Research In Organizations

Richard A. Swanson and Elwood F. Holton, leading scholars in the field, bring together contributions from more than twenty distinguished researchers from multiple disciplines to provide a comprehensive introductory textbook on organizational research. Designed for use by professors and students in graduate-level programs in business, management, organizational leadership, and human resource development, Research in Organizations teaches how to apply a range of methodolgies to the study of organizations. This comprehensive guide covers the theoretical foundations of various research methods, shows how to apply those methods in organizational settings, and examines the ethical conduct of research. It provides a holistic perspective, embracing quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methodology approaches and illuminating them through numerous illustrative examples.

This textbook provides first-hand, inside accounts of the process of doing research in organizations. It is intended both for students of research methods in sociology and social psychology, and for students of organization studies, organizational behaviour and management. The contributors tackle such problems as: gaining access to organizations, ‘getting on’ in organizations, quantitative and qualitative styles of investigation, the use of historical materials, the effects of resources on the context of research, the part played by political factors in organizational research, the relevance of grounded theory and conducting research within a cross-cultural framework.

Although there are plenty of books that discuss the principles, the philosophy and the techniques of research in organisations, it is much harder to find information on what doing research in organisations actually involves in practice. Yet this is often one of the most challenging, but also most interesting, aspects of a study. Drawing on examples and debates from a broad range of disciplines (such as criminology, education and social anthropology as well management) Researching Organisations explores the issues that researchers may encounter when carrying out fieldwork in organisations. From getting in to an organisation at the start of the research to getting out and maybe back again at the end, the book offers systematic guidance to help researchers navigate the messy reality of fieldwork. Researching Organisations is designed for graduate level researchers who may be undertaking fieldwork for the first time, but also for those who wish to gain an understanding of research practice.

This textbook provides first-hand, inside accounts of the process of doing research in organizations. It is intended both for students of research methods in sociology and social psychology, and for students of organization studies, organizational behaviour and management. The contributors tackle such problems as: gaining access to organizations, ‘getting on’ in organizations, quantitative and qualitative styles of investigation, the use of historical materials, the effects of resources on the context of research, the part played by political factors in organizational research, the relevance of grounded theory and conducting research within a cross-cultural framework.

The goal of the chapters in this SIOP Organizational Frontiers Series volume is to challenge researchers to break away from the rote application of traditional methodologies and to capitalize upon the wealth of data collection and analytic strategies available to them. In that spirit, many of the chapters in this book deal with methodologies that encourage organizational scientists to re-conceptualize phenomena of interest (e.g., experience sampling, catastrophe modeling), employ novel data collection strategies (e.g., data mining, Petri nets), and/or apply sophisticated analytic techniques (e.g., latent class analysis). The editors believe that these chapters provide compelling solutions for the complex problems faced by organizational researchers.

Perspectives from organizational theory, social psychology, sociology and economics are brought together in this volume to provide a broad coverage of trust, including the psychological and social antecedents of trust.

This textbook provides first-hand, inside accounts of the process of doing research in organizations. It is intended both for students of research methods in sociology and social psychology, and for students of organization studies, organizational behaviour and management. The contributors tackle such problems as: gaining access to organizations, 'getting on' in organizations, quantitative and qualitative styles of investigation, the use of historical materials, the effects of resources on the context of research, the part played by political factors in organizational research, the relevance of grounded theory and conducting research within a cross-cultural framework.

This entry-level text describes a tested top-down enterprise-wide approach to managing organizations with a predominant portion of their product being scientific or technological research. It focuses on executive performance and strategic forecasting and planning; goal-setting; communications and marketing, and operations management to realize strategic objectives. This book will be of interest to entrepreneurs, established scientists and engineers and to those studying toward an MBA with specialization in research institutions and major research infrastructures, preparing them to move from research or academia into their first managerial position. It also provides valuable advice and guidance for established middle and senior management in established research enterprises. Features: Provides an accessible and easy to follow introduction to strategic management methodologies Explores best practices for communication, marketing, and risk management Discusses workforce management as related to realizing strategic goals and plans