Doing Research in Organisations

Citation

Bryman, A. (Ed.). (2013). Doing Research in Organisations. Routledge. (Original work published 1988)

Chapter Summary

This is a short edited collection of about 190 pages: an introduction by Alan Bryman and ten chapters by researchers who studied organisations, reissued in 2013 in the Routledge Library Editions: Organizations series. It was first published in 1988. The publisher describes it as a textbook of first-hand, inside accounts of the process of doing research in organisations, meant both for students of research methods in sociology and social psychology and for students of organisation studies, organisational behaviour and management. The contributors take up problems such as gaining access to organisations, "getting on" in them, quantitative and qualitative styles of investigation, the use of historical materials, the effects of resources on the context of research, the part played by political factors, the relevance of grounded theory, and research within a cross-cultural framework. The contributions are first-hand accounts rather than general methods lessons.

Introduction: 'Inside' Accounts and Social Research in Organizations

Bryman's introduction opens the collection on the theme of its title, the place of "inside" accounts in social research on organisations.

Chapter 1: Regulating Research: Politics and Decision Making in Industrial Organizations

By Huw Beynon. The title points to the politics and decision making that shape whether and how research in industrial organisations goes ahead.

Chapter 2: Insights on Site: Research into Construction Project Organizations

By Mike Bresnen. A study of construction project organisations.

Chapter 3: Getting in, Getting On, Getting Out and Getting Back

By David Buchanan, David Boddy and James McCalman. The title covers four phases of a fieldwork relationship with an organisation: entering, remaining, leaving and returning. It matches the access and "getting on" problems named in the publisher's description.

Chapter 4: Researching White Collar Organizations: Why Sociologists Should Not Stop Doing Case Studies

By Rosemary Crompton and Gareth Jones. The title announces a defence of the case study as a method for studying white-collar organisations.

Chapter 5: Historical Methods and Organization Analysis: The Case of A Naval Dockyard

By David Dunkerley. An account of using historical materials to analyse an organisation, built around a naval dockyard.

Chapter 6: In Another Country

By Peter Lawrence. The title points to research carried out in another country, which relates to the cross-cultural topic named in the publisher's description.

Chapter 7: Connoisseurship in the Study of Organizational Cultures

By Barry A. Turner. The title proposes connoisseurship as an approach to studying organisational cultures.

Chapters 8–9: The Aston Research Programme; Ruminations on Munificence and Scarcity in Research

Chapter 8 is by Derek Pugh and is about the Aston research programme. Chapter 9, by David J. Hickson, reflects on munificence and scarcity, which the publisher's description links to the effects of resources on the context of research.

Chapter 10: Some Reflections Upon Research in Organizations

By Martin Bulmer, the closing chapter offers reflections on research in organisations.

Key Concepts

Introduction and Chapters 1–4: Access, politics and fieldwork

• 'Inside' accounts: first-hand reports of how research was actually done, the organising idea of the collection.
• Access and getting on: entering an organisation, remaining in it, leaving and returning.
• Politics of research: the decisions and interests that regulate whether research can happen.
• Case studies: used for white-collar organisations in Chapter 4.

Chapters 5–10: Methods, contexts and reflection

• Historical methods: historical materials used for organisational analysis (Chapter 5).
• Cross-national research: working in another country (Chapter 6).
• Connoisseurship: a judgement-based approach to organisational cultures (Chapter 7).
• The Aston programme: the research programme that is the subject of Chapter 8.
• Munificence and scarcity: the effect of resources on research (Chapter 9).

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A different kind of methods book. Instead of describing procedures in the abstract, the chapters give the researchers' own accounts of what happened in their projects. The publisher presents this as the book's distinctive contribution.
• Range of settings and approaches. The contents include industrial organisations, construction projects, white-collar organisations and a naval dockyard, and approaches including case studies, historical methods and a large programme of research, so a reader sees several styles of work.
• Useful for two audiences. The publisher addresses it to students of research methods in sociology and social psychology and to students of organisation studies, organisational behaviour and management.
• Short. At about 190 pages with ten chapters, it can be read in a few sittings.

Limitations

• Dated. The book first appeared in 1988, and the 2013 edition is a reissue in a library-editions series; the examples predate current digital, online and ethics-board practices, which readers must learn elsewhere.
• Not a methods manual. It does not teach techniques step by step, and a student needs a research methods textbook for sampling, design, coding and analysis.
• Individual accounts. The chapter titles show contributions tied to a particular programme, setting or country, so how far each lesson transfers to another project is for the reader to judge.

Where It Fits in the Course

Among the organisational psychology books on the list, this is the only one about how organisational research is done. Spector's Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Research and Practice is a comprehensive textbook on the science and practice of the field, Chmiel, Fraccaroli and Sverke's Introduction to Work and Organizational Psychology is an edited introductory textbook framed around practical questions, Furnham's The Psychology of Behaviour at Work examines individual psychological factors in the workplace, and the OpenStax Organizational Behavior is a free introduction. Each of these presents findings; Bryman's collection shows what it takes to produce such findings in real organisations.

It is best read alongside, or after, one of these general texts, so that the research the contributors describe has a subject matter to attach to. The list also includes theoretical books about organisations, such as Morgan's Images of Organisation and Weick's Sensemaking in Organizations; a reader of those can use Bryman's volume to think about how that kind of knowledge is gathered.

How to Use This Book

The book is aimed at students of research methods in sociology and social psychology and at students of organisation studies, organisational behaviour and management, and at researchers preparing fieldwork in organisations. No specialist background is stated; a general introduction to research methods is useful preparation.

A practical plan:

• Start with: Bryman's Introduction and Chapter 3 (access and fieldwork), which state the problems most readers will meet first.
• Read next: Chapters 1, 2, 4 and 5, according to the setting or method of your project (politics of research, construction projects, case studies, historical methods).
• Optional: Chapters 6–9 for cross-national work, organisational culture, the Aston programme and the effect of resources, and Chapter 10 as a closing commentary.
• Alongside: compare each account with the methods chapters of a research methods textbook, and note what each author did when plans did not survive contact with the organisation. Keep the 1988 date in mind when applying advice about access, ethics and technology.