Navigating political minefields
Applying Frames of Reference of the Employment Relation to Access Negotiations to Workplace Ethnographies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7316336 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jordy Stefan (0000-0002-7738-7376), Alison Hirst (0000-0001-9458-7428), Marco Guerci (0000-0002-4739-3644), Maria Laura Toraldo (0000-0002-6362-860X) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 290-310 |
| Publication date | 2024-05-08 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Organizational Ethnography (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2046-6749 • E-ISSN: 2046-6757 |
| Publisher | Emerald Publishing Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1108/joe-01-2023-0005 |
| OpenAlex | W4396737470 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 59 |
Purpose This paper aims to help workplace ethnographers navigate and reflect on primary access negotiations by scrutinising two of the concepts mentioned in the call for papers on this special issue: workplace relations and tensions. We introduce the frames of reference (FoRs) concept as used in the field of employment relations to the ethnographic community. We propose that the implicit frames of gatekeeper and researcher influence what they deem interesting for research, thus influencing the content of access negotiations. Moreover, we propose that tensions typically emerge when gatekeepers and ethnographers do not share the same frame of the employment relationship (ER). Design/methodology/approach We explore the ER through Fox’s (1966, 1974) framework, taking inspiration from Budd et al. (2022), who applied FoRs to employer–employee relations. We adapt the framework to the relationships between workplace ethnographers and gatekeepers by theorising the characteristics of ideal types of gatekeepers and workplace ethnographers and exploring possible implications for when they meet in access negotiations. We distil lessons learnt from previous research by drawing on illustrative examples from the literature to suggest strategies for interacting with gatekeepers when tensions emerge, providing a pragmatic application of our contribution. Findings Assuming that their FoR of the ER contributes to what they find to be of practical relevance/academic interest, we suggest that a (mis)match of gatekeepers’ and workplace ethnographers’ FoRs can lead to tensions between workplace ethnographers and gatekeepers, either remaining latent or becoming salient. We propose three possible strategies as to how to navigate these tensions during primary access negotiations. Originality/value Whilst previous research has mainly focused on the ethnographer as an individual who needs to give gatekeepers a reassuring and enticing impression, we discuss how an important structural factor, an organisation’s ER setup, may influence access. We thus bring an important yet hitherto neglected aspect of organisational life into the debate on the pragmatic realities of ethnography, contributing to the discussion of how to navigate the tension between the “practical” need to convince gatekeepers and the need to fulfil one’s own standards of rigorous research and ethics
Data mining · Ethnography · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Relation (database · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Computer Science · Education, sociology, and vocational training · Gender Studies · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics
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| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |