Budgetary Incrementalism in a Christian Bureaucracy

Abstract

This paper presents the second stage of a field based case study focussed upon the planning and control concepts and processes employed by the central offices of the Victorian Synod of the Uniting Church in Australia. Its analysis is informed by grounded theory methodology and develops a micro-theoretical framework of that organisation?s planning and control process. A reactive style of planning produces an incremental budgetary melange that ultimately results in a form of control by compromise. The emergent findings are compared with a selection of relevant prior strategy and not-for-profit organisation research. The study presents contextualised insights into the potential limits of ?rational? management system operation in such organisations, and the role of budgetary systems in organisational approaches to coping with a complex and dynamic environment.

JEL Classification: M40, M46, L31