Accounting for accounting's role in the neoliberalization processes of social housing in England:A Bourdieusian perspective

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Abstract This paper seeks to account for how accounting is implicated in the neoliberalization processes of social housing in England. It adopts a processual view which instead of conceptualizing neoliberalism as static and ‘end-state’, views it as a dynamic process of neoliberalization. We draw upon Bourdieu’s notions of field, capital and habitus to frame our study. We focus on reform of the regulation of social housing in England during the period 2006–2016. We show that the process of neoliberalization of social housing in England was instigated by the state’s intervention to change the structure of the field in terms of norms, power relations and positions of players on the field. These changes brought about simultaneous changes in the habitus of the field as well as the structure and habitus of Housing Associations as sub-fields. We demonstrate how these changes create and reproduce a new system of domination where the tenant is the dominated player. We highlight the role accounting played in these changes in terms of being used as a tool by the regulator to achieve social control and drive change within Housing Associations and by the Housing Associations to evidence conformity with the new norms and adaptation

A risk management framework for downstream petroleum product transportation and distribution in Nigeria

Phd ThesisIn Nigeria, downstream transportation and distribution of petroleum products is mainly done using pipelines and truck tanker transport systems. These systems have been linked to substantial accidents/incidents with consequences on human safety and the environment. This thesis proposes a risk management framework for the pipelines and road truck tanker transport systems. The study is based on a preliminary review of the entire downstream petroleum industry regulations which identifies key legislations and stakeholder interests within the context of accident prevention and response. This was then integrated into tailored mixed method risk assessment of the pipeline and truck transport systems. The risk assessment made use of accident reports and inputs from semistructure interviews and focus group discussion with relevant stakeholder organisations. For the pipeline systems, 96.46% of failure was attributed to activities of saboteurs and third party interference. The failure frequency of the pipeline (per km-year) was found to be very high (0.351) when compared to failure frequencies in the UK (0.23×10-3) and the US (0.135×10-3). It was discovered that limitations in pipeline legislations and national vested interests limits regulatory and operational capabilities. As a result the operator lacks the human and technical capability for pipeline integrity management and surveillance. Similarly the finding from the truck system revealed that 79% of accidents are due to human factors. The tanker regulators have no structured approach in dealing with the regulation of petroleum road trucking. Also, operating companies poorly adhere to safety standards. From an accident/incident response perspective, it was discovered that local response capability is lacking and the vulnerability of affected communities increases due to poor knowledge of the hazards associated with petroleum products. A framework was proposed for each of the transport systems. For the pipeline system, the framework leverages on the powers of the Petroleum Minister to provide best practice pipeline risk management directives. It also proposes strategies which combine the use of social tactics for engaging host communities in pipeline surveillance with technical tactics to enhance the pipeline integrity. For the truck risk management framework, control points for prevention of truck accidents were identified. It adheres to principles of commitment to change, and regulatory/peer collaboration for deployment of management actions. Suitable policy recommendations were made based on regulatory and operational interest of stakeholder organisations.Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTD

Operational dilemmas in safety-critical industries:the tension between organizational reputational concerns and the effective communication of risk

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.Organizations involved in safety-critical operations often deal with operational tensions especially when involved in safety-critical incidents that is likely to violate safety. In this paper, we set out to understand how the disclosures of safety-critical incidents take place in the face of reputational tension. Based on the case of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), we draw on image repair theory (IRT) and information manipulation theory (IMT) and adopt discourse analysis as a method of analysing safety-critical incident press releases and reports from the NNPC. We found NNPC deploying image repair as part of incident disclosures to deflect attention, evade blame and avoid issuing apologies. This is supported by the by violation of the conversational maxims. The paper provides a theoretical model for discursively assessing the practices of incident information disclosure by an organization in the face of reputational tension, and further assesses the risk communication implications of such practices