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  • 1.  Specific, Efficient Primers on Case Study Methodology in Management Research?

    Posted 06-22-2008 08:11
    Dear OB and RM Divisions,

    My colleagues and I, separately and together, will be undertaking case study research on a variety of topics within the management domain.  Although we have all followed coursework in qualitative methodology at many different institutions, thus far we have been disappointed with the instruction in the case study tool (both single and comparative).  Common frustrations include a perspective that is too anthropological (for example, requiring immersion or multiple, independent investigators) and books that dedicate resources to tracing the history (and therefore, validity) of the approach and not procedural instruction.

    Therefore, we would be grateful for any and all recommendations of materials - books, journal articles, course syllabi from your universities, even multimedia presentations! - with which we may instruct ourselves in case study methodology.

    Of course, we will share the compiled results with the list.  Furthermore, for anyone who is interested, we would share our "hit list" after we have had the opportunity to evaluate and to employ your suggested materials; we would be pleased especially to share such feedback with methodology course heads!

    Many thanks for your time and assistance.  Sincerely,

    Sarah M. G. Otner                        

    Ph.D. Candidate, Employment Relations & Organisational Behaviour

    Department of Management

    London School of Economics

    Houghton Street

    London  WC2A 2AE



  • 2.  Specific, Efficient Primers on Case Study Methodology in Management Research?

    Posted 06-22-2008 16:00
    Sarah,

    I can't suggest a primer, and my suggestion does not come from the management field.  But I would nevertheless sugest looking at the work of Arend Lijphart, a political scientist.  He has written a number of very helpful articles that describe how causal inferences can be made from small samples using the comparable-cases strategy.

    I would particularly recommend his 1975 article, "The Comparable Case Strategy in Comparative Research", which can be found in Comparative Political Science 8(2), 158-177.

    I hope you find this useful.  I find it a crisp and well-written rationale for the use of the case method, and one that is firmly  situated in the positivist tradition of social science.

    All the best,

    Lukas



    On Sun, Jun 22, 2008 at 8:11 AM, Sarah M. G. Otner <Sarah.Otner@post.harvard.edu> wrote:
    Dear OB and RM Divisions,

    My colleagues and I, separately and together, will be undertaking case study research on a variety of topics within the management domain.  Although we have all followed coursework in qualitative methodology at many different institutions, thus far we have been disappointed with the instruction in the case study tool (both single and comparative).  Common frustrations include a perspective that is too anthropological (for example, requiring immersion or multiple, independent investigators) and books that dedicate resources to tracing the history (and therefore, validity) of the approach and not procedural instruction.

    Therefore, we would be grateful for any and all recommendations of materials - books, journal articles, course syllabi from your universities, even multimedia presentations! - with which we may instruct ourselves in case study methodology.

    Of course, we will share the compiled results with the list.  Furthermore, for anyone who is interested, we would share our "hit list" after we have had the opportunity to evaluate and to employ your suggested materials; we would be pleased especially to share such feedback with methodology course heads!

    Many thanks for your time and assistance.  Sincerely,

    Sarah M. G. Otner                        

    Ph.D. Candidate, Employment Relations & Organisational Behaviour

    Department of Management

    London School of Economics

    Houghton Street

    London  WC2A 2AE




    --
    Lukas Neville
    --
    Ph.D. Student, Organizational Behaviour
    Queen's School of Business
    --
    443 Goodes Hall, 143 Union St.
    Queen's University
    Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6
    --
    lukasneville@tricolour.queensu.ca
    (613) 331-0196


  • 3.  Specific, Efficient Primers on Case Study Methodology in Management Research?

    Posted 06-22-2008 16:52
    I like Tom Lee's two works regarding qualitative research.
    (1) Lee, T.W., Mitchell, T.R. and Sablynski, C. (1999). Qualitative
    research in organizational and vocational psychology. Journal of
    Vocational Behavior, 55, 161-187.
    (2) Lee, T. W. 1999. Using Qualitative Methods in Organizational
    Research. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

    As compared to the tradtional interpretivistic view on qualitative
    research, Lee takes a fresh positivistic perspective on it.

    Anyway, it is worthy of taking a look.

    Dong Liu


    On Sun, Jun 22, 2008 at 5:11 AM, Sarah M. G. Otner
    <Sarah.Otner@post.harvard.edu> wrote:
    > Dear OB and RM Divisions,
    >
    > My colleagues and I, separately and together, will be undertaking case study
    > research on a variety of topics within the management domain. Although we
    > have all followed coursework in qualitative methodology at many different
    > institutions, thus far we have been disappointed with the instruction in the
    > case study tool (both single and comparative). Common frustrations include
    > a perspective that is too anthropological (for example, requiring immersion
    > or multiple, independent investigators) and books that dedicate resources to
    > tracing the history (and therefore, validity) of the approach and not
    > procedural instruction.
    >
    > Therefore, we would be grateful for any and all recommendations of materials
    > - books, journal articles, course syllabi from your universities, even
    > multimedia presentations! - with which we may instruct ourselves in case
    > study methodology.
    >
    > Of course, we will share the compiled results with the list. Furthermore,
    > for anyone who is interested, we would share our "hit list" after we have
    > had the opportunity to evaluate and to employ your suggested materials; we
    > would be pleased especially to share such feedback with methodology course
    > heads!
    >
    > Many thanks for your time and assistance. Sincerely,
    >
    > Sarah M. G. Otner
    >
    > Ph.D. Candidate, Employment Relations & Organisational Behaviour
    >
    > Department of Management
    >
    > London School of Economics
    >
    > Houghton Street
    >
    > London WC2A 2AE


  • 4.  Specific, Efficient Primers on Case Study Methodology in Management Research?

    Posted 06-22-2008 17:50

    Dear Sarah,

     

    Thank you for your letter.  I'm not sure exactly what questions you and your colleagues will be trying to answer, but if I had a better idea I might be able to give more specific suggestions.  In the meantime here is a chapter from my recent book with Mark Haskins, Teaching Management.  In addition, I have written several hundred cases, and have used cases my entire career, after having been trained at Harvard Business School.  If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know.

     

    Sincerely,

     

       Jim

    James G. S. Clawson

    Johnson & Higgins Professor of Business Administration

    Darden GSB, University of Virginia

    Box 6550, Charlottesville, VA 22906  

    100 Darden Boulevard, Charlottesville, VA 22903  USA

    Tel:  434 924 7488              Fax:  434 243 7680

    Web:  http://faculty.darden.virginia.edu/clawsonj

     

    From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv [mailto:OB@AOMLISTS.pace.edu] On Behalf Of Sarah M. G. Otner
    Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2008 8:11 AM
    To: OB@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
    Subject: Specific, Efficient Primers on Case Study Methodology in Management Research?

     

    Dear OB and RM Divisions,

    My colleagues and I, separately and together, will be undertaking case study research on a variety of topics within the management domain.  Although we have all followed coursework in qualitative methodology at many different institutions, thus far we have been disappointed with the instruction in the case study tool (both single and comparative).  Common frustrations include a perspective that is too anthropological (for example, requiring immersion or multiple, independent investigators) and books that dedicate resources to tracing the history (and therefore, validity) of the approach and not procedural instruction.

    Therefore, we would be grateful for any and all recommendations of materials - books, journal articles, course syllabi from your universities, even multimedia presentations! - with which we may instruct ourselves in case study methodology.

    Of course, we will share the compiled results with the list.  Furthermore, for anyone who is interested, we would share our "hit list" after we have had the opportunity to evaluate and to employ your suggested materials; we would be pleased especially to share such feedback with methodology course heads!

    Many thanks for your time and assistance.  Sincerely,

    Sarah M. G. Otner                        

    Ph.D. Candidate, Employment Relations & Organisational Behaviour

    Department of Management

    London School of Economics

    Houghton Street

    London  WC2A 2AE



  • 5.  Specific, Efficient Primers on Case Study Methodology in Management Research?

    Posted 06-22-2008 19:50
    There is a short but fairly comprehensive paper by Ann Langley that contains an overview of different study designs and approaches in qualitative research in Management:


    Langley, A. 1999. Strategies for theorizing from process data. Academy of Management. The Academy of Management Review, 24(4): 691-710.


    For me it was very useful.

    Best regards,
    Alex
    _______________________

    Alex Bitektine,
    Ph.D. Candidate, Strategy
    Desautels Faculty of Management
    McGill University
    1001 Sherbrooke Street West
    Montreal, Canada, H3A 1G5
    Tel. 1 (514) 344-5941
    Cell. 1 (514) 219-9412
    alexandre.bitektine@mail.mcgill.ca <mailto:alexandre.bitektine@mail.mcgill.ca>
    <http://mgmtphdpages.mcgill.ca/phd.asp?name=abitek>

    ________________________________

    From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv on behalf of Dong Liu
    Sent: Sun 22-Jun-08 4:52 PM
    To: OB@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
    Subject: Re: Specific, Efficient Primers on Case Study Methodology in Management Research?



    I like Tom Lee's two works regarding qualitative research.
    (1) Lee, T.W., Mitchell, T.R. and Sablynski, C. (1999). Qualitative
    research in organizational and vocational psychology. Journal of
    Vocational Behavior, 55, 161-187.
    (2) Lee, T. W. 1999. Using Qualitative Methods in Organizational
    Research. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

    As compared to the tradtional interpretivistic view on qualitative
    research, Lee takes a fresh positivistic perspective on it.

    Anyway, it is worthy of taking a look.

    Dong Liu


    On Sun, Jun 22, 2008 at 5:11 AM, Sarah M. G. Otner
    <Sarah.Otner@post.harvard.edu> wrote:
    > Dear OB and RM Divisions,
    >
    > My colleagues and I, separately and together, will be undertaking case study
    > research on a variety of topics within the management domain. Although we
    > have all followed coursework in qualitative methodology at many different
    > institutions, thus far we have been disappointed with the instruction in the
    > case study tool (both single and comparative). Common frustrations include
    > a perspective that is too anthropological (for example, requiring immersion
    > or multiple, independent investigators) and books that dedicate resources to
    > tracing the history (and therefore, validity) of the approach and not
    > procedural instruction.
    >
    > Therefore, we would be grateful for any and all recommendations of materials
    > - books, journal articles, course syllabi from your universities, even
    > multimedia presentations! - with which we may instruct ourselves in case
    > study methodology.
    >
    > Of course, we will share the compiled results with the list. Furthermore,
    > for anyone who is interested, we would share our "hit list" after we have
    > had the opportunity to evaluate and to employ your suggested materials; we
    > would be pleased especially to share such feedback with methodology course
    > heads!
    >
    > Many thanks for your time and assistance. Sincerely,
    >
    > Sarah M. G. Otner
    >
    > Ph.D. Candidate, Employment Relations & Organisational Behaviour
    >
    > Department of Management
    >
    > London School of Economics
    >
    > Houghton Street
    >
    > London WC2A 2AE


  • 6.  Specific, Efficient Primers on Case Study Methodology in Management Research?

    Posted 06-24-2008 12:57

    Sarah,

     

    If you are interested in leadership research, might I suggest:

     

    Klenke, K. (2008). Qualitative Research in the Study Of Leadership. Emerald.

     

    This is a brand new volume, has considerable theoretical and practical background on conducting case studies (among other qualitative methods) with an excellent chapter illustrating the case study method. It does not delve, as you lamented, too deeply into the anthropological / historical side but rather has management and leadership scholars in mind (who are anthropologists of another sort I suppose ; )

     

    Hope this helps, regards, and I am looking forward to seeing your compiled list.

     

    Frank

     

     

     

     

     

    From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv [mailto:OB@AOMLISTS.pace.edu] On Behalf Of Sarah M. G. Otner
    Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2008 5:11 AM
    To: OB@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
    Subject: Specific, Efficient Primers on Case Study Methodology in Management Research?

     

    Dear OB and RM Divisions,

    My colleagues and I, separately and together, will be undertaking case study research on a variety of topics within the management domain.  Although we have all followed coursework in qualitative methodology at many different institutions, thus far we have been disappointed with the instruction in the case study tool (both single and comparative).  Common frustrations include a perspective that is too anthropological (for example, requiring immersion or multiple, independent investigators) and books that dedicate resources to tracing the history (and therefore, validity) of the approach and not procedural instruction.

    Therefore, we would be grateful for any and all recommendations of materials - books, journal articles, course syllabi from your universities, even multimedia presentations! - with which we may instruct ourselves in case study methodology.

    Of course, we will share the compiled results with the list.  Furthermore, for anyone who is interested, we would share our "hit list" after we have had the opportunity to evaluate and to employ your suggested materials; we would be pleased especially to share such feedback with methodology course heads!

    Many thanks for your time and assistance.  Sincerely,

    Sarah M. G. Otner                        

    Ph.D. Candidate, Employment Relations & Organisational Behaviour

    Department of Management

    London School of Economics

    Houghton Street

    London  WC2A 2AE