UNCONVENTIONAL PRACTICES AT WORK: INSIGHT AND ANALYSIS THROUGH PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION

Analyses the special difficulties encountered by an undercover worker researching unconventional behaviour in the workplace. Posits that the problems of such behaviour cannot be solved without accepting that it is meaningful to the actors. Reports qualitative participant‐observer research in the entertainments industry, in the course of which 451 cases of unconventional practices were collected and analysed with respect to: forms of behaviour, styles (modus operandi – covert and overt) and motives and meanings. Presents a three‐dimensional model and offers recommendations in the form of guidelines for management on how to deal with these practices effectively.