Abstract:
We close this volume with a consideration of some of the central themes that are associated with an ethnographic understanding of management and management activities. Arguing for the relative strengths of adopting an ethnographically-grounded approach to studying management activities, we discuss the importance of studying management in the making . This involves approaching management in situ—in particular places, in particular subcultural contexts, in the world of everyday life. To do so involves adopting a presence in the subcultural setting in such a way that a rapport is developed that allows the researcher to develop an intimate familiarity with various management ‘worlds’. This work however takes on its full richness as we are able to attend to the generic social processes that accompany management activities. In this way we move beyond the particular towards a grounded and complex understanding of the human condition.
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Notes
- 1.
A full examination of ethnography as a research tradition is well beyond the scope of our task here. Readers are directed to the following for helpful discussions of ethnographic research and the related themes of participant observation and interviews: Becker (1970, 2017), Coffey (1999), Emerson (2001), Grills (1998b), Hammersley (1983), Lofland and Lofland (2006), Miller and Dingwall (1997), Prus (1996) and Shaffir and Stebbins (1990).
- 2.
Harper’s (1982) classic study of tramps eloquently makes this point in the context of a marginalized population.
- 3.
One could abandon a cooperative model of research altogether and launch into a project based upon investigative research, something akin to exposé journalism (Douglas 1976). But to do so violates of one of the most foundational commitments of the ethnographic enterprise—to do no harm to those who share their lives with researchers.
- 4.
The notion of generic social processes attends to trans-situational concepts. This is distinct from the more anthropological notion of cultural universals. We make no claim that generic concepts are to be found in all cultures, in all times and in all places. Rather, generic social concepts attend to enduring themes found across multiple settings. As sensitizing notions (Blumer 1954; Faulkner 2009; van den Hoonaard 1997), particular concepts will be more salient in some settings rather than others. For an extended discussion of generic social processes and the interactionist tradition see Charmaz (2014), Couch (1984), Glaser and Strauss (1967), Prus (1987, 1996, 2004) and Stebbins (2001).
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Grills, S., Prus, R. (2019). Engaging Management Motifs and the Ethnographic Tradition. In: Management Motifs. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93429-7_9
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