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CONCLUSION
At this stage, I believe that an ethnographic approach has allowed a deeper understanding of high performers in each organization and that the use of video will help to store and transfer that knowledge to others in the organizations. While I do not feel that this ethnographic approach would be suitable on its own for knowledge management or transfer, I do believe that it will help ease some of the concerns and difficulties regarding this transition period for many of our clients and can be an important tool in succession planning. I am also hopeful that the format of the deliverable as a co-created training program will prove to be a very useful format that can be used indefinitely for these clients.
It is my contention that this method can be replicated with other clients in similar and different industries. However, I do not feel that ethnography can stand alone as a KM strategy. It is probably best reserved for gathering knowledge and techniques from particularly high performing individuals. Its usefulness for recording and transferring very detailed aspects of an occupation or organization remains to be seen. However, as a tool for gathering tips and techniques from high performers, based on the two case studies to date, we believe the ethnographic process has yielded rich results that will be very beneficial for our clients.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge the other members of Yaffe Deutser and our clients who were part of the team that made this research project possible. I particularly want to thank the high performers from each organization that were the focus of the projects. Please note that the views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of our clients or of Yaffe Deutser.
Kristine McKenzie Gentry is director of research at Yaffe Deutser, a boutique consulting firm in Houston, Texas. The firm utilizes qualitative and quantitative research methods to better understand the issues and needs of their clients and then assist in developing strategies to met those needs.
Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings 2013, pp. 300–311. © American Anthropological Association, some rights reserved.
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