On Shadowing the Hybrid Character of Actions: A Communicational Approach

Abstract

This article extends the discussion of McDonald (2005) concerning the use of shadowing as a research technique for studying actions in organizational contexts. It addresses McDonald's observation that the few studies that refer to this technique do not make any attempt to discuss their methodological choices or their epistemological standpoints. In this paper, we intend to contribute to this emerging debate in two ways. First, we explore and discuss some contrasting applications of shadowing in the organizational literature in order to render explicit the researcher's ontological and epistemological standpoints. Second, we present our own application of shadowing starting with the redefinition of organization as a plenum of agencies (Cooren, 2006) that emerges from communication (Taylor & Van Every, 2000). Considering these theoretical grounds we propose, inspired by Latour's (2005) motto "follow the actors," to shadow the hybrid character actions. This implies, from a methodological point of view: 1) documenting the flows that compose these actions, over the course of which a set of objects are mobilized in series of interactions, (2) applying an equivalent analytical strategy to whatever actor we are studying, and (3) grasping both the material and discursive dimension of communication as action.

A Visual Turn for Organizational Ethnography: Embodying the Subject in Video-Based Research

“…Drawing on interpretive and discursive thinking, we highlight the importance of affect and embodiment for modern video-based organizational ethnography and how these issues can be conceptualised, for example, dramaturgically, phenomenologically, semiotically and narratively (Waskul & Vaninni, 2006). We discuss how such concepts can provide the basis for a more reflexive understanding of video-based ethnography; as for example in work on video-shadowing by the Montreal School (Cooren, 2015a(Cooren, , 2015bMeunier, & Vásquez, 2008;Vásquez, 2013), an approach which draws inspiration from relationist analysis in post-structural theory (Goodwin. 2000;Heath, 1997;Heath & Luff, 2013;Mondada, 2003Mondada, , 2006.…”

The Constitution of Organization as Informational Individuation

“…While a Simondonian perspective on communication corresponds more to a change in attitude than to prescription, it is still possible to identify, provisionally, at least a few datagathering and data analysis avenues that fulfill the above agenda. For instance, ethnography (Heath & Hindmarsh, 2002;Meunier & Vásquez, 2008;Ybema, Yanow, Wels, & Kamsteeg, 2009) or ethnomethodologically-inspired methods (e.g. Llewellyn & Hindmarsh, 2010;Pomerantz & Fehr, 1997) both share a commitment to the study of action as it unfolds.…”

The organization’s synaptic mode of existence: How a hospital merger is many things at once

“…The material we collected consisted of about 200 hours of observation, including a number of informal conversations or ethnographic interviews (Spradley, 1979), as well as 37 formal semi-structured interviews. We also shadowed (McDonald, 2005;Meunier & Vásquez, 2008) two consultants from the HR consultancy unit, Anne and Karen, as they worked with the department's management team (consisting in a head doctor and a head nurse) and with department 'leaders' who were doctors and other professionals (mainly nurses) with administrative roles. Because of the consultants' developmental approach, they collaborated mostly with those leaders and worked with them through interviews, meetings, and a series of three-day seminars at a conference facility.…”