Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research

Reviews / Votes

`The editors of this text will be well known to readers of "TOP". However, reviewing their text is not a matter of tact or diplomacy - it is a distinct pleasure. The text compliments Sage's series on methodology quite brilliantly. The editors have brought together twelve contributions together with their own overview, who write with clarity and distinction about central qualitative methodologies. Each contribution has been organised so as to provide clear exposition, useful evaluative comment and fully supportive citation. All of the contributions are authoritative and come from researchers who are well-practised and knowledgeable.... The book sets out to raise the profile of qualitative methods within organisational research. It deserves every success in this endeavour. The editor's own chapter provides scholarly justification for the qualitative approach.... Catherine Cassell and Gillian Symons have given us back a more complete history of our discipline. I look forward to qualitative methods taking their rightful place in our future - and to the next volume in what promises to become a series in its own right' - The Occupational Psychologist



`The range of techniques and frameworks described in the book moves well beyond the traditional "big three" qualitative methods - interviews, participant observation/ethnography and document analysis. It includes chapters on such relatively new areas as Discourse Analysis, Twenty Statements Tests,Repertory Grids, Stakeholder Analysis and Intervention Research to name but a few. This gives the reader an immediate impression of an emerging plurality of methodologies rather than a tradition of tried and tested techniques and many of the chapters openly encourage the reader to extend the method and offer suggestions for its development. At the same time the book illustrates the wide range of issues and areas of organizational behaviour where qualitative methods have been successfully applied. The methods outlined have been used in health care environments, government bureaucracies, trade union organizations, the retail trade, engineering firms and multinational corporations. One of the central themes emerging from the book is the inherent pragmatism and flexibility of qualitative research.... An equally strong theme to emerge from the book is the complementary nature of many qualitative research methods.... The book illustrates a multitude of different combinations - participant observation being enriched by interviews and document analysis, case studies involving interviews and participant observation, discourse analysis based on group interviews, analysis of company documentation used as a preliminary for other research methods, stakeholder analysis used in combination with questionnaires and direct observation and intervention techniques used to supplement other methods. These examples not only illustrate the successful mixing of different research methods but also the array of choices available to the researcher.... this book will undoubtedly raise the profile of qualitative research and should be essential reading for anyone embarking on organizational research' - Management Learning