Temporal Practices: Time and Ethnographic Research in Changing
Organizations
By Patrick Dawson
Paper accepted for the Journal of Organizational Ethnography 2014
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Temporal Practices: Time and Ethnographic Research in Changing
Organizations
By Patrick Dawson
Time and temporality in ethnographic research raise a number of dilemmas that
come to the fore when the philosophical assumptions of process studies come faceto-face with the practical realities of engaging in extended case study research.
Conventional notions of time (chronological objective time) are often used in the
design and planning of ethnographic research and in aligning activities with the
requirements and needs of formal funding bodies. In collecting data and
maintaining observation notes on incidents and key turning points, event time
provides a useful organising frame for locating and analysing data. The research
follows a natural flow of time from the beginning of a study to the final write-up of
results that can be marked by dates on a calendar. There is an intuitive
understanding that tomorrow will always be different from yesterday and that there
is an inevitability of moving forward along what has been termed as the arrow of
time. This common and intuitive knowledge on the passage of time presents an
image of moving forward into an ever changeable future in which we can never go
back into a past that has already occurred.
Conceptually however, this linear notion of time does not accommodate a more
process-oriented view of the world in which individuals and groups experience and
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make sense of change in organizations. Fluidity, flux and movement not only in
forward dynamic momentum but also in the way in which the past is re-presented in
the present to shape a future that has yet to happen. The recall of the past is rarely
uncontentious with different groups and individuals reinterpreting key events in
different ways (asynchronous subjective time) with the consequent emergence of
competing accounts that often seek to gain purchase and dominance (this is the way
it really happened). The past is relived in the present just as expected future
scenarios can influence our current understanding and sense of the world around us.
These subjectivities of human experience all highlight the non-linearity of lived time
and the importance of context.
In exploring these dilemmas a facilitating frame is developed for thinking about
temporality that consists of three main elements. Temporal awareness, that refers to
a broadening of our understanding and sensitivity to time issues, for example, in
recognising that competing conceptions of time can co-existence; temporal
practices, that relate to the research skills (practices) developed in doing the
research, for example, in holding on to contradictory conceptions of time in the
pragmatics of conducting fieldwork and in the analysis of competing data; and
temporal merging, a concept used to capture the interweaving of time conceptions as
well as the way temporality can be accommodated in the write-up of research
material. For the researcher, wider awareness of different conceptions of time
enables greater insight into the processes of change as documented, observed and
experienced. This awareness draws to the fore not only the contradictions that may
arise between objective and subjective time but also to potential practices for dealing
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with time issues, such as, in viewing change as a multi-story process rather than
trying to achieve some singular authentic account of change. The intention is not to
develop a framework for resolving the time paradox (no solutions or final truths) but
to promote temporal insight and understanding in developing a more relational
processual perspective that enables a fuller understanding of time. It is argued that
through engaging in temporal practices the researcher can develop their skills and
experience of working with different conceptions of time and with data that appears
at first glance to provide contradictory or disconfirming accounts.
To provide some empirical substance to the concepts used in our facilitating frame
data from an extended case study is selectively drawn upon. The importance of
temporal practices in transitioning between the realities of fieldwork and higher
level conceptualisation are examined and the question of whether there is a need to
resolve apparent contradictions is raised. In the analysis and presentation of
research findings in which conventional and asynchronous non-linear conceptions of
time may be used conjointly, notions of truth, plausibility and authenticity in
storying change accounts for different audiences are debated. It is argued that
stories, present in the data, in the writing up of material for different audiences, in
chronologies and events, in the space of organizational settings, and as a device for
understanding the ways in which individuals and groups adjust their views over time
as they make sense and give sense to individual and collective experience – are not
only an integral part of the time conundrum associated with ethnographic research
but also provide useful insights in to the nature of this dilemma.
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Organizational ethnography and time
Ethnographic research usually involves the researcher spending long periods of time
at the place of study getting to know the local culture and people by being closely
involved with the lives of those being studied (Van Maanen, 2011: 11). Classically,
ethnography has been associated with participant observer studies (Van Maanen,
1973) that produce what Geertz (1973, 1995) refers to as thick descriptions (rich,
contextualised, detailed accounts with multiple reference points), that are often best
written up as research monographs (see for example, Whyte, 1955). Van Maanen
(1979) claims that this somewhat ‘stiff but precise tag’ of participant observation has
been relaxed and that whilst lengthy face-to-face contact with the people being
studied remains central, many studies use other methods to complement data
collection such as, interviews, survey, content analysis and network mapping (Van
Maanen, 2011: 219). For example, Aunger (1994: 65) argues that interviewing has
always been a central method of data gathering for ethnographic researchers and
their use in fieldwork studies are usefully outlined by Whyte (1984: 97-127); whilst
Yanow and Schwartz-Shea (2006: xviii) draw attention to the mix of ways data are
accessed through an interpretive approach, noting that: ‘data are accessed and
generated through observing events and the actors in them (with whatever degree of
participation), through talking with those actors about those events, and/or through
close readings of documentary and other sources...or some combination of all three’.
In embracing a larger array of techniques for ethnographic inquiry, such as,
documentary analysis (Sullivan, 2012), autoethnography (Doloriert & Sambrook,
2012), built space data stories (Yanow, 2006), and the use of television programmes
(Parker, 2012), there has also been a broadening of the frame of reference for
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organizational ethnography with widening and less clearly defined theoretical and
conceptual boundaries (Brannan, Rowe, & Wothington, 2012: 6). From this
perspective, organizational ethnography is more than a method of data collection as
it rests on gaining deeper insights into lived experiences that typically requires
studying work in situ over extended periods of time (Watson, 2011). Longitudinal
fieldwork is generally grounded in the working lives of those being studied in order
for the researcher to make sense of the sensemaking that occurs in organizations
(Huber & Van de Ven, 1995).
The importance of lengthy sustained longitudinal fieldwork for producing good
historical contextualized ethnographies (Bate, 1997: 1155) is continuously echoed
by many leading scholars in the field (Huber & Van de Ven, 1995; Pettigrew, 1990;
Van Maanen, 2011) and there is growing criticism of the pressure on academics to
turn-around their research activities (from the initiation of studies to the publication
of outputs), and to shortcut this important time dimension to the research. For
example, Bate (1997) and Yanow and Schwartz-Shea (2006) turn a jaundiced eye
towards the tendency and temptation for some researchers to compress time and decontextualize data, noting how this is often associated with the use of computer
programmes (such as, qualitative data analysis software) to manipulate data that has
been taken out of the context in which it was gathered. Bate argues that this type of
research ultimately fails to take on an anthropological actor-centred perspective and
in so doing, is unable to tell ‘the story “from the inside” as it is lived by those who
live it’ (Bate, 1997: 1161).
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Ethnographic time, in the sense of spending long periods immersed in the site of
study (Neyland, 2008), is critical to organizational ethnography for the purpose of
gaining a deep appreciation of the context in which people make sense of their
experiences and give sense to their actions and choices (Gioia & Chittipeddi, 1991;
Weick, 1995). In identifying different types of time Ancona, Okhuysen and Perlow
(2001) categorise clock time, cyclical time, life cycle time and event time
(predictable and unpredictable) and describe how different groups can socially
construct their own cultural conceptions of time. In organizational settings, the
measurement of time through the use of clocks, cycles of activities and predictable
and unpredictable events is all part of the work experience. Activities can be
regularised, planned and coordinated, meetings scheduled and objectives set for
defined periods of time. However, variations in individual and shared understanding
of time occur across contexts and over time as illustrated by the way individuals and
groups can view the same situation in very different ways. Our experience of time
rarely aligns with conventional clock time, for example, whilst concepts of the arrow
of time that are intuitively held form part of everyday experience - often providing
an important reference point - the precise measurements of time are generally absent
from the meanings we ascribe to situations and to the way that events from the past
are re-ordered and re-interpreted in the context of the present. Interpreting the
actions and events around people at work requires the researcher to construct a
reading of the intersubjective meanings of actors involved in enactment. Rosen
(1991: 5-7) argues for the need to achieve a balance between capturing the meanings
certain actions have for people (‘thick description’) and what the knowledge arising
from this tells us about people in organizations (‘diagnoses); whilst Van Maanen
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(1979: 540) refers to first-order concepts (‘facts’ of an ethnographic investigation)
and second-order concepts (‘theories’ used to organise and explain the thick
descriptions). In relation to time, change processes are experienced differently and
as such their temporal qualities as they are expressed through first-order concepts
(thick descriptions) extend beyond any atomistic measurement of time, even prior to
any attempt for second-order conceptualisation (see, Van Maanen, 1979: 540). This
highlights the need for subjective concepts of time that can be used to explain the
non-linearity of change processes as experienced by individuals and groups as well
as drawing attention to the way that objective time is used by organizations to plan,
measure and evaluate change processes.
Process ontology and debates on temporality and change
There are a growing number of scholars who are engaging in various forms of
process studies that examine the complex underlying processes that comprise
entities and events (Langley & Tsoukas, 2010). Following on from philosophers,
such as, Whitehead (1929), they draw on a strong process ontology in which the
world is seen to be continuously reconstituted through ongoing processes (Tsoukas
& Chia, 2002). Although patterns of activities are recognised, people taking up this
perspective often refer back to the classic dictum taken from the Greek philosopher
Heraclitus that: ‘You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are
ever flowing on to you’, quoted in the dialogue by Plato entitled: Cratylus (see,
Sedley, 2003: 23). Change is seen as continuous and workplace change is viewed as
comprising ongoing micro-processes that reconstitute forms of organizing over time.
Within this more dynamic concept of changing, of organizational becoming
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(Tsoukas & Chia, 2002), there is a relational component that rejects the ontology of
separateness where things are seen to exist in and of themselves (independently of
other things). This approach advocates that everything that is only exists in its
relation to other things (Langley & Tsoukas, 2010: 3). As such, it is these complex
interactions and the way in which sense is made of emergent forms in recursive nonlinear processes that needs to be examined in order to gain insight and understanding
of peoples’ lived experience of change.
Temporally, our subjective experience of the present is related to our interpretations
of the past and our expectations for the future. Langley and Tsoukas (2010) provide
an interesting example of music, arguing that when a well know tune is heard the
chord or notes being played do not stand alone in that particular moment of time but
rather, connect to earlier knowledge and cognitive connections with the music being
played. The temporal links may evoke certain memories and emotions that
influence our feelings at that moment in time. Future time is also brought into play
as our expectation of what is to come next – a moment in the piece that we may be
looking forward to – shapes our current experience. For Whitehead (1929), entities
that coalesce in processes of becoming are known as ‘complexes of occasions of
experience’, for the individual each subjective experience influences every other
occasion of experience over time. Unlike variance theories that examine causal
relationships between dependent and independent variables, under a processual
perspective, change is viewed as an ongoing and complex phenomena and
workplace change is seen to generate multiple experiences, unexpected
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interpretations in the continual shaping and reshaping of the meanings of change for
individuals and groups (Dawson, 1994). As Langley argues (2009: 411):
Process conceptualizations that take time into account offer an essential
contribution to our understanding of the world that is unavailable from
variance-based generalizations that tend to either ignore time completely,
compress it into variables (describing decision-making as fast or slow, or
environments as dynamic or stable), or reduce its role to… ‘comparative
statics’ (re-evaluating quantitative relationships at successive times).
Temporal practices and temporal awareness in researching workplace change
In moving from the more abstract philosophical conceptions of process to attempts
to operationalize this orientation in longitudinal fieldwork on workplace change, a
number of scholars have utilised a processual approach (see for example, Dawson,
1994; Francis & Sinclair, 2003; Pettigrew, 1985, 1997; Ropo, Eriksson, & Hunt,
1997; Tuttle, 1997). An essential element within these various frameworks is
temporality, in engaging in retrospective and real-time studies of change as they
occur over time and in context (Elger, 1975). These contextual and historical
dimensions are seen to be critical and as such, data is gathered over time through the
use of multiple methods that enables the researcher to capture documented event
time, formal chronologies as well as the subjectivities and experiences of change.
At the level of meaning, individuals and groups differentially experience time and
make sense of these experiences in the stories that they construct and disassemble
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and rebuild through collective sensemaking processes (Cunliffe, Luhman, & Boje,
2004).
In this way, chronological time interlocks and overlaps with individual and social
(collective) dimensions of time. It provides an important temporal perspective that
enables the research to capture documented event time in being able to locate key
events or critical turning points. Empirically there is value in this concept as it
allows for categorisation and analysis of the documented timing of events and the
formal plans and justifications for change. Strategy, timelines, training schedules,
purchasing of equipment, financial expectations and the rationale and objectives of
change, may all be described in varying degrees of detail. Broader contextual data
that is concerned with the lived experience and meanings ascribed to change
processes is also required in which more subjective conceptions of time come into
play. Temporality and how to interpret and present the dynamics of lived
experience that comprises retrospective and prospective sensemaking (actors
interpreting the present from an understanding of the past and expectations of the
future) that changes over time (by actors as well as the researchers own
interpretations of the interpretations of others) during the life of the research or
through reflective ethnographic revisits (Burawoy, 2003), all draw attention to time
as an integral issue that permeates many facets of organizational ethnography.
In tackling these research issues; time needs to take centre stage so a clear
understanding of different conceptions of time and how they relate to the research
process can be appraised. For example, in the way that objective time (the clock and
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calendar) is used in scheduling interviews and fieldwork observations, how
experiences captured in the data relay time as more fluid and non-linear (especially
when compared to the documentation of organizational events), and how time may
be interpreted in different ways not only by the stories told at one time, but how they
are often re-interpreted and retold at different moments of time. Thus the researcher
needs to be able to deal with this time paradox and the juxtapositions that arise
between observed events, documents and interviews at one period of time when
compared and contrasted with data collected at different periods of time. A
facilitating frame is useful for this as it encourages greater temporal awareness, the
development of practices that deal with and manage conflicting concepts of time-inuse, and aids understanding of temporal merging both as it occurs in the data and as
relayed in case study presentations.
In clarifying these concepts, temporal awareness is about bringing to the foreground
awareness of multiple conceptions of time that were previously ignored or implicitly
assumed. Temporal practices refer to the process by which the researcher builds
and refines their own knowledge and experience in applying and using different
conceptions of time throughout the research process. They are the methods and
techniques developed by the researcher in dealing with the dilemmas of time, such
as, in the purposeful use of different data collection techniques that enables different
types of time-oriented data for analysis and conceptual development. These
practices would include temporal sensemaking of the researcher in developing
explanations of change from data that captures the subjectivities of human
experience and descriptions of events through interview transcripts and
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observational field notes. Essentially, the researcher needs to build temporal
awareness in order to recognise the contradictions and difficulties posed by
multifaceted conceptions of time. They also need to develop temporal practices, in
being able to move between and apply different conceptions of time (forms of
objective and subjective time as well as the temporal merging of these concepts) in
the practice of doing the research and in using the research materials to develop
concepts and explanations from thick ethnographic descriptions.
The concept of temporal merging is used to refer to the interweaving of objective
and subjective concepts of time, and to the way that the past and prospective futures
shape human experience of the present. Multiple conceptions of time and temporal
merging is also evidenced in the experiences of workplace change that people start
to articulate through their own ‘stories’ of change from which shared meanings and
collective representations of events in storying change emerge. There is a movement
between the more fluid and blurred processes of subjective time with the scheduling
of events using chronological clock time that is experienced in the now through
drawing on both the future and the past, providing a rich temporal resource that can
also create tensions and uncertainties for the researcher. In dealing with temporal
merging - from the co-existence of documented accounts and the multiple
interpretations of events that change over time - the researcher needs to develop
awareness and abilities (temporal practices). These three concepts provide lenses –
opening up different ways of viewing temporality – that are mutually supportive.
For example, in the way that awareness activates the search for practices that
accommodates temporality and in pointing to merger and division between aspects
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of objective and subjective time the process facilitates even greater awareness and
more refined practices. Thus the intention is not to resolve time contradictions but to
view them through this facilitating frame to generate greater insight and
understanding. In the section that follows, elements from an extended case study are
presented to illustrate both the practice of engaging in this type of research and some
of the issues that are raised in the collection of competing data when the events and
timelines documented are interpreted in different ways by individuals and groups
experiencing change.
An extended case study example of workplace change
Following some background information, this section draws on a selection of
empirical material in order to illustrate and discuss how the different conceptions of
time relate to activities such as recording event sequences and to the way individuals
and groups make sense and give sense to things that have happened, are currently
occurring and may be expected to happen in the future. Attention is given to the
need to access time-lived data and to the way that stories recounting the past often
conceptualise time in a fairly linear fashion, highlighting the need to gather data not
only on time as it is recorded but also on subjective experiences of time. In
reflecting on this extended case study, the relationship between objective and
subjective time is discussed and a relational-process ontology is called for that
accommodates the intertwining of these conceptions of time as they are used and
experienced in the workplace.
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The material draws on data collected as part of a longitudinal study into workplace
change that was carried out in a car manufacturing plant in Australia (Van de Ven &
Huber, 1990). Data was gathered over a number of years involving prolonged
periods in the plant observing events, talking with employees (individually and in
groups), spending time over lunch, coffee and tea, walking around the
manufacturing facilities, accessing documents and artefacts, interviewing and reinterviewing employees, collecting photographs, and attending social activities and
formal external events.
Background to the study
In 1931, General Motors (GM) and Holden’s Motor Body Builders (HMBB) merged
to form General Motors Holden’s Limited (GM-H). By 1948, the company had
successfully launched a practical six-cylinder mass-produced sedan known as ‘the
Holden’. Throughout the 1950s, Holden dominated the Australian car market with
GM-H investing heavily in production capacity that included building new facilities
at a manufacturing complex in a small town (Elizabeth) outside the main city of
Adelaide in South Australia. By 1958, the total number of Holdens produced
exceeded 500,000 and employee numbers swelled to 18,699 (an increase of 10,000
employees over ten years). New immigrants arrived from Europe to work at GM-H
and a newly constructed hardware fabrication plant was used to support vehicle
manufacture in providing a range of small assemblies, such as, hand brakes and
petrol tanks. During the 1980s, the viability of the plant was called into question
given the high levels of scrap and rework in addition to the high levels of
absenteeism and tensions that existed at the workplace. At this time, the plant was
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using the original machinery (1950s) in the manufacture of small assemblies under a
conventional job-shop layout.
Aware of the performance concerns of senior management – who were considering
outsourcing small assembly manufacture and closing down hardware manufacture employees and their union representatives raised their anxieties and concerns with
local management. During this time (coincidently), a new unit of the Division of
Manufacturing Technology (DMT) of the Commonwealth and Scientific Industrial
Research Organization (CSIRO) was set up in the region. DMT’s remit was to
support Australian-based manufacturing companies by helping them improve their
performance and secure a more sustainable position within the global market place.
As a new unit, they had first to convince local manufacturing companies that their
expertise would be beneficial in assisting organizations to improve their competitive
position and to do this, they decided that they needed an exemplar. As it turned out,
the Plant Manager (PM) and a member of the DMT team developed a friendship as a
result of their common interest in stained-glass. During a series of evening classes
they discussed shop floor manufacturing scheduling issues and the problems faced
by the hardware plant at Elizabeth.
The PM - concerned about the future of the plant - also attended seminars hosted by
the South Australian Centre for Manufacturing. At one of these seminars the
possibilities for reducing costs through the rearrangement of plant and equipment
was promoted. Cellular manufacture (based on Group Technology principles) was
gaining greater recognition at this time both in America and the U.K. (Burbidge,
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1979; Wemmerlov & Hyer, 1989). The PM put this option forward but after costing
the change through an American organization at $1 million (1980s prices) it was
deemed too expensive. However, the previous relationship with a member of DMT
(developed from social activities) provided the platform from which the GM-H
employee and the CSIRO employee persuaded their respective organisations of the
benefits of pursuing an industrial collaboration. DMT were willing to view the
project as a loss leader that could potentially improve their standing within the local
manufacturing community. By the beginning of 1988, the first design for a set of
cells was submitted by the CSIRO and in July of that year, a pilot cell was selected
for installation and cut-over to cellular manufacture. At the same time, the author
was looking at access to an organization to study workplace change. Through a
series of discussions it was agreed that research access would be given for a study
aimed at providing a critical evaluation of the process of change as-it-occurred. The
major restructuring of the plant occurred over two years although the research
extended well beyond this period.
Data gathering and the issue of data discrepancy
Observational fieldwork commenced in 1989 and continued for a number of years
(the main period being from 1989-1991). A few months into the study, space was
made available in a small office located in the centre of the plant. This space was
mainly used by supervisors and shop stewards and was separate from the plant
management offices that ran alongside the entrance to the plant. As well as
observing employees at work, this facility enabled the researcher to raise and discuss
issues over tea and coffee in the less noisy environment of a shared office space.
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Following an extensive period of observation, a series of interviews were built into
the research design that involved a stakeholder interview programme comprising
senior management, industrial collaborators, local change agents, union officials and
shop stewards as well as a range of other key informants identified during this
rolling period of interviews. Running in parallel was a two phase programme of
interviews with shop floor personnel that was designed to capture perceptions and
attitudes prior to change and then following implementation of the new cellular
work arrangements (post-change). An early cutover to the new work arrangements
provided an opportunity for a further series of observations and interviews that was
labelled the operational work cell study. Observations and informal discussions
continued throughout the research through regular visits to the plant. The design of
the study used a chronology of event time from initial conceptualisation of the need
to change through to actual implementation and to a period after change when daily
working practices were routinely carried out
A variety of different methods were used for gathering data from observational
fieldwork through to the interviewing of individuals and groups and the collection
and interpretation of photographs and documents, the data was cross-checked for
validation and verification purposes in order to minimise misunderstandings and to
ensure that descriptions captured the social world as faithfully as possible (Gold,
1997: 395-397). In seeking to verify emergent descriptions and analyses it soon
became apparent that accounts grounded in the stories of the informants would often
not align with documentation or with what was observed during the regular visits to
the plant. Management accounts were given about changes to daily work practices
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that did not accord with those being observed and individual and group stories of
events differed across time and people. Understandable deviations emerged
between different groups where different versions of the same event were captured
in the data (for example, between plant managers and union officials, and between
staff at DMT and at GM); temporally however, accounts were changed (sometimes
significantly) in follow-up interviews and discussions. During repeat interviews,
modified versions of stories previously recounted would be explained in the light of
ongoing concerns and issues. Data from such a longitudinal study was not only
informative about change processes but also about the way change stories are
modified and rewritten not simply to account for a re-interpreted past, but to
proactively steer change in certain preferred directions.
Stories and temporality: sequence in the making and process in the shaping
The assortment and discrepancy of accounts that emerge in context over time is
evident in the variety of stories that emerge among different individuals and groups
during periods of uncertainty and change. The study of these stories and the
storying process enables the researcher to capture and interpret the meaning-making
of people as they make sense and give sense to the situations that they find
themselves in. In our case study example, the stories that emerged around a single
actor, the plant manager – who had a key role as the local change agent and selfproclaimed ‘champion of change’ – is used to examine the issue of stories and
temporality in the collection, analysis and write-up of longitudinal data on change.
But first we need a brief discussion on stories and the narrative process as captured
by key debates and concepts in the extant literature. Particular attention is given to
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story forms and to the embedded features of causality and temporality often found in
stories.
Czarniawska (1998, p. 2) claims that: ‘a narrative, in its most basic form, requires at
least three elements: an original state of affairs, an action or an event, and the
consequent state of affairs’. She notes that narrative plots rely on human
intentionality and context, and are based on a chronology – this happened first, then
that happened next. Barry and Elmes (1997) in using the terms narrative and story
synonymously also refer to thematic, sequenced accounts. In this narrative/story
form there is a linear conception of time that links antecedent (s) with agency (a
sequence of actions or events) that lead to outcomes (a consequent state of affairs).
The narrative provides causal links that offers an explanation (this happened because
we did this which resulted in this) and as such, these types of stories can be viewed
as theory-laden with a sequenced structure of beginning, middle and end (Gabriel,
2000). In relation to organizations, collectively endorsed or dominant public
accounts of change tend to have these qualities of expressing causal relationships
and providing explanations that often promote a sequenced stage model of change
(Brown, Gabriel, & Gherardi, 2009).
There are also other story forms, such as, terse (Boje, 1991), abbreviated or petrified
stories (Czarniawska, 1997) that collapse as organizational members (over time)
become increasingly familiar with the tale (Hyde, 2008). Boje (2008, p. 13) refers
to stories that are too unfinished, fragmented, ambiguous and unresolved to be
analysed by conventional approaches as antenarratives. Rather than the backward
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glance, these stories may draw on prospective sensemaking and they may involve
attempts to construct meaning of current experience through bringing a sense of the
past and the future together (Wiebe, 2010). These stories highlight the incidence
and variety of storytelling that range from: the partial unfinalised stories that occur
during change (Boje, 2008); finalised sequenced stories arising from the past
(Gabriel, 2000); those that dominate as official versions (that is, they become more
stable and less subject to change with each telling – the story of change at company
x); stories with political intent that seek to shape the views of others and the
processes of change that they describe (Buchanan & Dawson, 2007); stories that
reflect a variety of tales through temporal sensemaking (the polyphony of changing
stories); and also the stories (research narratives) of researchers (for example, in the
form of completed case studies) that are constructed in the writing-up and
presentation of research. All these stories form part of the sensemaking and
sensegiving of individuals and groups (Gioia & Chittipeddi, 1991) and are not just
simple descriptions but often carry assessments, critique and evaluations. These are
located in time and context that explain in terms of both chronology and subjective
experience, linear and non-linear time co-exist and merge in the sensemaking and
sensegiving that occurs.
The two closely related stories that we present from our data centre on the Plant
Manager (PM). They are used to illustrate aspects of temporality and the way that
stories tend to organise, represent, simplify and impose structure (become theoryladen) in compressing the subjective experiences of lived time into a more
formalised linear presentation that may inadvertently petrify temporal sensemaking.
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Our first example is used to highlight the importance of temporal awareness and
how ethnographic time, in the form of extended periods in the field, provides
opportunities for greater contextual and temporal understanding. It illustrates
temporal merging as stories of change are re-storied to accommodate the knowledge
of the audience (as knowledge of the researcher grows over time) as well as the
development of temporal practices in the searching out of competing accounts and
conflicting timelines (data that may appear to contradict itself) that can be used to
generate more nuanced accounts that accommodate temporality.
Our second example is used to spotlight the importance of context and political
process in shaping the interplay and meaning-making of stories and in particular,
how they are used to make sense of decisions and inform action. Temporal
awareness draws attention to the many stories of change but temporal practices are
required to contextualise story emergence and in interpreting their capacity to give
sense to others and shape the processes they are describing. In this illustration we
draw on the emergence of a dominant narrative that was constructed to give a
particular sense (in this case for public consumption) that promotes a rationalised
linear-causal account of how change was ‘successfully’ managed. In our example,
change is presented as a logical sequence of events in which the change champion
(the PM) leads change. This linear account is important (in giving sense to others
and in capturing power relations and political processes of change), but the
researcher also needs to attend to the other ‘voices’ of change (temporal awareness);
and they need to develop temporal practices that can identify, accommodate and
explain these processes within the polyphony of storying during times of change.
22
Our first story example arose during the third interview with the PM (some 12
months into a longitudinal study of shop floor change), following the emergence of a
number of competing histories and revised versions of change. In part, these
revisions reflected recognition of a greater understanding of the change process by
the researcher. In other words, the PM recognised that his audience (in this case the
researcher) was becoming more sophisticated and knowledgeable about past
histories and ongoing activities within the plant. As such, the PM was no longer
able to present a post hoc rationalised account of the past that supported his current
story of change. Previously, the PM had indicated that he had led changes in the
plant from the outset and that whilst there were some tensions among employees this
largely stemmed from the outdated machinery and poor working conditions at the
plant. He recounted how he was appointed as PM in 1981 with the remit of turning
the plant around and how at this time, the manufacturing plant was noisy with poor
ventilation painted in battleship grey characterised by an untidy and greasy work
environment. In attending to the space of work through painting the machinery and
cleaning up the work environment, the PM was able to win over the support of a
number of employees.
This story of change to the work space environment was confirmed by other
accounts: ‘when I first started here you could walk down any one of those aisles and
you’d have oil this thick up the side of you’ and by photographs of the plant prior to
the clean-up. However, other elements of the story were called in question as it
emerged that the PM in 1981, was only one member of a team of local managers
23
with distinct areas of responsibility and how at this time, there was considerable
conflict among this group. Through discussions with other employees at the plant
alternative accounts emerged that provided more detail which in turn led to further
questioning and discussion. Some months later in spending time with the PM a
follow-up interview was arranged. Armed with a greater knowledge of the history of
operations at the site, elements of the PM’s previous account were questioned. A
short extract follows:
Interviewer: Is it true that you came as a production manager in 81?
PM: Yes. Purely and simply in charge of production.
Interviewer: So who was in charge of the plant?
PM: The plant was run by a series of managers. There was a manager
associated with production control, a manager associated with maintenance, a
manager associated with tooling, a manager associated with quality and they
were all individual managers. Gradually one by one I took over the
responsibilities of each of those functions and over about the last three years I
have been operating as the plant manager.
Interviewer: So those jobs have been merged into one, whereas before you had
the different managers reporting to the main office?
PM: Yes. It was an impossible situation that we had. We had virtually five
different managers in the one plant each responsible for a function. The only
way we could see that it was going to work was for it to come under one
control, so everything could be co-ordinated. In effect what you had up to that
period of time was five different people running their particular organisation in
five different ways and never the two shall meet, or never the five should
meet.
Whilst the PM sought to characterise himself as leading a logical sequence of events
in the management of change, in practice change involved a whole range of different
change agents and involved processes of negotiation, conflict, displacement and
relationship building. These processes were in turn influenced by contextual
conditions and the expectations and support of senior management. In charting the
change process, a whole series of change roles can be identified which fluctuate,
combine and are redefined over time. Within this broader network of roles and
24
parties comprising employees and their union representatives, local and senior
managers and DMT staff, temporal merging comes to the fore highlighting the
muddied and non-linear nature of change. This contrasts with how change stories
are often constructed around event sequences that simplify this process (as in the
case of the PM). The example also demonstrates the value of prolonged periods in
the field in order to uncover the way material is often selectively used to convey a
story of change that seeks to influence audience understanding. Over time, the
researcher no longer plays dumb (Gold, 1997: 395) and through continuously
checking emergent descriptions of past events and ongoing activities is able to build
more detailed accounts and reflect on the reasons for misrepresentations and
conflicting interpretations. In this example, extended periods in the field enabled
greater temporal awareness and increased the knowledge of the researcher. This
promoted the development of temporal practices in the collection of competing
accounts and timelines that could be used to further the research inquiry on
workplace change. It also enabled the researcher to manage the timelines of doing
the research with the event-sequences and subjective experiences of time captured in
the sensemaking and sensegiving of employees.
Our second example builds on a version of the PM’s story that was used as a rational
public account of how he championed change. The story depicts the orchestration of
guiding coalition (post-hoc rationalisation of events) in which stakeholders engaged
and collaborated in the design and implementation of change. However stories that
counter this view were evident but did not openly contest this version. For example,
potential political leverage was assessed by the union officials as a time-based
25
resource that should not be lessened for any immediate gain, especially in
circumstances that were generally favouring employees and preventing plant
closure. In other words, in managing their own political agenda, union officials
decided to give the manager ‘story space’ whilst maintaining a close eye on events.
As one union official recounted:
We told shop stewards in the early stages when Paul and myself were
servicing the place, just to keep an eye on it and let us know if there’s any
industrial matters being talked about. Anybody trying to screw the union and
so on and none of that ever happened. So it was just mostly concerned about
quality and working together and making people happier in the jobs they were
doing and so on. So I’ve never had no problems at all with it and still don’t
have problems...You still got your bloody...problems and your little bloody
disputes but nothing major.
The union was prepared to intervene if the situation warranted such action and
whilst they did not accept the story of change presented by the PM neither did they
openly dispute this account. In contrast, the very different views of the forklift
drivers, whose job were threatened by the change, were largely silenced not by
management but by the union officials. As one union official commented prior to
the change:
Some of the old timers there, especially the production workers and forklift
drivers, say: ‘shit this is not going to work, how can you go from here to get
materials to there and there without forklift drivers’. I think maybe they’re
talking because they know their future isn’t going to be around, because at the
moment you have fifteen forklift drivers. So they’re kind of looking more at
their future jobs than anything else and they’re probably thinking about trying
to bloody have a negative attitude towards it.
As it turned out, fifteen forklift jobs were reduced to four over a matter of months.
Whilst union officials (who had been approached by the forklift drivers) and other
employees were well aware of the views of the forklift drivers, broader concerns
26
over the consequences of blocking change (potential plant closure) made them
largely unresponsive to their concerns. The forklift drivers tried to gain the support
and influence the view of others – so that they would see the validity of their
position – but their sensegiving did not align with the way others envisaged the
change was likely to develop and affect them over time. In this case, storying
attempts to prevent change by engaging others in their sense of the world proved
ineffectual. Their account based on retrospective sensemaking of the past and
concerns for the future did not align or engage with the prospective sensemaking
(preferred future) of the larger collective group. This illustrates the way the past and
the future are brought together in making sense of what is occurring in the present
(temporal merging). Interestingly, the union official employs a stereotyped concept
of time in relaying how ‘old timers’ tend to assume that new ways of doing things
will not work – a sense that these type of employees (old timers) tend to live in the
past. He acknowledges that less forklift drivers will be required under the new work
arrangements but then renders this concern as rather selfish without due regard to
the betterment of working conditions as a whole. The support for change by union
officials was explained by a story about a visit they made to the plant during the
running of a pilot cell and prior to full implementation:
When I first found out about workcells and went down there I thought the
workcell was something to screw the unions and undermine the union
movement. So that was my biggest issue when I went down to the plant...I
went around talking to the workers about it and I could see that they were a lot
happier and the atmosphere was a lot better. I said how’s it going and they
said: ‘this is great’...’we can make our own decisions’...‘we can decide what
part to put in here’ and so on. That was the whole object of the workcells when
they originally started and you probably would have already got the people
telling you that.
27
Within the pilot workcell system, operators had the autonomy to plan and organize
their work in coordination with other workcell operators. A supervisory structure of
control was not imposed, supervision acted as a coordinating and liaising boundary
function outside of the day-to-day practices of workcell operation. Under full
implementation, the initial workcell design was revised to accommodate a teamwork
facilitator who holds a supervisory relationship to other workcell operators, and the
philosophy that employees learn and engage in all activities (how to material handle,
die-set and so forth) within the workcells dissipated. In connecting the past, present
and future in time, there were employees who reflected on lost opportunities as well
as those who maintained a preference for traditional working and those who
indicated a preference for the new team arrangements. Not unlike Ybema’s (2010:
498) discussion on the continuity and discontinuities of identity, there emerged a
type of nostalgia-postalgia dialectic that is ‘typical of discursive struggles over
organizational change’.
Whilst a wide range of views and stories emerged during the process of change, the
PM actively sought to steer the sensemaking of others in orchestrating a particular
‘story’ of change. In his characterisation, change was presented as a logical
sequence of events supported by a committed team working in collaboration with
key stakeholders. The public story that emerges - endorsed by senior management
and retold at various external events – draws on notions of ‘success’ and rational
decision-making in describing the way obstacles were overcome and scheduled
targets achieved. Linear and event time are used to describe the key stages of
change in which the PM is cast as ‘change champion’, even though there were a
28
whole range of different individuals and groups involved in the change process.
This public story of change is constructed using a separatist and event view of the
world, providing a causal explanation that supports an n-step linear model of
change. This story is significant to the change process even though the temporal
presentation does not reflect change as-it-happened. The researcher needs to
develop temporal practices to accommodate linear accounts of change with other
findings from the research which capture the polyphony and multivocality of story
emergence, and the multiple retrospective, on-going and prospective tales that
sought to make sense and give sense to others during times of change. Temporal
awareness enables the development of temporal practices that can accommodate
retrospective causal sequential accounts and understand their prevalence within
change management theory, as well as the non-linear polyphony and temporal
merging that occurs in experiencing the present in relation to the past and
prospective futures.
Concepts of time and the emergence of temporal misalignment
In our ethnography on workplace change conventional clock time can be seen to be
evident in: the documents that formulate the objectives and schedules in the
planning and co-ordination of change; the procedural arrangements and formalised
systems that serve to regulate and control ongoing change processes; the daily work
routines of employees and the scheduling of activities within the new cellular work
arrangements; and in the setting of formalised agreements and a timeline of
activities and milestones with collaborating stakeholders, such as, DMT, senior
management and the unions. Conventional time was integral to the research process
29
in pre-arranging scheduled visits to the plant, in spending time within the work cells
and in arranging time to interview and re-interview people both within and outside
the formal work environment. Documentary data was also used to provide a data
source that enabled the researcher to sketch out a chronology of events in a linear
fashion, such as, the first formal meeting between GM-H and DMT occurred here,
this was followed by further discussions here, which resulted in the signing of a
collaborative agreement between GM-H and DMT here.
Photographs were collected and used to show images of the plant before, during and
after change (the researcher was not allowed to take his own photographs for
security reasons) and the time and date of key incidents and events were recorded as
part of the contextual narrative captured in the observation notes. Cyclical time was
also evident from the observational notes made on workplace routines and on the
ways in which regular activities were sometimes disrupted by unforeseen events or
re-organized around change tasks. Cycles of events were compared and contrasted
across shifts, for example, observational work of the night shift highlighted the
different routines and activities that occurred. Interestingly, employees working in
the same plant on the night shift engaged in more social activities and banter
creating new spaces in which to interact (for example, the consumption of food was
observed to be a far more playful and social event on the night shift). In this way,
cyclical time was evident not only in daily activities and events but in the way
events repeated in cycles within and across the day and night shifts. These timerelated activities could be measured, observed and recorded as part of the daily work
activities of people in the plant. However, this capacity to document and formally
30
measure the movement of time – to be able to write an objective chronology of
change events over time – contrasts with time-as-experienced by employees which
could not be directly observed but was also integral to the research on workplace
change.
As previously noted, our subjective experience of time is shaped by a multitude of
elements that may relate, for example, to the space and place in which we find
ourselves - what Yanow (1998) refers to as the stories of built space - to the
relationships we have with others (subordinate, colleague, boss), to the degree of
familiarity of the situation at hand, and to a myriad of other influences. The way
individuals and groups experience time varies and these variations are often
compounded over time and across contexts. Not only do subjective experiences of
time vary but they rarely align with more objective forms of documented time. As
Hall (1983: 13) has argued, there is a discrepancy between time as it is described,
measured and accounted for and time as it is lived. The past in our experience of the
now is not simply a discrete moment of time, nor is the future something that
remains outside of our ongoing experience, re-interpretations of the past combine
with expectations of possible futures in our experience of time as it unfolds in the
present (Weibe, 2010). Temporal sensemaking engages with the dynamics of nonlinear time and although this appears to oppose and contradict rational accounts of
change constructed with reference to objective measurements of linear time, the two
are not separate entities (or two ends of a continuum) but intertwine and exist in
relation to each other.
31
In the case of doing ethnographic research, the researcher needs to be conscious
(temporal awareness) of the relational-temporal dimension to the various forms of
data being gathered and the implications of these for data analysis and theory
development (temporal practices). For example, in making observation notes,
analysing documents and interviewing actors, we are gathering data that enables the
researcher to build a timeline chronology of change (on the routine, planned and
unexpected elements). We are also collecting data that enables us as researchers to
interpret the interpretations of others interpretations of actions and events (Bevir,
2006: 281). We are thus involved in gathering interpretative data on the meanings
ascribed to individual and group experiences in which our concern is not with ‘what
objectively happened’ in trying to corroborate some ‘truth’ about change but rather,
to gain some appreciation of the lived experience of change (plausible sensemaking
processes). Engaging in dialogues with individuals and groups, interviewing actors,
being a ‘participant-listener’ (Maynard-Moody & Musheno, 2006: 321) and in
following workplace stories/debates/arguments/discussions as they develop over
time, we thereby gain access to data that enables us to analyse subjective
experiences and collective sensemaking over time, as well as data on observed and
documented event sequences. Nevertheless in the process of doing research, this
intertwining of objective and subjective time is not always apparent or openly
considered, often remaining absent in final presentation of research materials even
though many of the difficulties associated with how to present complex data on
changing organizations is tied up with this time dilemma.
32
Relational temporality: plausible tales, authentic accounts and powerful truths
For the ethnographic researcher, there is a concern with events that have already
occurred, with studying change as-it-happens, and with the influence of future
expectations on current interpretations. In ‘capturing reality in flight’ (Pettigrew,
1985) conventional modes of temporality may focus attention on the arrow of time
in a linear movement forward from a before change stage through change to an after
change period. Time as an objective measurement can be used to document the
intervals between activities, the duration of events and the sequencing that occurs as
change progresses forward in time. Recording events as-they-happen through
observation enables the researcher to build up a sequence of what occurred in what
order that may or may not align with formal documentation. But in the extended
case - through close observation, ongoing discussions and involvement with the
subjects under study - a more subjective and less conventional mode of temporality
also becomes evident. This is most noticeable in the way that current interpretations
of the world are influenced by changing interpretations of the past and expectations
of the future. From this perspective, our understanding of time is not bounded by a
particular moment but is part of a broader temporality in which the past, present and
future shape each other.
It is through temporal awareness that the researcher is able to develop temporal
practices, a more sensitive research gaze that is able to look within and between the
more structured sequenced accounts (linear orientation) and the way people
individually and collectively make sense of subjective experience (non-linear
orientation). In our example, attention needs to be given to the storytellers, the
33
actors and the audience (which includes the various individuals and groups who
attempt to make sense of change, as well as trade unionists, managers, change
agents, external collaborators and so forth). A range and variety of change stories
are likely to be promoted at different organizational levels as well as within
particular groups (for example, local management) and areas of operation (for
example, the machine shop). Time and modes of temporality provide different ways
of viewing change in organizations and whilst objective modes may aspire to the
‘truth’ in identifying a causal chain of events (this happened and then this and then
this), a more subjective conception of time opens up the data to identifying a range
of ‘plausible’ explanations that provide greater understanding of the way that people
and groups experience change. In bringing the two together, change can be viewed
as a multi-story process both in the storying that occurs among individual and
groups and in the more formalised accounts as well as in the research monographs
written by scholars studying organizational change processes.
In advocating the adoption of a broader conception of time where competing stories
not only co-exist but are seen as equally valid in shedding light on change processes,
the question of how to present research findings is posed – the development of
further temporal practices. For example, if different collective accounts are used to
present a range of stories on change then how can these best be presented? Whilst
these stories may be equally valid in giving sense to change they do not all carry the
same persuasive influence (their sense giving capacity) nor do they all have the
same political leverage to shape the changes they describe. Power and existing
systems of authority and control all act to render some stories more visible,
34
influential and dominant than others. Is there therefore a need to move away from
the traditional case study approach that is built upon an identification of emerging
patterns, common themes and deviant outliers, to an analysis of plots, chronologies
and major and minor characters? To turn our attention to the assumptions that lie
behind the construction of a chronological account that presents a kind of linear
causality. This would signal the need for us to continue our multi-level analyses of
data but in so doing, also consider the implications of competing stories/accounts, of
presenting data in a way that does not seek to reconcile discrepancy in the further
development of conceptual frames for understanding organisational change. Our
research strategy and methods might usefully be revised in order to tap into this rich
tapestry of contestation, unevenness, uniqueness and variation as representative and
theoretically informed rather than as distracting empirical detail that is too easily
discounted as descriptive detail.
Although relational temporality enables insight into sensemaking and sensegiving
processes and the mingling of the ongoing present with past memories and future
expectations, temporal practices need to have room for conventional clock time as
this remains a central part of our research inquiry into workplace change, especially
where it is used to regulate activities and control the sequencing of operations.
Clock time provides a stable platform for scheduling activities, for organizing social
and work tasks, and for boundary separation between working hours and activities
outside of the formal work day. It enables division, separation and organization in
the regulation, co-ordination and control of activities and tasks. Periods of time can
35
be compartmentalised, measured and accounted for, they become divisible units,
objectivised linear segments in the forward movement of time.
Temporal practices require the capacity for apparent contrast, for example, in
objective time in relation to subjective time. Time as lived-experience flows and
fluctuates from interpretations and re-interpretations of past experience to
prospective sensemaking of future events and understanding of current concerns.
Boundaries and divisions become blurred, the simple separation that echoes
objective reality resounds in a dynamic mixture of socio-material relations that
reside in the moment of being that embraces the past, present and future. There are
no periods of time that make sense in separation of time lived, the tessellation of
moments ripple and refract and remain open to re-interpretation over time. In
making sense of experience, objective and subjective time entangle, engage and
disengage, in the continuous search for explanation and understanding of what has
been, what is and what may possibly be, spotlighting the need for a more
multifaceted concept of time.
Even if one moves away from a purely sequence-separatist conception of time to a
process-relational ontology, it is important not to lose sight of the interpretations and
meanings that are often bound up with the use of stage sequence models and linear
notions of change. It is argued here that relational temporality (objective/subjective
time) can be overlayed with a processual perspective on the dynamic and ongoing
nature of change in order to attend to both planned sequenced events and the nonlinearity of lived-time-experience, thereby enabling theoretical leverage for
36
understanding the development and rationale for linear change models and the
indeterminacy of ongoing lived-experience in changing organizations. Objective
time provides rational explanation (this happened, causing this to happen which
resulted in this happening), whilst subjective time enables pondering,
reinterpretation and flux in attempts to regularise and order experience. The
separation and compartmentalization that occurs reflects attempts to order and make
sense of reality rather than the reality of lived-experience. Stories reflect this search
for explanation and understanding and coherent organizational stories often take on
the mantle of powerful truths in presenting a clear structure with plots and characters
that have a clearly defined beginning, middle and end, often concluded with a moral
lesson on life. But the version of change that dominates other competing accounts
has more to do with power and politics (a dominant discourse) than with the idea
that there is a true account (Dawson & Buchanan, 2012). In moving away from the
notion that there can be a true account of change, consideration needs to be given to
the way multiple conceptions of time, place and space interweave in the co-creation
of stories that reflect the flow and indeterminacy of the relational-processual
perspective. This in turn takes us back to our initial research conundrum and the
question of temporality, ethnographic research and understanding. In
accommodating an explanation of change as a temporal multi-story process there is
a dynamic shifting in the emergence and flow of retrospective, ongoing and
prospective stories that are variously interpreted and re-interpreted in their
projection of objective/subjective time in which some stories may take the form of
powerful truths, plausible tales or authentic accounts. It is therefore argued that any
37
attempt to draw a dividing line between objective and subjective time is misplaced
as the two intertwine and exist in relation to each other.
Conclusion
The importance of time to ethnographic research is illustrated by the commitment to
sustained fieldwork in collecting detailed contextual accounts with multiple
reference points that allows for the development of thick descriptions. The
sequencing of time in fieldwork activities contrast with temporal practices of data
analyses that seeks to make sense of the intersubjective meanings of actors involved
in enactment. These different conceptions of time are called into play in
ethnographic studies that examine workplace experiences of change. Although
often downplayed, sidestepped or hidden in our research endeavours, time
nevertheless presents us with a research conundrum, we know it is important but
how do we deal with the contradictions that arise from our detailed longitudinal
studies? In drawing on the thinking of process scholars, the notion that everything
only exists in relation to everything else was discussed. Once again time is central
in making sense of the complexes of occasions and of the interaction of emergent
forms in recursive non-linear processes. In is argued that overlaying a relationaltemporality with a processual approach enables theoretical insight into the attraction
and persistence of rational stage models of change as well as explaining the dynamic
indeterminacy of ongoing human experiences in changing organizations.
In bringing time into centre stage the distinction between conventional types of
objective time (measurable and quantifiable time) was compared and contrasted with
38
socially constructed forms of time (non-linear and qualitative in nature). An
empirical pull towards more conventional conceptions of time was illustrated in, for
example, marking the commencement and end of a particular change programme;
that may contrast with the presentation of data that has been collected as-changehappens and draws out asynchronous features that emphasise volatility and nonlinearity in explaining the way that individuals and groups experience change. The
researcher moves between the daily activities associated with fieldwork to analysing
and presenting temporal data, and to developing concepts and theories from the
thick descriptions that arise from data interpretation. In building descriptions and
explanations that seek to understand lived experience through an analysis of the flow
and interrelationships of meaning and action over time, the researcher engages in
temporal practices. These practices arise from engaging in research activities that
tackle time issues and provide greater knowledge, understanding and experience of
how to deal with time. In accommodating the paradox of time, it is argued that
researchers should broaden their understanding of the concepts of time and how they
are used in doing the research and building thick descriptions (temporal awareness).
The ways different uses of time may arise in research and interweave create research
dilemmas. One common concern is how to deal with juxtapositions that arise from
the co-existence of objective and subjective time. In this, the researcher has to
develop temporal practices that enable them to hold onto contradictions in the data
and not to search for early resolutions, whilst at the same time developing
explanations that engage with the material.
39
In drawing on stories (and storytellers and audiences) extracts from an extended case
study were used to illustrate how accounts can be constructed that attempt to align
with objective modes of temporality in promoting cause-effect relations of the
‘truth’ of change; how other stories emerge and develop in changing organizations
that seek to present ‘plausible’ explanations; and how stories created in changing
organizations often compete and shift over time. There are dominant narratives and
official versions of change that are generally storied around rational event sequences
(linear time) as well as the many partial and unfinalised stories of others who
(sometimes heard and sometimes silenced) reflect on the past and look to potential
futures in their interpretations of the present. In carrying out ethnographic research,
temporal awareness is critical as the researcher must engage with these different
conceptions of time not only as evidenced in the observations through the places and
spaces of events and in the construction and reconstruction of event sequences but
also in the interpretation of the meaning-making in the stories (retrospective,
ongoing and prospective) that are conveyed by individuals and groups; and in the
way, for example, post-analytical case descriptions for teaching purposes may use
conventional timeframes to chronicle key events and simplify complex processes
from which the more complex non-linear aspect of subjective time and lived
experience can be more fully discussed and critically evaluated.
In writing up the research and presenting interpretations, the researcher constructs
their own stories that may take the form of an impressionist’s tale (a teller of tales),
a confessional story (in which emotional reactions and personal experiences are
relayed), or a more realist account (the ethnographer remains largely absent from the
40
material presented) (Rosen, 1991: 18-19). Whichever form the writing takes, time
remains an essential component and the researcher must engage in the temporal
practice of sensemaking (Weibe, 2010). They need to develop temporal awareness
of the relational aspects of the data and temporal practices that support an
understanding of how these can be used in developing detailed historical contextual
interpretations and explanations of the processes being studied. The conundrum that
competing concepts of time often present for the researcher is in the juxtapositions
that generate loose ends that appear to require resolution. In moving from practical
fieldwork to data analyses and theory development there is a tension that echoes
longstanding issues between theory and practice. Temporal merging in being able to
accommodate the intertwining of objective and subjective time, temporal practices
in being able to use different concepts of time without trying to resolve them during
the collection and analyses of data, and temporal awareness in being able to accept
the paradox of time in the use of a relational-temporal perspective, all open up
opportunities for greater insight and understanding in engaging in ethnographic
studies on changing organizations.
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