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Week two RM HRM 2024 Student Copy

The document outlines a research module focused on understanding different research paradigms and methodologies in the context of Human Resource Management (HRM), specifically addressing workplace bullying. It emphasizes the importance of ontology and epistemology in shaping research design and methodology. Participants are encouraged to prepare a research proposal while engaging in discussions and activities related to various paradigmatic lenses and their implications for studying HR issues.

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8 views

Week two RM HRM 2024 Student Copy

The document outlines a research module focused on understanding different research paradigms and methodologies in the context of Human Resource Management (HRM), specifically addressing workplace bullying. It emphasizes the importance of ontology and epistemology in shaping research design and methodology. Participants are encouraged to prepare a research proposal while engaging in discussions and activities related to various paradigmatic lenses and their implications for studying HR issues.

Uploaded by

halitech.digital
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Week 2 –

Research
Paradig
ms
Jessica Horne
[email protected]
Quick review of last week and any
thoughts/questions

Ideas on paradigms and researching a


Agenda prevalent HR issue – bullying at work

for today Preparing a topic

Next Steps
What struck you from
last week

Reflections in
small groups
Any
questions/confusions?
Aim is to learn
about different
Module approaches to
research
overview:
3 main To learn how they
apply to studies in
jobs HRM

Prepare a research
proposal for your
dissertation
• Working on three levels
• Research methods for HRM
• Preparation for the proposal
• Preparation for the project over the Summer
• Note taking bearing these in mind
• Different aspects from method to methodology
Elaine’s • Readings give us glimpse into methods and
thoughts topics
for us… • Started to look at how proposal and project will
work
Ontology
Some of
the big Epistemology
words!!
Methodology
How is methodology different
from methods?

What does ontology mean and


Quiz how does it affect research
design in HRM?

What does epistemology mean


and how could it affect your
Summer project?
Methodology + Theories
What is
Epistemology knowledge?

What is reality?
Ontology

How do we
Methodology
research them?

Methods What data do we


collect?
• Ontology refers to assumptions about the nature of
reality. Although this may seem abstract and far
removed from your intended research project, your
ontological assumptions shape the way in which you
see and study your research objects. In business and
Definition management these objects include organisations,
management, individuals’ working lives and
of organisational events and artefacts. Your ontology
therefore determines how you see the world of
ontology business and management and, therefore, your
choice of what to research for your research project.
• Saunders, M. N., Lewis, P., Thornhill, A., & Bristow,
A. (2015). Understanding research philosophy and
approaches to theory development. P 127
• Epistemology concerns assumptions about knowledge,
what constitutes acceptable, valid and legitimate
knowledge, and how we can communicate knowledge
to others (Burrell and Morgan 1979). Whereas ontology
may initially seem rather abstract, the relevance of

Definition epistemology is more obvious. The multidisciplinary


context of business and management means that
different types of knowledge – ranging from numerical
of data to textual and visual data, from facts to
interpretations, and including narratives, stories and

epistemol even fictional accounts – can all be considered


legitimate. Consequently different business and
management researchers adopt different
ogy epistemologies in their research, including projects
based on archival research and autobiographical
accounts (Martí and Fernández 2013), narratives
(Gabriel et al. 2013) and fictional literature (De Cock and
Land 2006).
• Saunders, M. N., Lewis, P., Thornhill, A., & Bristow, A.
(2015). Understanding research philosophy and
approaches to theory development. P 127
Bullying
article
Canadian based
academic

HR issue of dealing
with bullying

Different ways to study


bullying
Quick discussion
• What helped you start to make sense of the paper? What
tips have you learned about reading and understanding
academic articles?
• Did you take notes? Did you annotate it?
• What were you looking for?
• How did you deal with words you hadn’t come across
before or didn’t understand?
Activity –
Pitch
your
Paradigm
Your ‘lens’…
• In a moment, we are going to divide the room into four groups.
Each table will be given a paradigmatic lens: postmodernism,
critical management theory, interpretivism, or functionalism.

• On your table, look at the Samnani article again and answer the
questions on the next slide. You will need to be able to explain
your answers to your peers.

• When you hear the bell, half of your group will move one table
to the left. You will then have 5 minutes to explain your
paradigm to your peers. The person who wears the glasses,
does the talking!
According to the Samnani article…
1. What are the main principles of your
paradigmatic lens?

• For postmodernism, see pages 32-34


• For critical management theory, see
Questions pages 31-32.
• For interpretivism, see pages 30-31.
• For functionalism, see pages 28-30.

2. What questions could postmodernist,


critical management, interpretivist, or
functionalist scholars ask about workplace
bullying?
Paradigms
Affects all aspects of your research

Influential approach from Burrell


and Morgan two org studies writers

Applied to many different


organisational and management
topics
Gibson Burrell & Gareth Morgan
Then in 1979, Gibson Burrell and Gareth Morgan published an
influential work that proposed new paradigms for organizational
studies. They started with four basic questions about the
assumptions of social science:

Do social realities, such as organizations, have objective or subjective


Burrell existence; that is, do they exist on their own or only in people’s
minds?

and
Morgan’s
Can one understand these social realities through observation or
must they be directly experienced?

famous Is knowledge best gained by scientific methods or by participating in


paradigms a social reality from the inside?

Do people have free will or are they determined by their


environments?
Cunliffe (2010)
• Burrell and Morgan claimed that knowledge is paradigmatic, encompassing a distinct
worldview and rationality governing research strategies and methods. They identified
four paradigms to locate studies of society and organizations—functionalist, interpretive,
radical structuralist, and radical humanist—each paradigm based on a set of
metatheoretical assumptions about the nature of reality, knowledge, and human
behavior. P1.
Role of perspectives

Morgan and Smircich built on Burrell and Morgan’s ideas, arguing that researchers need to
figure out their assumptions about the nature of social reality and what it means to be
human (ontology) and the nature and purpose of knowledge (epistemology) before
deciding which research methods might be appropriate. (2010: 3)
Consequen • Thus, our metatheoretical assumptions
have very practical consequences for the
ces way we do research in terms of our topic,
focus of study, what we see as ‘‘data,’’
how we collect and analyze that data, how
we theorize, and how we write up our
research accounts. (2010: 5)
Burrell and
Morgan
1979
"Researching Female
Entrepreneurship and Self-
Employment presented to The
World Bank - Europe and Central
Asia Region Panel 2: Workshop on
Sharing the Growth."
How to • Have you had any ideas yet?
start • Has any one thought of any topics since last
choosing week?
• Are you still feeling stuck – that is OK
a topic
Farrow,
Robert;
Iniesto,
Francisco;
Weller, Martin
and Pitt,
Rebecca
(2020). GO-
GN Research
Methods
Handbook.
Milton Keynes:
Global OER
Gradate
Network.
Ontology
• Ontology: How things Exist
• Our ontology is how we think about the nature of being. Do we think of an
organization as having its own existence and own behaviors that continue
independently of the various managers and employees who come and go
over time? Or do we believe these individuals create and continuously
recreate the organization and therefore drive its behaviors? Or is our
concept of the organization, and our expectations for the form it should
take and what it should do, determined by larger historical and cultural
forces?
• Wrench, Punyanunt-Carter, and Ward 2018 - Organizational
Communication: Theory, Research, and Practice
Farrow, Robert; Iniesto,
Francisco; Weller, Martin and
Pitt, Rebecca (2020). GO-GN
Research Methods Handbook.
Milton Keynes: Global OER
Gradate Network.
• Epistemology: How Things Are Known
• Our epistemology is our philosophy of how
things come to be known. Do we believe that
knowledge about an organization is attained by
observing collective actions and measuring
Epistemol aggregate behaviors? Or by listening to
individual members of an organization and
ogy interpreting organizational life on their terms?
Or by tracing the historical and cultural forces
that have shaped people’s expectations for
what an organization should be and the roles
that managers and employees should play?
• Wrench, Punyanunt-Carter, and Ward 2018
Farrow, Robert; Iniesto,
Francisco; Weller, Martin and
Pitt, Rebecca (2020). GO-GN
Research Methods Handbook.
Milton Keynes: Global OER
Gradate Network.
Keep thinking about your proposal
topic

Think about your paradigmatic


Next approach

Steps Make notes and discuss in your


study groups

Start early on next week’s reading


• Łukasiewicz, G. (2017). About The
Need To Conduct Qualitative
Research In The Analysis Of The
Relations Between Human
Resources Management And
Week 3 Organizational
Performance. Economy & Business
Reading… Journal, 11(1), 219-228.

• This reading will help us think about


qualitative research methodologies
in the field of HRM.
Have a good week, and remember
to post your answersQuestions:
on Canvas…
1. Identify three reasons why the author
recommends qualitative research for
studying HRM (and performance)
2. What does this citation on p222
mean "In this context, qualitative
research is referred to as "a situated
activity that locates the observer in
the world. It consists of a set of
interpretive, material practices that
make the world visible. These
practices transform the world.”
3. If you had to use this author to define
qualitative research in your
proposal/project, what quotes or
ideas could you use?
4. How does this article extend your
understanding of paradigms?
5. Where do you feel most stuck or

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