Research ethics and organizations: the neglected ethics of organizational ethnography

IF 0.9 Q4 MANAGEMENT

Journal of Organizational Ethnography Pub Date : 2023-07-07 DOI:10.1108/joe-11-2022-0031

C. J. Kristensen

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

PurposeWorking with organizations is central to organizational ethnography. However, while research ethics relating to individual participants is widely discussed, research ethics relating to the organizations has been neglected. The purpose of this article is to address this shortcoming and introduce the concept and domain of “meso-ethics” in research ethics. Meso-ethics pertains to organizations as research participants and thus allows for the explicit inclusion of organizations in ethical considerations and practice. Meso-ethics complements the known domains of micro-ethics and macro-ethics in research ethics.Design/methodology/approachThe concept of meso-ethics takes point of departure in the micro-ethical principles of “respect, and avoiding harm” and adjusts these to apply to organizations. The organizations are first defined as a distinct type of research participants, which differs from individual participants. The organizations are formally organized units that possess resources to assert power and stakeholders with a vested interest in the research. Second, the relationship between researchers and organizations is related to issues of power, allowing for a view of the power relations as flexible and relational. Moreover, this includes a potential vulnerability to harm on both sides.FindingsThe new concept and domain meso-ethics allows for explicit reflections and practice of research ethics in relations to organizations, a central participant in organizational ethnography. There is a discussion that meso-ethics should be combined with micro-ethics and macro-ethics in future practice to allow for comprehensive reflections and practice of research ethics.Originality/valueThe article contributes a new concept and domain of research ethics, meso-ethics, in organizational ethnography and related research to explore and practice research ethics in relation to organizations participating in our research. Meso-ethics complements the known domains of micro-ethics and macro-ethics in research ethics.

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研究伦理与组织:组织民族志中被忽视的伦理

目的与组织合作是组织民族志的核心。然而，与个体参与者相关的研究伦理被广泛讨论，而与组织相关的研究伦理却被忽视了。本文旨在弥补这一不足，并介绍研究伦理学中“中伦理学”的概念和领域。中观伦理学适用于作为研究参与者的组织，因此允许将组织明确地纳入伦理考虑和实践。中观伦理学是研究伦理学中微观伦理学和宏观伦理学的补充。设计/方法/途径中观伦理的概念以“尊重和避免伤害”的微观伦理原则为出发点，并调整这些原则以适用于组织。组织首先被定义为一种不同于个人参与者的研究参与者。组织是正式组织的单位，拥有维护权力的资源和在研究中具有既得利益的利益相关者。其次，研究人员与组织之间的关系与权力问题有关，允许将权力关系视为灵活和关联的。此外，这包括一个潜在的易受双方伤害的弱点。新概念和领域中观伦理学允许明确反思和实践研究伦理与组织的关系，组织民族志的核心参与者。在未来的实践中，应将中观伦理与微观伦理、宏观伦理相结合，对研究伦理进行全面反思和实践。本文在组织民族志及相关研究中提出了一个研究伦理的新概念和新领域——中观伦理，以探索和实践与我们研究的组织相关的研究伦理。中观伦理学是研究伦理学中微观伦理学和宏观伦理学的补充。

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来源期刊

Journal of Organizational Ethnography MANAGEMENT-

CiteScore

1.90

自引率

37.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Organizational Ethnography (JOE) has been launched to provide an opportunity for scholars, from all social and management science disciplines, to publish over two issues: -high-quality articles from original ethnographic research that contribute to the current and future development of qualitative intellectual knowledge and understanding of the nature of public and private sector work, organization and management -review articles examining the history and development of the contribution of ethnography to qualitative research in social, organization and management studies -articles examining the intellectual, pedagogical and practical use-value of ethnography in organization and management research, management education and management practice, or which extend, critique or challenge past and current theoretical and empirical knowledge claims within one or more of these areas of interest -articles on ethnographically informed research relating to the concepts of organization and organizing in any other wider social and cultural contexts.