Doing Ethnography in a Paranoid Organization: An Autoethnographic Account

Sanne Frandsen

    Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningpeer review

    Abstract

    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine what we can learn from an autoethnographical approach about public administration. In this context it presents and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of autoethnography.
    Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a case study of E-rail, a European national rail service subject to extensive negative press coverage. The autoethnographic accounts, based on interviews, observations, phone calls, e-mails, and other informal interactions with the organizational members, highlight the researcher’s entry to and exit of the organization.
    Findings – The paper mobilizes fieldwork access negotiation and trust building with participants as empirical material in its own right, arguing that challenges involving “being in the field” should be explored to provide new types of knowledge about the organizational phenomenon under study – in this case the rise of organizational paranoia.
    Originality/value – This paper uses autoethnography, which is rare in public administration studies, and discusses the distinct features of autoethnography as an ethnographic approach to public organizations. It argues that autoethnographic accounts of fieldwork relationship highlight and challenge the boundaries of the kind of research questions we might ask – and the kind of answers we might provide – about public administration.
    OriginalsprogEngelsk
    TidsskriftJournal of Organizational Ethnography
    Vol/bind4
    Udgave nummer2
    Sider (fra-til)162-176
    Antal sider15
    ISSN2046-6749
    DOI
    StatusUdgivet - 2015

    Emneord

    • Autoethnography
    • Organizational ethnography
    • Paranoia
    • Public administration
    • Ticket inspectors

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