Tuomo Peltonen

Tampere University of Technology

The role of ethnography in organization studies

Hawthorne-studies Other early organizational ethnographies Recent ethnographies Recurrent questions in organzational

ethnography

In general: used as a form of data and method to understand organizations as cultural communities

Closely linked to the use of anthropology as a way to view modern organizations

Is used to enable a rich description of the everyday life, symbols and the cultural norms and values of a workplace, together with an understanding of the social relations and structures of the community

Application of ethnography has varied to some extent as understanding of organizations has undergone changes. (cf. Peltonen, 2010)

The first large-scale application of observational method

Part of a big research programme in the Hawthorne works of Western Electric near Chicago (1924-32)

Was an integral part in the development of the so called Human Relations school and a broader Cultural-Functionalist systems theory of organization (Mayo, Barnard, Merton) ◦ Emphasis on the contested relations between the

formal and the informal organization

1) Rely assembly test group ◦ 6 woman; a natural group of women ◦ Observer watched reactions to changes in working time

2) Bank wiring test room ◦ A group of men in a larger work space ◦ Observer followed communication patterns and social

relations within the test room group Hawthorne ”findings” ◦ The role of social environment and empathic attitude for

work motivation (relay assembly room) Observer as an empathic listener, effects of surveillance

◦ The informal organization of employees (cliques, which have their own distinct networks and norms) (bank wiring room) Norms: don’t work too hard, don’t work too slowly; don’t

babble about group’s internal matters to foremen/outsiders

Women in the Relay Assembly Test Room, ca. 1930 The supervisor/researcher's desk is visible in the background.

From: Rothlisberger & Dickson (1939): Management and the Worker. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business University Press.

Gouldner (1954) (Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy): field study on the social relations and different attitudes towards bureaucracy in a gypsum plant ◦ A combination of interviews, observation (participant

observation) and documental materials ◦ ”We spent a good deal of time just walking around or

standing with a worker and talking with him casually as he worked”

Dalton (1959) (Men Who Manage): worked as a manager in a company, whose leaders were engaged in a constant polishing of their own image and who spent most of their energy in various power struggles

Roy (1958) : worked as a machinist – learned the informal code of communication among the workers + small entertaining instances of humor and irony (“Banana Time”!), acting as self-motivation in the middle of monotonous work processes

A rational systems theory replaced the cultural theory (contingency theory, decision-making, etc.)

Methodological attention oriented towards quantitative data and statistical analysis

Qualitative approaches, including ethnographic field work, were marginalized

1980- : the surge of organizational culture, rise of alternative paradigms renaissance of organizational ethnography

An understanding of organizations as social and symbolic constructions – focus on processes of organizing

Attention to language, narratives, aesthetics, materiality and image in the unfolding of organizational interpretations and interactions

Critical view on the nature of organizational life – power, control and struggle as endemic properties of organizational experiences

Jackall (1988) (Moral Mazes) : a cynical study of manager’s world: how moral principles get converted into ruthless politics; discusses also the problems of access and what they signal (managers don’t trust an outside researcher) ◦ ”Some of the fundamental requirements of managerial work

clash with the normal ethics governing interpersonal behavior, let alone friendship in our society. As a former vice-president of a large firm says: ’ What is right in the corporation is what the guy above you wants from you. That’s what morality is in the corporation’.”

Kunda (1992) (Engineering Culture) : looks at the

conscious attempts to ”engineer” culture, its appearence and human consequences in a company known for its strong culture. Reveals the contradictory and ironic responses of employees (engineers) to the claims of the codified culture.

Barley (1983) (ASQ): semiotic codes in the structuring of a funeral home

Barley & Kunda (2004): observation of contract engineers in staffing agencies; changing forms of work identity and how engineers constructed their commitment and psychological contract to the company

Watson (1994) (In Search of Management) : the life of managers in the controversy of calls for ”excellence” and simultaneous search for efficiency and exploitation of labour; a look at the ways in which managers were ”managing” their own lives at the same as they were managing the work of the others.

The degree of participation of the researcher? ◦ Total detachment (observer) complete

involvement (participant) Covert or overt role? The length of stay in the field? (2 weeks-2

years) ◦ What can be called ”ethnography”?

Problems related to access (e.g. Jackall) ◦ Fears about business secrets (?) ◦ Credibility in the eyes of management/ employees ◦ Gaining trust and legitimacy among key informants ◦ The ethics of covert participant role (e.g. studying

the organization where one is employed)

How is participant observation data combined with other qualitative materials? ◦ Is field work data merely ”extending” the insights gained

from the interviews or vice versa? ◦ The use of documents, archives, photography,

shadowing in connection to ethnography E.g. visual ethnography, photo elicitation, architectural

research More specific methodological operations

New ethnographic modes for a changing world ◦ The rise of global organizations and work processes Emergence of global and multi-site ethnography - The ethnographer follows the internationally mobile

professionals and communities - Ethnography is not restricted to one local place, but is

carried out in a number of locales connected to each other through transnational flows of money, ideas and control

- Requires teams of researchers

Schwartzman (1993) Ethnography in organizations. Sage.

Prasad (2005) Crafting qualitative research. ME Sharpe.

Van Maanen, J. (2007) Ethnography: In: International Encyclopedia of Organization studies. Sage.

Kostera, Monika (2007) Organisational ethnography . Lund: Studentlitteratur AB.

Bate, S.P. (1997) ‘Whatever happened to organizational anthropology?’,Human Relations,

50(9): 1147–75. E. Sharpe. Ybema, S., Yanow, D., Wels, H. and

Kamsteeg, F. (Eds) (2009) Organizational Ethnography: Studying the Complexities of Everyday Life, Sage, London.

Tuomo.peltonen@tut.fi