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

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– GROUNDED THEORY –––––––––– 247• fundamental recipe, that gives the ‘gestalt’ to the culture and includes the assumptionsabout the core task of each employee or the mission of the organization;• guiding assumptions, consisting of assumptions, expectations, interpretations and mythsthat guide the work and daily life in the divisions;• work-related emotions, namely how one is supposed to feel in relation to work and theorganization.As a result, four subcultures were identified and distinguished by the above-describedcategories, which were derived from themes, which had originally been derived fromconcepts and codes.Table 20.1Description of the four subculturesDivision A Division B Division C Work Unit XCulture(1) Fundamental Jig-saw puzzle Making money Scattered islands Making moneyrecipe(2) Guiding Hierarchy Client focus Hierarchy Client focusassumptions Working is performing Time is money Working is performing Time is moneyProvide help when Myth of a salesman Provide help only Organized co-operationnecessarywhen asked(3) Work-related Foreman vacuum Chaotic urgency Powerlessness Hectisismemotions Fluctuation Collective commitment Inflexibility Collective commitmentInsecurity Sense of belonging: Isolation AutonomySelfishness humane leadership, Alienation: mistrust, Equalitypride non-commitment PrideOptimismSource: This table was first published in Länsisalmi et al. (2000), European Journal of Work and OrganizationalPsychology, 9(4). Reprinted with the permission of Psychology Press.These categories were validated by comparing them with the information obtainedthrough: first reading the summaries and listening to the tapes of the individual interviewsnot transcribed; secondly participant observations at the work site; thirdly analyses ofdivisional and company documents, and fourthly cross-checking the validity of the choiceof categories with selected informants. Two additional procedures ensured that the dataanalysis was not relying on one researcher only: first, during data analysis the first author hadhours of detailed discussions about the cultural models with three colleagues, two of whomacted as consultants in organization development activities in the divisions, and secondly arandom sample of the collected individual interview data was blindly re-analysed by the thirdauthor of this chapter. The discussion confirmed the validity of the categories, and the firstand the second analyses corresponded to each other. In total, the first phase of the study tookone year to complete.