Journal of Organizational Ethnography最新文献

{"title":"Urban gardens as inclusive green living rooms? Gardening activities in Gothenburg, across and within social divides","authors":"Ylva Wallinder","doi":"10.1108/joe-10-2023-0057","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/joe-10-2023-0057","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>This study explores the social conditions for sustainability practices, addressing the processes whereby associational gardening practices in a highly segregated context may or may not create connections and capacities across urban social divides.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>Based on organizational ethnographic fieldwork, the article explores urban gardens as potential meeting places in a segregated city, Gothenburg, focusing on collectively organized gardening projects in different socioeconomic and socio-spatial settings.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>The study identifies the unintentional encounters embedded in the immaterial act of gardening, that is, digging, planting and actual gardening practices regardless of the harvest. Such practices were found to be important for social sustainability practices beyond the continuous reproduction of silos, at least in multicultural settings. Nevertheless, many urban gardeners create a green living room for themselves and their neighbours, and engagement with those outside their silos often becomes more of a symbolic act of global solidarity, especially in more culturally homogeneous areas.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>The article fills a gap in the research by focusing on the social conditions for sustainability practices in urban segregated areas. By showing how gardening practices often reproduce cultural similarity, the study highlights the importance of revealing practices and places that facilitate unintentional social “bonus” interactions that nonetheless occur in two of the gardening environments studied. Unintentional encounters are identified as important dimensions of social sustainability practices.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":44924,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Organizational Ethnography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142264982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Organizational value streams as multiteam systems: an ethnographic case study","authors":"Erik Eduard Cremers, Petru Lucian Curșeu","doi":"10.1108/joe-04-2024-0016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/joe-04-2024-0016","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>This paper aims to explore the integration challenges during the early stages of implementation of value streams as team aggregation structures as a novel organizational construct in a modern organization.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>We use an immersive ethnographic approach to follow the transition to value streams as team aggregation structures in a large organization during the first three years of implementation. We integrate systematic observations with interviews to get insights into the dynamics of change and the most important challenges faced by the organization during this transition.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>We integrate systematic observations collected during the organizational change with insights from interviews carried out with managers to provide tentative answers to some key questions related to the implementation of multiteam systems. We reflect on their performance, entitativity, autonomy as well as on the satisfaction of their members.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Practical implications</h3>\u0000<p>We discuss some of the most important managerial challenges during the transition to value streams as novel organizational constructs and we derive some actionable insights for team and value stream managers leading such change processes.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>Our study provides a rich account of the first stages of implementing an organizational design that brings together different teams in organizational structures that are focused on the value provided to customers.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":44924,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Organizational Ethnography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2024-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141886121","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Book review: Continuities and changes in ethnographies of work","authors":"Heidi Dahles, Harry Wels","doi":"10.1108/joe-07-2024-102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/joe-07-2024-102","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44924,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Organizational Ethnography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141669563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Failing forward: the transformative power of writing in interdisciplinary ethnographic research","authors":"Hanna Varvne, Mariana Andrei","doi":"10.1108/joe-01-2024-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/joe-01-2024-0005","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>To address complex societal challenges, particularly in the context of climate change, there is a growing interest in employing interdisciplinary ethnographic research (IER). This paper examines the experiences associated with participating in IER, drawing insights from a collaboration project that integrates organization studies with energy management research.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>Within the context of a three-year interdisciplinary collaboration, the paper focuses on the performance of an interview and the analysis thereof. It draws from this example to highlight the difficulties in translating discipline-specific language and understanding failures in IER. Including an exploration of the process of recovery, involving analyzing research results and the subsequent collaborative writing of a paper.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>The primary findings revolve around the challenges inherent in ethnography as an interdisciplinary method. These challenges include language barriers between disciplines and the complexities of comprehending and learning from failures in interdisciplinary research.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>The contribution lies in its exploration of abductive reasoning in IER, shedding light on the complexities and opportunities associated with interdisciplinary collaboration in the making. By emphasizing the importance of going into the field before negotiating common ground, the approach presented provides a unique perspective that not only addresses challenges but also facilitates the development of involved disciplines and scholars through self-reflection.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Highlights</h3>\u0000<p><ol list-type=\"order\"><li><p>The paper shows the importance of both expertise and experience knowledge in interdisciplinary ethnographic research.</p></li><li><p>By using different writing styles, the importance of language and translations between disciplines is exemplified.</p></li><li><p>The paper provides an example of how to engage in abductive reasoning in interdisciplinary ethnographic research.</p></li><li><p>The paper calls for a broad understanding of failure and success in interdisciplinary ethnographic research.</p></li></ol></p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":44924,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Organizational Ethnography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2024-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141572827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A duoethnography: female academics’ experiences of gendered health issues at the intersection of middlescence, ethnic origin, social and professional status in the neoliberal academy","authors":"Joanna Fox, Irine Mano","doi":"10.1108/joe-02-2024-0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/joe-02-2024-0007","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeGender inequality and age discrimination persist in the Higher Education (HE) sectors. The significance of gendered health at middlescence, including peri/menopause, is often negated. This article explores women’s lived experiences of gendered health issues at middlescence in the neoliberal academy through an intersectional lens.Design/methodology/approachTwo female academics engaged in dialogic narrative using duoethnography addressing their experiences of gendered health issues in a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI). They recorded intentional written reflections and met to explore their experiences over a four month period. Thematic analysis was applied to analyse their responses.FindingsBoth women considered how they self-advocated for their own care at the stage of middlescence whilst seeking health support and in accessing accommodations in the HE workplace. This process impacted on the construction of their professional identity and on their self-concept as social work academics at the dynamic intersection of age, gender, ethnic, social and professional status.Originality/valueThis article uniquely foregrounds two female academics’ lived experiences of middlescence in a UK HEI conceptualised through an intersectional lens. Their experiences are explored in the context of gendered age discrimination in HE sectors that are perpetuated through masculinized forms of career progression and management. The concept of the ideal academic, a white male, unencumbered by domestic responsibilities, is contested through consideration of care ethics. We acknowledge that forms of epistemic injustice silence women’s narratives in the neoliberal academy but highlight recommendations to enable their stories of gendered health discrimination to be heard.","PeriodicalId":44924,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Organizational Ethnography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2024-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141334724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Boundary work: a conceptual frame for workplace ethnographies in collaborative settings","authors":"M. Fehsenfeld, S. Mejsner, H. T. Maindal, V. Burau","doi":"10.1108/joe-06-2023-0032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/joe-06-2023-0032","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeInterprofessional collaboration and coordination are critical to developing solutions to complex problems, and many workplaces engage in coordination and collaboration across organizational boundaries. This development changes work conditions and workplaces for many people. The ethnographic study of workplaces needs to re-configure the toolbox to adjust to such changes. The purpose of this study was to explore how the ethnographic study of dispersed workplaces can benefit from the analytical concept of boundary work.Design/methodology/approachA multi-sited ethnographic study was conducted in two health promotion programs, introducing new collaborative relations across sectors and professions. The concept of boundary work was applied as the conceptual frame and introduced the diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) as a boundary object.FindingsProfessional boundaries are key to understanding interorganizational and interprofessional collaborations. The ethnographic study of complex, multi-sited settings using boundary work as a conceptual framework can enrich workplace ethnographies by demonstrating how professions position themselves through framing. Such framing strategies are used to construct, defend or contest boundaries. Boundary objects may potentially bridge devices connecting people across boundaries.Originality/valueThe traditional ethnographic notion of “following” an object or a subject is difficult in a workplace environment dispersed across multiple sites and involving many different actors. This suggests that workplace ethnographies studying interorganizational workplaces would benefit from a shift in focus from place-based or group-based ethnography to a field-level ethnography of relations using boundary work as an analytical frame.","PeriodicalId":44924,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Organizational Ethnography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2024-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141343531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Activists and volunteers organising amid constraints: the key role of time","authors":"Simon Combes","doi":"10.1108/joe-10-2022-0029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/joe-10-2022-0029","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>This article emphasises the role of constraints when humans establish organisations. Previous research explains organisations because of individuals’ motivations. Here, I answer the question regarding the role of constraints in organising/organisations. In this article, the studied individuals face various constraints and want to avoid being targeted. Consequently, they establish horizontal organisations. I discuss the role of time in organising.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>This research builds on an ethnographical study of activists and volunteers at the border between France and Italy where migrants cross the border. The area is mountainous, and the police, the judiciary and the far-right impede the actions of the activists and volunteers.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>I argue that activists and volunteers establish non-hierarchical organisations to circumvent potential obstacles. To achieve this, they dedicated a significant amount of time to facilitate the formation of these horizontal structures. This approach allows them to operate without a designated leader, thereby reducing the risk of being targeted by law enforcement, judicial system or far-right groups. As a result, they successfully welcomed migrants.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>This article presents new results on how activists and volunteers organise to welcome migrants.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":44924,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Organizational Ethnography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2024-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141060055","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Glorifying and scapegoating narratives underlying activity-based workspaces in higher education","authors":"Bernadette Nooij, Claire van Teunenbroek, Christine Teelken, Marcel Veenswijk","doi":"10.1108/joe-05-2023-0027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/joe-05-2023-0027","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>Our study centered on activity-based workspaces (ABWs), unassigned open-plan configurations where users’ activities determine the workplace. These workspaces are conceived and shaped by accommodation professionals (APs) like managers and architects and are loaded with their ideas, ideals, norms and values; therefore, they are normative and hegemonic. Previous research has largely failed to consider how APs’ spatial conceptions materialize in the workplace. To address this omission, we adopted a narrative approach to study APs’ impact during the conceptualization stage.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>The data were collected via a 10-year at-home ethnographic study at a Dutch university, including observations, interviews, documents and reports. Studying the researchers’ organization allowed for a longitudinal research approach and participative observations. The data focused on the narrative techniques of APs when establishing an ABW.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>In introducing ABWs, APs resorted to two principal narrative strategies. Firstly, the ABW concept was lauded as a solution to a host of existing problems. Yet, in the face of shortcomings, lecturers were often blamed.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>Despite the considerable influence of APs on both the physical layout of workspaces and the nature of academic labor, there is little insight into their conceptions of the academic workspace. Our research contributes a novel perspective by revealing how APs’ workspace conceptions drive the narratives that underpin the roll-out of ABWs and how they construct narratives of success and failure.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":44924,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Organizational Ethnography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2024-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140927127","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Navigating political minefields: applying frames of reference of the employment relation to access negotiations to workplace ethnographies","authors":"Jana Stefan, Alison Hirst, Marco Guerci, Maria Laura Toraldo","doi":"10.1108/joe-01-2023-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/joe-01-2023-0005","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>This paper aims to help workplace ethnographers navigate and reflect on primary access negotiations by scrutinising two of the concepts mentioned in the call for papers on this special issue: workplace relations and tensions. We introduce the frames of reference (FoRs) concept as used in the field of employment relations to the ethnographic community. We propose that the implicit frames of gatekeeper and researcher influence what they deem interesting for research, thus influencing the content of access negotiations. Moreover, we propose that tensions typically emerge when gatekeepers and ethnographers do not share the same frame of the employment relationship (ER).</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>We explore the ER through Fox’s (1966, 1974) framework, taking inspiration from Budd <em>et al.</em> (2022), who applied FoRs to employer–employee relations. We adapt the framework to the relationships between workplace ethnographers and gatekeepers by theorising the characteristics of ideal types of gatekeepers and workplace ethnographers and exploring possible implications for when they meet in access negotiations. We distil lessons learnt from previous research by drawing on illustrative examples from the literature to suggest strategies for interacting with gatekeepers when tensions emerge, providing a pragmatic application of our contribution.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>Assuming that their FoR of the ER contributes to what they find to be of practical relevance/academic interest, we suggest that a (mis)match of gatekeepers’ and workplace ethnographers’ FoRs can lead to tensions between workplace ethnographers and gatekeepers, either remaining latent or becoming salient. We propose three possible strategies as to how to navigate these tensions during primary access negotiations.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>Whilst previous research has mainly focused on the ethnographer as an individual who needs to give gatekeepers a reassuring and enticing impression, we discuss how an important structural factor, an organisation’s ER setup, may influence access. We thus bring an important yet hitherto neglected aspect of organisational life into the debate on the pragmatic realities of ethnography, contributing to the discussion of how to navigate the tension between the “practical” need to convince gatekeepers and the need to fulfil one’s own standards of rigorous research and ethics.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":44924,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Organizational Ethnography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2024-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140927124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Data, disasters and disquietude in ethnography: learning by trial and error how to behave like a civil servant in Malawi","authors":"Tanja D. Hendriks","doi":"10.1108/joe-09-2023-0051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/joe-09-2023-0051","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>In this article, I answer the call to normalize and discuss how ethnographers navigate failure in the field by sharing my own experiences from long-term fieldwork in Malawi. I highlight, particularly, my own struggles with feelings of failure and the role of my interlocutors in helping me navigate and understand these situations.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>My argument is based on more than 18 months of ongoing in-depth ethnographic fieldwork in Malawi, where I study the everyday practices of civil servants active in disaster governance, focusing on those working for the Malawi Government Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DODMA).</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>I use ethnographic vignettes to show how my interlocutors tried to teach me what being a Malawian civil servant is all about, which often came most forcefully to the fore in moments where either I or they deemed that I had failed to behave like one.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>This adds new empirical data to the discussions on the various manifestations and roles of failure in ethnographic research, underlining how frictions and feelings of failure are a difficult yet productive and central part of fieldwork and ethnographic data creation.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":44924,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Organizational Ethnography","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2024-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140827386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}