WhatAnthropologyBringstoBusinessAForewordfortheTextbookGeneralBusinessAnthropology(2ndedition)AlexStewart,MarquetteUniversityAnthropologyhasagreatdealtoofferforbusinessresearchers,whethertheirresearchisappliedandcommercialor“pure”andfoundational.Herearesevenmajoradvantagesofananthropologicalapproach:patientparticipantobservation,insidervistas,methodologicalversatility,relevantexpertise,cross-culturalalertness,abiasfortheunderdog,andrespectfulcollaboration.1.Patientparticipantobservation.Appliedanthropologistsfacestricterdeadlinesthandotheirdisciplinarycolleagues(Aguilera,1996).However,allanthropologiststrytomakelong-termcommitmentstostickwithitandlearnasocialandculturalsettingindepth(HamadaConnolly,2011;Tian,2011).Theirpatiencecontrastswithmost“qualitative”researchinbusinessschools,whichpaysmoreattentiontosupposedlytheoreticalelaborationsthanitdoestodataqualityortothebasisofthatqualityinfieldworkduration,participantroles,andattentiontocontext(Stewart,1998).2.Insidervistas.Therewardfortheanthropologist’sstintsofimmersionisaccesstoinsiders’vistas:toactions,interactions,andexpressionsthattypicallyarehiddenfromview(vanMarrewijk,2011).Impressionmanagementisataskofallorganizations;organizationscholarscanbeamongtheduped.Otherlevelsandotherunitsofthesameorganizationmayfailtoseepastfacades(Kondo,1990;Sayles,1993;Weeks,2004).Forthosebusinessleaderswhotrulywanttoknowwhatgoesonintheirterrains,anthropologistshavethetoolsforthetask(Jordan,2011).3.Methodologicalversatility.Infacttheyhavemanysuchtools,evidencedinBernard’s(2011)ResearchMethodsinAnthropology:QualitativeandQuantitativeApproaches.Evenethnography-thedefaulttool-isfarfromstandardizedandcomesinmanyconfigurations.Perhapsitisbetterthoughtofasatoolboxthatholdsmanymethods.Ethnographyvariesinthewaythatdataare(so-called)collected:notjustparticipantobservationbutalsooralhistories,lifestories,andinterviewsdesignedtoelicittheinformant’sculturalworldwithminimalreactivity(Spradley,1979).Modesofdatacollection(andpresentation)alsoincludevisualmethodssuchasphotoethnographyandethnographicfilm(foraclassicexample,Bateson&Mead,1942).Analysisofthesedatacanincorporatemathematicaltechniquessuchasnetworkanalysis,withsuccessfulstudiesusinghighlysophisticated(White&Johansen,2006)andhomespunapproaches(Kapferer,1972).Ethnographyvariesalsointhescopeofitspurview,rangingfromstudiesofglobalimpactsonlocalities(Meisch,2002),throughclustersoffirmsinanindustry(Yanagisako,2002),toindividualpeople-includingtheselfastheinformant(thatis,autoethnography,McClendon,2011).Eventhetypesofsubjectsobservedmayvary,andincludenotonlypeople(ofcourse)butalsomaterialcultureinvisualcultureresearch(Curasi,Price,&Arnould,2004;vanMarrewijk,2011).Moreover,anthropologistscantakeastheirdatathepriorethnographicrecord,seekingqualitativeorquantitativesynthesesofitsfindings.Withinanthropology,thebestknownsuchapproachishypothesistestingusingthedatasetoftheHumanRelationsAreaFiles(Ember&Ember,2009),althoughthisapproachremainsunderutilizedinbusinessresearch.AnalternativeapproachthatseeksthebestofbothqualitativeandquantitativesynthesisisRagin’sQualitativeComparativeAnalysisorQCA(Ragin,2008).AnexampleoftheuseofQCAinbusinessisRosignoandHodson’s(2004)studyofworkerresistancetomanagement.4.Relevantexpertise.AstheRosignoandHodsonstudyillustrates,ethnographieshaveexploredtopicsofimmediatei...
