Organizational ethnography and religious organizations: the case of Quaker decision-making

Abstract

How should we study the management practices of religious organizations to do justice to their distinctive religious motivations and traditions? In this paper, we articulate how a specific research approachorganizational ethnographymay enable a deeper understanding of religious and/or spiritual organizational practice. We approach our methodological research questions by engaging with the literature on the distinctive decisionmaking practices of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), commonly known as the Quaker business method. Having shown that the Quaker business method destabilizes a simple binary between 'insider' and 'outsider' and between believers and non-believers, we bring the theory and practice of organizational ethnography into conversation with Quaker accounts of decision-making. We conclude with pathways for future research in the space this destabilization creates.

The Christian Body at Work

“…Escobar (2011) offers critical reflexion on current practices in the Latino-Hispanic American Pentecostal church. Burton, Koning and Muers (2018) explore Quaker decision-making practices.…”

Mindful reflexivity: Unpacking the process of transformative learning in mindfulness and discernment

“…By opening up individual knowledge to a process of 'testing' by others embeds a high degree of self-reflexivity by acknowledging that no one individual has the 'right answer'. Furthermore, as a radical faith that gives primacy to experience and action in the social world, Quaker discernment serves as not only a basis of collective ways of knowing, but that collective knowing must serve as the basis of social action to build a better world (Burton, et al, 2018), embedding a distinctive and spiritually-informed moral reflexivity. Next, we unpack the linkages between moral reflexivity and self-transformation in Buddhist mindfulness, followed by Quaker discernment.…”

“…To complete the learning cycle, experience with social action then serves as the basis for further discernment and further 'experiments' (p.15). For Quakers, social action is often directed towards building a better world (Burton, et al, 2018). For example, in recent years, Quaker discernment has been directed towards peace-building, humanitarian work, economic reform and good governance (Muers, 2015).…”

“…Quakers have a history of about 370 years in the United Kingdom. Quaker practice, especially its discernment processes that share structural similarities to worship, has recently attracted growing interest from management scholars who attest to its growing interest and use in non-Quaker and non-religious organizations (Burton, 2017; Burton et al, 2018; Muers and Burton, 2018).…”

“…So, in Allen’s terms, testing requires Quakers to be open to a practice of individual “unknowing,” which then opens up the possibility of fostering a wider group-wisdom. Muers and Burton (2018) also argued that Quaker discernment encourages new knowledge not through sole reference to creed or scripture, but by together seeking the will of God/Spirit, with guidance provided by the Quaker testimonies to peace, truth, integrity, simplicity, and equality that have the character of “storied and shared traditions of practice, individual and collective—that relate particularly to interactions with the non-Quaker world” (Burton et al, 2018: 360). Scully (2009) contends that the Quakers testimonies are akin to the cultivation of virtues, albeit, for most Quakers, with a “deontological tether” of “That of God in everyone” (p. 118).…”