Funding and accountability : studies of a Swedish and a British chamber orchestra

Abstract: The need to deal with accountability is fundamental in every organisation’s struggle to survive. When external demands must be fulfilled in order to receive necessary funding, the organization continuously has to adapt internal processes and outputs to meet those demands. This thesis seeks to explore such adaptations and their short and long term effects.Funding and Accountability: Studies of a Swedish and a British Chamber Orchestra examines two organizations with an unusually complex context of stakeholders with diverse and conflicting interests. Adding to the unusualness of an orchestra is the nature of the orchestra’s basic output: autonomous music cannot be measured in quantified terms, rendering accountability a more difficult and elusive idea than ever. In addition, the orchestra is characterized by the performance of highly specialised skills executed collectively and with exceptional simultaneity, requiring particularly stable and predictable working frames.With two intriguing cases and with an innovative combination of theoretical perspectives, this thesis illustrates how external accountabilities influence an organisation’s core through internal adaptations over time, and highlights issues of organisational identity and future possible directions.