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

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–––––––––––––––––––––– GROUP METHODS OF ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS–––––––––– 151ideas. For the project group study, the group represents the variety of perspectives on thetheme as this evolves throughout the development of the project. The group here gives thepossibility of seeing the different parties and logics within a firm ‘at work’. Most generally,these types can be characterized differently, as respectively content- and process- oriented,since in the group interview the main outcome is the ideas and their diversity, while in theproject group study, the focus is on the process of interaction. For both group methods, it isimportant to see the generated data as part of the organizational context. The role of theresearcher asks for research competencies besides skills in group functioning and groupdynamics. This requires process skills respectively for leading the group discussion and forbuilding up a long-term integration as a participant observer.Although Table 12.2 gives an overview of the core features of the group interview and theproject group study, Table 12.3 presents a list of the main strengths and liabilities of both typesas we evaluate them from working with these different uses of the group method.Table 12.3Comparison of strengths and weaknesses between the group interview and the project group studyGroup interviewProject groupStrengths Different opinions at the same time Research in vivo and on a longitudinal baseDynamics between different perspectives Depth of understandingEasy to organizeInteraction between perspectives is accessible aswell as their ‘natural’ evolutionWeaknesses Less control over the outcome since the Difficult to analyseimpact of the group (process) is quite high Long-term investmentDifficult to guideNeed for support and distancingEasier with two ‘interviewers’Easier when the researcher is part of a teamCONCLUSION: EMERGING CHOICES ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––In choosing and using the group method, it is important to consider three main interrelatedchoices. First, the group method, as it has been demonstrated here in practice, was not usedin isolation but was embedded in the development of a larger research project, where othermethods were used as well. The emergent question here, therefore, is what other methodsshould be added? Without going into the discussion on triangulation, our stories revealed thatthe research questions as well as the practical possibilities guided us in the continuous‘designing’ of the research trajectory, and in implementing the group as a research vehicle.However, if organizations are increasingly seen as networks of social interaction, the choiceof working in group contexts will become more and more self-evident.The second choice considers the purpose for which you are going to use the groupmethod. Two contexts are explored: do you prefer to work with existing groups or to createyour own groups? And for what purpose do you want to use the group method: for a generalexploration, for generating new concepts and models, or for stimulating new action andintervention?The final choice concerns your role as ‘researcher’. Several distinctive competencies inusing both qualitative research and the group method have been mentioned. This raises special
152 –––––––––– QUALITATIVE METHODS IN ORGANIZATION STUDIES ––––––––––––––––––concerns for the education and training of the social science researcher. The choice can indeedbe made between ‘inquiry from the inside’ and ‘inquiry from the outside’ (Evered and Louis,1981). Do you opt for an experiential involvement, for an open and unstructured researchscenario (no fixed set of data, no a priori categories in analysis, multiple levels of interpretationand integration), and do you have the intention to understand a particular situation? Inparticular, the question concerns the choice between the complex and holistic site of socialinteraction in vivo and the simplified and fragmented focus on isolated individuals – isolatedfrom others (as in interviews, questionnaires) and from their context (as in experiments,simulations).The creativity of the researcher using qualitative methods is crucial in the whole of theresearch project and especially critical in the analysis phase to obtain some added value.Quantitative analysis works with weighting precoded categories. Qualitative research, inessence, is the creative development of concepts which can capture the richness of the datagenerated. In group meetings this richness is very high, and therefore for some people andsome purposes they are maybe too complex and chaotic. But is it not precisely in group lifethat the natural complexity and diversity of social life is revealed? The challenge for socialscience is to develop approaches which can address instantly the ongoing complex interactionwhile the social reality is being negotiated and renegotiated. Maybe then the social scientistcan finally live up to the very pressing and demanding needs of present-day society, in a varietyof contexts all over the world, to contribute substantially to urgent social tasks in conflictualenvironments.FURTHER READING ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––M. Bloor (2001) Focus Groups in Social Research, London: Sage.H. Edmunds (1999) The Focus Group Research Handbook, Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Business Books.T.L. Greenbaum (2000) Moderating Focus Groups: a Practical Guide for Group Facilitation, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.D.L. Morgan (1997) Focus Groups as Qualitative Research (Qualitative Research Methods Series, Vol. 16), Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage.D.L. Morgan, R.A. Krueger and J.A. King (eds), Focus Group Kit (vols 1–6), Thousand Oaks: Sage.REFERENCES ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Blanksby, M. and Iles, P. (1990) ‘Recent developments in assessment centre theory, practice and operation’, Personnel Review,19 (6): 33–44.Bloor, M. (2001) Focus Groups in Social Research, London: Sage.Bouwen, R. and Salipante, P. (1990) ‘The behavioural analysis of grievances: episodes, actions and outcomes’, EmployeeRelations, 12 (4): 27–32.Cooperrider, D.L. and Srivastva, S. (1987) ‘Appreciative inquiry in organizational life’, Research in Organizational Change andDevelopment, (1): 129–69.Czarniawska-Joerges, B. (1992) Exploring Complex Organizations, Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Dyer, W.G. (1995) Team Building: Issues and Alternatives, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Edmunds, H. (1999) The Focus Group Research Handbook, Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Business Books.Eiben, R. and Milliren, A. (1976) Educational Change: A Humanistic Approach, La Jolla, CA: University Associates.Emery, M. (1996) The Search Conference: A Powerful Method for Planning and Organizational Change and Community Action,San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.Evered, R. and Louis, M.R. (1981) ‘Alternative perspectives in the organizational sciences: “inquiry from the inside” and “inquiryfrom the outside”’, Academy of Management Review, 6 (3): 385–95.Gergen, K.J. (2001) Social Construction in Context, London: Sage.
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ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO QUALITATIVE METH
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This book is dedicated to our child
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viii ---------- CONTENTS ----------
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Notes on ContributorsJohn Benington
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AcknowledgementsIt has been 10 year
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2 ---------- QUALITATIVE METHODS IN
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4 ---- Life Histories -------------
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8 ---- The Twenty Statements Test -
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9 ---- Qualitative Research Diaries
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18 ---- Talk-in-interaction/convers
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20 ---- Grounded Theory in Organiza
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Quote Code in open coding Concept T
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Table 20.2 Examples of open coding,
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Table 20.3Collective stressors and
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21 ---- Using Templates in the Them
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Table 22.1Matrix 1: descriptive sum
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Table 22.1 cont1.1 Analysis by colu
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Table 22.2DebbieAndrewMatrix 2: con
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Table 22.2cont.Allan Petrol scam Wa
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23 ---- Preserving, Sharing and Reu
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25 ---- Ethnography ---------------
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27 ---- Soft Systems Analysis: Refl
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30 ---- The Future Conference -----
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