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

340 –––––––––– QUALITATIVE METHODS IN ORGANIZATION STUDIES ––––––––––––––––––system in an engineering company. The researchers worked with the company from 1988until 1990, making two sets of recommendations (in 1989 and 1990). A follow-up visit wasundertaken in 1996. (A fuller account of this study is given in Symon and Clegg, 1991.) Theresearchers used SSA as a means of organizing and integrating some complex data, and as avehicle for recommending how the implementation process could be better managed. Forillustrative purposes the project is described chronologically using the stages of SSA.Stage 1: the problem situation or ‘mess’The study was undertaken in an aerospace engineering company employing around 2,000people. The company is part of a multi-national corporation and has a good reputation forthe design and manufacture of high precision, small batch, engineering products. Thecompany has a complex organizational structure. Of particular relevance here are three majorfunctions: design, manufacture and corporate engineering. The design function is split intodifferent product groups. The manufacturing department has a traditional organization basedon machining process. It manufactures for all the design product groups, and the productsflow through the production process from one machine area to another. The corporateengineering function is a central head office group which provides specialist engineeringsupport to the whole company. Historically the company has been good at innovativeengineering. Typically the design engineers take pride in designing new products to meetthe needs and specification of their customers. They then hand over the design to themanufacturing department who are responsible for making the product. These two functionsoperate relatively autonomously and there has been little success at improving integrationbetween the two functions.Senior managers in corporate engineering decided to invest in an advanced CADCAMsystem. The main objectives for this investment included: reduced lead times for meetingcustomer demand; improved quality; reduced cost; increased integration between design andmanufacture; and improved design for manufacturability. The initial direct cost of the newsystem was around £3m and this included 55 CADCAM terminals.To manage the purchase and implementation of the new system, the director ofengineering set up a project management team supervised by a project board. The projectteam was led by a full-time project manager from corporate engineering (whose title wasproject manager of computer aided design). He was assisted by a specialist in informationtechnology (on part-time secondment from the management services department, also locatedin head office). The project board was chaired by a senior manager from corporateengineering and included representatives from engineering, management services, design andmanufacture (all on a part-time basis).The role of the researchers was to investigate the implementation process and to makerecommendations for improvement from an organizational (as opposed to technical)perspective.Stage 2: the rich pictureSymon and Clegg gathered data using a variety of research methods over 18 months, includinginterviews, participant observation, a tracer study, and questionnaires. They found that theimplementation of the CADCAM was led by headquarters staff in corporate engineering and