6 How Managers Talk about their Consumption of Popular
6.3 Sample and Method 140
Because research on popular management concepts to date has not broadly elabo- rated on the consumption of popular concepts within organizations, we conduct- ed an exploratory study. We adopt an interpretative perspective in order to step into the managerial frames of reference and better understand concept consump- tion (Golden-Biddle and Locke, 2006; Yanow, 2006). As a method of data col- lection, we interviewed managers, visited their offices and production sites, and collected promotional and other material. While interviews are a widely accepted approach to data collection in interpretive studies, they are always laden with expectations and interests of both interviewer and interviewee (Alvesson, 2003). Although we approached our interview partners with a knowledge-producing logic that was influenced by our prior reading of management concepts literature, we strictly avoided any statements indicating our theoretical approach as re- searchers. A guideline structured our loosely framed, yet issue-focused inter- views. Our interviews began with questions designed to gather information about the individual respondent and his or her general understanding of management concepts. (For example, one of our questions was, “Are you familiar with the term ‘management concept’?” If yes, we followed up with the question, “What does this term mean to you?”) By raising such questions, we ensured that our interviewees shared a sufficient common understanding of the relevant construct in our inquiry. Also, we were interested in the general application of management concepts within the manager’s organization. (For example, we asked, “Which management concepts have been introduced under your supervision?”, “What functional elements did the concept entail?” and “When did the implementation process commence?”) While the guideline was designed for the interviewer to give him a rough frame of reference for a guided conversation, all interviews were conducted in a very open manner. Thereby we sought to stimulate the inter- viewees to engage in the process of accessing narratives about their experiences
in consuming popular concepts. To reduce common errors introduced by narra- tions, our questions focused on past facts and behavior (Golden, 1992). As Burke (1950) reminds us, it is hardly possible to ask people about their general motives for a certain behavior, as peoples’ motives vary from context to context and from time to time.23 Accordingly, we only investigated what people state about their motives with reference to a particular time and context. To do so, we used a last- incident approach. Hence, our questions focused on the last management concept introduced under the interviewee’s command.24 We did not impose any further restrictions upon the participants regarding the management concepts they would be questioned about. We also assured the interviewees of their complete anonym- ity and acknowledged that all identifying information was to be removed upon transcription of the interviews. All interviews were conducted in German, the native language of the interviewer and all interviewees. We selected experienced top managers as interview partners, most of whom had two to three decades of management experience. In view of their seniority, we expected them to be knowledgeable and experienced with regard to management concepts. We decid- ed to allow considerable spread in terms of company size and location. Also, our sample included a broad range of professional training qualifications (business degrees in human resources, finance and accounting; doctors of chemistry; and engineers). In this way, we attempted to ensure that our data reflected the inter- viewees’ identity as managers and was not simply the consequence of training in business administration or limited to a particular industry and company size. Ta- ble 6.1 provides an overview of the interviews we conducted.
Table 6.1: Description of Interview Data
Nr. Interviewee Industry Employees (approx.) Management Concept
01 General Manager Automotive 350 Lean Production 02 Head of Human Resources Chemicals 600 Management by objectives 03 Head of Human Resources Consumables 650 Management by objectives 04 Head of Procurement Consumables 400 ISO 9000
05 General Manager Automotive 200 ISO 9000 06 Head of Human Resources Synthetics 250 Lean Production 07 Head of Human Resources Chemicals 900 Management by objectives 08 General Manager Synthetics 200 ISO 9000
09 Head of Human Resources Pharmacy 11,000 Management by objectives 10 Operations Manager* Chemicals 95,000 Value driver Concept 11 Operations Manager* Chemicals 95,000 Value driver Concept 12 Operations Manager* Chemicals 95,000 Value driver Concept 13 Operations Manager* Chemicals 95,000 Value driver Concept
Note: An asterisk (*) denotes interviewees who worked for the same company group but were responsible for different departments.
23 We thank one of the reviewers for pointing out this critical issue to us.
24 While this approach implied that every interviewee had recent and direct experience with using the
Each of these 13 interviews lasted about an hour and a half and was taped and transcribed shortly after to ensure reliability (Eisenhardt, 1989). While these data represent an important source for our inquiry, we also conducted site visits and, whenever possible, collected artifacts related to the enactment of the manage- ment concept in the organization (e.g., booklets distributed among the employ- ees). Data were also collected in more informal conversations, e.g. over lunch. The initial step of analyzing our interview data was done by coding about 400 pages of transcript using both inductive and deductive approaches (Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007). While our inductive approach focused on developing themes and grouping managerial discourses around how managers account for their consumption of popular management concepts, our deductive approach was guided by our interest in the manager’s identity as someone who exerts control over organizations by rational means. Following the method suggested by Ernst and Kieser (2002), who together investigated the concept of control in a man- agement consulting context, our deductive approach was based on an established category scheme developed in control psychology by Rothbaum, Weisz and Snyder (1982). Alternating between our deductive scheme and our data, we de- veloped themes and codes that allowed us to categorize findings (Miles and Hu- berman, 1994). In the course of analyzing the data and theorizing about its mean- ing, our focus shifted from control psychology to the consumption of popular concepts. In doing so, we turned to the literature on narratives to develop mana- gerial discourse categories on popular-concept consumption (Czarniawska- Joerges, 1997; Alvesson and Kärreman, 2000). Approaching managerial con- sumption of concepts in a story-like way seems to be a sensible method because this approach allows us to better understand the managers’ multiple and different lines of argumentation when reflecting on concept consumption. This approach also resonates with Czarniawska’s (2008: 126) thesis that such “rhetoric of re- flection” is fed by the logic of appropriateness. In order to strengthen the credi- bility of our interview material and to substantiate our analysis, one author con- ducted follow-up meetings with managers from two companies from our sample. These meetings allowed us to discuss and corroborate our interpretations of the managerial discourses on popular-concept consumption.