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

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– GROUNDED THEORY –––––––––– 243scheme in a contextual way without any predetermined theoretical or conceptual framework.When compared to discourse analysis, grounded theory focuses more on uncoveringphenomena and processes, whereas discourse analysis goes deeper and in more detail inanalysing specifically the language, discourses and discourse events as instances of socioculturalpractice (for example, Fairclough, 1995).GROUNDED THEORY IN ORGANIZATIONAL RESEARCH ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Organizational psychology has recently been marked by a trend of moving from anindividualistic point of view towards a more collective view based on social psychology,sociology and anthropology (Peiró, 1990; Rousseau, 1997; Schein, 1996). In this context,the application of grounded theory also has gained more popularity among organizationalresearchers. It has been applied in for example, studies focusing on organizational culture(Länsisalmi et al., 2000), organizational growth (Brytting, 1995), organizational change andinnovation (Carrero et al., 2000; Lowe, 1995; Price, 1994), work teams (Gersick, 1988) andcompany survival (Lowe, 1995). Studies applying grounded theory in organizational researchfall, roughly, into two categories: first studies focusing on generating new hypotheses arounda specific theme (for example, Länsisalmi et al., 2000) and secondly studies that aim atrevealing social processes producing a certain phenomenon (for example, Carrero et al.,2000).Grounded theory is highly recommended in organizational research because it producesdescriptions of organizational reality, which are easily recognized by the members of the targetorganization. Such descriptions may elicit positive discussions around important themes in theorganization among the employees and, thus, form a basis for positive organizationaldevelopment trends.As for the ethical considerations of grounded theory, issues may rise in research settings thatinclude secret observations (see, for example, Van Maanen, 1988) as a means for datacollection. Also when collecting interview and observational data issues of confidentiality mayrise. To avoid such issues, it is crucial to clearly communicate to the participants of the studybefore data collection who will listen to their interview tapes, transcribe them and analyse thedata in written or audio-visual format. Furthermore, the researcher should also describe indetail how the research results will be presented and whether or not it will be possible toidentify individuals’ opinions and quotes in the reported research results. After receiving allthe information available about the data analysis and its restoration the participants should alsoalways have an option to withdraw from the study.CASE STUDY: COLLECTIVE STRESS AND COPINGIN THE CONTEXT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––In this section, we describe a case study in which we utilized a grounded theory approach toexplore and understand the phenomena of collective stress and coping.In recent literature, the collective nature of stress experiences and coping has beenemphasized (Handy, 1995; Newton, 1995; Semmer et al., 1996); evidence of relationshipsbetween individual stress-related behaviour patterns and organizational culture has been