Blending logics with performance management systems in an NGO setting
研究澳大利亚一家非政府组织如何通过绩效管理系统融合相互冲突的关怀逻辑与管理逻辑，以应对政策改革带来的制度复杂性。
Purpose This study aims to examine the role of performance management systems (PMSs) in enabling logic blending to manage institutional complexity and tensions arising from coexisting institutional logics. Design/methodology/approach This research uses a case study of an Australian non-government organisation (NGO) operating in an institutional field dominated by the state government, in which policy reform jolted the balance between institutional logics. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, archival documents and observations. Findings We find the policy reform required the NGO to transform from a wholly care focus to accommodate a more balanced approach with a focus on care coupled with efficiency, outcome delivery and performance measurement. The NGO responded by revising its purpose, strategy and operational model and by seeking to address the imperatives of two dominant and often competing care and managerial logics. We find this was achieved through logic blending, in which PMSs played a pivotal role, with the formalisation and collaboration processes mobilising different elements of PMSs, mobilising some elements differently or not mobilising some elements at all. Originality/value This study highlights the central role of PMSs in managing tensions between and the complexity arising from coexisting institutional logics through logic blending, a form of enduring compromise. This study extends the accounting logics and performance management literature by developing the understanding of what constitutes logic blending and how it is distinct from other forms of compromise.