on EVERT_Qualitative Methods in Management Research

8/6/2019 on EVERT_Qualitative Methods in Management Research

1/33

S


2/33

xii QUALITATIVE METHODS IN MANAGEMENT RESEARCH

ing up a dialogue with others through books,conferences, late-night conversations at bars,and since the mid-1990s, through e-mail andthe Internet.

My ideas in this book have evolved over twodecades. They are not new; they are in accordwith ideas that have evolved in the philosophyof science and human practice duringmillenniums. They are inspired bycontemporary sociology and anthropology andby my own experience of business. During the

spring of 1980, 1 worked on a consultingassignment that involved strategic andorganizational change in a large corporation.In the course of the strategic process, 1documented what happened and related it toliterature on corporate strategy andorganization theory. 1 had become intriguedby the connection between the role ofconsultant and the role of academicresearcher and with the opportunities foraccess to change processes that thiscombination created, I began to structure myexperiences, at the same time studying theliterature on theory of science, onmethodology in social and natural sciences,

and on management consultancy. Thecombined role of academic researcher andmanagement consultant turned out tobeunclear despite the fact that it is customaryfor business school professors to work asmanagement consultants.The book gradually broadened beyond the

mere academic researcher versus consultanttopic into treating qualitative research issuesin management disciplines and the use ofcase studies for research purposes. The text unfolded through a series of

working papers, drafts, and published editionsthat have been discussed in research semi-nars and Ph.D. courses at several universities

for the past fifteen years. I am grateful tonumerous professors, doctoral candidates,students, and management consultants whohave contributed with advice and stimulation;

in fact, they are so many that I dare not even

attempt to list their names.

Evert Gummesson

Qualitative Research in management

Qualitative methodology and case studiesprovide powerful tools for research inmanagement and business subjects, includinggeneral management, leadership, marketing,organization, corporate strategy, accounting,

and more. However) qualitative methods areused only to a limited degree. Universities andbusiness schools often oppose their use andclassify them as second-rate. Case studies areextensively used as tools in education, butthey are usually considered as not goodenough for research purposes.Through my traveling and correspondence, I

know that the problems dealt with in this bookoccupy the minds of business school studentsand scholars around the world. Many who wantto do more qualitative research and casestudiesfor example, for PhD. work ormaster's thesesare discouraged from doingso. They complain, "My professor does not

understand me. What shall I do?" A minority ofbusiness schools accept and promote the useof qualitative methods and case studyresearch, but opportunities to do so need to be

C H A P T E R


3/33

xii QUALITATIVE METHODS IN MANAGEMENT RESEARCH

expanded, and the methods need to beproperly taught.


4/33

2 QUALITATIVE METHODS IN MANAGEMENT RESEARCH

The reason for the conflict is that mostbusiness schools are preoccupied with themechanics of statistical techniques, believingthat these techniques in themselves offer ahighway to the advancement of knowledge andscience. Faculty members are often unfamiliarwith the opportunities offered by qualitativemethodology and case study research. Thisignorance concerns the underpinning theory ofscience as well as the choice and application ofresearch methods and techniques.

This book is targeted toward students /ifbusiness schools and universities, academicresearchers, and management consultants. Al-though its focus is on business, the text islargely applicable ID other types oforganizations and therefore is also of interest

to researchers in government and voluntarynot-far-profit organizations.The book can provide guidance in the writing

D papers, articles, and theses at differentlevels of business education and academiccareers. The focus is on case study researchand the use of qualitative methods for datacollection and analysis. It aims to make theresearcher more aware of researchopportunities inherent in the application of aqualitative approach. It provides answers andcommentary to the question, "How doresearchers relate to their object of study inorder to make a useful contribution?" As a con-sequence, the text also deals with the research

paradigmsthe underpinning values,

procedures, and rulesthat govern the think-ing and behavior of researchers.In using qualitative methods, the borderline

between the academic researcher and themanagement consultant becomes blurred,particularly as the role of the consultantprovides opportunities for intensified inquiryinto the behavior of business firms and otherorganizations. These opportunities receiveinadequate attention in the literature onmethodology as well as in actual academicresearch,

A greater awareness of the possibilities andlimitations of carrying out research by meansof qualitative methodsand also through the

role of management consultantought to leadto improvements in the quality and usefulnessof academic research in businessadministration. In some instances, professionalmanagement

consultants are intimately associated withacademic research, whereas in others, there isno connection at all.

It is hoped that practicing managementconsultants who read the book will gaininsights into their profession. The book alsoaddresses itself to those companies andorganizations that purchase the services ofacademic researchers and managementconsultants. It may facilitate their evaluationof the quality of their providers.

Case study research is becomingincreasingly accepted as a scientific tool inmanagement research. If you want an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms ofchange, you need not study a large number ofcases. Management consultants are involvedwith a limited number of cases. Actionresearch, or action science1 as it has beenrecently called, is one particularly excitingmethod that can be adopted when workingwith case research. Here, the researchers takeon the role of active consultants and influencea process under study.

Particular attention will be paid to the studyof decision making, implementation, and

change processes within companies and otherorganizations.Although both quantitative and qualitative

methods are used for data collection in casestudies, the latter will normally predominate inthe study of processes in which datacollection, analysis, and action often takeplace concurrently. At research seminarswhere the manuscript for this book has beenunder discussion, I have been asked whether Isupport the quantitative, allegedly more"scientific" methods, or whether I reject themin favor of a qualitative approach. Becausethis book is primarily concerned with thelatter, it is often concluded that I am against

the use of quantitative methods. However, Iam neither a priori for nor against anymethods. They should be used where they areappropriate. If they are not suitable, it ishardly scientific to provide one-sided support

Qualitative Research in Management 4


5/33


for one or another method, although one-sidedness is not unusual in research circles.

The same applies to management consultants,who can be subject to the dictates of fashionas well as to traditional but obsolete ways ofworking.

The book will present conclusions from aninquiry based on literature on scientific theory,research methodology, managementconsultancy, and various management

subjects, together with biographies, memoirs,and other publications written about life inbusiness and other organizations. It is alsobased on my previously published study on themarketing and management of consultingservices.1 Finally, my own personal experienceas a management consultant and practicingmanager has had a positive impact on myapproach to research. My special interest inchallenging established procedures inmanagement research began in 1980. It hasproceeded ever since and is turning into alifelong journey. There are numerousintermediate stops, however. This secondedition of the book is the latest stop. But it's

not the last stop.I have taken the liberty of writing the book in

a personal manner. This is well in line with thetradition of qualitative research. In which the

personality of the scientist is a key researchinstrument. The book is written in such amanner that it can be read by those who arenot closely acquainted with scientific theory ormanagement research. This is not to say thatthe book can be read without effort; neitheracademic research nor managementconsultancy are suitable fields for those whowish to lead an easy life. It is not just a matterof intellectual "understanding," however; it isas much a matter of personal maturity,

judgment, common sense, and emotionalbalance.The remainder of this chapter will introduce

phenomena and concepts that constitute thefocal point of analysis for this book.

Qualitative Methods Applied to the

Study of Businesses and OtherOrganizations

Books on qualitative methodology stem fromsociology, psychology, education, oranthropology / ethnography.3 They provide ex-amples and cases from the study of society ingeneral and the government sector ratherthan businesses. Such research may beinspiring to a manager as a concerned citizen,but not in the role of businessman. Toenhance your understanding of researchmethodology

in business administration, you are not lookingfor studies of witchcraft, oracles, and magicamong African tribes* or the case of alingering dying trajectory* or life in theclassroom* or how school districts useevaluative information about students'performance.7 Although most methods usedthere and in management are in essence thesame, their application, emphasis, and sig-nificance can wry considerably; they aredealing with human life in different types ofsettings, with different purposes, and from dif-

ferent perspectives.Key business phenomena such as profit,

competitiveness, corporate strategy,productivity, total quality management, opera-tions management, relationship marketing,virtual organizations, balanced scorecard, andso forth are rarely, if ever, mentioned intextbooks on qualitative methods. But youneed this knowledge to select scientificapproaches. You could not, for example, haveunderstood life in big American corporationsduring the 1980s without knowledge of theimpact of corporate raiders, hostile takeovers,

junk bonds, and leveraged buyouts. Currently,we must follow closely the developments of

information technology, above all the impactof the Internet and electronic commerce, aswell as new megaconditions for business setby NAFTA (North American Free Trade



6/33


Agreement), the EU (European Union), and theaftermath of the fall of the Soviet empire.

Although there is an abundance of textbookson market research reviewing quantitativemethods, I have found only one textbookfocusing on qualitative methods applied to thestudy of consumers and other buyers of goodsand services from a commercial perspective.'And I have only found one book on research inmanagement subjects in which quantitativeand qualitative methods are treated asequals.*

Studies in management are concerned withunderstanding and improving the performanceof a business. They can be done to giverecommendations for solutions to the specificproblems of a specific company or industry. We

are then dealing with applied research, whichis close to consultancy. In contrast, basicresearch is concerned with theoretical andphilosophical relevance and the long-term andgeneral advancement of managementdisciplines.

The cases and illustrations referred to in thisbook concern issues in organizations and theireconomic environment. Even if themanagement issues are primarily associatedwith private businesses, they should be of

significance to the government and voluntary-action sectors. The government sectorcentral, regional, and localhas becomeIncreasingly interested in learning from privateindustry, mainly from service companies, asthe government sector was once intended tobe of service to its "investors," the citizens.

The methods dealt with therefore apply to bothsectors, although institutional differencesfinance through taxes, the dual managementby politicians and administrators, frequentmonopolies, and so forthpartially create adifferent mode for application.

The connection between the private and thegovernment sector is clearly visible in the

perestroika ("openness") and gtasnost {"in-formation") introduced by Soviet PremierGorbachev in the 1980s. It was not only anissue for the. communist and ex-communistplanned economies; Gorbachev was a"turnaround CEO" on the largest scale ever

heard of.' Even the largest global companieshave fewer than a million employees, and veryfew exceed 500,000; "Soviet Union, Inc." had250 million plus another 150 million in"subsidiaries." In quality management, there istalk of "the hidden firm," existing within everycompany and specializing in producing nonquality." Although we may hate to admit it,nonproductive or even counterproductiveislands of the former East German characterare hidden in Western businesses and gov-ernments as well.

Deregulation is a Western perestroikastrategy for improving the performance oforganizations and whole industries. "The mostdrastic discontinuity in the history of anymajor U.S. industry"" is the breakup of AT&T

the American Telephone and TelegraphCompany, "Ma Bell"into several companieswith different ownership. In a similar vein,British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher'sadvocacy for privatization has taken the formof a sellout of organizations such as British

Telecom, the gas and electricity utilities, andthe British Airport Authority that runs London'sHeathrow and other airports.

Academic Researchers and ManagementConsultants: Both Are "Knowledge

Workers'*

We have long heard that agriculture andmanufacturing will employ fewer and fewerpeople white services, the "third wave"" in thedevelopment of society, are gaining. In mostWestern nations today, two thirds or more ofthe workforce is employed in services." Bothacademic researchers and managementconsultants are in professional services; theyare "intellectuals," "knowledge workers," oreven "gold-collar workers"; they belong to"knowledge-based organizations," a subset of

the service economy.15

Knowledge, along with information, is aparticularly nebulous word, and yet we use itevery day. There is a special branch of thephilosophy of science, epistemology, that



7/33


poses the question: Can knowledge exist? Three schools of thought give the answers"yes" (dogmatism), "no" (agnosticism), and"maybe" (skepticism). Although Chapter 4 willquestion the existence of the ever-so-popular"fact," I will have to take the existence of afuzzy phenomenon called knowledge forgranted. Even if this fuzziness is somewhatfrustrating, we will probably keep workingwhether we are academic researchers orconsultantsnot in the least to pay telephonebills and mortgages; those are certainly forreal. The knowledge-based organization is

characterized by the following;1' '

A significant portion of its activities consists

of problem solving and non standardizedproduction, but routine handicraft is alsonecessary

Production of interesting and novel ideas,approaches, solutions, andrecommendations

' Strong reliance on the individual and a highdegree of independence and integrity

Creativity, both individually and in theorganizational setting Ability to communicate the results toselected audiences

This is general to all types of knowledge-basedorganizations, so in this respect, researchers

and consultants are similar. It is, however,

a description on a fairly high level ofabstraction. Climbing down the ladder towardmore concrete behavior, differences begin tooccur. The similarities and the differences aswell as the symbiosis between academicresearch and management consultancy will betreated in this book.

Knowledge workers populate allorganizations in greater or fewer numbers.

They are found in business school research

programs, on management teams, inpharmaceutical laboratories, and in other R&D(research and development) departments; theycould be computer systems analysts, chefs atgourmet restaurants, or specialists at the New

York Stock Exchange. There are many types ofconsultants apart from managementconsultants: advertising agencies,accountants, lawyers, consulting engineers,and so forth." In the present context, we willbe dealing with management consultants,sometimes called business consultantsthatis, consultants who have been brought into acompany to work on problems that concernthe management of the whole company or itsdifferent functions. But the text is alsorelevant to related professions. Far the sake ofbrevity, the term consultant will be used hereto refer to a management consultant, andresearcherwill be used as an abbreviation foracademic researcher.

"Practitioners -that is, consultants and their

clients, "the no-nonsense men of action"areprone to characterize discussions on theoryand methodology as * academic," which forthem is synonymous with impractical and oflittle use In business life. I would like toillustrate the practitioner-scientist relationshipby quoting from the memoirs of Sune Carlson,ex-member of the Nobel Prize Committee forthe Economic Sciences, former U.N. chiefeconomist, and professor of management:

In the early 1960sa quarter of a century after I hadcompleted my university studiesI joined the board ofAGA [a major international corporation specializing ingases] and participated in decision-making on foreign

investment and different types of international financialoperations. For a number of years, I did not reallyunderstand what we were doing, nor, I felt, did anyoneelse. There was certainly no shortage of facts; then wasan abundance of

available data. However, I lacked a theoretical systemthat would have permitted me to arrange and structurethese data. I was forced to sit down and work out formyself a purely mathematical theory for decisions oninternational Investments, It was in this way that I cameto write my book on International Financial Decisionsand to understand what we were doing at AGA. As EliHeckscher often said: "There is nothing as practical asgood theory.""



8/33


Academic researchers in managementfrequently work with companies andgovernmental organizations to help them im-prove their operations. Thus, they becomemanagement consultants. Professors are oftenallowed, even urged, to spend a day per weekas consultants. They are frequently engagedon surveys and in-house seminars, sometimesalso as advisers to management. A majorrationale for such engagements is that thescientists get continuous insights into the"real" world as opposed to the academic ivorytower. The consulting experience not onlyprovides input for research but also stimulatingand "live" cases to be used in the classroom.

There are both similarities and differencesbetween academic research and managementconsultancy. Those similarities and differencesshould be laid bare and understood byacademic researchers as well as byconsultants. If they are not, professors andother researchers risk providing consultancy oflow quality, even if what they do is approvedby academic standards.

When an early draft of this book wasdiscussed at a research seminar, one of myprofessors passed me a sketch, drawn at thespur of the moment (Figure 1.1). With artisticsimplicity, it shows a difference and similaritybetween consultants and academic re-

searchers: Backed by bits and pieces of theory,the consultant contributes to practice, whereasthe scholar contributes to theory supported byfragments of practice.

Although many academic researchers lackexperience of consultancy or consultantstrategy, they still like to be known as con-sultants. They live in the belief that knowledgeof academic research can be directly applied toconsultancy. As one university professor saidto me, "Consultancy is just a simpler form ofscien-



9/33

mutmt. IVb tfary

nd tributa, w

Practica


knowledge. Those who work in largeconsulting firms, however, usually associatewith only a narrow group of fellowconsultants. Among academic researchers,scientific and methodological is-sues arenaturally the subject of discussion.Unfortunately, this dialogue frequently suffersfrom inadequate input of real-world data, lackof practical business experience, and notleast, lack of time.

bu( tfwitla i lot in

cunttngn

-tific research." Businessmen and managerswho enter a consulting career often assumethat a combination of business experience andsome management model or philosophy is asatisfactory and efficient basis on which tooperate as a consultant. It is sometimesassumed that consultancy experience can bequite simply converted into research bydressing it up in academic guise.The roles of researcher and consultant and

their interface are not very actively discussed. Two thirds of all consultants in the UnitedStates work on their own or with a partner anda secretary," the result being that professionalcontacts with colleagues are limited. Arthur D.Little, McKinsey & Co., Arthur Anderson,Boston Consulting Group, Bain, and other largemanagement consultancies provide anenvironment for active interchange of

Processes of Decision Making,Implementation, and Change

I have talked about processes of decisionmaking, implementation, and change andstated that this book will concentrate on thework of researchers and consultants inprojects related to such processes. We are,however, bombarded with messages that soci-ety keeps changing and technology keepsdeveloping faster and faster, making extantprofessional knowledge obsolete at the speedof lightning. During the 1990s, TQM (totalquality management) has become anaccelerator of change in all types of organi-zations. The ISO 9000 standard and the now-ubiquitous quality awards provide systematicapproaches pressing for continuousimprovements. In conclusion, change isongoing, and every issue in a company isexposed to change or the threat of change inthe near future. Therefore, everything in acompany includes elements of changeprocesses, and the approach of this bookbecomes a general approach to investigatingmanagement disciplines. The processes couldencompass complex turnarounds of a whole

company or might concern limited problems.I will now briefly describe the type ofconsulting or research projects in question.

A company finds itself in a given situationthat may be characterized in a number of

Thprewuuxh^ Peck* .1pnwOretempWcal d4U) ndmtrtbuU. ta Ihemy

Figure 1.1. The Management ConsultantVersus the Academic ResearcherSOURCE Dnvf fogby Pauluriii Fienrknet,Professor Emnltui of Burinwi Adrnlnistrstion.Unfvfrsity of Stockholm. Sweden. Used bypermission.


10/33


different ways: the goods and services that itproduces; the markets for these products; itsresources, structure, profitability, financing;and so forth. As long as the company is doingwell, it will have a reasonably harmoniousrelationship with its environment andstakeholders. But as "times are a-changing"

the requirements of society, investors,personnel, and markets have to be assessed,

influenced, and adjusted continuously. Acompany will also have more or less explicitperceptions of the future together withobjectives that it hopes to achieve. This ispartially a product of experience and intuitionand par-dally achieved by more systematicapproaches, such as statistical forecasts,scenario writing, environmental studies, andmarket research. A company must accept theconsequences of its decisions and ensure thatthey are implemented or changed as newconditions emerge. These processes of change may be

characterized as teleological processesthatis, processes, that lead the company towardcertain objectives, the most basic and

primitive ones being survival and eternalyouth. In its efforts to do so, the managementhas to ask the following question:

* What should the company's businessmission be, and how should the companybe organized and managed7

This question has given rise to a number ofmethods and approaches that maybecharacterized by concepts such as corporatestrategy, marketing strategy, organizationalstructure, TQM, business processreengineering, mergers and acquisitions,financial management, downsizing,outsourcing, relationship marketing alliances,

globalization, and "green" policies.A company may change direction by means

of a process of continuous adjustments withinan existing framework of operations. Othertypes of changes may be more dramaticfor

example, in relation to a company merger, atakeover, a changeover to new areas ofproduction, a change of managementphilosophy (e.g., from mass marketing to one-to-one marketing), or a change in the scale ofoperations. Successful changes in strategyrequire the capacity to take a fresh look atcompany operations in the light of new cir-cumstances. These changes occur withinprocesses that raise numerous analyticalproblems as well as personal and emotionalconflicts. They may lead to new work tasks,recruitment of new

chief executives, new power constellations innetworks and virtual (or imaginary)organizations, and so on.

Although the purpose of these changes isusually to secure the survival of the companythrough expansion, contraction, and improvedprofitability, it is sometimes necessary to findthe most favorable means of closing downoperations.

Two examples of change projects are givenbelow.

Example f

The company belonged to an industryundergoing a severe structural crisis.Profitability was unsatisfactory. An attemptwas made structurally to regroup thecompany's operations. During this process ofrestructuring, I acted as a consultant for 18months, working closely with employees atmany levels. This process can be roughlydivided into the following "steps" {step refersto areas of work that received greateremphasis than others at a certain stage in theprocess; the steps should be viewed as partsof an iterative and concurrent process ratherthan a sequential process):

Definition of business concepts,objectives, and strategies together withdecisions on these Issues (February-September, Year 1)


11/33


Proposal on new organizational structure(September-October, Year 1)

Appointment of senior executives(October-November, Year 1) Detailed specification of business

concepts, organization, planning, and soforth (November, Year 1-March, Year 2)

Development of new systems of financialcontrol (November, Year l-November,Year2)

" Company functioning within the frameworkof its new, restructured operations (March,

Year 2 onward)

Example 2

This company was profitable and expandingbut confronted with the need to adjust todramatic future technological changes.

These changes were associated with the rapiddevelopment in electronics and the expansionof the computer industry. Strategic andorganizational changes were consideredessential to the company's survival in thefuture market. I worked together with abouttwo hundred of the company's employees for

two years to establish anew strategic andorganizational base for the company. Thesteps mentioned in Example 1 are roughlyapplicable to this case, also, Substantial]internal marketing1' efforts had also to bemade, however. These were highly complexdue to the size and wide geographicaldistribution of the company.

I have attempted in these brief accounts todescribe the types of processes that I have inmind. Such processes are going on con-tinuously in the business world. In the twoexamples above, the scope was wide, butother assignments could concern a limited taskof less dramatic and shorter-term changes.

The descriptions also reveal some of the value

judgments that have governed my actions. Ihave not said anything about my workingmethods, however, nor have I made anyappraisal of the various approaches that havebeen adopted by academic researchers and

management consultants. These will be dealtwith throughout the rest of the book.

The Researcher's Number 1 Challenge:Access to Reality

In my view, the traditional research methodsused in business research do not providesatisfactory access. Access refers to the op-portunities available to find empirical data(real-world data) and information. A

researcher's or consultant's ability to carry outwork on a project is intimately tied up with theavailability of data and information that canprovide a basis for analysis and conclusions.

The use of technically advanced andcomputerized quantitative techniques toprocess data will be in vain if the real-worldinput is flawed, Even if the methods ofcollecting and processing data aresophisticated, the well-known adage "garbagein, garbage out" cannot be discounted.

Access is a question of vital importance forboth scientists and consultants. It will be

specifically treated in Chapter 2 and will bereferred to throughout this book.

The Researcher's Number 2Challenge: preunderstandingand Understanding

The concept ofpreunderstanding refers topeople's insights into a specific problem andsocial environment before they start a re-search program or consulting assignment; it isan input. Understanding refers to the insightsgained during a progra m or assignment; it isan output. This output in turn acts aspreunderstanding before the next task.

Traditionally, academic researchers'preunderstanding takes the form of theories,models, and techniques; generally, they lackinstitutional knowledge, such as knowledge ofconditions in a specific company, industry, or


12/33


market. They have seldom had the opportunityto apply their skills in an actual corporatesetting. Most academic researchers in businessschools have never held a position in acompany where leadership, risk taking, andresponsibility for results are demanded (thereare exceptions, however). Managementconsultants frequently have extensiveexperience of a particular function within acompany or from general management. In thisway, they also acquire specific institutionalknowledge of one or several industries. The problems of access and

preunderstanding are significant. 1 amfrequently dissatisfied with either theinformation available on a specific project orthe extent to which other academic re-searchers or consultants have been able topenetrate below the surface of a certainsequence of events. It is my experience thatwhen starting to work with a company, it isoften difficult to understand the businessculture in which the company or industryoperates: things such as values held byemployees, business terminology, generalrules of procedure, and informal organization.Hence, the contribution that I am able to maketo the project will

increase with the extent of mypreunderstanding of the problem area and theproject environment.The dark side of preunderstanding is that it

can serve as a blockage to new informationand innovation. This is a common cause forconcern in deductive, hypotheses-testingresearch and will be discussed later in thebook.

The Researcher's Number 3 Challenge:Quality

The choice of criteria used to assess thequality of research and consultancy work isgoverned by different values. Consequently,there is a wide range of possible criteria. To

some extent, the criteria used to evaluateresearch findings are different from thoseused to assess the work of consultants.Researchers must be able to substantiatetheir findings and produce a report in which itis possible for the reader to follow a certainline of reasoning and the resultantconclusions. The methods used areconsidered to be of critical importance. On theother hand, questions of methodology andreport writing are often of secondaryconsideration in the evaluation of consultancywhere greater weight is placed on the abilityof the consultant to make implementablerecommendations and initiate change.

Lists of quality criteria for research andconsultancyreliability, validity, objectivity,relevance, and so onare ambiguous. Notonly is the selection of criteria arbitrary, but itis also difficult to apportion weights to thecriteria and then add them up to produce afinal assessment. With the passage of time, Ihave become increasingly cautious whenreading statements of university professors,

journal reviewers, and promotion committeesregarding what is and is not good research. Asan academic judge, you can easily becomethe victim of some particular methodologicalapproach or current fashionable concern that

curbs your view of reality. The history of business and managementabounds with examples of trendy methodsand management techniques. During the pastdecades, various schools of thought haveasserted that quantitative, statistical studiesconstituted the only true scientific

approach; that operations research (evencalled "management science") was a godsendto company decision making; that the meth-ods of psychiatry and social psychology,packaged as "sensitivity training," "T-groups,"

and so forth could be used to solve relationalproblems within organizations; thatmanagement information systems (MIS) wouldturn management into a computerizedexercise; that formalized long-range planningsystems would provide a risk-free highway


13/33


into the future; that everything should beviewed in terms of processes; and also thereversethat everything should be viewed interms of structures.

Even recent experience bears this outCurrently, relationships and networks, as wellas knowledge-based, virtual or imaginaryorganizations represent some of thebuzzwords. The same fashionable concernsappear in packages provided by managementconsultants.

All of these methods deal with facets and

perspectives of reality that may be highlyimportant in relation to a specific situation.Provided that they are correctly applied, theymay yield valuable insights and results. Whenpeople claim, however, that their method hasuniversal validity or that its quality is superiorto all other forms of research or consultancy,they have mistaken rigorous research forintellectual rigor mortis and the dictates offashion. The combination of research and

management consultancy that involvesintervention into processes of decision making,implementation, and change is known as actionresearch or action science. But it is difficult toestablish criteria for good research and good

consultancy respectively that would allow thesame individual to take on both roles to thesatisfaction of both the academic and thebusiness community.

Quality will be treated at length in Chapter5.

Personal and Scientific Values: The ParadigmPlatform

This book stresses the interplay between thebasic vantage points for the researchers' workthe "absolute"and the selection ofmethods.

It is claimed that there exists an "absoluteabsolute" constituting the foundation of the

universe, expressed in terms such as God andpure consciousness.211 will not dispute theexistence of this, but unfortunately, very fewresearchers have yet reached such a state ofenlightenment. Therefore, in the practice oftoday's research,, the "absolute platform" issubjectively chosen; on that platform researchcan be conducted with varying degrees of"objectivity." Mainstream scientists who justapply "approved" methods without beingaware of the subjective foundation of theiractivities are not scientists; they are

technicians. In my experience, most "workers"within the university world never get beyondthe stage of technician.

Lacking an "absolute truth" from which toapproach the world, we create via socialconsensus an absolute reference point, our

paradigm.The concept of paradigm was brought to the

fore by Thomas Kuhn" in the early 1960s. Itwill be used here to represent people's value

judgments, norms, standards, frames ofreference, perspectives, ideologies, myths,theories, and approved procedures thatgovern their thinking and action. In a similarsense. Fleck," twenty-five years before Kuhn,used the concept of thought style to define

shared values and ideas that scientists, oftenunknowingly, came to consider "the absolutetruth." We can even go back to the yearsaround 250 BC and hear Greek mathematicianand physicist Archimedes exclaim, "Give mesomewhere to stand and I will move theEarth." In science, a paradigm consists of the

researcher's perception of what one should bedoing and how one should be doing It. In otherwords, what are the interesting researchproblems and which methodological approachcan be used to tackle them? For example,astronomy is considered a science by today'sscientific community, whereas astrology andhoroscopes are considered frauds or at leastnonscientific The basic premises, value judgments and

modes of operation that characterize theacademic researcher and the consultant willbe referred to as the scientific paradigm andthe consultant paradigm,


14/33


Respectively. The scientific and consultantparadigms are different, but they could alsooverlap as Figure 1.1 suggests.The subject of paradigms is often discussed

in terms of an antithesis between two schoolsof philosophy: the positivistic, traditionalnatural science school and the humanisticschool. Both have many facets and names,

particularly so the humanistic school. To avoidtoo much detail and confusion, it willsubsequently be referred to as hermeneutics(from Greek hermeneuien, to interpret). Inbusiness administration, both schools ofthought are influential, although the academiccommunity favors the positivistic paradigm atthe expense of the hermeneutic paradigm.To some extent, researchers and consultants

are governed more by personal considerationsthan by a particular scientific approach or theproblems confronting clients. For example, aconsultant may wish to sell more assignmentsto buy a fancier car, and the researcher mayadopt an opportunistic approach to get tenureat a prestigious university. Such driving forcesare also part of the paradigm and affect thebehavior of researchers and consultants.

Kuhn's use of the term paradigm has beeninterpreted in twenty-two different senses,"although he himself attributes this to linguisticinconsistencies.w Nevertheless, paradigm willbe used here as a word with a distinctivemeaning that cannot be readily confused withwords from everyday conversation.

Paradigm is associated with the existingfoundation of science as well as withrevolutionary discoveries and changes in thesciences. Periods of normal science aresuperseded by paradigm shifts when theestablished scientific norms are challenged.When our personal paradigm is attacked, wemay feel threatened or excitedour

"somewhere to stand" is being snatched awayand react by raising our defenses or by afrank appraisal of a new position. Thebreakdown of the communist concept of thecentrally planned economy is such a dramaticparadigm shift that will have far-reachingeffects on business globally. The story of apersonal paradigm shift is well told by Capra inhis philosophical biography. UncommonWisdom.1' Capra started out with a Ph.D. inphysics

but discovered the shortcomings of thetraditional natural science paradigm as it isapplied to society.

By analogy with this thinking, Argyris andSchon apply two concepts to learning incorporations:

Single-loop learning Is like the thermostat thatlearns when It Is too hot or too cold and turns theheat on or off. The thermostat can perform this taskbecause it can receive information (the temperatureof the room) and rake corrective action. Double-looplearning occurs when error is detected andcorrected in ways that involve the modification ol anorganization's underlying norms, policies and objec-tives.211

In other words, single-loop learning takesplace within the existing paradigm, whereasdouble-loop learning requires a newparadigm. During normal periods, companies

work like thermostats; during periods of majorchanges in the financial, technological, andcompetitive conditions, more fundamentalrevisions are required. These have to startwith an audit of the company's businessmission, goals, and strategies, often followedby a restructuring of the whole company, newleadership, and new control systems. Bothfine-tuning within the existing paradigm andmajor changes caused by a paradigm shift areof concern to researchers and consultants.

It is desirable that academic researchersaccount for their personal values, at least tothemselves. It is equally desirable that con-sultants share their values with clients.

Tomebohm points out that the "greater the

researcher's awareness of his own paradigm,the better the research that he can carryout."* The authors of another book refer tothe feeling of being invisibly taken over:'Quite unnoticed, we have inherited a way ofseeing that prevents us from discovering ourown points of departure... that we are quitewilling to question the details of a process ofthought but not the actual process itself."30

In practice, the paradigm that governsindividuals and organizations often resistsidentification; it becomes an invisible back-seat driver. Tacit knowing, a term ascribed toPolanyi," implies that

we know and do things without actually beingable to explain how. Asentence in my Frenchtextbook that had aslightly frustrating effect


15/33


read as follows: "In France even small childrenspeak French fluently." They certainly do, butthey will not be able to articulate the structureof the French language, its grammar; it is atacit cognitive map.There is also the risk that we can actually

deceive ourselves and others into believingthat we have identified our paradigm." Argyrisand SchonB have introduced a theory of actionin which they use two fundamental concepts.

The first one is espoused theory, the way weclaim that we think and operate; the second istheory-in-use, the way that we actually thinkand act. A consulting firm may, ior example,state in its advertising and promotionalmaterial that senior consultants with longexperience supervise the assignments(espoused theory), while in practice, young,inexperienced consultants are left very muchon their own (theory-muse). This may bedeliberate deception, but it could also be thatthe management of the consulting firm is notaware of the actual theory-in-use. They maylive in a myththat is, "a way of thinking sodeeply imbedded in our consciousness that itis invisible... a wayof understanding the worldthat is not problematic, that we are not fullyconscious of, that seems, in a word, natural."3*In a similar spirit, Habermas33 says that the

most important task for the social scientist isthat of emancipator: freeing ourselves fromconditions and dependencies that we may sofar have considered as given or fixed. He alsorelates this process to Freudian psycho-analysts, which seeks to lay bare Individuals'subconscious motives and thereby allow themto gain control over their actions.

If academic researchers are aware of theirparadigm, it is naturally desirable that theydiscuss it at the outset of their work.3* Thisassumes, however, that the paradigm is staticand does not change during the course of theresearch project. It's quite apparent to me that1 was only partially aware of my scientificparadigm when I started work on this book. It

certainly has changed during the course of my

studies. Consequently, and within thehumanistic tradition, 1 will present aspects ofmy own paradigm as frankly as possible asthe book unfolds. This may take the form ofpersonal

views expressed on different subjects. Attimes, this may be interpreted as " chatty/ notto say egocentric. I have decided to run thisrisk in order to put forward certain ideas,arguments, and examples that couldundoubtedly be abbreviated and presented ina more structured fashion. In their lessstructured form, however, they provide thereader with a more complete picture of the re-search process and my own conclusions.

Science Is a Journey, Not a Destination

What science is, is far from clear. There are

those who claim they know. In my view,"scientists" who claim they know what scienceis are not scientists. They have stoppeddeveloping. Their search is over. They do not

do '"re-search," which literally means "searchagain."

Science is a continuing search; it is acontinuing generation of theories, models,concepts, and categories. It is realistic to viewresearch as a journey on which each programrepresents a temporary stop on the way andeach report is a point of departure for furtherinquiry. This may sound trivial, but all thesame, it is constantly misunderstood. A fewlines from a Sherlock Holmes storywhich oneI can't recall any moreatone point in timerepresented for me a research ideal. Oncompleting hia work on the behavior of bees,Holmes states that this would be the final work

on the subject and that there was nothing moreto be added.Working on the subject of scientific theory

and methodology in business and managementresearch, I have felt vastly inferior to Holmes. Ihave rather been reminded of the Chinese


16/33


boxes; one opens a box only to find anotherbox inside. A sufficient display of stubbornnesscan perhaps reduce the size of the boxes to apoint where they can be ignored. I have felt,however, that I am approaching the world fromthe very smallest box, which I then open onlyto findmyself in a larger box. The subjectkeeps expanding. At the same time, thisprocess of discovery is genuinely exciting;many boob in the field of scientific theory andmethodology represent real challenges.

I get some consolation from reading a bookon science by Finnish philosopher GeorgeHenrik von Wright and a review of the book. 5'In his mid-seventies, von Wright summed upthe collected wisdom of his philosophy andtriggered an intense debate on the role ofscience. Despite his lifelong devotion to thephilosophy of science and the acquisition ofinternational fame, von Wright was criticizedfor having grasped only limited aspects of hissubject and being ignorant of others.

Structure of the Book

This chapter has introduced concepts andthoughts that will be used and furtherdeveloped in subsequent chapters. Chapter 2

deals with access through different roles andChapter 3 with preunderstanding andunderstanding. In Chapter 4, arguments for andagainst case study research are presented,with special emphasis on action science.Chapter 5 examines the scientific paradigmand the consultant paradigm, and the qualitycriteria used to assess academic research andmanagement consultancy. A managementaction science paradigm is proposed in Chapter6, together with a summary of thecontributions of the book.The text contains references to notes, which

are listed at the end of each chapter. Areference list and an index of subjects andnames are presented at the end of the book.

Notes

1. Argyris et al., 19B5.2. Gummwson, 1977,1979.3. See overviews in Burell and Morgan, 19BS; Fatten,1990; Teseh, 1990;Bernard, 1995; and Silverman, 1997.4. Evans-Pritehard, 1937.5. Strauss and Glaser, 1970.6. Jackson, 1968.7. Alkin et al., 1979.

8. Seymour, 1988.9. Easterby-Smilhetal.,1991.

10. Goldman, 198111. Crosby, 1984.12. ToffIer,1985,p.6.13. According lo Toffler, 1981. the

agricultural society constituted the first wave,industrial manufacturing the second, andservice/information the third.

14. Foi an account of (his transition and itsimpact on business, see Gronroos, 1990.

15. SeeDrucker, 1989; Qulnn, 1992; Sveiby,1994,1997; "gold-collar worker" b adesignation used by Kelley, 1985.

16. Gummesson, 1990; the characterizationis also influenced by Sveiby and Rlsling, 1986.

17. Gummesson, 1977, pp. 43-72.18. Carlson, 1983, p. 60.

19. Liles, 1989, p. SB.20. Part of this project U described inGummesson, 1982.21. Internal marketing is a relatively new

concept that suggests that the use of know-how developed in marketing to customers (theexternal market) be used in approaching

personnel (the internal market) with newIdeas, changed modes of operation, and soan. See Gronroos, 1990, pp. 221-39.

22. See Orme-Johnson, 1988; for anapplication to organizations, see G usta vsson,1992.

23. See Kuhn. 1962, and his comments tohis critics in a later edition, 1970, pp. 143-69.See also Lindholm, 1980, pp. 21-64;

C H A P T E R


17/33


Torneborun, 1983, pp. 349-50; Arndt, 1985,pp. 14-16. The significance of personal valuesfor research Is discussed in relation toobjectivity by Myrdat, 1970.

24. Fleck, [1935] 1979:25. Masterman, l97D.26. Kuhn, 1970, "Postscript1969,' p. 181.27. Capra, 1988. The conflicting paradigms

of natural and social sciences and efforts tointegrate the two are also treated by Zukav,1979; Bahm, 1977, 1980; Capra, 1982,1984;and Davies, 1984,1987.

28. Argyris and Schon, 1978, p. 3,29. Tornebohm, 1976, p. 37.30. Arbnoretal.,I981,p.91.31. Polanyi, 1962.

32. Myrdal, 1970, p. 52; LtadhoLm, 1980, p,51; Mclander, 1983, p. 198.33. Argyris and Schon, 1974, pp. 6-7.34. Postman, 1985, p. 79.35. From a discussion on Habermas inKaileberg, 1972, pp. 121-31.36. MyrdaL 1970, pp. 52 and 58.37. von Wright, 1986.

Achieving Access to

Management Reality

Access has already been defined as theresearcher's Number 1 problem. Access referslo the ability to get close to the object ofstudy, to realty be able to flnd out what ishappening. Although access is an importantissue, the hurdles associated with it are ne-glected in the study of management. Ourconcern here will be with the opportunitiesavailable to the academic researcher andmanagement consultant to gain access to dataand information on particular areas of inquiry.The first part of the chapter presents my

reasons for discussing access. Next, access isdiscussed in relation to different roles.

Why Discuss Access7

This chapter will examine the followingquestions:

* How do researchers/consultants gainaccess to processes within companies?

* How satisfactory is their access?

Two episodes will be used to illustratethese questions.Over lunch, the following conversation took

place between myself and a senior marketingexecutive from a major multinationalcorporation based in Europe (E = executive; A= author).

E: Some type of professor is over hereagain from the USA wanting tointerview us about strategy. He had along questionnaire with him containingabout fifty different factors. He wants tofind out which factors are importantwhen we decide to enter a new market.

A: What are these factors?E: Just the usual sort of thingmarketpotential, competition, political stability, etcetera. A; What did you reply7E: Well, you know, you go through the list

and tickoff afew factors, show him somemarketing plans, and then send him offto meet a few other people. I have noidea what he gets out of it all.

A: You don't seem too enthusiastic about

his research.E: No, it doesn't realty work like that tnpractice, does it? Let me teli you whathappened when we decided to enter acountry in Latin America. Four of us gottogether over dinner in New York: a di-visional director, the vice president ofR&D, a department head, arid myself.We sat and chatted around the problembut just couldn't agree. In the end wehad to take a vote: two in favor, oneagainst, and one undecided. Well, thatwas it; in we went. Two men flew downon the following Thursday to check thelay of the land.

A: Did you tell the professor about all this?E: Of course not! He might have thoughtthat we're not serious.

This episode illustrates the difficulties ofgaining access; the method adopted by the


18/33


researcher did not succeed in getting thecompany to describe how it arrived at itsdecision.

The next episode consists of a conversation Ihad, in my capacity as a consultant, with aboard director of a company that was in themidst of a crisis. The board director not onlyrepresented ownership and power but alsohad a consulting role by giving advice

to management as well as to the governmentthat owned this particular company. Manyacademic researchers and professionalconsultants also take on positions as membersof the board of directors (D = director; A =author).

A: How do you find out about what is goingon in the company? D: 1 keep in touch withthem and visit them from time to time, A:When was the last time that you visitedthem? D: Well, I just haven't had the time

recently. It must be a few months ago.A: How long do your visitsusually last? D: About half aday.A: Well, then you will only have time to

meet the chief executive and possiblysome other senior manager?

D: Oh no, I get in touch with people atmany different levels, including tradeunionists.

A: Do you consider that you find out what isgoing on in the company?

D: Oh yes, all the important things. I feelthat I have established good contactswith both the chief executive and tradeunion representatives. They speak very

frankly to me.

Although I was involved with this companyon more or less a full-time basis, it took meseveral months to create a reasonably openworking relationship with the staff and to gainsufficient insight into the company's situation.

This contrasts with the experience of theboard director, who considered that theoccasional brief visit was sufficient to establishan open and informed relationship with thecompany. The director's access to thecompany was highly limited, and Ms level ofunderstanding of the company must becharacterized as inadequate.The possibilities of access for external board

directors received considerable attention inNorthern Europe during the late 1980s whenthe Fermenta scandal was revealed. Fermentawas an international producer of basepenicillin, a mature product that the company

allegedly handled more cost-effectively thanthe competition.

The company expanded rapidly and becamethe favorite of the press and the stock market.

The price of the stock rose to fantastic heightsuntil, first, an environmentalist and, later, anaccountant revealed that the assets andoperations of Fermenta were suspect. Thepresident of Fermenta had been able toconceal this for several years from the boardof directorsall reputable and experiencedbusiness executives from large companies.

The board did not have access to the actualdecision processes, nor did financial reportersmanage to reveal the actual state of affairs.1

I doubt that the director's/consultant'ssuperficial understanding is unique. As the

first episode illustrated, academic researchersare also highly susceptible to theseshortcomings.The difficulties of access are exemplified by

Harold Geneen, former CEO of theinternational conglomerate ITT. A questionthat kept bewildering the business world was,"How did the Japanese do it when theyconquered the world market for TV sets,radios, cars, and other products during the1970s and 1980s7" Geneen is critical of theway Japanese management has been inter-preted in the West: "American observers in

Japan could have Japanese customs explainedto them and could witness the group dis-cussions, the singing, cheering and smiling

faces in the factories. However I wonderwhether they saw where the management de-cisions were made."1 A Japanese'businessman told me that Western visitors to

Japan ask questions such as, "How do youmake decisions?" He claimed that the

Japanese find it difficult to put the subtledecision-making procedures into words,although they have "lived" them andunderstand how they work. Their answersmay therefore not be very illuminating,although at face value they may appearrevealing, visitors cannot get proper access tothe knowledge by asking straightforwardquestions.

It is often claimed that academic research in

management is directed toward practicalapplication, making it shortsighted, a victim offads and current topics directed to particularsituations and thus of little general Interest,that it has less autonomy because of itsdependence on business executives. In two


19/33


separate articles, Whitley and Warneryddiscuss the scientific status of academic

research in management. Whitley lists anumber of alleged problems of academicresearch in management:

The practical constraint that research access is oftencontrolled by gatekeepers who have a direct interestin the outcome, results in practically orientedmanagement research having rather less social andintellectual autonomy.... Practitioners' goals,perceptions and beliefs enter into the formulation ofresearch goals and evaluation criteria more directlythan in other areas and the availability of alternativeaudiences than scientific colleagues reduces thecollegiate control over research practices. Researchhere tends to be more related to current topics ofconcern among practitioners and focused onparticular situations rather than following collegiate

goals and looking for general social processes thatunderlie a range of phenomena.4

Warneryd, in a similar spirit, states thatscience should have "wider aims than justproviding one particular company with de-cision material for one particular situation. Inother words, it deals with the generation ofknowledge that is generalizable to some ex-tent at least."9

In my interpretation, the authors are actuallydiscussing the two different roles of academicresearcher and management consultant: theacademic researcher who tends to becomemore of a consultant but still poses as ascholar. But I find it equally problematic thatbecause of too superficial access to businesslife, researchers may not even notice topicsthat have been current for five, ten, or moreyears and that have momentum to last forseveral decades! Such an example is researchin the service sector service management,services marketing, service qualitythatstarted on a big scale in the 1980s, althoughbecause of the impact of services on oureconomies, it should have started twenty, oreven thirty, years earlier. Another example isquality management, in which the Westernworld was left behind by the Japanese; thequality revolution in Western industry startedduring the 1970s but was noticed by themajority of business schools only in

the 1990s. Bruce Henderson, founder of theBoston Consulting Group, claims that"consultants have greater opportunities forcreativity than either their clients oracademics. Clients are bound by their ownhistory, culture, and beliefs." He proceeds toemphasize the significance of close access tothe object under study: "Academics cancollect data, but they are not exposed enoughto the reality of real problems to visualizethem as system effects and generalizeconceptual insights from them."'

My own view can be summarized by thefollowing statements:

* It is imperative to lay bare thedistinguishing characteristics betweenresearch and consultancy.

* Researchers/consultants are frequentlyunable to gain sufficient access to theprocesses of change they wish to examineor influence. They seem to beinsufficiently aware of the problemscreated by restricted access.

* Therefore, there is a need to investigatewhether consultancy can contribute toacademic research and vice versa ratherthan to isolate academic research fromconsultancy'

Naturally, there wouldn't be much to discussif access was simply a matter of doingpersonal interviews or distributing ques-

tionnaires. In that case, the access curvemight be depicted as in Figure 2.1. The curveillustrates that a reasonable input of researchresources would give access to a large portionof data. It would then be straightforward andeconomical to be pareto optimalthat is, tofollow the 80/20 rule: 80% of the informationwould be obtained through a limited input ofeffort, whereas the remaining 20% wouldrequire huge resources. It is my contention,however, that access develops by leaps as afunction of the degree of sophistication of themethods of research and the amount of timeinvolved (see Figure 2.2). Hence, the actualchoice of research method and thecompetence of the researcher/consultant will

be of decisive importance.


20/33


ACCESSmi--

8i>...

20% INPUT

Figure 2,1. Continuous Development of Access

ACCESS

WS-r-

INFVT

Figure 2.2, Access Developed in Stages

The literature on scientific research andconsultancy seldom deals with the concept ofaccess per se. I have found only one book thatexplores the concept of access.8 It consists ofsome thirty descriptive case studies on thebasis of which readers may draw their ownconclusions. At the outset, the authors discussa number of systematic approaches to thequestion of access.* They say that access canbe viewed from the point of view of threeinterested parties: the researcher, the subjectof research, and the consumer

of the research." To evaluate the research,the consumer must be able to establish howaccess took place and be in a position to as-sess the respective strengths and weaknessesof the method adopted. The authors maintainthat the problem of access is often leftunresolved in research reports."The authors discuss three types of access;

access to money to finance a project, access

to the system (i.e., the organization to bestudied), and access to individuals in thesystem."l would also include the converse tothis final pointnamely, the access of thesystem and its individuals to theresearcher/consultant. People might want togive information but are not selected by theresearcher/consultant to do so.Taylor and Bogdan mention three types of

access: to organizations, to public and quasi-public settings, and to private settings.11Theyare primarily concerned with an overtapproach to physical access: how to beallowed to visit or stay in a setting. There isalso a covert" research approach that raisesseveral ethical problems. How do you sneakinto a setting where you are not wanted?Would it be OK to bug somebody's apartmentIn the name of science? Or as has been done,to study consumption patterns by in-vestigating people's garbage cans?

Physical access is usually a basic conditionfor research and consultancy, particularlywhen decision, implementation, and changeprocesses are studied. This Includes not onlyinitial access but also the problem of ensuringcontinued access." The next step is mentalaccess: how to understand what is actuallyhappening in the setting, how to get people todescribe it, how to observe it, or how toexperience it through the researcher's owninvolvement.

In the researcher's/consultant's efforts to

gain access, two types of figures areessential: gatekeepers and informants.'6

Gatekeepers are those who can open orclose the gate for the researcher/ consultant;informants, those who can provide valuableinformation and smooth the way to others,Barnes states that a "social scientist may wellfind that gaining access to the people that hewants to study maybe as difficult and lengthya process as gaining financial support for hiswork."" Investigative reporter Ake Ortmark1*vividly describes how he tried to get access tothe


21/33


industrialist and investor David Rockefellerafter having interviewed all other significantmembers of the Rockefeller family. He madeuse of introductions from influential people,made several personal visits to DavidRockefeller's office, and frequently tried tocontact him by phone. This went on for severalyears. The gatekeepers consisted of an armyof assistants, public relations officers, andsecretaries who protected Rockefeller.Ortmark was finally granted a thirty-minuteinterview with the man, who unfortunatelysaid nothing worth relating. Frequently,however, physical access does not pose anyproblem at all, and sometimes people evendrag you into the setting.You need to interview people, and they are

usually referred to as Interviewees,

respondents, or informants. But you also needinformants to help you locate people tointerview and observe. Without at least oneefficient and benevolent informant, you arelost in an unfamiliar setting.

In the rest of this chapter, I will examineaccess from the point of view of the differentroles that can be adopted by researchers andconsultants. These roles are closely related tothe research methodology.

Roles

Different roles are adopted to gain access tocompanies and their employees. There arethree possible avenues of approach: via theresearcher role, the consultant role, or the roleof employee (including board director andowner). Research may occur in all three roles:traditional academic researcher,researcher/consultant, and researcher /employee. The term traditional academic researcher

refers to researchers who belong to auniversity or similar institution and who areengaged In scientific research and usually alsoin teaching. Their principal frame of referenceis academic literature, recognized authoritiesin the discipline, professors and other.research colleagues, students, and the

experience they have gained from their ownresearch.

As stated in Chapter 1, the term consultantrefers to management consultants who areconcerned with the problems of running abusiness. Usually, they have attended abusiness school and/or studied the social ortechnical sciences, They sometimes haveseveral years of practical business experienceprior to taking on the role of consultant;sometimes they are hired by a consulting firmfresh out of college. Colleagues from theworld of consultancy and the employees ofclient firms represent the consultant's normalframe of reference.

University professors in business subjectsare also frequently involved in managementconsultancy. This is one means of increasingtheir income and of financing research, but italso allows the researcher to get firsthandexperience of companies. In addition, theconsultant role creates opportunities forresearch that are not normally available to thetraditional researcher.The roles of academic researcher, educator,

and management consultant are unclear. Forexample, Kenneth Blanchard, coauthor of thebest-selling The One Minute Manager, was

presented in three different positions in thebook:"

He presently serves as professor ofleadership and organizational behavior atthe University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

He has advised distinguished corporationsand agencies such as Chevron, Lockheed,AT&T, Holiday Inns, Young President'sAssociation

(YPA), the United States Armed Forces, andUNESCO (United Nations EducationalScientific and Cultural Organization).

In his role as management consultant, heteaches seminars across the country.

I have personally used most of the roles andmethods evaluated belowjust reading aboutthem is not adequate. If researchers/consultants do not proceed beyond the stageof secondhand understanding (see Chapter 3),their knowledge will be restricted to aconsideration of principles and will remain ata superficial level. The increased personalinsight gained by researchers/consultantsfrom


22/33


having applied a method to a number ofparticular cases will allow them to form a more

balanced judgment. The methods recommended to thetraditional academic researcherin businessschools embrace desk research of existingwritten material together with field studies inwhich survey techniques are deployed toacquire empirical data. The surveys usequestionnaires and interviews and statistical,quantitative processing of data. Preferably,the researcher should start out with a set ofhypotheses, which are tested by means of theempirical data.

It is my belief that these methods can beused only to complement the analysis ofprocesses within a company. If each method isused on its own, processes of decision making,

implementation, and change will tend to beexamined in a far too fragmented andmechanistic manner, which will scarcelyinform the reader and indeed may only lead tomisunderstandings. These methods maybeused to analyze well-structured fragments ofproblemsbut strategic changes orreorganizations do not fall into this category.Among the methods available to thetraditional researcher, qualitative (informal)interviews and observation provide the bestopportunities for the study of processes. Theyhave been only partially accepted as scientificmethods in management, although they aremeeting with increasing sympathy. A step thatwill take the researcher/consultant still farther

is the application ot participant observation,the major access method used byanthropologists. The most advanced step isaction research/action science. These qualita-tive methods will be discussed later on.

Let me now examine more closely thevarious roles that may be adopted byresearchers and consultants and start byusing the iceberg metaphor(Figure2.3).Aniceberg is known to show only10% to 15% of its mass above the water'ssurface. Are researchers/consultantscomfortable with a look at that percentage ofthe company that shows when watched fromabove (the helicopter view of economists)? Orare they satisfied with the access gainedthrough questionnaires and personalinterviews with employeesthe mostcommon survey techniques used in the socialscienceswhere they at least set foot on theiceberg, if only on Its top? Or should they aimat a close-up of the remaining 85% to 90%

by getting under the surface, mobilizing moreresources, and getting more involved? The

answer is easy, but the traditions andmethods of access go for the superficial part,leaving the rest as "not amenable forresearch." The combined researcher/consultant may

adopt several different roles and methods ofapproach. One essential distinction is betweenthe expert consultant and the processconsultant." The expert consultant is oftendescribed by means of the old doctor-patientmodel11 according to which the doctor, thealmighty expert, tells the ignorant patientwhich pill to take. In the same spirit,

the expert researcher/consultant diagnoseswhat is wrong and prescribes a therapy.Schein says that "this model is fraught withdifficulties."11 One difficulty is the reluctanceof people to give access to the information

Figure 2.3. The IcebergMetaphor


23/33


that the researcher/consultant needs.Moreover, the information tends to bedistorted. Finally, clients sometimes do notbelieve the researcher's/ consultant'sdiagnosis and refuse to accept theprescription, or it may be the other wayaround: They do whatever the expert sayswithout actively involving themselves andcontributing to the process. It is a linear, one-way relationship. This contrasts with process consultation in

which the client enters an interactiverelationship with the researcher/consultant.

The latter becomes the midwife, helping theclient to deliver a baby. The processconsultant attempts to release the client's ownresources through self-diagnosis and self-intervention. The researcher / consultant isreferred to as an interventionist or facilitator.

This approach is based on the assumption thatthe resources to take action and implementchange exist within the client's organization.'*It is even questioned whether theresearcher's/consultant's expertise in one orseveral management functions may be at alldesirable. Schein expresses as his opinion that

the process consultant may or may not be expert in

solving the particular problem .., such expertise isJess relevant than we the skills of involving the clientin self-diagnosis HI permitted myself to becameinterested in a particular management problem insales, marketing, or production, I would be switchingroles from that of process consultant to that of expertresource. Once I have become an expert resource, Ifind I lose my effectiveness as a process consultant."

In my view these roles are not necessarilycontradictory,25rather, one of them may carrymore weight than the other in a specificsituation. Consequently, my analysis of therole of the researcher/ consultant chooses adifferent point of departure. After severalattempts, I have chosen to define seven

different roles that cover the essential aspectsof research and consultancy. Each role


24/33


has a discriminating core, but the boundariesbetween the roles are by no means clear, andthere is no universal agreement on theircontent.16 The roles will be examined inrelation to the methods used by the academicresearcher and management consultant (see

Table 2.1).The role ofanalystis the traditional research

role. Researchers/consultants do not usuallyhave particularly good access to a strategic ororganizational process, although they mayhave access to essential documents, bothofficial and classified information.

During project1

work, theresearcher/consultant will come into contactwith one or several groups: those who workwith the task and those who act in referenceor steering committees. In this way, he or shewill get to know many of the company'semployees and will, to a certain extent, beable to see them interact. The researcher/consultant gets closer access both to the issueat hand and to the social setting. Work on theproject will sometimes be formalized, and itmay be difficult to get beneath the surface.

The researcher/consultant runs the risk ofadopting a tactical, pliable approachforexample, avoiding sensitive questions.

Work as a catalyst or therapistattempts to

fulfill the role of adviser and listenerthe"wise men and women"whose merepresence may have a magic effect. They maybe able to establish a close and influentialrelationship with one or several employees.Catalyst is a chemical term that denotes asubstance that influences a process withoutbeing affected by it. The use of the term todescribe the role played by theresearcher/consultant in a process of changeis therefore somewhat misleading in the sensethat the latter also wish to develop their ownabilities and thereby change.The organizational development (OD)

approach12 uses scientific methods andresults, primarily from the behavioral sciences,to promote development processes inorganizations. Operating within the frameworkof psychology, psychiatry, sociology, and

1this chapter, the termprojectwill also be used In a generalsense to denote all types of research or consultant projects.

2this chapter, the termprojectwill also be used In a generalsense to denote all types of research or consultant projects.

Achieving Access to

Management Reality 39 TABLE 2.1

Characterization of Researcher/ Consultant

Roles

CfinrtTcferiitics

Intellectual work; performed byone or a small group of individuals;

duration could range from verybrief to several years; occasionalvisits to the company; tends tomake frequent visits to othergroupse.g., customers andsuppliers; considerable desk workinvolved; written report essential.Intellectual work; group work;formalized list of participants andtimes of meeting; duration ofproject ranges from a couple ofmonths to several years;occasional or frequent visits to thecompany; frequent presentationsat meetings; written memos;presentation of final written reportoccasionally im. portanl.Intellectual work but Withconsiderable emphasis on human

relationships and emotional states;based on experience andJudgment; discussions with one ora few Individuals; may compriseanything from a few hours to along-term assignment carried outat the company.Behavioral science approach inwhich knowledge of humanrelationships and emotional statesis combined with intellectualanalyses; avoidance of expertadvice; assignments often spreadover time; occasional or frequentvisits to the company; time oftenspent on training anddevelopment sessions.Assignments may comprise all oronly some of the above roles; in

addition, provision of expertrecommendations thai in practicemay be interpreted as mandatory;strongly action oriented; assumesactive participation for a period ofseveral months up to a couple ofyears; regular periods of residenceat the company.Position of denned legal statusand responsibility; works on behalfof both shareholders and companymanagement; acts as a combinedcatalyst and decision maker; oftenholds the position for many yearsbut is active on only a fewoccasions per annum.Holds line management or staffposition In a company; usually fora period of six months to two

yearK may comprise all of theabove roles; risk of becoming tieddown by routine work; resident atthe company.

Analyst

Project

participa

Catalyst

/

ODConsultant/Interventionis

t/ Clinician

Change

Externalboard

Managemen

t-for-hire


25/33


social psychology, a large part of the work willbe concerned with individual or groupexercises involving human relationships andemotions that are of central importance to theprocesses under investigation. It involves

conflict resolution and training to improvecooperation and personality development.Although the application of behavioral sciencemethodology to business processesrepresents the point of departure for ODstudies, they may also contain elements ofexpert advice. Sometimes researchers/con-sultants may be expected to adhere strictly tothe role of process consultant.Researchers/consultants may be consideredto have fallen into "a major trap" if they usetheir position to provide expert advice "Therole of the behavioral researcher and theprocess consultant together with thepossibility of integrating these roles has beenanalyzed at length by the interventionistschool1'

In OD approaches, I also include clinicalresearch and clinical consultancy, which arebasedon behavioral sciences and medicine,primarily clinical psychology.311 Only anexperienced researcher/ consultant can usethis approach because clinical judgment isneeded that, according to Calder, is "ananalytic skill of somewhat nebulousdimensions."" He further states that theclinical approach "is basically an art. As is themedical model in general, it is widely held tobe scientific because clinical judgement issupposed to take scientifically valid theory asa starting point and as a problem-solvingframework." One application of the clinicalmodel is motivational research, which at one

time was heavily in vOgueand deeplycontroversialamong market researchers." Itwas unabashedly speculative and creativeand, consequently, deeply controversialTo learn the OD approach, it is necessary for

researchers/consultants actually to participatein the process themselves. This type of insightcannot be gained from a written report orfrom its presentation at a meeting.Consequently, it is also vital that the realdecision makers participate in the process.What actually appears to take place is thefollowing:

* A limited number of people in a company understandwhat needs to be done. It is generally recognized in

quality

management that those who are closest to aproblem are also those who are best suited toidentify the problem and suggest solutions." Thosewho are close to a problem can be foundeverywhere in an organization, on the plant floor aswell as in top management. Frequently, those whohave the insight lack the power to make decisions(e.g., the members of a development team or callcenter employees), whereas those who have theauthority lack the insight (e.g., members of theboard who are not close enough to "where theaction is").

* The companys senior management must ensure

that new institutional arrangements necessary forthe actual implementation of change have beenintroduced; it may be a new business concept, anew organization, or a new system of financialcontrol. Employees then have to decide whether toadjust to the changes or to leave the company.

* The expert advice of externalresearchers/consultants who are accustomed todealing with processes maybe required to assistthose with the executive responsibility for both thedecisions to be made and the implementation ofchange.

It is quite obvious that the behavioralscience approaches described above are quitedifferent from the original expert research

and expert consultancy approaches inmanagement. The expert was inspired by F.W. Taylor and others to introduce "scientificmanagement"31 to clients where, for example,the focus was on work study that aimed toenhance productivity in the factory. Workstudy is a highly structured, quantitativemethod based on detailed analysis andmeasurement of manufacturing procedures todiscover the single best way for the worker tocarry out an operation. Modern applications ofthe same thinking are the highly successfulfranchise operations foundin fast-foodrestaurants and retailing, such as McDonald'sand 7-EIeven. These operations are designedin detail around well-tested success formulas

that must be strictly adhered to by eachoutlet; no drifting allowed. In this

Achieving Access to Management Reality 25


26/33


way, it is possible to open restaurants andstores in new locations at a fast pace; growthis based on the multiplication of the exactsame concept over and over again,

Whereas the scientific managementapproach stems from engineering, anotherexpert tradition originates in accounting. Thelatter type of experts master the balancesheet; the profit and loss statement; theprocedures and systems of finance,accounting, and bookkeeping; and thetechniques for product cost calculations. Intheir view, either one or several of theconcepts of cost, revenue, capital, and profitsis central to business and management.

Today, this expert knowledge is challenged bya broader approachthe balanced scorecardwhich also includes the precursors of futurefinancial success. Among these are the valueof customers, employees, internal procedures,and the potential to improve and innovate;these are increasingly referred to as intel-lectual capital.^ Behavioral scientists areusually innocents in the realm of theseexperts.

In 1970, Argyris" claimed that very little was

known about the effectiveness ofmanagement consultants and researchers. Hetalked about the "dry rot" that spreadthroughout organizations in the shape ofdefensive actions, apathy, indifference, nonin-volvement, and mistrust, largely stimulatedby the expert approach and the lack ofcompassion for human response. Ten yearslater, we were hit by Japanese management"and the "excellence wave" where theconcerted, dynamic forces of finance,engineering, computers, and humanresources are in focus. In this spirit, Petersand Waterman" introduced the McKinsey 7-5framework of management, the "happyatom," where strategy, structure, systems,

skills, leadership style, staff, and sharedvalues together created excellence. Thisframework is an effort to integrate the hu-manistic and technocratic dimensions of

corporate life, and leads us to the role ofchange agent."

A change agent may be involved in all ofthe above roles: analyst, project participant,catalyst, and interventionist. But the actual

emphasis given to the various roles will varyfrom project to project. The change agent is acontingent consultant."

The change agent is evaluated by theresults caused by change, not by methods. Tobring about change, it is essential that re-searchers/consultants actually take part in thedecisions and the implementation of changeand do not limit their participation to thepreparation of analytical material. It is myimpression that the analytical work may wellbe the simpler task. The tough problemsactually start once decisions have been madeand the company organization is slow to carrythe process forward; decisions are watereddown and delays occur. If the entire processof change is viewed as three more or lessparallel subprocessesanalysis, decision,implementationit can be seen that nosignificant change will actually take placeuntil the final stage is completed. Hence, thechange agent ought to be able to participatein all of the constituent parts of this process. The categorization of the different

researcher/consultant roles is somewhatlacking in precision because the rolessometimes overlap. This may be illustrated bythe following example from publicadministration:

An analyst is also able to be more activelyengaged in creating events.. ..Carrying outan interview, sending out a questionnaire,arranging a meeting, etc. are examples ofsuch intervention. Thus there is a movingscale along which the degree of intervention becomes increasingly marked;for example, the arrangement of a seminarto be attended by individuals from differentdepartments within an organization is

Achieving Access to Management Reality 26


27/33


subject to some degree of internal conflict.Many of the research methods used by so-called process consultants are of this type.Participation in the normal processes ofwork is also an important element inprocess consultancy. For example, at

meetings during which certain decisions willbe made, the consultant

on EVERT_Qualitative Methods in Management Research

Documents

Transcript of on EVERT_Qualitative Methods in Management Research