Ethnography in the School

For the school project, my initial plan included interviews with other teachers who could talk about the primary subjects as well as parents of students in the focus teachers’ classes. In discussing the plan with the rest of the team, we initially added interviewing alumni and students. I pointed out ethical concerns of interviewing current students, so we agreed to limit the student participation to former students who were in their senior year. However, at least partly as a result of time constraints, we ended up only interviewing the focus teachers and some of their peers who could talk about their work.

The timing of the project also became an issue. The project was first discussed at the beginning of the school year with the understanding that the research phase would take place over several months. However, because of the busy schedules of all whose input was necessary to begin the project, both internally and on the client side, the start date moved further and further back until it was finally scheduled at the very end of the school year. Then, we were limited in the amount of time we could spend shadowing, interviewing, and videoing. We would have seen some different behaviors had we conducted the research earlier in the school year, and we would have had more time to conduct the research.

In addition, by the time the research started, the school had decided to change from focusing on three high performing teachers to two teachers, one principle who also taught one class, and the school’s headmaster. Because of the nature of the work of the administrators, the shadowing portion became more difficult with them than was originally envisioned.

As I worked with our school contact to set up a schedule for conducting research, it became evident that the primary concern and focus on his end was on scheduling the videotaping. In addition, our initial plans of interviewing a wide variety of people who could talk about the focus teachers was cut down to only interviewing a few peer teachers. The plan to conduct all shadowing and interviewing first and then later come back for video recording became condensed to the point that it was all intermixed and the interviews with peer teachers were only video recorded. I had to repeatedly ask for more time for shadowing and interviewing without being video recorded so as to actually conduct ethnographic research and build rapport with the focus teachers before videoing, which I was eventually granted. However, the shadowing time was more condensed than was outlined in the research plan.

Then, when I met the teachers and administrators with whom I was to shadow and interview, it was evident that they knew very little about the project. In fact, when I showed up for the first observation day, the teachers were not expecting me. They had been told about the video recording day that was a few days later, but they were not aware that I would be sitting in on their classes. Even after explaining my role as an ethnographer, I still received puzzled and bewildered looks as if they were wondering what my real goal was. The teachers expressed disbelief that there was anything I could learn from watching them do their job, aside from learning the content they were teaching. Several joked that I would be given a quiz over the material covered that day. In hindsight, I should have spent more time explaining ethnography to all involved at the beginning of the project. It would have been helpful to have an initial meeting with the teachers before observing them in the classroom to explain the ethnographic process.

Ethnography in the Aviation Industry – The experience with the aviation organization was similar in that the initial research plan was not followed exactly as outlined and agreed upon in the planning stage. Changes included the number of participants, the use of phone versus in-person interviews, and the length of time needed to conduct the research.

The research plan for the aviation company included interviews with people who work around the high performers, including those who they report to, co-workers, and people whose work they oversee. The plan specifically stated that these interviews were to be conducted in-person. During the project development phase, it was suggested by others that we simply conduct an online 360-degree feedback that is part of a standard review process used at many companies. I explained that I did not feel that would be as helpful as conducting individual interviews, and the team agreed.

The first problem with the aviation project was that the company decided they wanted us to conduct a pilot study with one senior manager as opposed to the three initially agreed upon. I was concerned that focusing on a single individual rather than a few individuals would make this project more difficult in terms of gleaning information that can be used in a training program that is general enough to apply to many people in the organization. Moreover, the manager the client selected as the “test case” works primarily out of his pick up truck and his home and has a very sporadic schedule depending on the needs of the company that vary from day-to-day. I deemed this manager to be a very poor choice to test out the program since he did not have an office, and we were both reluctant to have the shadowing occur at his home. Moreover, he was reluctant to participate in general. He is very reserved and did not feel he had much to offer to the project. He was also not happy about having a “shadow.” After my first meeting with him, via videoconferencing, I wrote in my notes, “He is a horrible choice as our test case!” based on his reluctance and the lack of an office space where the shadowing could occur. I encouraged the client to choose a different person as our test case, but I was told that he would be the most willing participant of any of the employees on their list to include in later stages of the project. They also felt very strongly that it was important to capture as much as they could about this individual since he is so highly regarded.

The reluctance of this manager and his schedule made it difficult for us to get together for the shadowing. At one point the client suggested I tell the manager, “I just need to meet with you for a few hours and then I will never bother you again.” However, I pointed out that this was impossible since I needed to spend several days shadowing him and then we would be back to videotape at a later date. There seemed to be a lack of understanding of the time that would be necessary for this to truly be an ethnographic research project.

Again, the lack of understanding of what ethnography is became an issue as the manager did not want me to shadow him and kept telling me that he felt sorry for me because my job was clearly very boring since I had to watch him. This project has progressed much slower than expected since it is difficult to arrange times to shadow this individual; however, I have had the opportunity to shadow him on several different occasions over a three month period.

Similar to the school project, the interviews with others changed a bit from the initial research plan too. I had to repeatedly ask for the names of other participants, and then because they all work in different locations, I ended up conducting phone interviews rather than meeting in-person with the other interviewees. While I had to keep reminding the client of the need to interview others in addition to the main subject of the project, I was able to conduct most of the interviews before my first meeting with the manager.

Unlike with the school project, I have been able to conduct the research for this project without any video taping to date. At this time, I have concluded the observation and interview period, and I am working on a project report that includes suggested topics for the training curriculum. I will work with the client and the rest of my internal team to make sure the topics are areas they would like to reinforce with their workforce. We will work with the client to develop the next phase of this project.

Negotiating the Deliverables

The projects are on-going and are at different stage, but it is worth reviewing how the team approach impacted not only the research process but the final deliverables. For the school, the initial research plan stated that findings would be presented in a written report and that a training program would be developed that included a video component. As the project evolved, the deliverables expanded to include a video highlighting each teacher that would be housed on a separate landing page that will be linked to the school’s website. This expansion seemed organic, and I cannot recall exactly how this happened, but it was not included in our initial proposal or scope of work.

In addition, my firm has produced a 10-minute video to be shown to teachers on their first day back to school. I do recall how this came about, as I was surprised at the request since it was never discussed. One day I received an email from my liaison at the school telling me that we had 10 minutes to show a video at the back to school meeting between the teachers and administration. Until I received that email, I had been working under the understanding that I was to develop a training program to be used during the teacher workdays in August. Since the 10-minute video was not initially part of the research plan, I had to adjust priorities for this project and re-evaluate to determine what this video would entail. I decided to have this video be a teaser that introduced the main themes I expect to include in the training program. I drafted a script for the video that was edited and revised by our project manager. I then sent the script to one of our designers who created a storyboard for the video. At this stage, we sent the storyboard to the client for their feedback. While they approved the video and the themes it introduced as a whole, they had a few minor edits in terms of the specific clips I pulled from some of the teachers.

Basically, they asked us to take out clips they felt were “too strong” or were “not the right message” for the video. For instance, one of the clips we took out was from a teacher who said, “Some people think you have to love kids. I don’t. You have to like them, of course, but you have to love your subject.” We thought this was a great, honest quote that very clearly reflected the personality of this particular teacher. However, we had to edit it out of the video.

In terms of the content of the video, I was pleased that the script was based on the findings of the research. However, the fact that we are creating this video while the training, which I believe is the main piece of the project, remains on hold, illustrates the competing priorities where the client is more interested in a video that can be shown to teachers and administrators (and now they want to show to parents and students too) than they are in the training program that I believe is at the heart of the knowledge transfer process.

The focus on this short video in addition to work for our other clients has resulted in a pause in development of the training program. I plan to review the themes of the training program with people at the school who are involved with teacher training to make sure our efforts are not duplicated in other training programs they use. This will be a co-creative process to make sure that the training program I develop is something that will be helpful to the school. I must also work with the school to develop a program that they will be able to utilize within the constraints and timeframe they have available in their school calendar for professional development. In addition, when we develop the videos that highlight each teacher and the landing page, I will work with the creative department at my firm as well as our counterparts and the new headmaster at the school.

For the aviation organization we are at the very early stages of beginning to work on deliverables. I have developed a training outline and have meetings scheduled to review findings thus far and discuss next steps. At this point, the expected deliverables have not yet changed. This client is very focused on the training program, so I do not expect that deliverable to change much from the initial plans.

Tacit vs. explicit knowledge

One of the selling points of using ethnography to capture knowledge of high performers is that it should allow one to be able to capture and record tacit knowledge and then translate that into something more tangible that can be used to train other employees. In thinking about the research findings to date, it is helpful to consider the extent to which this has occurred in these projects. One of the difficulties with this project is trying to capture intangibles that allow certain employees to excel at their jobs and translate that to a tangible output that can be useful for training other employees.

A related concern that has been raised by academics has to do with the potential of ethnography to lead to the codification of information that would lend itself to automation of tasks previously performed by humans. While this can certainly occur in some industries (see Brun-Cotton 2010), the case studies focused on for this paper highlight the aspects that make certain employees high performers. The “human” elements that make them different from their peers, more successful, and more valuable to their company are things that cannot be easily automated. They are more related to soft skills that are not easy to develop via traditional methods of training.

For the school, some of the themes that are covered in the initial video (and will presumably be covered in the training) could be classified as tacit knowledge and while we can state that great teachers have these characteristics (for instance, the desire to share their knowledge with others), we cannot design a plan to replicate that desire in a person who does not already have that trait. While these themes are not necessarily themes that will be new to the faculty members, I feel that having examples from their former colleagues, who were very influential and well respected at the school, will help make the training unique and focused specifically to the needs of this particular school. These video examples will also help make this tacit knowledge more explicit. It may also help teachers recognize the characteristics or qualities that they already have and need to develop further. I believe the training will be inspiring for current teachers who will want to continue the legacy of these excellent teachers. This in turn will be beneficial for the school since one of its hallmarks is its excellent teaching.

While the aviation project has not progressed as far as the school project, it has also yielded some interesting results, even at this early stage. The manager, who was a reluctant participant, has some attributes, behaviors, and tasks that he performs that are not the norm for his peers. One of the primary characteristics that makes this manager successful is that he takes the time to meet in-person with those he manages. This means going to tour their bases and talking with his employees. While there are electronic means to do these things, part of his strength lies in the fact that he takes the time to do this in person and really gets to know the people whose work he oversees.

The training program I have proposed focuses on management skills, techniques, behaviors, and processes that are currently not taught in this organization. The training program for this client will also be developed using a co-creative process, but since the organization does not currently have a management-training program that focuses on management skills specifically, we are less concerned about duplicating efforts. For this client, the main concern with developing a training program is to create something that will be engaging and effective in an environment where the managers already feel they are pressed to their limits in terms of training and job responsibilities.