1st Edition
Qualitative Management Research in Context Data Collection, Interpretation and Narrative
This concise book uses narrative fiction to address how researchers can conduct qualitative research using both online and first-hand data and digital and face-to-face methods. The book is structured around four phases of the research process – accessing management field research, writing the literature review, collecting and analysing data and enacting qualitative research and finally the creative process of writing qualitative research. Theory and practice are merged through a situation-based case study within each chapter, with the methods and tools employed in each context explored through narrative fiction. The protagonists of each case have specific questions, emotions and ambiguities that qualitative researchers need to face, offering a unique approach to the practice of qualitative research and how it is used in real-life situations. Founded on the idea of enacting and not just doing qualitative research, this book offers toolkits that the researcher can use to operationalize research from start to finish. It will be of interest to postgraduate students conducting research-based projects in Business and Management, PhD researchers and academics looking for a fresh approach.
1. Introduction - Expected learning outcomes - Written by Bruno Luiz Américo, Stewart Clegg and César Tureta
The Challenges of Qualitative Research: The Times they are a-changing
The changing practice of researching qualitatively
The changing realities and contexts investigated by qualitative research
Fiction and other styles of writing
Ethics in qualitative research
The book and its chapters
References
2. Chapter 1: Accessing fieldwork - Written by Bruno Luiz Américo, Letícia Dias Fantinel and Stewart Clegg
Expected learning outcomes
Introduction
A day at the Postgraduate Course
The class on access/departure
Fifteen days go fast when you are waiting for something
Gathering sensitive encounters over coffee
Final considerations
Questions
Reflective issues
References
3. Chapter 2: Reviewing the literature, developing theory? - Written by Bruno Luiz Américo and Stewart Clegg
Expected learning outcomes
Introduction
Traveling, searching and discovering new approaches
Describing Jermier’s (1985) statements – choices, perspectives, utterances
Articles using/citing the analysed text – the statements about Jermier (1985)
Final considerations
Questions
Reflective issues
References
4. Chapter 3: Collecting and Analysing Data from Cartography of Controversies - Written by César Tureta, Bruno Luiz Américo and Stewart Clegg
Expected learning outcomes
Introduction
Collecting data
What are controversies?
Choosing a controversy
Analysing data
The source of the data
First moment
Second moment
Third moment
The story of the floats’ controversies
Act I: Everything appears perfect - but not everything is as it appears to be …
Act II: It is all over now
Act III: Lucky shot
Final considerations
Reflective issues
References
5. Chapter 4: Writing: theorizing aesthetically on inclusion - Written by Bruno Luiz Américo, Fagner Carniel and Stewart Clegg
Expected learning outcomes
Introduction
A class in two stages
Final considerations
Questions
Reflective issues
References
6. Conclusion: Imagination and Creativity in Qualitative Research - Written by César Tureta, Bruno Luiz Américo and Stewart Clegg
Introduction
Facing challenges in enacting qualitative research
Creative writing
Accessing fieldwork
Reviewing the literature
Collecting and analysing data
Writing reports
Final Considerations
Active Practicing
References
7. Index
Biography
Bruno Luiz Américo has a Ph.D. in Management from the Federal University of Espírito Santo, Brazil.
Stewart Clegg is Professor in the School of Project Management and the John Grill Institute of Project Leadership at the University of Sydney, Australia. In addition, he holds Visiting Professorship at the University of Stavanger Business School, Norway; the University of Johannesburg Business School, South Africa and Nova School of Business and Economics, Carcavelos, Portugal. In addition, he is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Technology Sydney.
César Tureta is Professor of Organization Studies at the Federal University of Espírito Santo, Brazil.
Young (and not only young) researchers preparing to present their research results must face two serious challenges: one is the integrity of their informants – how to tell their stories without revealing too much about them and their organizations? The other is how to tell their research story in a way that will not be boring to the readers? While the challenges are as old as social sciences, the solution proposed by Américo, Clegg and Tureta is truly innovative: narrative semi-fiction – presenting reality as it is but decorated in ways that help maintain the privacy of other people and sustain the interest of the readers. Both students and researchers studying management and organization, as well as other social phenomena, will find inspiration in this book.
Barbara Czarniawska, Senior Professor of Management Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
It’s been over 40 years since John Van Maanen and colleagues (Administrative Science Quarterly, 1979) used an exclamation point to punctuate the qualitative research option in organizational studies. In the same vein, this lively, relatively short book also encourages imaginative research designs and finding comfortable, productive spaces in interpretive epistemology. The book is both a scholarly source that discusses a wide range of published material on qualitative research methods and something of a manifesto that advocates "radical curiosity and creativity" when conducting qualitative research. The authors wrote the book for students at very early stages of their research careers. In my view, however, the book should provide more advanced scholars plenty of philosophical insights and inspiring angles on the major challenges researchers have encountered when actually doing qualitative studies.
John M. Jermier, Professor of Organizational Behavior and Professor of Sustainable Enterprise Research, University of South Florida, Tampa, U.S.A.
This new book responds to a timely and urgent call for qualitative research to help understand the complex health, economic, social, and environmental crises unfolding. At once a practical guide for qualitative researchers and a model for original research writing, the book emphasizes the process for conducting rigorous social inquiry and the ways that qualitative researchers can leverage creative writing and narrative to make their research more accessible. It is a critical and creative contribution to qualitative research methodology and a resource I will be recommending to my students moving forward!
Julie Battilana, Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School Alan L. Gleitsman Professor of Social Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School, USA
Founder and Faculty Chair, Social Innovation and Change Initiative
