Quel(s) recours à l'enquête ethnographique pour analyser la trajectoire d'une organisation ?
Résumé
How to use ethnography while studying organizational trajectories? Three ideal-types based on a critical review.
French sociology of work and organizations has been more and more working on the links between the present and the past and has been combining historical and ethnographic investigation techniques. Some ethnographic studies, taken as a research posture characterized by an in-depth fieldwork, are here dedicated to the analysis of organizational trajectories (defined as the processes of change affecting the size, the structure and the activities of this organization during several decades). Our thesis in Sociology gave us the opportunity to notice that while these ethnographic studies have similar methodological claims, their analytical frames and theoretical ambitions remain divergent. This paper draws upon a selection of works in sociology, management studies and history, to propose three ideal types of research postures using ethnography to analyse organizational trajectories. It presents them successively and discusses their theoretical reach as well as their limits.
French sociology of work and organizations has been more and more working on the links between the present and the past and has been combining historical and ethnographic investigation techniques. Some ethnographic studies, taken as a research posture characterized by an in-depth fieldwork, are here dedicated to the analysis of organizational trajectories (defined as the processes of change affecting the size, the structure and the activities of this organization during several decades). Our thesis in Sociology gave us the opportunity to notice that while these ethnographic studies have similar methodological claims, their analytical frames and theoretical ambitions remain divergent. This paper draws upon a selection of works in sociology, management studies and history, to propose three ideal types of research postures using ethnography to analyse organizational trajectories. It presents them successively and discusses their theoretical reach as well as their limits.
De plus en plus de travaux sociologiques français portant sur le travail et les organisations analysent conjointement le passé et le présent, articulant ainsi recherche historique et enquête ethnographique. Définie comme une insertion prolongée dans un lieu ou parmi un groupe, l'enquête ethnographique porte ici sur de nouveaux objets comme la trajectoire d'une organisation entendue comme l'ensemble de ses transformations (de taille, de structure, d'activités) pendant plusieurs décennies. Une thèse de sociologie a été l'occasion de constater que ces travaux ont des revendications méthodologiques similaires, mais qu'ils recourent à des usages analytiques très différents des données ethnographiques. À partir d'une revue de littérature sélective en sociologie, gestion et histoire, cet article dégage alors trois figures idéaltypiques du recours à l'ethnographie pour analyser la trajectoire d'une organisation. Il les présente successivement à l'aide d'une recherche particulièrement exemplaire, suggère leur relative incompatibilité et discute de leur portée et de leurs limites.
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