‘Ethnography’, a form of anthropology, based on the Greek of people, ethnos, and written account, graphein, is used to examine practice from the perspective of those intimately involved in day-to-day activities. It usually involves research or fieldwork in which those carrying out the study are directly involved in observation and/or participation. Organisational ethnography explicitly focuses on the culture of the subject(s) engaged in the research study and, through a variety of techniques, surfaces knowledge based on the views held by these people.

Importantly, those who use organisational ethnography must recognise the importance of communication which occurs between participants in any setting who are able to articulate what they believe goes on and the rationale for action. It has the potential to reveal and examine intricacies, challenges, tensions, and choices made in the daily lives of those in organizations. As such, and by eliciting accounts from individuals, it is possible to more fully appreciate the complexities which exist but, crucially, are frequently ignored by researchers as being unimportant or inconsequential. In better understanding the nature of organisational problems, it becomes possible to derive solutions more potentially likely to be successful.

The important skill for a researcher using ethnography to study organisations is that they are aware of their role in being able to conduct their role honestly by, though as much as possible being‘value neutral’– not offering judgment– being explicitly dedicated to offering faithful accounts. This requires interviewing subjects in their‘naturalistic’ settings and probing them on their interpretations and opinions. In generating data from their subjects, organisational ethnographers are expected to accept all explanations and accounts offered as being valuable. Researchers may almost seem to engage in a naive sense of wonder about everything and anything which participants offer in their accounts. Through the lens of such reflexive accounts, the researcher is responsible got generating data, developing interpretations, and representing findings based upon the quest to provide an interplay between empirical explanation and theory.

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