essential-guide-to-qualitative-in-organizational-research

11 –––– Pictorial Representation ––––––––––––––––––––––––––David R. StilesNUMBERS, WORDS AND PICTURES ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Long after the words from newspaper columns have faded, what remains in the minds ofmillions after 11 September 2001 are images of passenger aircraft crashing into concrete andsteel, tiny figures plunging to their certain deaths and devastated firefighters wandering lostamid smoke and rubble. As well as possessing an aesthetic quality, pictures enable users tocommunicate rapidly and universally, to record and summarize ideas, and influence theperceptions and behaviour of actors (Kotler, 1986). Given the qualitative power that suchimages convey, why are academics unlike the overwhelming majority of people so reluctantto embrace the pictorial form as a means of understanding their worlds?Subjectivity in interpretation is one explanation for this, as are extreme variations indrawing ability, technical publishing difficulties and uncertainty about using the medium.Academic recalcitrance is compounded by the view that images are elusive and difficult tocategorize. Another reason is that images are still regarded by the academic orthodoxy as asubjective, inferior or even eccentric form of data compared to words and numbers (see, forexample, van Aken, 2000). Yet, digital technology has transformed pictures from an elitistknowledge domain protected by artists, photographers and graphic designers into a massmedium. This chapter explores how pictorial representation can provide researchers with apowerful and overlooked tool with which to develop more creative organizational strategies.The origins and use of pictorial representation in organizations are explored, beforeproviding a theoretical foundation for using image. This chapter then details methodsdeveloped by the author (Stiles, 1995), with glimpses following into the strategic use ofpictorial representation in two real organizations. The last section discusses the advantages anddisadvantages of the methods used. Overall, it is felt that images can be as valuable as wordsor numbers in exploring organizational constructs.THE USE OF IMAGE IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Lately, an embryonic organizational research area has begun to emerge using image. Inmanagement, visual techniques have been developed to stimulate creative thinking andproblem solving (Maddox et al., 1987; Russell and Evans, 1989; Checkland and Scholes, 1990;Majaro, 1991; Rickards, 1999; Henry, 2001). Some are also exploring organizational identity:the study of what an organization is or appears to be (Albert and Whetten, 1985). However,it is difficult to find a single picture within the expanding work on organizational identity.Instead, writers assume psychological perspectives (Ashforth and Mael, 1989; Hogg and Terry,