‘Taking off my glasses in order to see’: exploring practice on a building site using self-reflexive ethnography

There has recently been a growing interest for ethnographic studies in construction, predicated upon the belief that ethnographic research in the construction industry can provide a powerful way of illuminating construction practices in new ways. Focusing on the ethnographic method, it is demonstrated how a self-reflexive ethnography can contribute to a deeper understanding of the variations, contradictions and tensions underlying practices on a building site, thereby serving as a complement to other qualitative approaches. A short four-week ethnographic study illustrates how the subjective ‘I’ of the ethnographer can be used as an active producer of knowledge, by reflecting on how insights from an individual’s role, both as an observer and as a worker, can account for the complex interplay between socialities and materialities on a building site. The results also contribute to the discussion regarding the length of ethnographic studies, by showing how valuable insights can be drawn from shorter ‘ethnographic episodes’, studied through a self-reflexive lens.

[1]  Andrew D. Paciorek,et al.  Where Are The Construction Workers , 2015 .

[2]  Richard Fellows,et al.  Advanced Research Methods in the Built Environment , 2009 .

[3]  S. Groák.  Is construction an industry , 1994 .

[4]  Darren Thiel.  Ethnography and Flux: Identity and Epistemology in Construction Fieldwork , 2012 .

[5]  Davide Nicolini.  Knowing in Practice: Aesthetic Understanding and Tacit Knowledge , 2016 .

[6]  M. Bresnen,et al.  Living the dream? Understanding partnering as emergent practice , 2009 .

[7]  Martin Löwstedt,et al.  ‘Playing back-spin balls’: narrating organizational change in construction , 2012 .

[8]  P. Bourdieu,et al.  实践与反思 : 反思社会学导引 = An invitation to reflexive sociology , 1994 .

[9]  Andrew R.J. Dainty,et al.  Ethnographic research in the construction industry , 2013 .

[10]  A. Dainty.  Methodological pluralism in construction management research , 2008 .

[11]  Martin Löwstedt,et al.  Strategizing in construction: Exploring practices and paradoxes , 2015 .

[12]  Ingeborg Knauseder.  Organisational Learning Capabilities in Swedish Construction Projects , 2007 .

[13]  A. Gouldner,et al.  The Coming Crisis in Western Sociology , 1971 .

[14]  Nick Hayes.  Did Manual Workers Want Industrial Welfare? Canteens, Latrines And Masculinity On British Building Sites , 2002 .

[15]  Andrew R.J. Dainty,et al.  "We've got our own language" The communication practices of migrant workers in the UK construction industry , 2013 .

[16]  P. Bourdieu.  The Scholastic Point of View , 1990 .

[17]  Arthur P. Bochner,et al.  Writing the New Ethnography , 2000 .

[18]  A. Cunliffe.  Retelling Tales of the Field , 2010 .

[19]  K. Ness.  Constructing Masculinity in the Building Trades: ‘Most Jobs in the Construction Industry Can Be Done by Women’ , 2012 .

[20]  F. Phua.  Construction management research at the individual level of analysis: current status, gaps and future directions , 2013 .

[21]  Paula Jarzabkowski,et al.  Conducting global team-based ethnography: Methodological challenges and practical methods , 2015 .

[22]  Andrew R.J. Dainty,et al.  A grounded theory of women's career under-achievement in large UK construction companies , 2000 .

[23]  C. Greed.  Women in the Construction Professions: Achieving Critical Mass , 2000 .

[24]  Michael Rosen.  COMING TO TERMS WITH THE FIELD: UNDERSTANDING AND DOING ORGANIZATIONAL ETHNOGRAPHY* , 1991 .

[25]  Catherine Becker,et al.  Writing the new ethnography , 2001 .

[26]  Fredrik Christiansen.  The Planning Process at a Construction Site , 2012 .

[27]  D. Sage.  Building contacts: the trials, tribulations and translations of an ethnographic researcher in construction , 2012 .

[28]  J. V. Maanen,et al.  Ethnography as Work: Some Rules of Engagement , 2011 .

[29]  Jeremy F. Dent.  Accounting and organizational cultures: A field study of the emergence of a new organizational reality , 1991 .

[30]  Alexander Styhre,et al.  Learning capabilities in organizational networks: case studies of six construction projects , 2004 .

[31]  J. Swan,et al.  Implementing change in construction project organizations: exploring the interplay between structure and agency , 2005 .

[32]  C. Geertz,et al.  The Interpretation of Cultures , 1973 .

[33]  Davide Nicolini,et al.  Learning the Trade: A Culture of Safety in Practice , 2002 .

[34]  Arthur P. Bochner,et al.  Autoethnography, Personal Narrative, Reflexivity: Researcher as Subject , 2000 .

[35]  Martin Löwstedt,et al.  Social identity in construction: enactments and outcomes , 2014 .

[36]  P. Atkinson,et al.  Contours of Culture: Complex Ethnography and the Ethnography of Complexity , 2007 .

[37]  J. Clifford,et al.  Writing culture : the poetics and politics of ethnography : a School of American Research advanced seminar , 1986 .

[38]  M. Bresnen,et al.  Where?s the action? Challenges of ethnographic research in construction. , 2013 .

[39]  Barbara Czarniawska.  Shadowing: And Other Techniques for Doing Fieldwork in Modern Societies , 2007 .

[40]  Herbert C. Biggs,et al.  Understanding and defining OH&S competency for construction site positions: Worker perceptions , 2008 .

[41]  Gary Alan Fine,et al.  Towards a Peopled Ethnography , 2003 .

[42]  Dylan Tutt,et al.  Ethnographic methodologies for construction research: knowing, practice and interventions , 2010 .

[43]  Hans Kjellberg,et al.  Where is the Action , 2002 .

[44]  John R. Ridley,et al.  Safety at Work , 1999 .

[45]  Svetlana. Cicmil,et al.  Insights into collaboration at the project level: complexity, social interaction and procurement mechanisms , 2005 .

[46]  Cynthia Hardy,et al.  Reflecting on Reflexivity: Reflexive Textual Practices in Organization and Management Theory , 2008 .