RESEARCH CONCEPTS AND DATA BASE

I . I ITT ADDUCT ION

The present research is directed towards exploring the

structural processes which pertain in organisations which are set up by women fo r women and make reference to the women's movement. These organisations are ty p ic a lly non-hierarchical, non-profit making and dependent on voluntary workers. They thus exhibit few o f the conventional parameters o f organisational analysis such as payment systems, defined boundaries and advancement structures, but unlike, fo r example, communes, are set up in response to a perceived need fo r the provision o f services.

The present paucity o f research accounts o f sim ilar organisations made i t in evitable that the in it ia l perspective was ethnographic - directed towards c lea r accounts o f the ongoing processes. Given the l i t t l e that is known (in organisational terms) about Women's Centres i t would have been d iff ic u lt and, as Glaser and Strauss (1967) have argued, inappropriate, to commence the study with d etailed hypotheses and non- negotiable a p r io r i assumptions. However, a number o f preliminary questions were o f course formulated, prompted by the nature o f the f i e l d s ettin g and the th eoretical problems i t appeared to pose. For example, what are id e n tifia b le as communalities in the styles o f feminist organisations? How does a non-hierarchical organisation re la te to an e ss en tia lly bureaucratic environment? How does i t seek to recruit and to retain the commitment o f participants? How is the question o f leadership dealt with by the organisation and what is the distribution o f power, both within the organisation and in its

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I I . CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The emphasis which has been placed on the need tc id en tify the cultural components o f and the negotiative processes inherent in the production o f social organisation, has also pointed to the importance o f organisational analysis which counters the criticism, 'ah istorical, acontextual and aprocessual ' (see page 25 )• This being the case the conceptual framework o f the research design was, to some extent, modified by the process o f longitudinal involvement with anc greater understanding o f the research locations. In this sense the research method and the th eoretica l approach are congruent. The re la tiv e ly

fr a g ile and temporary forms o f organisation found within the women's movement are seen tc take on a d ifferen t meaning when attention is

sh ifted from the organisation per se to the notion o f a particular id eo lo g ic a l perspective, or set o f core values, whose enactment and a rtic u la tio n can be id e n tifie d in a variety o f individual and c o lle c tiv e expressions. This approach is indicated by Burrell and Morgan (1979 s?'''') as one which 'stresses the importance o f the mode o f organisation r e fle c tin g a particu lar t o t a lity , rather than the

importance o f organisations as discrete middle-range u n its ' (emphasis in o r ig in a l). Thus, by focussing prin cipally on 'organising a c t iv it y ' (Weick, 1979) rather than organisational form, i t becomes possible to account f o r periods in which 'organising a c t iv it y ' is at a high le ve l, while the 'organisation' ceases to exist in the sense o f a definable physical location. Amalgamation o f these two formulations led to the id e n tific a tio n o f a 'mode o f organisin g ' or 'mode o f conduct' across a variety o f settings with greater or lesser degrees o f establishment (in the conventional organisational sense). Taken together, the communalities found in the fie ld work and in written accounts o f sim ilar settings

provide the basis fo r the cultural context - both as a source o f nesr.ings, values and b e lie fs , and as the creation o f active participants

However, as the e a rlie r discussion has shown, the connections nade in this way are incomplete unless attention is also given to the environmental context - the nature c f the s p e c ific arena in which participants seek to create and maintain a particu lar social

organisation, and the manner in which that arena is modified by their a c t iv it ie s . We may note that in the case c f Women's Centres and s im ila r organisations, some aspects o f the environment are seen as d iffe r e n t and oppositional, while others are seen as sim ilar and

sympathetic. (This characterisation does not, o f course, preclude the p o s s ib ility o f changes in relationships over tim e.) A n alytically, i t is recognised that both the cultural and environmental contexts are processes with th e ir own dynamics (c f. Pettigrew, 1985). In terms c f the present research, however, i t is not possible to examine these processes in great d e t a il. In a large part, the fo c a l le ve l o f analysis is that c f the group and in many cases the environmental context w ill be 'seen ' from that perspective. This lim itation is not, however, without it s own usefulness. It has already been pointed out that there is a shortage o f available models fo r groups seeking to establish non-hierarchical organisations, and that therefore they are presented with a wide range c f choices, bcth in terms o f the social location o f the group and the manner and extent to which they seek opportunities in and respond to the constraints o f a particular social lo ca tio n . Moreover, an environmental context may act, through

association, as a source o f meaning and id en tity fo r the group which inhabits i t . In a processual analysis i t is possible tc shew how a group may seek to change or modify its id en tity through the process of modifying its so c ia l location. Attention tc these processes provides a means o f illu s tr a tin g how a desired end-state may be perceived as incompatible with a particular envirormental context, and the extent to which participants are able to exercise s k ill in attain in g changes.

Therefore, while i t is argued to be important to consider the

environrental context as more than just a descriptive backdrop, in the main i t w ill be presented as i t is perceived and used by participants

in the group.

Throughout, the emphasis here has been on the need fo r a

connectable v e r tic a l and horizontal analysis. I t is pertinent at this point to review the approach offered by Hanson et al ( I980)(page 37) who suggest that the temporal perspective adopted by the researcher a ffe c ts the 'v i s i b i l i t y ' o f the d iffe re n t le v e ls o f the analysis. The research design is intended to make use o f this insight by u t ilis in g the illum inatory power i t o ffers to provide evidence o f 'an order o f meaning, value and b e lie f' and o f 'emergent re g u la ritie s ' (ib id , 1980:14) as components o f a conceptual framework which infonns the material

presented in the two long case studies. This approach is further ju s tifie d by attending to Weick's (1979*3) conceptualisation o f organising as the process by which actors 'assemble ongoing in te r­ dependent actions into sensible sequences that generate sensible outcomes'. The means o f making sensible - and therefore manageable - the complexity which exists in the world, are provided at two

(a n a ly tic a lly separable) le v e ls . At the le v e l o f the cultural context, values are instrumental in providing s im p lific a tio n ; 'sc fa r as

e ffe c t iv e values emerge . . . a f ie ld is created which is nc longer ric h ly joined and turbulent but s im p lified and r e la tiv e ly s ta tic '

(Efrery and T r is t, 1965*28). At the le v e l o f the environmental context a s ta b ilis in g e ffe c t is obtained when some component o f the structural configuration appears re la tiv e ly fixed and acouirera taken-fcr-granted character. Given these parameters, the energy o f organising is directed elsewhere - to arenas where meaning is uncertain, where

resources are inadequate, where behaviour in inappropriate. As Weick (1979*4) sees i t :

Organising is directed in it ia lly at any input that is not s e lf-e v id e n t. Happenings that represent a change, a differen ce or a discontinuity froir what has been going on, happenings that sear tc have ircre than one meaning, are the occasion fc r sizeable c o lle c tiv e a c tiv ity . Cnee these inputs have become less equivocal, there is a decrease in the amount o f c o lle c tiv e a c tiv ity directed at them.

Weick is rig h t in observing the d iffe r e n tia l attention organising groups give to matters which do and do net (at various times) enter the arena which is subject to negotiation, but, in the case o f innovatory groups, i t is perhaps less easy to detect a ground-line o f 's e lf- eviden t' happenings than he suggests. Returning again to our emphasis on the need fc r a processual and contextualised analysis, the question rather becomes one o f tracing out how d ifferen t expressions o f the core values, as a mode o f conduct, may or may not be seen as acceptable, and hence part o f 'how things are done here' and, at the same time, how the r e la t iv e ly fixed components o f structural configurations may or may not be seen as congruent with the attainment o f core values, as a desired end-state, and hence may be taken fo r granted.

In th is research the v e r tic a l components o f the analysis are ( i ) the cultural context which is viewed from a broad perspective and reveals the existence o f values which inform organising a c tiv ity in the women's movement, ( i i ) the environmental context in which Women's Centres locate (this is shown to be composed o f d ifferen t segments, only some o f which share the values o f the women's movement), and

( i i i ) the group - the participants in Women's Centres whese day-to-day interactions create a social organisation which makes reference to shared core values. I t has already been noted that the limitations o f this research do not permit a f u ll exploration o f the horizontal processes in the cultural and environmental contexts. However, we are able to provide additional background to the f u ll processual analyses o f the long case studies with three short case studies which precede them. In the short case studies the r e la tiv e ly s ta tic analyses

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h igh ligh t the structural configurations o f d ifferen t Women's Centres as 'emergent r e g u la r itie s '. These case studies id en tify the fact that certain aspects o f socia l order may be 'taken fo r granted' in the sense described above, and that, in these circumstances, organisational energy is directed to other parts o f the social order. Bringing this insight to bear on the long case studies is useful in accounting for the way in which d iffe re n t arenas o f negotiation occupy centre stage at d iffe re n t times.

In the long case studies we shall be primarily inquiring into the how o f non-hierarchical organisation. The contention is that this form o f organisation cannot be dismissed as 'natural' cr 'spontaneous', but requires negotiation and the exercise o f s k i l l . In Chapter 3, where we lock at a number o f accounts o f organising a c tiv ity in the women's movement, some problem areas are id en tified and these provide a means o f re fin in g the origin al research questions (see pp 46, 55)« A d etailed account o f the an alytical strategy w ill be found in Chapter 5, Section IV. There we shall review the findings of Chapters 3 and 4, and describe the emergence o f the analytical categories which are used to discuss the case study m aterial. Chapter 8 discusses the case study material and there we shall show that

( i ) values form an important component o f organising processes in Women's Centres, and that the mode o f conduct and movement towards a desired end state are subject to assessments o f legitimacy; a p o s itiv e aspect o f non-hierarchical organisation is that i t enables participants to engage in c o lle c tiv e behaviour o f a style which has in trin s ic value fo r them;

( i i ) creating and maintaining ncn-hierarchical organisation places demands cn participants in tenns o f the acquisition and

application o f s k ills ;

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Participants, and that these d iffic u lt ie s are a source c f concern since there is a value requirement f c r open participation;

( i v ) differences in influence between participants are hard to eradicate, p a rticu la rly in situations where there are both paid and voluntary workers;

(v ) interactions with the environment are multi-dimensional and are affected by perceptions o f the degree o f autonomy which ex is ts , and by the a b ility to seek out opportunities and respond to threats.

We have net so fa r suggested how the success or fa ilu r e o f Women's Centres might be understood and we now outline our approach to assessment c r ite r ia . Obvious c r it e r ia c f success and fa ilu re such as s iz e or persistence have some relevance, but cannot be taken as the whole story. As Abrams and McCullough (1976) have noted in th e ir research on communes i t is necessary to ask persistence o f what? I t is also necessary to inquire into participan ts' own assessment c r it e r ia . This research does not attempt to engage with debates which are

concerned to assess the success or fa ilu re o f the women's mevanent in an en tita tiv e sense; the continuing debates in this area (e .g . Foley and Steedly, 1980, Goldstone, 1980) are indicative o f the d iff ic u lt ie s inherent in arrivin g at agreed defin ition s and c r ite r ia . Instead the focus is at the le v e l o f the group and its social organisation. Here, i t is suggested, two d iffe r e n t modes o f id en tifyin g success c r ite r ia are discernible, cne derived from the negotiation o f differences between members and another based cn the existence c f communalities amongst members. This formulation is paralleled by Abrams and McCullough (1976:156) who observe that '(Communes) are successful or unsuccessful in relation to many d ifferen t c r ite r ia which may often be seen to oppose one another and which are d iffe re n tly valued by

d ifferen t members c f the group', and continue (ib id , 1976:1 6 1), 'we shall say that a commune is successful insofar as its members seen, able

tc negotiate th eir way towards a society o f equals'. This distinction is interesting, but i t is inappropriate to counterpose participants 1

and analysts' d efin ition s. Rather, we should inquire into hew participants construct a defin ition c f success in terms o f the achievement o f a desired end-state and, in the shorter term, how the legitimacy o f d ifferen t strategic or ta ctica l a c tiv itie s is an outcome o f n egetiative processes between members on the basis o f d ifferen t assessments o f the current position and its relation to the direction tc be pursued. Shorter term assessment c r ite r ia w ill then re la te to the implementation o f a particular ta c tic . Over time d ifferen t tactics may be introduced in pursuit c f the same end—state; th e ir success w ill be understood in terms which are s p e cific to that strategy or ta c tic , as well as in relation to a desired end-state. For example, assessing the success o f a rota system o f volunteers in a Women's Centre may be taken separately from assessing whether or not a rota system, is in trin s ic to the success o f a Women's Centre. At another time the employment o f paid workers may be subject to the same dual assessment. In sum, the construction o f a sense o f social order which is appropriate with respect to a set o f core values, depends on