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Like conflict in general, budgetary conflict is perceived by conflicting parties as a zero-sum game or distributive: one party's gain is the other party's loss. We identify an organizational culture that promotes this view as “traditional.” We propose that changing certain elements of organizational culture is sufficient to produce more integrative, nonzero-sum outcomes. We call this changed organizational culture “empowering.” We propose and test the effects of an empowering organizational culture (EOC) in contrast to the traditional organizational culture (TOC). We hypothesize that an EOC would produce more integrative conflict resolution than the typical TOC. Based on our review of the literature, we identify two elements of the EOC that are essential in producing more integrative solutions to budgetary conflict. The two elements that we simultaneously manipulate are the superior's empowering style (or lack thereof) as reflected in encouragement to freely negotiate, and the superior's intervention process in failed negotiations (a process that encourages the search for integrative solutions and avoids imposed compromises that dampen the desire to negotiate). Using a laboratory experiment, 84 subjects forming 42 dyads negotiated the allocation of discretionary budgets face-to-face. The results of the experiment confirm our hypotheses that the EOC produces more integrative budget negotiation outcomes, greater convergence, and greater satisfaction with the outcome than TOC.

One of the emerging roles of management accountants in organizations is the design and operation of their organization's knowledge management system (KMS) that ensures the strategic utilization and management of its knowledge resources. Knowledge-based organizations face identifiable general risks but those whose primary product is knowledge, knowledge-products organizations (KPOs), additionally face unique risks. The management accountants’ role in the management of knowledge is even more critical in such organizations. We review the literature and survey a small convenient sample of knowledge-products organizations to identify the general risks knowledge-based organizations face and the additional risks unique to KPOs. The general risks of managing knowledge include inappropriate corporate information policies, employee turnover, and lack of data transferability. Additional risks unique to KPOs include the short life span (shelf-life) of knowledge products, the challenging nature of knowledge experts, and the vulnerability of intellectual property. The paper includes recommendations for management accountants in KPOs to develop and maintain competitive advantage through their KMS. These include developing enterprise-wide knowledge policies, fostering collaboration and documentation, addressing knowledge security, and evaluating the effectiveness of the KMS.