Research design 124

3.2.1 SAP lens

My research uses a SAP lens, which is consistent with research designs

utilised in the broader practice domain, while also being the foundational basis for the aspirational HRM-as-Practice approach put forward by Björkman et al. (2014). Using a SAP approach within my research attends to arguments that a “[r]eliance on surveys that ask anonymous respondents to answer generic questions is pervasive and problematic” (Jackson et al., 2014, p. 36).

Embracing practice-friendly research methods in SHRM is needed (Björkman et al., 2014; Jackson et al., 2014) as a means to produce new insights that

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capture the complexity of organisations’ daily activities and the processes that fall within these (Jackson et al., 2014; Langley, 1999).

3.2.2 Single embedded case design

My research is conducted using a single embedded case study. This was used to understand the contextual dynamics occurring between different actors and actor levels (i.e. senior, middle and line management) within a single

organisation. Being embedded within the case organisation allowed me to see ‘behind the veil’ of HR practices (Boxall, 2014). Yin (2014) illustrates the types of case designs possible in his matrix entitled ‘Types of designs for case studies’ (Figure 3.1). My selection of the embedded single case design (shown in Figure 3.1 in the bottom left quadrant and labelled as type 2) allows for multiple units of analysis – something argued for in HRM scholarship within my literature review.

Figure 3.1: Types of designs for case studies

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A qualitative case approach relies on inductive qualitative techniques to collect and analyse data. This approach has been successfully employed previously in SAP research such as Ambrosini et al. (2007), and draws from a significant body of practice-based qualitative methods (Orlikowski, 2002; Partington, 2000).

My research attempted to be as data driven as possible (Langley, 1999; Vogt, 1999), yet was acceptant of it being all but impossible to work from a ‘blank slate’ (Ambrosini et al., 2007; Gill & Johnson, 2010). The use of a case study method has been employed in other HRM research and has enabled in-depth gathering and exploration of data, capturing an assortment of perspectives within the same organisation (e.g. Pritchard, 2010; Truss et al., 1997). A case study method in particular enables holistic analysis of data, controlled within its single setting, allowing for the analysis of interrelated phenomena (Boxall, 1993; Dyer, 1992).

3.2.3 Linking my research design and the purpose of my research

My research’s fundamental purpose was to comprehend strategic elements of HRM through a research design that allowed for understanding what ‘being strategic means’, not only for the HRM function, but across my case study organisation as a whole. Particularly, my research has been directed towards understanding the agency of HR practitioners as they make sense of

strategically relevant issues within a single organisation, and the variations of practice and praxis that may occur around strategic activity. I sought to understand the multiple and often conflicting socio-cognitive perspectives occurring across various intergroup and extra-group levels. My research

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design is therefore positioned towards being as open as possible to data, emergent ideas, and the interpretations of participants (Ambrosini et al., 2007; Gioia, Thomas, Clark, & Chittipeddi, 1994; Orlikowski, 2002). My case design allowed me to navigate the challenges of capturing data at multiple levels of analysis in an organisational setting that can present practical constraints.

3.2.3.1 Research participants and their own situated social reality Interviews were undertaken and analysed by viewing participants as inherently being attached to their own unique context within their

organisation. This sees participant discourse engrained within a participant’s own situated social reality (Mantere, 2005). Such a mind-set requires

unlocking knowledge pertaining to a participant’s social reality using personal narratives to access their own social position (Bruner, 2009; Polkinghorne, 1988). Such a mind-set methodologically also requires accepting the subjectivity of contextual situations that surround participants.

3.2.3.2 Using participant narratives of practice

To access participants’ socially situated realities, I treated their interviews as narratives of practice. A SAP lens entails the utilisation of methods to

understand how actors “strategize in the course of their day-to-day activities” (Rouleau, 2010, p. 258). Narratives of practice is a biological research method (techniques used when studying living things) that draws on the experiences and realities of actors telling their stories (Rouleau, 2010). As a participant can weave their life experiences into their own discourse, narratives of practice can therefore capture a longitudinal perspective (Atkinson, 1998) of a research

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participant. In my study, this allowed for the capturing of changing actor identities and role conflict based on previous work experience.

Through narratives of practice, participants are able to construct and relay their reality to the researcher by choosing to reflect on accounts of their past experiences while also being able to situate themselves in future contexts (Rouleau, 2010). Narratives are also knowledge (Bruner, 2009; Polkinghorne, 1988) possessed by the actor, within their own social situation, which requires unlocking (Mantere, 2005). While narratives of practice focus on individual actors, this approach does not accept that an individual is a perfectly rational actor (Rouleau, 2005). Rather, narratives of practice require subjective interpretations of the stories narrated (Rouleau, 2010). This means that my research has used a subjectivist epistemological approach which has treated participants’ narratives as the way actors see their own reality, while the researcher looks to see what makes sense in a story (Mantere, 2005). This then entails a focus towards plausibility more than accuracy (Weick, 1995). For my study, this means that I did not categorise what is and is not strategic from text book definitions, nor reasoned if any narrated action was justified as being referred to as strategic by a participant (Mantere, 2005).

3.2.4 A linear but interactive research process

My process can best be described as a “linear but interactive process” (Yin, 2014); by initially planning a means to address my broad research questions, then accounting for a backwards and forwards evolution of my design and field work as issues presented themselves during the collection and analysis of my data. My planning approach sought to incorporate a way to uncover the

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‘how’ and ‘why’ (Yin, 1994), with a commitment to maintaining a rigour that includes validity, and preserving the chain of evidence (Yin, 2014).

3.2.4.1 Record keeping

After each participant interview I drafted a macro-narrative (Boje, 2001; Mantere, 2005) of each interviewee’s account as a means to position these narratives within the broader organisational setting (Mantere, 2005).When I experienced difficulties in connecting a significant level of uncovered situated activity, I went back to these notes to better place their narratives within their organisational setting. I was then able to better engage with the literature to counteract my emphatic mind-set (Patton, 1990) in addressing such a large amount of text – seeking a suitable means to address this coherently (Mantere, 2005). This was particularly helpful because of the numerous temporal

references provided within narratives of before and after contextual situations that subsequently entailed organisational or participant evolution. The

outcome was a review of my notes and participant narratives with the intent to view these actors within their own situations to see the world from their perspective. I then used the literature to find explanations and a framework to coherently structure my findings while still largely maintaining my initially planned broad research approach.