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This paper aims to propose a framework for understanding interpartner sensemaking in cross‐national strategic alliances, and to discuss how to manage the problems arising from the cultural differences and internal tensions that are inherent in such alliances.

The paper starts from the notion that interpartner sensemaking of the complexities of strategic alliances has important implications for the evolution of cross‐national alliances. The two fundamental interpretive frames that relate to sensemaking are described, that of sensemaking of chaos and that of sensemaking in chaos, and the paper examines how an appreciation of these interpretive frames enables one to better manage cultural differences and internal tensions that inevitably arise in cross‐national alliances.

The framework makes clear that the two types of interpartner sensemaking (“sensemaking of chaos” and “sensemaking in chaos”) need to be appreciated as interpretive frames that are present among the alliance managers to effectively interact and influence partner firms.

As interpartner sensemaking occurs at all stages of alliance evolution, future research may seek to assess the impact of conflicting interpretive schemes: in the stages of formation, operation, and outcome; concerning issues of appropriation and coordination; and in learning processes.

Briefly, the two types of interpartner sensemaking call for different strategies for managing alliances. Alliance partners embedded in different national cultures rely on interpretive schemes to make sense of the conflicts, contradictions, and internal tensions that emerge in strategic alliances.

The paper responds to the need of managers with alliance responsibilities for a framework to help identify and exploit the most effective ways of accounting for the role of interpartner sensemaking in alliances for productive interactions and performance.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate and analyse how the concept of timely accounting information can be understood as the interplay between material and social elements, to provide a basis for theorising timeliness in the context of managerial work.

Using an enactment perspective, this paper rests upon the assumption that timeliness is not a uniform information quality mainly dependent on the accounting artefact, but something that is also shaped in managerial action. The paper builds on a qualitative study of a construction firm.

Three types of enactments are illustrated: affordable-speed, right-time and instantly-actionable, showing how timeliness is not only determined by the accounting artefact but also by management style, organisational values and routines and managers’ previous experiences of technology. With regards to the artefact, the paper identifies a number of material aspects that contribute to timeliness, such as system interfaces and presentation of data. The enactment of timeliness is largely characterised by virtues of efficiency and control rather than by opportunity seeking.

The research design limits the generalisability. However, insights into the elements involved in managers’ understanding of timeliness provide a basis for further micro-level studies of timeliness.

With a multifaceted vocabulary of what timeliness means, organisations can more precisely define wherein a timeliness-related problem lies.

In comparison to previous studies, this paper provides a more contextual and nuanced understanding of timeliness.

To explore how and why the social structures of strategic partnerships are shaped by actors and how these interrelate with a team's interpersonal relationships over time. Grasping the complexity of this interplay is essential if we want to comprehend what actually goes on in these partnerships and understand why actors often disengage from them.

In three cases, 14 in-depth interviews were held with knowledgeable actors about important events and activities that influenced the relationships between partners. Interview data were triangulated with journals kept by the lead author, who participated as an engaged scholar in the three cases. Because this study took an interdisciplinary approach, new insights could evolve from the multi-level analysis.

Trust has a moderating effect on the relation between open-book accounting and the degree of control a dominant party wants to exercise. When the level of control is raised, this can signal distrust to the other partners, which can harm the relationship. When partners feel more dependent on each other's capabilities to reach their long-term goals, the parties seem to be less likely to put the blame on one of the partners in the case of undesirable events.

Managers should be aware of their power position and acknowledge the effects of power on their relationships. If long-term and close collaboration does not emerge in their partnership, it may be due to how they use their power position.

Thanks to the interdisciplinary approach, this is the first study that shows the significance of trust and power in maintaining strategic partnerships in the construction industry, and how trust can affect the financial rules of actors.

This paper aims to examine, through a qualitative study, how auditor independence is socially constructed within the network of individuals involved in the realization of ISO 14001 audit engagements – ISO auditors, consultants, and managers of certified companies. The paper analysis focuses on the sense-making strategies used by actors within the network to develop and sustain trust (or doubt) in professional independence.

This study is predicated on a theoretical perspective centered on sense-making processes and the construction of inter-subjective meanings around claims to expertise. Interviews were conducted with 36 Canadian practitioners – including ISO auditors, managers of certification bodies, accreditation inspectors, consultants, and corporate environmental managers – to better understand how confidence into auditor independence is constituted in the flow of daily life within the small group of people involved in the surroundings of ISO 14001 audit engagements.

Practitioners use a range of sense-making strategies to construct and maintain the belief that IS0 14001 audits meet the professional requirements of auditor independence. As such, the constitution of confidence involves stereotyping, distancing, storytelling and procedural mechanisms that are collectively mobilized in the production of a culture of comfort surrounding the concept of auditor independence.

Through interviews with a range of actors involved in the achievement of ISO 14001 audits, the study provides insight into the production of meaning related to one of the chief claims surrounding auditing expertise, that of professional independence. This paper also points to a lack of self-criticism in the ISO auditing community since practitioners seem disinclined to adopt a reflective attitude of professional skepticism towards the claim of auditor independence.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on “Remaining consistent with method? An analysis of grounded theory research in accounting”, a paper by Gurd.

Like Gurd, the authors conducted a bibliographic study on prior pieces of research claiming the use of grounded theory.

The authors found a large diversity of ways of doing grounded theory. There are as many ways as articles. Consistent with the spirit of grounded theory, the field suggested the research questions, methods and verifiability criteria. From the same sample as Gurd, the authors arrived at different conclusions.

In our research, the authors did not verify the consistency of claims with grounded theory. The authors took for granted that the article authors had understood and made operational the suggestions of the founders of the method.

The four canons of grounded theory can be considered as reference marks rather than as the rules of the method. Accordingly, the researcher is free to develop his or her own techniques and procedures.

This paper stimulates debate on grounded theory‐based research. On the other hand, it conveys the richness and the variety of interpretive research. Two similar studies, using similar samples and methods, arrive at different (divergent) conclusions.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for understanding how alliance partners interpret alliance functioning and how these interpretations shape their subsequent behaviors. Also, to discuss how interpretive schemes in cross‐national strategic alliances impact upon the management of the problems arising from the cultural conflicts and discrepancies inherent in such alliances.

Proceeding from the notion that interpretive schemes have important implications for the evolution of cross‐national alliances, the paper describes the two fundamental interpretive schemes that relate to sensemaking – that of sensemaking of and in chaos, and examines how an appreciation of these interpretive schemes enable us to better manage cultural conflicts and discrepancies that inevitably arise in cross‐national alliances.

The framework makes clear that the two types of interpretive schemes − “sensemaking of chaos” and “sensemaking in chaos” − need to be appreciated as interpretive frames that are present among the alliance managers to effectively interact and influence partner firms.

Briefly, the two types of the interpretive schemes call for different strategies for developing them. Alliance partners embedded in different national cultures rely on interpretive schemes to make sense of the conflicts and discrepancies that emerge in cross‐national alliances.

The paper responds to the need of managers with alliance responsibilities for a framework to help develop the most effective ways of managing interpretive schemes in alliances for productive interactions and performance.

Examines the process of change in hospitals that has emerged following the introduction of the health quasi‐market in 1991. Blends empirical evidence with Greenwood and Hinings’ archetype and tracks of change concepts to analyse the process which is labelled quasi‐market transformation (QMT). Argues that, before 1991, hospitals tended to operate within structures and systems underpinned by an interpretive scheme. Represents these similarities of configuration as the directly‐managed (DM) hospital archetype. When change initiatives challenged this configuration, the outcomes were negotiated and resulted in “adjustmental” change. In contrast, shows the introduction of the quasi‐market to have involved the first transformation of the DM archetype’s interpretive scheme, systems and structures. Analyses four years of transition to reveal that QMT has been interpreted differently within hospitals. However, presents data to suggest that many hospitals now display significant similarities in terms of configuration. Represents these similarities within the emerging Trust hospital archetype.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the process of transformational organizational change that occurred over time in a small manufacturing firm using the conceptual framework of organizational change and archetypes.

This longitudinal study – which is based on six cycles of interviews with all members of the firm over a two‐year period – examined how the change attempt was perceived by the strategic leadership, middle‐level managers, and lower‐level employees.

The findings suggest that the pace of archetypal change is influenced by organization members' experience with, and capacity to, assimilate the change; that, sequentially, new structures and systems are implemented prior to new interpretive schemes; and that unresolved excursions are non‐linear. These findings question the conventional wisdom about the importance of leadership in sustaining organizational transformation. Most notably, it was found that most of the archetypal change occurred after the initiating change agent (a new CEO) had left the firm and been replaced by the previous CEO who did not support the proposed changes.

The paper offers the first longitudinal study to examine the issue of substitutes for strategic leadership. In addition to two new substitutes that should be considered at this level of analysis – information systems and interpretive schemes – the data also point to the impact of collective action by mid‐level supervisors and employees.

The study aims to explore the processes of implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in a public service organization operating in an emerging market economy, namely, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The study draws on Laughlin’s (1991) model of organizational change to highlight how the introduction of an ERP system, particularly its accounting modules, disrupted the adopting organization’s modes of thinking and its members’ practices. It uses a case study methodology. Data collection methods included semistructured interviews, documentary evidence and personal observation.

The case study findings show that despite implementation and customization problems, the organization’s employees were forced to use the ERP system. The findings also highlight how the ERP system was acted upon to mobilize the organization’s members toward a new era of information technology. However, the misfit between pre- and post-ERP system accounting practices led to some organizational members to form absorbing groups that questioned accounting-based ERP system organizational changes. The top management’s persistent desire to adopt the ERP system through forcing the organization’s employees to use the system’s modules led the organization to undergo what Laughlin (1991) calls “colonization” organizational change.

The use of a case study methodology inherently limits the generalizability of the study’s findings. The case study was carried out over a relatively short timeframe, namely, ten months. Therefore, the use of a longitudinal case study to examine accounting-based ERP organizational change is recommended.

The study provides insights that can assist top management in formulating organizational change strategies. It also provides insights about emerging economies’ regulatory particularities that influence ERP system implementation.

The study is one of the first studies that utilizes Laughlin’s (1991) model of organizational change to examine accounting-based ERP organizational change in an emerging market economy.

Reports on the uncovering of a small‐firm reality where the self‐gratifying behaviour of the owner/manager threatens the survival of the organization. Takes a “middle‐range thinking” approach to mould ethnographic data, and demonstrates and develops, via a case study, models of change within organizations. Identifies the importance of power in such change‐resistant contexts, and draws conclusions from the work which suggest that in such contexts “second order” change is unlikely to be achieved and only “pseudo‐colonization” can be sustained in the long term. It is the authors’ view that this context is a common one and is worthy of further research since there may be far‐reaching implications for a whole range of stakeholders associated with such an organization.