Culture for all? : A multiple logics approach to public organisation success

Abstract: This paper examines multiple institutional logics in a public sector organisation and how they are reflected in the management control system (MCS) in terms of success. We define two logics, governance and culture logic. The former describes organisational and political demands on reporting and accountability, while the latter outlines creation cultural and social value. The study was carried out as a single case study at the Culture Committee at the City of Stockholm, where the primary data was collected through interviewing controllers and upper management. The data was then analysed considering the two logics we defined through previous research. Our study determines that the governance logic, i.e. the demands for accountability and reporting, are strongly reflected in the organisation. The measures of success are greatly determined by the logic, as many of interview subjects emphasize balancing budget and formal goal achievement as signs of success. However, we found out that the culture logic is a subject to collaboration and compromise in relation to the governance logic. Dialogue with the politics and own goal setting are examples on the compromise, while integration of the culture logic into the formal objective is a sign of collaboration. Thus, success measured by the formal MCS might in some cases even reflect success according to the culture logic.