The Shifting Nature of Relationality in the Blurred Boundaries of Hybrid Organizational Ethnography

Alcadipani, Rafael; Cunliffe, Ann L.

doi:10.1111/1467-8551.12728

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…Although WhatsApp has proven valuable for data collection and information sharing, it has limitations in fully capturing the context of daily activities and on-the-ground dynamics. Therefore, the data acquired through WhatsApp were used to inform the content of semi-structured face-to-face interviews conducted during on-the-ground fieldwork in 2022 (Alcadipani and Cunliffe, 2023). These interviews aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the Wayúu people's experiences and perspectives.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Green colonialism and decolonial feminism: A study of Wayúu women’s resistance in La Guajira

Ramirez,

Vélez-Zapata,

Maher

2023

Human Relations

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This qualitative study scrutinises how green energy investment affects Indigenous Wayúu people in Colombia’s La Guajira region. Employing coloniality of power and decolonial feminism frameworks, we delve into Wayúu women’s struggles and resilience in defending territories against large-scale wind energy projects. Our findings suggest that governments and businesses are ‘tuned in’ to the economic benefits of these projects, yet ‘tuned out’ from Indigenous peoples’ ontologies, concerns, needs and cosmovisions. This dynamic prompts questions about the unintended consequences of organisations’ engagement with Indigenous peoples through corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. Despite good intentions, CSR practices that are ‘tuned out’ from Indigenous peoples’ cosmovisions may inadvertently reinforce power imbalances and further marginalise Indigenous communities. Our study highlights the need to honour Indigenous territories and protect Indigenous women’s rights in long-term investments. Clean energy focus can mask green colonialism, which Wayúu women actively safeguard, upholding Indigenous worldviews via feminist decoloniality. We advocate for businesses to incorporate diverse perspectives beyond the dominant western worldview into their climate change mitigation actions and CSR strategies, and for public policies to balance decarbonisation efforts with Indigenous rights to contribute to sustainable and equitable energy transitions.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Green colonialism and decolonial feminism: A study of Wayúu women’s resistance in La Guajira

Ramirez,

Vélez-Zapata,

Maher

2023

Human Relations

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“…And this notwithstanding the parallel reality that gaining access is often merely a trigger for yet more access “work” that needs to be done. Indeed, even if a gatekeeper grants formal access, individual informants may not cooperate (Alcadipani & Cunliffe, 2023). A gatekeeper's understanding of what information, documents, or meetings a researcher has access to may also differ substantially from a researcher's understanding of the same.…”

Section: The Limits Of Planned Approaches To Qualitative Research Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategies for Generating Deliberately Emergent Qualitative Research Designs

Cloutier

2024

The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science

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In carrying out research, qualitative scholars routinely struggle with having to navigate between planned and emergent research design strategies. Pressure from funders and gatekeepers to plan research can be high, but too much planning can interfere with the ethos of discovery that characterizes inductive qualitative research. On the other hand, study designs that are overly emergent present their own array of risks. In this essay, I argue for the integration of planned and emergent approaches to qualitative research design. I outline strategies for making planned research designs more reflexive and emergent, and strategies for making emergent research designs more directive and planned. I present two competencies—conceptual nimbleness and methodological reflexivity—that can be helpful for designing studies in this way and discuss how these deliberately emergent designs should be reported, with a view to enhancing the transparency and trustworthiness of qualitative research methods more generally.

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“…To make sense of the student's experiences and distinctions between "proper" and opportunistic ethnographic approaches, we construct a potential continuum with "proper" anthropological ethnography at one end and opportunistic, commercial ethnography at the other. In the middle, we propose a hybrid form of "propportune" ethnography, that blends the aim of the essence of anthropological approachesthat is gaining understanding from rich descriptionswith the pragmatism of contemporary data collection solutions, whether quick and dirty, or even technologically oriented (Kozinets, 2021;Alcadipani and Cunliffe, 2023). G€ unel et al (2020) note "how ethnographic practices are being reshaped by researchers' own lives and our multiple professional and personal commitments."…”

Section: That's Not a Proper Ethnographymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although 'proper' ethnographies are associated with long periods spent living/being with the researched, such temporal issues need not diminish the quality or usefulness of an ethnography(Cupit et al, 2018). Vindrola-In the middle, we propose a hybrid form of 'propportune' ethnography, that blends the aim of the essence of anthropological approaches -that is gaining understanding from rich descriptions -with the pragmatism of contemporary data collection solutions, whether quick and dirty, or even technologically oriented(Kozinets 2021, Alcadipani andCunliffe 2023).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“That's not a proper ethnography”: a hybrid “propportune” ethnography to study nurses' perceptions of organisational culture in a British hospital

Sambrook,

Hillier,

Doloriert

2023

JOE

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PurposeThis paper revolves around the central question: is it possible to do “proper ethnography” without complete participant observation? The authors draw upon a student's experiences of negotiating National Health Service (NHS) ethical approval requirements and access into the student's research field, a British NHS hospital and having to adapt data collection methods for the student's doctoral research. The authors examine some of the positional (insider/outsider, native gone academic), methodological (long-term/interrupted, overt/covert) and contextual challenges that threatened the student's ethnographic study.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on reflexive vignettes written during the student's doctorate, capturing significant moments and issues within the student's research.FindingsThe authors highlight the temporal, practical, ethical and emotional challenges faced in attempting an ethnography of nursing culture within a highly regulated research environment. Having revealed the student's experience of researching this specific culture and finding ways to overcome these challenges, the authors conclude that the contemporary ethnographer needs to be increasingly flexible, opportunistic and somewhat covert.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors argue that it is possible to do “proper” and “good” ethnography without complete participant observation – it is not the method, the observation, that is the essence of ethnography, but whether the researcher achieves real understanding through thick descriptions of the culture that explain “what is really going on here”.Practical implicationsThe authors hope to assist doctoral students engage in “good” ethnographic research within (potentially) risk-averse host organisations, such as the NHS, whilst being located in neo-liberal performative academic organisations (Foster, 2017; McCann et al., 2020). The authors wish to contribute to the journal to ensure good ethnography is accessible and achievable to (particularly) doctoral researchers who have to navigate complex challenges exacerbated by pressures in both the host and home cultures. The authors wish to see doctoral researchers survive and thrive in producing good organisational ethnographies to ensure such research is published (Watson 2012), cognisant of the pressures and targets to publish in top-ranked journals (Jones et al. 2020).Originality/valueHaving identified key challenges, the authors demonstrate how these can be addressed to ensure ethnography remains accessible to and achievable for, doctoral researchers, particularly in healthcare organisations. The authors conclude that understanding can be attained in what they propose as a hybrid form of “propportune” ethnography that blends the aim of the essence of “proper” anthropological approaches with the “opportunism” of contemporary data collection solutions.

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The Shifting Nature of Relationality in the Blurred Boundaries of Hybrid Organizational Ethnography

Cited by 3 publications

References 90 publications

Green colonialism and decolonial feminism: A study of Wayúu women’s resistance in La Guajira

Green colonialism and decolonial feminism: A study of Wayúu women’s resistance in La Guajira

Strategies for Generating Deliberately Emergent Qualitative Research Designs

“That's not a proper ethnography”: a hybrid “propportune” ethnography to study nurses' perceptions of organisational culture in a British hospital

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