On Shadowing the Hybrid Character of Actions: A Communicational Approach |
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| Abstract: | This article extends the discussion of McDonald (2005) McDonald, S. 2005. Studying actions in context: A qualitative shadowing method for organizational research. Qualitative Research, 5: 455–473. Crossref] , Google Scholar] 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 Cooren, F. 2006. “The organizational world as a plenum of agencies”. In Communication as organizing: Practical approaches to research into the dynamic of text and conversation, Edited by: Cooren, F., Taylor, J. R. and Van Every, E. J. 81–100. Mahwah, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Google Scholar]) that emerges from communication (Taylor & Van Every, 2000 Taylor, J. R. and Van Every. 2000. The emergent organization: Communication as its site and surface, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Google Scholar]). Considering these theoretical grounds we propose, inspired by Latour's (2005) Latour, B. 2005. Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network-theory, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar] 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. |
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