Descriptive Ethnography of an Organisation
Descriptive Ethnography of an Organisation
Please keep in mind that I am an Australian student so it is preferred that the references and organisational examples are Australian. This task requires you to use ethnographic thinking and methods to construct an account of an organisational area or unit in which you have participated. This may be somewhere you have worked in a paid or voluntary capacity, or an organisation in which you are an active member such as a religious or sporting organisation. The intention is to make sense of that organisation, both for yourself and for the person reading your writing. You should briefly introduce the organisation as a whole, but focus upon the unit or area that you have experienced. The importance of your account is that you have insight into the workings of the organisation/work area that cannot be gleaned from outsider research. This is what makes your piece ethnographic. Therefore you should provide an insight into organisational life that goes well beyond what might be found on official websites. Following a common convention in ethnographic descriptions, you will give your organisation a pseudonym. For example, you might work for a specific government department but give this organisation the pseudonym ‘Blue Office’. You might be part of a sporting organisation and use the pseudonym ‘Football League’. Any individuals you mention from the organisation should also be given pseudonyms. The key to doing this task well is identifying what really goes on in the organisation using your insider experience and then using concepts and theory from the course to give depth to your account. So, as an observational ethnography, this task depends equally on developing your own descriptive and reflective abilities as it does on using academic reference materials. You will need to write in a way that communicates your insights and observations to a reader. We expect that your perspectives are informed primarily by consideration of the topics and texts that we have covered in the course using the materials that are available on the course Canvas site. Your insider account should bring to life the course concepts that you are using. You can structure your Descriptive Ethnography of an Organisation by following the assessment criteria. At the start of your Ethnography, address the first assessment criteria by providing a detailed account of the organisations values, structure and purpose in your own words, in reference to concepts covered in the course. Next, address the second assessment criteria by reflecting thoughtfully on organisational culture and practices drawing on insider experience and organisational theory. A description of the organisational climate is useful here. Topics covered in the first half of the course such as learning, motivation and power can be used here to make sense of the culture and practices. The last part of your Ethnography addresses the final assessment criteria by identifying gaps between espoused values and practices as they manifest in organisational norms and behaviours. Here you need to compare the organisations values with what you know takes place. This needs to be informed by ideas in the course literature. Strong responses to this criteria will use detailed ideas from the readings on this topic. Assessment criteria: Your descriptive ethnography: Provides a detailed account of the organisations values, structure and purpose in your own words, in reference to concepts covered in the course; Describes and analyses organisational culture and connects this to organisational practices, drawing on insider experience and organisational theory; Identifies gaps between espoused values and practice as they manifest in organisational norms and behaviours, in reference to theories covered in the course; Is well structured, well written and edited, and referenced correctly.