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Open Access 2022 | Open Access | Book | 1. edition

Researching Values

Methodological Approaches for Understanding Values Work in Organisations and Leadership

Editors: Gry Espedal, Beate Jelstad Løvaas, Stephen Sirris, Arild Wæraas

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Table of Contents

About this book

This open access book presents new approaches for researching values as they are performed or materialized. Values have been an important topic in academic literature for a long time; they are at the core of institutional theories and are often connected to ideals in organisations or ways of valuing. The various values-constructs are typically highlighted to underpin discussions of identity, ethos, and the purposive institutional work of leaders and employees. However, there is a need for more research on how values link and sustain actions and institutions.

Contributors in this volume map and discuss useful methodological ways in which values and values work can be investigated and how research on values has been and can be applied. The chapters present different methods for collecting data, including interviews, observation and shadowing, as well as various methods for analyzing data, such as thematic, discourse and narrative analysis. Chapters also consider the role of the researcher and participant validation as a procedure to enhance the trustworthiness of the study. Finally, the book presents various empirical projects and issues related to and exemplifying values research.

This book is a valuable guide for researchers and students who are looking for a practical understanding of how to research values and values work in organisations. The volume is a follow-up of the open access book, Understanding Values Work: Institutional Perspectives in Organisations and Leadership published by Palgrave Macmillan.

Frontmatter

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1. Researching Values in Organisations and Leadership

Abstract

Values are essential to understand but difficult to define. As any set of acts in everyday work is value-driven (Askeland et al., 2020), values can be understood as ‘that which is worth having, doing, and being (i.e., normative goods or “ends”)’ (Selznick, 1992, p. 60). However, if you ask organisational members to define their values or elaborate on their organisation’s values, they often have problems answering. If you ask them to define the values that are important to them on a personal level, their answers will most likely be quite divergent and not necessarily reflect their employer’s official core values.

Gry Espedal, Beate Jelstad Løvaas, Stephen Sirris, Arild Wæraas

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Methodological Approaches to Researching Values

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2. Values at Work: Mapping the Field Through the Lens of Methodological Approaches

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to investigate how research on values in organisations is conducted by mapping the field through the lens of methodological approaches. Selecting suitable methods for a given research purpose or a specific research question is an essential skill for researchers. By linking aim and research question with design and methods, the chapter presents a brief overview of the quantitative and qualitative approaches that have been used to study explicit and implicit values in organisations. The ways in which these applied research methods have enabled or hindered our understanding of values at work are discussed. Mixed methods approaches are discussed as a possible avenue for future research on values in organisations.

Beate Jelstad Løvaas

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3. Definitions as Initial and Final Point of Values Research? Searching for Mysteries in Research Projects About Values in Organisational and Leadership Studies

Abstract

The chapter at hand examines how definitions and (theoretical) conceptualisations can impact methodological choices and thus contribute to the development of empirical research about values. It does so by exploring different ways to define values and integrate them into a research design, with the help of the example of two selected projects in the field of organisational and leadership studies. Two steps in the research process are identified as natural contact sites for implementing value definitions in empirical studies: namely, selecting empirical data (or sampling) and concluding a study. The two selected research projects are analysed by asking how they define values, how these value definitions affect the data collection, and how they are part of the result presentation. The chapter concludes by encouraging values researchers to reflect more on the connection between empirical research and value definitions.

Annette Leis-Peters

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4. Intentionality and Agency in Values Work Research

Abstract

This chapter addresses how intentionality and agency can be understood in relation to values and values work. How different degrees of intentionality relate to different dimensions of agency is something we need to understand empirically rather than as a point of departure. A connected challenge is to what extent people are aware of values that influence their actions and the values work they are involved in, but also to what extent they are aware of relations/conflicts between values that are imposed on them (e.g., from an employer) and personal values. This is also something we need to understand empirically. This chapter describes how different qualitative data collection methods have different strengths and weaknesses in relation to the above challenges and how a design of mixing them may enable a true empirical investigation of intentionality and agency in values work research.

Thomas Andersson

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5. Extending Knowledge, Improving Practice and Refining Values: Research Informed by the Concept of Phronesis

Abstract

This chapter explores how the concept of phronesis (practical wisdom) promotes research that goes beyond the three traditional research goals—exploration, description and explanation—and aims at the improvement of practice, refinement of values and production of knowledge. When applied to research activity, the concept of practical wisdom opens up possibilities of realising co-development of theoretical knowledge, reflection over values and improvement of practice at the same time, constituting a type of values work. This chapter addresses how such research on values can be undertaken within organisations, with a special focus on reflection in groups. It also presents an example of a research study informed by phronesis.

Dag-Håkon Eriksen, Marta Strumińska-Kutra

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6. Dilemmas and Craftsmanship Practices: Strategies for Empirically Uncovering Values and Value Conflicts

Abstract

This chapter’s aim is to unearth values and value conflicts in the public realm. By elaborating two different and related research strategies that have successfully been adopted in different empirical studies, we describe how we can study these tricky things called values in their context. More specifically, the goal of this chapter is to uncover values and value conflicts through two (related) strategies: (1) by studying dilemmas and (2) by studying craftsmanship practices. To help readers understand the practicalities of these research strategies and support them in applying them themselves, we provide detailed tips, tricks and visualisations on data collection, data analysis and examples of research findings.

Gjalt de Graaf, Hester Paanakker

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Methods for Collecting and Analysing Data

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7. Research Interviews to Investigate and Co-create Values

Abstract

In this chapter, I will discuss how organisational values and values work can be investigated through a constructivist and qualitative process of research interviews. The presented process of doing research interviews follows a semi-structured and open-ended strategy of exploring a phenomenon. As such, the research interview is presented as a form of inter-viewing, of together-seeing, and as a place for connectedness and co-interpretation. Values become part of the reflexive, communicative act, in which words, proverbs, sayings and stories are brought into view, explored and interpreted.

Gry Espedal

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8. Observation and Shadowing: Two Methods to Research Values and Values Work in Organisations and Leadership

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to provide insights into how participant observation and shadowing, which are relevant methods for studying practices, can be used for collecting data in studies on values work, which refers to examining values in action. Our review of important observational studies in the domain of organisation and leadership research shows how the growing interest in practice has paved way for such methods. We characterise and compare each method and illustrate with examples how such methodological studies can be undertaken. With the help of these examples and considerations, we discuss the contributions and implications of using participant observation and shadowing when researching values. Importantly, these methods offer insights into the core dimensions of values practices by means of granulated in situ and in vivo data.

Stephen Sirris, Tone Lindheim, Harald Askeland

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9. Thematic Analysis: Making Values Emerge from Texts

Abstract

This chapter explains how thematic analysis can be used to make values emerge from texts. Taking reflexive thematic analysis as its starting point, it begins by giving a general overview of the processes of coding and generating themes from codes. The chapter then presents three ways of generating themes from coded values: Grouping synonyms, grouping based on value type, and grouping based on semantic meaning. It also distinguishes between and gives examples of thematic coding of values at the explicit, implicit, and latent level. Overall, the chapter presents a five-step approach to thematic analysis of values: (1) assigning codes, (2) generating themes, and if possible (3) organizing themes, (4) identifying aggregate dimensions, and (5) making visual representations of codes and themes.

Arild Wæraas

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10. Identifying Values Through Discourse Analysis

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to show how values can be identified through discourse analysis. To elaborate on this, we describe what discourse analysis is by drawing on theoretical contributions and earlier writings on the approach. Discourse analysis is presented here by three traditions with different theoretical and methodological connotations. The three approaches are structural-semantic discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis and discursive psychology. The different approaches are analysed and presented through an example text discussing the managerial model of trust-based leadership within the public sector in Scandinavia. The description of the approaches to discourse analysis gives the reader an understanding of the available choices of approaches within discourse analysis and how the different theoretical groundings make way for identifying values differently. In this chapter, readers are offered a framework for placing their own research projects within the three traditions of discourse analysis.

Benedicte Maria Tveter Kivle, Gry Espedal

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11. A Narrative Approach to Exploring Values in Organisations

Abstract

Values are often part of tacit and taken-for-granted knowledge in organisations. As such, investigating values as part of organisations and their members’ work on values can be difficult. In this chapter, we suggest a narrative approach to exploring values and values work. A narrative approach can be used to gain in-depth information on organisational activities, identity, sense-making and change. The analytical approaches of narrative research are not standardised and are instead dependent on the narratives involved and the content, aim and structure of the narratives. An organisational study is provided as an illustrative case to identify sacred stories as a form of values work manifested in creative acts of storytelling in everyday practice.

Gry Espedal, Oddgeir Synnes

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12. Researchers’ Role Reflexivity When Studying Values Work

Abstract

Relevant to all research methods, reflexivity refers to an examination of the connections between the researchers and the research. It promotes transparency in research and is an indicator of the quality of the research process. Particularly important to qualitative studies, it concerns the researcher’s presence, interactions and impact on the research. This chapter conceptualises role reflexivity as researchers’ capacity to identify, account for and manage their roles. I argue and show through examples how role reflexivity is central to researching values work by examining three phases of data collection. Specifically, I consider reflexivity before data collection in terms of interest and self-presentation in claiming and establishing roles, during data collection in the form of performing and negotiating preferred and attributed roles, and after data collection in terms of interpreting role patterns.

Stephen Sirris

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13. Participant Validation: A Strategy to Strengthen the Trustworthiness of Your Study and Address Ethical Concerns

Abstract

How can you as a researcher ensure the trustworthiness of your data and results? This chapter presents participant validation as a strategy for doing so and discusses the ethical challenges that come with it. Participant validation implies that the researcher in one way or another presents the data material or the preliminary analysis to the informants to validate and assess interpretations. In this chapter, previous literature and studies of participant validation are reviewed, and a case study of cultural diversity and inclusion in the workplace is used as an example of how participant validation can be incorporated in the research process. The chapter shows how participant validation addresses as well as raises ethical concerns. The examples used in the chapter demonstrate how participant validation can contribute to qualitative research by generating new data that can be incorporated into a study. As an integrated part of the research process, participant validation represents a site and an opportunity for values work.

Tone Lindheim

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Researching Values Through Practical Cases

Frontmatter

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14. The ‘Telos’ as a Lens That Illuminates Values in Practice

Abstract

The central question this chapter seeks to address is, how can the perspective of institutional logics contribute to research on values in organisational practice? Drawing on empirical research conducted within an international faith-based relief and development organisation in the UK, the argument advanced in this chapter is that it is the ‘telos’ of each institutional logic in action within the organisation—that is, its ultimate aim or intention—that shapes the values in operation within organisational practice. While all institutional logics are value-based, some are more explicitly so than others. By identifying the teloi of the institutional logics dominant within organisational practice, the values tacit within it are brought to light.

Nina Kurlberg

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15. Applying a Qualitative Case Study Approach to Study Values in Public–Private Partnerships

Abstract

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are used for the provision of public infrastructure such as roads, schools and hospitals and related services such as maintenance, cleaning and catering. They are often considered to be an organisational manifestation of the new public management (NPM) paradigm. Whereas critical scholars suggest that the introduction of private sector management techniques and values into the public sector may harm so-called public values such as accountability, transparency and quality, supporters of the NPM paradigm believe the opposite, even suggesting that public values may be strengthened. This chapter goes beyond the often normative debate on the desirability of PPPs to instead describe how a multiple qualitative case study approach analysing how actors in PPPs give meaning to public values in practice can be applied to assess the extent to which public values are safeguarded in PPPs.

Anne-Marie Reynaers

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16. Values-Based Participatory Action Research in Development Ethics

Abstract

This chapter explores the pros and cons of values-based participatory action research, from an ethics of regards, to discuss how a values-based participatory action research could be articulated as a values-adding paradigm shift in values-based research methodologies. Values-based participatory action research is a community-engaging research methodology that emphasises values, participation, and common action as methods of enquiry. Along with the ethics of regards, it argues that how values are understood may impact participatory-decision, research design, and possible outcomes. Participation is more than involvement but a context where values are identified, shared, or even contested. To engage the paradigm, development ethics will be used as a research context.

Isaias Ezequiel Chachine

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Backmatter

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Title: Researching Values
Editors: Gry Espedal
Beate Jelstad Løvaas
Stephen Sirris
Arild Wæraas
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-90769-3
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-90768-6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90769-3