Phenomenology‐Based Ethnography for Management Studies and Organizational Analysis
| Date | 01 January 2019 |
| Author | Dirk vom Lehn |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12309 |
| Published date | 01 January 2019 |
British Journal of Management, Vol. 30, 188–202 (2019)
DOI: 10.1111/1467-8551.12309
Methodology Corner
Phenomenology-Based Ethnography for
Management Studies and Organizational
Analysis
Dirk vom Lehn
King’s Business School, King’s College London, Bush House, 30 Aldwych, London WC2B 4BG, UK
Corresponding author email: dirk.vom_lehn@kcl.ac.uk
This paper introduces phenomenology-based ethnography as a novel ethnographic ap-
proach for research in management studies and organizational analysis and describes
three methods that have been developedfrom this approach: life-world analytical ethnog-
raphy,focused ethnography and go-along ethnography. Phenomenology-based ethnogra-
phy has emerged from developments in sociology that draw on ‘social phenomenology’
developed by Alfred Sch¨
utz. These developments involvethe use of phenomenology-based
ethnographic methods that shift the focus of research onto participants’ subjectiveexpe-
riences of the field further than has been required by other ethnographic approaches.This
paper uses a set of dimensions that allow a comparison of these phenomenology-based
methods’ aims, techniques of data collection and analysis, and required eort. These three
methods are then compared with current ethnographicmethods used in organizational re-
search and management studies. The paper concludes with a discussion that explores and
addresses the critique of how phenomenology-based ethnography conceives the relation-
ship between the researcher and the research subject.
Introduction
Organizational ethnography is continually subject
to innovation in methodology. Such innovations
are designed to support the investigation of the
increasing complexity and fragmentation of the
workplace (Smets et al., 2014), of workers’ spatial
practices (Raulet-Croset and Borzeix, 2014) and
of people’s subjective experiences of organizations
(Doloriert and Sambrook, 2012). They largely
use methods derived from traditional ethnography
that require researchers to immerse themselves in
the field under scrutiny (Emerson, Fretzand Shaw,
2011). In traditional ethnography, immersion in
the field can be achieved in dierent ways, as sug-
gested by Adler and Adler (1987) in their discus-
sion of ‘membership roles in field research’.
Traditional ethnography in management stud-
ies and organizational research often investigates
the functioning of organizations. A related body
of research explores managers’ and organizational
members’ subjective experiences of management
practice and organizations. Yet,as suggested by in-
stitutional theorists like Suddaby (2010), a greater
number of studies concerned with the actors’ sub-
jective experience could enrich research in our
disciplines. A similar argument has already been
made, more than three decades ago by Sanders
(1982), who suggested that phenomenological ap-
proaches oer innovative methods to uncover or-
ganizational members’ subjective experience of or-
ganizations and institutions. Her introduction of
phenomenology into management studies has re-
cently been revived by Gill (2014) and others (cf.
Anosike, Ehrich and Ahmed, 2012; Fitzgerald and
Howe-Walsh, 2008; Murtagh, Lopes and Lyons,
2011). This paper adds to the growing interest
in phenomenology in management studies and
C2018 British Academy of Management. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4
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