Workplace ethnography

Social Reform Era (1880s-1920s)

Mass industrialization and transition to urban life in America in the early 20th century increased the social reformist need to understand changing work conditions. They wanted to understand these changes to not only improve them, but reduce the burden of these conditions on society at this time. Reformers were inspired by Danish-American journalist Jacob Riis whose work exposed living conditions in the New York City slums in the late 19th century, influencing the first actionable New York legislation to combat dangerous tenement conditions. Social reformists took a page out of Riis's book and targeted studying the careers of the lower- and middle-classes.

Ethnographers at this time did not always have traditional, or any, training in social science methodologies as modern ethnographers do. These early ethnographers included novelists, sociologists, economists, schoolteachers, and steel mill workers to name a few, and were highly motivated by their desire to make change and help their communities. Many of these amateur ethnographers had only a passing knowledge of behavioral science. Even so, the field was central to the history of workplace ethnography, as the applied behavioral sciences were taking shape during this period.

As workplace ethnography and behavioral sciences were emerging and evolving, ethnographers and psychologists began to interact. Whiting Williams wrote a book titled What's on the Worker's Mind? (1920), depicting his experiences working in a steel mill. He came to a series of conclusions, many of which included what he believed to be the causes of poor morale in the workplace. He believed poor, harsh, and indifferent management was a hardship for foremen in his line of work. Although Williams lacked the formal training of a social scientist, he was a key player in the emergence of behavioral sciences and was revered by faculty across many colleges. He was regularly invited to guest lecture at universities on his work.

Human Relations Era (1920s-1940s)

In the mid 1920s, the human relations movement started picking up speed. Major contributions from Harvard researcher Elton Mayo, often referred to as the "father of human relations," and collaborator Fritz Roethlisberger marked a new era for workplace ethnography. They developed the Human Relations Theory while studying conditions at the Western Electric Hawthorne plant near Chicago. This theory outlined the idea that organizations are not only technical systems, but social systems as well. The focus shifted to defining workers as social beings whose human characteristics influence productivity within the workplace. Their studies were completed in 4 phases, the most notable were the Interview program and the Bank Wiring Observational Room study.

During the Interview program study, Mayo and Roethlisberger conducted around 21,000 employee interviews, shifting the focus from direct questions to an open expression format. This shift was found to encourage employees to speak freely during their interviews. Major findings concluded a common tie between each employee was the shared value of employee-generated connections and friendships. Although the 1930s brought the Great Depression and mass layoffs at the Hawthorne plant, halting progress for the study, Mayo continued to lecture on his findings, and Harvard Business School published articles on the studies to keep their research in the public eye.

Alternatively, W. Lloyd Warner, who helped with the initial studies of the Hawthorne plant, designed the final phase of the Hawthorne study called the Bank Wiring Observational Room. It also examined workplace productivity, but specifically the influence of social and influential norms. This study differed in Mayo's technique of individual interviews by covertly observing the subjects in a group setting.

Industrial Sociology Era (1940s-1960s)

Mid-century workplace ethnography was inspired by the human relations movement. Social anthropologists, like William Foote Whyte, influenced a new method of observation called participant observation. Participant observation is a form of research where the observer completely immerses themselves in a group, organization, area, etc. and studies them from an insider perspective. This form of observation was pioneered in his book Street Corner Society, where Whyte spent over three years studying the relationships between gang members and law enforcement in Boston's North End. He discovered that these groups have an informal hierarchy that shapes their behavior. Even though Whyte observed a neighborhood, rather than a workplace, he set a precedent for using participant observation as a methodology. He can be quoted naming social research in the industrial era as being "unfamiliar and risky activity to most management people."

Similarly, Donald Francis Roy, studied informal group behavior, specifically workplace interactions through the union campaigns of groups like the Textile Workers Union of America. One of Roy's best-known articles is a paper entitled Banana Time published in Human Organization in 1959. Banana Time has become one of the most highly cited ethnographic studies papers in organizations and industrial sociology. Banana Time describes Roy's experience working in a factory. Whyte named Roy as one of the richest collectors of data of factory life for his extensive and unfiltered findings.

Gender and Emotional Studies Era (1960s-1980s)

The late 1960s through the 1980s marked the start of anthropological studies in gender, inspired by the women's movement. Ethnographers began focusing on the systematic differences of men and women in the workplace. Feminist anthropology hit its stride during the second-wave feminist movement. Margaret Mead was a key player in influencing feminist anthropology through her fieldwork in the South Pacific that focused on gender and sexuality in the late 1920s.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter was a key contributor to this new era of workplace ethnography, focusing multiple books and papers on cultural and social issues in the workplace. In her book, Men and Women of the Corporation (1977), she explored the organizational factors in the workplace that either lead women to success or influence disadvantages for women, specifically. She explored a concept she called tokenism, which is the minimal effort of corporations, in this case, to include a minority. She studied a large U.S. corporation she names "Indsco" and identified how women's behavior at work was shaped by the organizational structure, not by supposed gender traits. She primarily used observational ethnography and interviewing as her methodology.

Additionally, some studies focused specifically on women's emotions. Arlie Hochschild was a leading researcher over "emotional labor." She coined this term in her book, The Managed Heart (1979), where she defined emotional labor as manipulating your feelings to fit the job you're being paid for. She studies a variety of employees, including flight attendants, servers, and bill collectors, conducting in-depth interviews to understand the emotions experienced and how the employees managed though emotions. Hochschild then conducted participant observation to understand how these companies screened for emotional regulation, as well as how the employees manipulated their own feelings to profit the company. Hochschild's methodology was unique and groundbreaking because it connected large-picture economic corporations with small-picture emotional experiences, which lead to a distinguishing between "surface acting" and "deep acting," as explained in her book.

Corporate Ethnography Era (1980s-2000s)

In the mid-1990s, Gideon Kunda published Engineering Culture, a study of a rapidly-growing, high-tech corporation. Kunda's book was a exposition on the indoctrination of the firm's members which assisted in the growth of the company. He identified choreographed leader messages and internal publications which lent to the indoctrinating culture. Kunda's methods included immersing himself in the engineering division of the high-tech corporation, observing every interaction: meetings, individual conversations, and information rituals and routines. He also conducted open-ended interviews across the corporation, capturing levels of corporate experiences. His approach uncovered a concept called "normative control" whch is a managerial strategy where a company tries to align employees in various ways with their corporate goals.

EPIC, or Ethnographic Praxis in Industry, emerged during this era as a non-profit organization dedicated to organizational ethnography. It was founded by social scientists Ken Anderson and Tracey Lovejoy in anticipation of the constantly evolving technology, culture, and organizational trends. Members meet yearly to develop frameworks for technologies grounded in lived experiences and understanding, evaluate how technology and organizations are shaping work, identity, and society, and connect collaborators and peers. They publish studies from their conference presenters yearly in an effort to establish corporate ethnography in the real world. It has helped to also establish ethnographers in the corporate world. They have set a standard to include ethnographers in the corporate hierarchy instead of hiring out consultants.

Digital Ethnography Era (2000s-now)

The challenge of the 2000s and on is the widespread use of the internet and how to conduct online fieldwork. Christine Hine is a primary contributor to the new studies of digital ethnography. Her book, Virtual Ethnography (2000), develops a new methodology for approaching ethnography of the Internet. Her methods included primarily fieldwork: monitoring web activity and email interviewing. Hine claims that to effectively complete ethnography in a digital space, the internet must be treated as culture and a cultural artifact.

Additionally, Laura Robinson and Jeremey Schulz introduced the concept of Cyberethnography in their article "New Avenues for Sociological Inquiry: Evolving Forms of Ethnographic Practice" (2009), which describes a new shift to treat digital spaces as legitimate social fields. They describe how traditional methods such as fieldwork and participant observation need to be rethought to adapt to a digital space without a physical presence.

Robert Kozinets discusses the idea of Netnography with a book by the same name. It is defined as the study of online cultures and communities as a social phenomena, not an isolated content source. He argues that online groups should not be considered fixed communities, but a loose association to the defined group. Kozinets uses the book to offer a practical guide for the digital era of ethnography. He combines participant observation within online groups, online data, interviews, and research reflection to analyze social networks and data analytics.

In-Person Workplace Ethnography

In-person workplace ethnography relies heavily on participant observation and interview modes to research company values and employee interactions. Researchers claim that employers with in-person workers can claim authority over aspects of their employee’s lives, including appearance, moods, demeanors, attitudes, etc. For example, this could apply to workplaces who interact frequently with a customer base.

Hybrid Workplace Ethnography

Hybrid workplace ethnography is an extension of in-person ethnography, but relies on multi-sited observation. A hybrid work format is a new-age work schedule where people are able to work partially in-office and partially at home. Ethnographic research in a hybrid model would include a combination of participant observation, in an office setting as well as a home office setting, and interview modes, virtual and in-person.

Virtual/Online Workplace Ethnography

Online workplace ethnography is a new-age form of research. As a whole, it's more difficult for ethnographers to track data collection modes because they span across media types. Researchers conduct observations and interviews, and collect participant diaries virtually. Discussions are held in online meetings, virtual chat rooms, or through email, which is only a small window into the work community, comparatively.

Validity

A constant criticism of ethnography is that observer effects, or research effects or reactivity, bias and invalidate any ethnographic research findings. Monahan & Fisher, in their article, “Benefits of ‘Observer Effects," argue that although observer effects can define data as biased, it's unavoidable and can be considered a strength of the research. While the main critique is that observer effects leads to staged performances by informants, this behavior could be considered a valuable addition to any study.

A good example of critiques on validity is the Hawthorne effect. The original study was based around changing the amount of light at the Hawthorne Works factory and how it impacted working conditions. The issue of constant attention on the workers influenced increased productivity instead of changes in working practices.

Ethics and consent

Ethics in Workplace Ethnography can be considered consent for individual interviews or access for the site. These sites are often formal institutions with their own rules and hierarchy, and ethnographers are often studying multiple levels of the organization. An example of this is Plankey-Videla's fieldwork at a Mexican garment firm. She argues that consent should be treated as an ongoing process, not a one-time ask because consent often comes from management. Although covert research could avoid consent, gatekeeper permission and professional associations would find issue with it, violating the ethics of the study.

Access to a workplace argued as a conflict of interest, creating asymmetry between the researcher and the gatekeepers. Stefan, Guerci & Toraldo (2024), in the article, “Navigating political minefields,” define gatekeepers as those who control access to resources and shape any possibilities for action by controlling how researchers and participants meet. They note that access negotiations with gatekeepers can shape research agendas because gatekeepers hold power over if the research takes place. To avoid skewed results and ease in researching, ethnographers will need to establish a trusting relationship with gatekeepers to maintain access to their research pool.