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he specific discontinuities(e.g., changes in ownership structure ormarket conditions) that condition, enable or impedechanges in the form of existing inscriptions orthe emergence of new written measures.Our principal concern in this paper is to explore
the roles played by new forms of written representations,
in particular accounting inscriptions, incontemporary work organisations. We examine theinscription and reception ofnew performance
measures at Britech (a pseudonym ofa division of aBritish high-tech manufacturer that produces/assembles small numbers ofvery high value productsthat are sold in global markets) that heraldedand promoted what we characterise as
a morecommercial agenda. During the three years ofourstudy (1993–1996), Britech was in the process ofbecoming designated as a distinct and separate‘‘space ofrepres entation’’ (Carmona et al., 2002;Miller, 1992; Miller and OLeary, 1993) responsible
for its own performance in the market, havingpreviously been an integral part ofa sprawlingconglomerate. In the early 1990s, following a significantreduction in public contract business, thesite had been regarded as ‘‘uncompetitive’’ with avery uncertain future, and a variety of initiativeswere under-way to save it from closure. In additionto internal changes, negotiations were in train totransform the site into part of a joint productionventure with a foreign partner. 3 This anticipated
selling ofthe organisation served to intensify the
need for internal transformation.Focusing upon the emergence ofdiv erse writtenperformance measures in Britech, we seek to examine
the potential ofwrit ing for establishing inscriptionsthat are generally presented by managers as animpersonal, neutral set ofmec hanisms and metricsfor removing unnecessary ambiguity and wastage ofresource. We explore the impact of: (i) changes inthe form ofins cription and representation at seniorand middle management levels; and (ii) the introductionofnew inscriptions on the shopfloor. Welocate the emergence ofthe new inscriptions withinthe context ofeffor ts to secure capital needed to reequipand reorganise Britech. We read the new
performance inscriptions as devices for supporting
and justifying the attraction oflev els ofinv estmentnecessary torefurbish the plant and thereby maximizethe chances ofit s profitable survival.We do not, however, view these inscriptions as
purely ritualistic formulae developed to impress orappease seniormanagers ofthe parent company. AtBritech, the extensive use ofwriting was accompaniedby a reorganisation ofthe shopfloor into teams
with operational responsibility for adhering to thetargets marked out in the new inscriptions. Thismove identified workers as individuals capable ofinterpreting complex processes, making choices
and exercising discretion to ensure that targets weremet. Hence, theinscriptions were present andinfluential on the shopfloor in articulating andconstructing a new from of power/knowledge. Thismove went well beyond a Taylorist intention toappropriate employees knowledge and place itexclusively in the province ofmanagem ent. For the
new manufacturing practices at Britech sought todiscipline employee knowledge within a series ofinscriptions designed by managers but shared withand enacted by workers. Their purpose was to securemanagerial control over production processesbut in a way that was intended to involve employeesin the exercise ofmanage rial discipline, enshrined in
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