nd nstructed,
instead fthe
previous
ystem
f
eaving
he
work
nd
training
p
to
theworkers
themselves.
hird,
earty
ooperation
as
to be
established
etween heworker
andthe lerks
o
motivateheworkero follow
he
nstructions.
inally,
ork
nd
responsibility
re
reallocated etweenworker nd
management
o
thatworkers
who
were
bearing
oth
he
responsibility
nd the
work
an
now
concentraten
just
the
work tself
Taylor,
1911]
1993,
p.
36).
The relief
fthis urden
as
seen
by
Taylor
s
necessary,
ecause oo
much
had been
demanded
rom heworker
n
the
ast.
Not
only
id
theworker ave
o
prepare
is
work,
hoosehis
tools,
nd
physically
o the
work,
e also had to
coordinatend
manage
iswork.
ccording
o
Taylor's
ewdivisionf
abor,
t s
the
abor
ffice hat
hould e
responsible
or he
ystematic
reparation
f
tasks
as well s
the hoice
f
the
ight
ools.
The task
ndbonus
ystem
s
based
on
highly
ndividualized
ork
nstructions
that
equired
etailed
nowledge
bout
workernd
his
performance,
trengths,
andweaknesses. ime nd
motion
tudies s well
s
observation
fworkers
s
thus
necessary.
he
analysis
f
hese
ata
llows
ne
to
dentify
he
ndividually
ppro-
priate,
est
method. o match
nstructions
nd
tools
with ndividual
orkers,
detailed
ystem
f surveillance
s
required.
Forthis urpose,he abor fficeollects, ecords,ndanalyzes llnecessary
statistics
equired
or
he
ask ndbonus
ystem.
ased
on time ndmotion
tud-
ies,
hemost fficient
ay
or
xecuting
certain
ask
s dentifiedor ach
worker
individually.
he
daily
workload or ach
worker
hen an be
defined.
he
com-
munication
ool
that
rovides
he
nstructions
s an
nstruction
ard
n
which he
worker inds is
workload nd a
description
f the ools
required,
s
well as the
method f
how he should
ulfill he
ask.
n
addition,
heworker
ets
perfor-
mance
eview
fthe
revious ay
which
ndicates he
egree
ffulfillmentf
his
quota
Taylor,
1911]
1993,
p.
68).
At the
hop-floor
evel,
Taylor
perationalized
urveillance,
nstruction,
nd
performanceeasurementy ntroducingunctionallerks: n nspectorespon-
sible
for he
nstructionf
workers,
gang
boss for hemachine
et
up,
he
peed
bossfor fficient
iming,
he
epair
ossfor
epair
nd
maintenance,
he ime lerk
regarding
emuneration,
nd he
oute lerk or
work
teps.
n
any
ase ofdifficul-
ties
with
he
ifferent
teachers,
he
isciplinarian
ould erve
s an
ombudsman
to
help
he
worker
Taylor,
1911]
1993,
p.
124).
Workers
re
rendered
isible
n
three
ways:
1)
through
ndividual ime nd
motion
tudies;
2)
through
he
ndividual
ork ask
defined
y
the
abor
ffice;
and
3)
throughaily
urveillance
y
the
functionallerks. n all
three
ases,
the
target
fthe
bservations the
ndividual,
is
performance,
nd
hisbehavior. ci-
entificmanagement'sequiredmplementations
top-down,
s itdoesnot
xpect
or
accept
hat
workersre
able to
understand
nd share
cientific
anagement
methods. he
key
notion f
Taylor's
rameworks the
task nd
bonus
ystem,
which
llows
every
ingle
worker
o
measure
is
performance
nd
progress.
he
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SEEING
WITHOUT BEING SEEN 125
ultimateoal s the nternalizationfthe ask ndworkload ytheworker.fthis
act
of
elf-discipline
ere
uccessful,
hysical
bservation
nd
urveillance ould
no
longer
e needed.
This
system
as
the
par
excellence
perationalization
f
panopticism,
here
hierarchical
bservation
nd
normalizing
udgment
ere he
ornerstonesf
ts
effective
unctioning.
Taylor
ad thebest ntentions
or
upporting
heworker. utthe relief
f the
burden
f the
worker's
esponsibility
orhis work n fact
erved
o
reduce he
endorsed
nd
required
ehavioral
ptions
t the
workplace
o
a
minimum. he
task
ndbonus
ystemmplies
hat
ules, egulations,
nd
ontrol
re
preferable
s
coordination
echanismso theworker'snitiativendself-
management.
ocial
relations
o
coworkers
nd he
work
tself,
nd heir
otential
mpact
n
productiv-
ity
nd
skill
development,
erenot
mphasized
y Taylor's
cientific
anage-
ment.
his
is
an
apt
example
f
metaphorical arginalisation
Dillard
and
Nehmer,
990):
the
panoptical
rganizing
etaphor
ighlights
ontrol-oriented
aspects
fthe
pplication
omain
Controlling
cience
nd ts
rganizational
on-
text)
nd
marginalizes
elation-oriented
spects
because
of the
mphasis
n the
structure
f
the
ource
omain
the
Panopticon).
The
panoptic
rinciples
fhierarchical
urveillancend
normalizingudgment
arekeyunderlyingssumptionsfboth ayloristcientific anagementndGer-
man
Controlling
cience,
s
willbe
further
laborated
n
the
next
ection.
Archaeology
f
Controlling,
II:
The
Panopticon
s
a
unifying
eta-
phor
for
Taylorism
nd
Controlling
cience
In
1787
Jeremy
entham
esigned
n
nspection
ouse
nd
hereby
ave
rchitec-
tural
hape
o the dea of
permanent
urveillance
n
a
work ntitled
Panopticon,
r,
he
nspection
ouse:
containing
he dea
of
new
rinciple
f
Construction
pplicable
o
ny
ort
f
Establishment,
nwhich
ersons
f
ny
Descriptionretobekept ndernspection;nd nparticularoPenitentiary-
Houses,
risons,
ouses
f
ndustry,
ork-Houses,oor-Houses,
anufacturies,
Mad-Houses,
azarettos,
ospitals,
nd
Schools;
with Plan
of
Management
adapted
othe
rinciple.
Bentham
n
Foucault,
995,
.
258)
As
the
riginal
itle
ndicates,
he
anopticon
as
nitially
esigned
o fulfillur-
veillance
purposes
t various
nstitutions,
ncluding
houses
of
industry
nd
manufacturies,
n other
ords,
usiness
rganizations.
he
architectural
esign
of
the
Panopticon
onsists
f
a concentric
ing
t the
periphery
hich s divided
into
ells,
with
tower
t the enter
f
the
ring
rom
which
guard
an
perma-
nently
bserve
he
nmates
s
the
ell's windows
widely pen
to the nner ide.
The
guard
imselfannot e
seen,
s Venetianlindsmake t
mpossible
or he
inmates
o
know
whether
hey
re
being
bserved
r not:
in
the
périphérie
ing,
one
s
totally
een,
without
ver
eeing;
n the
entral
ower,
ne sees
everything
without
ver
eing
een
Foucault,
977c,
.
202).
With
his
rchitectural
esign,
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126
JACOBS
IRELAND)
AND
HERACLEOUS
(SINGAPORE)
Benthamaiddown he rinciplehat
power
hould e visible ndunverifiable.isible:
he nmate
ill
constantly
have efore
is
yes
he all utline f he
entralower
rom
hich
e
s
spied
upon.
Unverifiable:
he nmate ust ever
nowwhether
e
s
being
ooked
t
any
ne
moment;
uthe must e sure
hat e
may
lways
e
so.
(Foucault,
1977c,
.
201)
There re t
east
hree
major
mpacts
f he
anopticon
n
ndividualehavior.
First,
he
uard
annot e
seen,
ut
he
nmate
lways
hasto assume
hat
bserva-
tion s
in
operation.
nly
he
ssumption
f
being
bserved
in
an
organizational
context,otonlybysuperiorsut lso bycoworkersnd evensubordinates)s
thus
ufficiento nduce
onforming
ehavior.
econd,
nd
onsequently,
he
res-
ence
ofthe
guard
s
replaced y
elf-discipline,
n
economic
erms,
hemost ffi-
cient
urveillance
echnique.
hird,
onforming
ehavior
hus onsists f
very
limited
ehavioral
ptions,
ne
of
the
most evere
mpacts
eing
hat
nmates
re
unable o communicate
ith
thernmates.
Discipline,
n
the
Panopticon
metaphor,
s
based on two
major
nstruments:
hierarchical
bservationnd
normalizing
udgment
nd sanction.
ccording
o
Foucault,
n the
ighteenthentury,
ue to the
higher omplexity
f
production,
increasing
umbers f
workers
n the
factories,
nd
more
division f
abor,
he
controllingfthese roductionlants equired newtype f surveillance.t was
new n the
ense hat
it an
ight
hrough
he
abor
rocess;
tdidnot ear
or
not
nly
on
production.
... It
lso
ook nto
ccount
he
ctivity
f
men,
heir
kill,
he
way
et bout heir
tasks,
heir
romptness,
heir
eal,
heir
ehavior.
Foucault,
977c,
.
174)
Surveillancen
production
hus ecame n
ndependent
unction,
epresentedy
specialized,
mnipresent
ersonnel.
s a
consequence,
ts
mportance
asraised o
decisive conomic
perator,
both s an internal
art
f
the
production achinery
and s
a
specific
mechanismn
the
isciplinary
ower.
ermanenturveillance
e-
came n integratedystem,inked romhenside f he conomynd o he ims f
the
mechanismn
which
t
was
practiced
Foucault,
977c,
.
175,
176).
In
order o
controlhe
ehavior
f
he
workers,
mechanism
as
required
that
coerces
y
means
f
observation;
n
apparatus
n
which he
echniques
hatmake
it
possible
o
see
induce
ffectsf
power,
nd n
which,
onversely,
he
means
f
coercionmake
hose
n
whom
hey
re
pplied learly
isible
Foucault,
977c,
p.
170).
Both
Controlling
cience
nd
Taylor's
cientific
anagement
onsider he
ability
orender
isible n
order
o
observe o
be
one
oftheir ore
functions.
uch
a
surveillance
echanism
wouldmaketpossibleor single azeto eeeverythingonstantly.central
point
would
e both
he
ource f
ightlluminating
verything,
nd
locus f
convergence
or
verything
hat
must eknown:
perfect
ye
hat
othing
ould
escape
nd
center
owards hich ll
gazes
would
e
turned.
Foucault, 977c,
p.
173)
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SEEING WITHOUT BEING SEEN 127
But surveillancetself oesnot ssure onformitynbehavior:trequireshe
complementary
echanisms
f
normalizing
udgment
nd
anction.
oucault
ug-
gests
hat
very isciplinary
ystem
ncludes
penal
mechanismhat
enjoys
kind f
udicialprivilege
ith
ts own
aws,
ts
specific
ffences,
ts
particular
forms
f
udgment
Foucault,
977c,
.
177).
Everything
hat s
nonconforming,
a
deviation rom
given
norm r
standard,
as
to
be
penalized.
he
disciplinary
punishment
ims
oreduce eviationsndto
therebylign
ehavior.
isciplinary
punishment
nd
expected
onformity
re
deally
somorphic
s thenorm r
stan-
dard s
repeated
nd
reduplicatedy
he
enalty.
he correctiveffects not
ased
on
expiation
nd
repentance,
t
s
rather
obtained
irectlyhrough
he
mechanics
ofa
training.
o
punish
s to exercise
Foucault,
977c,
.
180).
Punishment
s
only
one element f a
disciplinary
ystem.
ts
counterpart
s
gratification
rreward.
n
order
o
dentify
eviation,
ehavior asto
be
recorded,
quantified,
nd
related
o the
norm.
hanks
o this
alculation,
the
disciplinary
apparatus
ierarchized
he
good'
and he
bad'
subjects
nrelation
ooneanother
(Foucault,
977c,
p.
181).
A
disciplinary
ystem
orks
long
ive imensions:
t
ompares,
ifferentiates,
hierarchizes,
omogenizes,
nd
excludes.
t renders
ndividual ehavior
isible,
compares
he
pecific
ehavior
with norm
r
standard,
ompares
ehavior e-
tweenndividualsndhierarchizes,ntroducesonformityhroughhenorm,nd,
finally,
enalizes
onconforming
ehavior
n
order
ofoster
onformity
Foucault,
1977c,
p.
182).
Hierarchical
bservation
nd
normalizing
udgment
ransform
isibility
nto
the xercise
f
power:
Traditionally,
ower
was whatwas
seen,
what
was shown
and
what
was manifested.
n
contrast,
isciplinaryower
is exercised
hrough
its
nvisibility.
..
It
s
the
ubjects
who
have o
be seen.
.. It
s
the act f
being
constantly
een,
of
being
ble
always
o
be
seen,
hat
maintains
he
disciplined
individual
n
his
subjection
Foucault,
911
,
p.
187).
Discussion ndimplications
In
summary,
ur
nalysis
roceeded
hrough
hree
rchaeological
oments.
irst,
we
ocated
ontrolling
cience s
positivist,
eterminist,
nd
nomothetic,
hus
irmly
rooted
n
the
unctionalist
aradigm.
We
suggested,
oreover,
hat
he
myopia
f
Controlling
cience
decontextualizing
ccounting
romts
historical
nd
organi-
zational
ontexts),
eads
to
an unintended
nd ubtle
cceptance
nd
perpetuation
of
the
operationalization
f
the
panopticon
rinciple
we
examined
anoptic
f-
fects
n more
etail
uring
ur hird
rchaeological
oment).
Second,
we
proposed
hat
aylor's
cientific
anagement
an be
viewed s
a
conceptual
ncestorf
Controlling
cience.The task
ystem
s well as the abor
office
hat
ontrols
n individual
orker's
erformance
re
n effect
epresenta-
tions
f
hierarchical
bservation
nd
normalizing
anction,
he wo
ornerstones
of
the
anopticon.
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8/18/2019 Lectura en Inglés - Seeing Witout Been Seen - Article
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128
JACOBS
IRELAND)
AND
HERACLEOUS
(SINGAPORE)
In our hirdndfinal rchaeological oment,mbuedwith enealogicalon-
cerns,
we
explored
he
naturef he
anopticon
s
a
potentmetaphor
or
isciplin-
ary
egimes
hat sehierarchical
bservation
nd
normalizing
anction;
nd howed
that he
Panopticon
an be
seen as
a
unifying
etaphor
or
oth
Taylorism
nd
Controlling
cience. he
major mpacts
fthe
Panopticon rinciple
elate
o dis-
torted
ommunication,
hereduction
f
behavioral
ptions
hrough
he
ssump-
tion f
being
bserved,
ndthe reation
f
self-discipline
hat
makes he
hysical
presence
f
an
inspector
nnecessary.
We
chose
here
ofocus n
such
epressive
spects
f
he
anopticon
ecause
ts
very
aisond'être
was surveillance
nd control f
individuals.ts
very esign
operationalizes
he
principle
f
power
s bothvisible ndunverifiable,ndits
presence
nables
hierarchical
bservationnd
normalizing
udgment
nd sanc-
tion. oucault alled
Panopticism
a
technological
nvention
n
he rder
f
power,
comparable
ith he
team
ngine
nthe
rder f
production
Foucault,
980a,
.
71).
Panopticism
s
a
metaphor
an n a
broader ontext
id
our
understanding
f
several
urrent
urveillance
nd
control
ractices
n variouskinds
f
organiza-
tions,
imed t
all
ndividualsnd
upported
y
echnology
hat
s both
mnipres-
ent ndhidden
e.g.,
Green,
999).
Controllingcience s panoptic ractice
Budgets
nd
standard
osts were
developed
t the
beginning
f the
twentieth
century
nd re
now
onsideredtandard
nstrumentsithin
ontrolling
Horváth,
1996,
p.
253;
Küpper,
995,
p.
133;
Weber, 995,
p.
131).
They
stablish norm
that
onfronts
ndividuals
ith ertain
ehavioral
xpectations.
ndividual e-
havior
an
now
be
quantified
n
terms f
costs
nd
thereby
ranslated
n
pecuni-
ary
nits.
very
ndividuals
represented
y
ertain
standard)
osts
gainst
hich
individual
ontributionnd
eventually
eviation an be
measured.
Managerial
accounting
hereby
equires
ccountability
f
individual
ehavior
Miller
and
O'Leary,1987).
Accounting
ims
t
rendering
isible
ndividual,eam,
nd
organizational
er-
formance.
isibility
s
created
hrough
process
f
ndividualization
nd
series
of
norms nd
standardshat
urround
he ndividual. hese
norms nd
standards
provide
means
o
identify
nd
quantify
eviation
rom
onforming
ehavior r
performance.
n
addition,
hese
ccounting
echniques,
nce
mplemented,
o not
need the
permanent
resence
f a
functional
lerk, ccountant,
r
manager.
n-
stead,
he
ommunication
etween
management
nd
operations
ses
management
accounting
s an
mpersonal
interface
o that
controlomes
o
be
seen
oreside
not
n
thewill
of
the
boss
but
n
the
conomicmachine
tself,
n
the
norms nd
standardsrom hichheworkeranbeseen odepartMiller ndO'Leary, 987,
p.
239).
Scientific
anagement
nd
Controlling
cience
re
somorphic
n
their
nder-
lying
ssumptions,
hich
oth
raw rom
anopticism.
rganizational
ost-ben-
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130 JACOBS
IRELAND)
AND
HERACLEOUS
(SINGAPORE)
his mentor. othnorms onflictedn this ase,and t was due toorganizational
power
elations
hat
he ominantormwas
to
meet
he
rofit
argin,
ven
hough
the real
ostswerehiddenwithinn
overhead
ost
ode.
Controllingheoryredicts
hat
lans
oordinate
ndividualehavior
ffectively.
In this
ontext,
he
ominant
lanfigure
as the
rofit
argin,
hich
esulted
na
certain
roject
ost tructure.utthedefensive outines
f
project
managers
in-
dered
pen
discussion
nd
communication
f
the
ssue of
costoverrun.
nstead,
they
ften
pted
o
creatively
eallocate he
osts
withinhe
management
ccount-
ing
ystem.
In terms
f
panopticism,
ommunicativection
was
neglected
or
he ake of
short-termndividual
erformance
equirements.
rganizational
earning
ashin-
dered,
s
this
trategy
as
common
ractice
n
several
rojects.
his
ost-hiding
strategy
s
harmful
n the
ong
run
s
it
ncreases verhead
osts o
an
unaccept-
able
evel,
which
esults
n
ven
higher
roject rofit
argins
equired
o over he
artificially
ncreased verhead
osts.
The
consequences
f
panopticism
n
Controlling
cience
and
accounting
ystems
Our nvestigationontributeso thefield forganizationtudiesnthefollowing
ways.
irst,
he
nternational
ritical ebate n
managementccounting
nd
ontrol
systems
asbeen
ignificantly
oncerned ith ts
rganizational
nd ocial
spects
(e.g.,
Kappler,
000;
Puxty,
993).
n
contrast,
ainstream
ontrolling
heory
n
German-speaking
reas
generallyeglects
uch
oncerns
nd
he
elevancef
our-
nals uch s
Accounting;
rganizations
nd
Society;
ccounting,uditing
ndAc-
countability
ournal;
r
Cñtical
Perspectives
n
Accounting
hat
ublish
esearch
on
the
organizational
nd
social
aspects
f
managementccounting
nd
control
systems.
onsidering
ur
work
s
an
early
ontribution,
nd
furthering
his
tream
of
research,
might
eliver
mutual
enefits
o
scholars
f both
Controlling
nd
internationalccountingndorganization.n theonehand, tmightrigger
critical
eflection
n
the
tatus
uo
of
Controllingheory.
n the
other,
t
might
enhance he
understanding
f the
nternational
cademic
ommunity
f
concepts
and
approaches
n
general
usiness
dministration
nd n
Controllingheory.
Our
archaeological
nvestigation
f
Controlling
heory
as
helped
o
place
ts
approaches
nd
concepts
n
perspective,
specially egarding
he
ntological
nd
epistemological
oundationsf the
discipline.
opefully,
his
will
help
broaden
the
perspective
fthe
iscipline
o be
more onscious f ts
ontological
nd
epis-
temological
oundations.
In
addition,
roadening
he
erspective
oward
rganizational
nd
ocial
mpli-cationsmight
elp
Controlling
heory
o delivern one of ts
promises;
roviding
pragmatic
venues
toward
fficiently
nd
effectively
mplementing
nd
using
Controlling
nstruments
mainly
ost
ccounting
ools),
given
hat he
fficiency
and
ffectivenessf
hese
nstruments
re
highly
inked
o
their
rganizational
nd
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8/18/2019 Lectura en Inglés - Seeing Witout Been Seen - Article
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SEEING WITHOUT BEING
SEEN 131
socialcontexts. ne implicationfour nvestigations thatControllingheory
should
im at
applying
more eflexive
pproach
when
designing
nd
offering
new
Controlling
nstruments,
earing
nmind he imitations
s
well s
the
oten-
tial ontributionsf ts
echniques.11
The
panoptic
ature f
Controlling
cience,
nd
management
ccounting
ore
generally,
riggers
ndividual
nd
organizational
efensive
outines
hat re
antilearning
nd
thereby
inder
otentialrganizational
hange.
ecause
budgets
are
ccounting
echniques
esigned
ocontrolosts
hrough
eople
nd
o
llocate
organizational
ewards
nd
penalties,
hey
epresent
otential
mbarrassmentnd
threat
o
organizational
embers
Argyris,994b, . 173).
Based
on our
nalysis,
we would
ephrase
his
onception
nd
propose
hat
udgets
re
ccounting
ech-
niques
to
control
eople
hrough
osts.
Budgets
nd
planned
osts
epresent
he
disciplinary
egime
f
managementccounting
hat
might
rigger
efensive ou-
tines.
As
Argyris
1994a,
p.
164)
notes:
Organizational
efensive outines ake
it
unlikely
hat
he
rganization
ill
ddress
he actorshat aused he
mbarrass-
ment
r threatn the irst
lace.
Organizational
efensive outinesre
anti-learn-
ing
nd
overprotective.
To
conclude,
anopticism
esults
n
wo
major
roblems
or
n
organization.
t
the evel
ofthe
ccounting
ystem,
n order o
protect
hemselvesrom
he
hreat
ofsurveillance,rganizational embers ill distortata andinformation.his
will ead to
significant
oss
nthe
uality
f
he
management
nformation
ystem
(Ezzamel,
1994).
At
the evelof
organizational
hange
nd
earning,
o
progress
with
egard
o the
ccounting
ystem
an be
expected,
s discursiventeraction
s
suppressed
ue to
the
undiscussability
f the ssues
Argyris,
994a,
p.
164).
Panopticism
annot e
prevented,
ut
nmasking
nd
critically
valuating anop-
tic
principles
n
Controlling
cience
nd
exploring
heir ffectss
the
first
tep
o
enlightened
hange.
Notes
1 The
appropriateness
f
equating
ontrolling
nd
management
ccounting
as sub-
ject
to
a
lively
debatewithin
he
discipline
tself
e.g.,
Küpper,
Weber,
nd
Zlind,
1990;
Schneider, 991a,
1991b,
991c;Weber,
991).
2. See
the eflectionselow
n
the
xperience
fClaus
Jacobs n
panopticism
twork.
3.
Willke
1989)
draws
n
entirely
ifferent
onclusion:
ncreasingomplexity
ithin
operations
s well as the
management
ystem
annot esult
n
ncreasing
entral
oordina-
tion.
rom
general
ystems
heoryiewpoint,
ppropriate
oordination
an
only
e estab-
lished
y,
nd
among,
he
ubsystems
hemselves.
4.
Weber
1995)
neglects
ther
otential
orms f
coordination
uch
s
corporate
ul-
ture,
nformal
oles,
ules,
tatus,
r
nternal
arkets.
5.Thecovering-lawornomotheticapproachssumes he ossibilityf dentifying
and
defining
eneralizable,
niversal
aws and
patterns.
eneral cientific
aws
combined
with
nitial
ondition
tatements
explanans)
llow for
he
ogical
xplanation
nd
predic-
tion
f
the
phenomenon
n
question
explanadum).
6.
In
describing
heviewof
planning
n
Controlling
cience,
we
do
not
deny
ther
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8/18/2019 Lectura en Inglés - Seeing Witout Been Seen - Article
21/24
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8/18/2019 Lectura en Inglés - Seeing Witout