Spring 2020 Autoethnography Due Date Monday 21st September

Spring 2020 1autoethnography Due Datemonday 21st September 2020 90

Research project analyzing personal experiences with work, organizations, and society, including group collaboration and individual written analysis, with specific guidelines on structure, presentation, and deadlines.

The core assessment task involves a combination of group and individual work centered on autoethnography. In groups of 3–4, students will choose a common theme related to work, management, or society, and prepare individual vignettes that reflect their personal experiences with this theme. These vignettes are to be collaboratively analyzed and presented in a recorded presentation of approximately 20 minutes, which will be emailed to the tutor during Weeks 8–11.

Alongside the group presentation, individual students will write a 1,500-word analytical report based on their vignette. This report must be submitted via Canvas at the start of Week 8, with specific content structure including an engaging vignette, an overview of relevant theories, a critical analysis, and concluding remarks. The assignment should follow detailed guidelines to ensure clarity and depth in analysis, including a vivid description of personal experiences and sophisticated application of management theories.

Group formation and project development are scaffolded through classroom activities in Weeks 2–6, with emphasis on selecting a relevant theme, developing drafts, and receiving feedback from tutors. During Weeks 8–11, groups will also present their findings orally, using any accessible recording platform, with assessments based on both group and individual contributions.

Late submissions without prior approval will incur penalties, with extensions available for justified reasons such as illness or emergencies, granted with sufficient notice. The assessment criteria focus on the integration of relevant theories, depth of critical analysis, ethical considerations, and the vividness of personal storytelling.

Paper For Above instruction

Autoethnography is a qualitative research method that combines autobiography and ethnography to explore personal experiences within cultural contexts. This method enables researchers to critically examine their lived experiences, offering deep insights into social phenomena from an introspective perspective. When applied to the study of work and organizations, autoethnography allows individuals to reflect on personal narratives that reveal broader institutional and societal dynamics, including power relations, cultural norms, and ethical considerations.

The integration of autoethnography into management and organizational studies has gained prominence for its capacity to bridge subjective experience with sociological analysis. This approach encourages researchers to articulate their stories vividly, fostering an emotional connection that can uncover nuanced understandings often overlooked by quantitative methods. Through storytelling, autoethnography humanizes abstract concepts and provides rich, context-specific insights into organizational life.

In the context of this project, autoethnography serves as a powerful tool to explore themes such as workplace identity, cultural conflict, power dynamics, and ethical dilemmas. For instance, a student might recount personal experiences of organizational change, discussing emotional responses and social interactions that shaped their understanding of management practices. Such narratives, when combined with theoretical analysis, can reveal systemic patterns and challenge dominant management paradigms.

Effective autoethnographic research integrates personal storytelling with rigorous application of relevant theories. Theories such as Giddens' structuration theory, Foucault's power/knowledge framework, or Bourdieu's habitus can be employed to interpret experiences. For example, a vignette describing how organizational culture influenced personal behavior can be analyzed through Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, illustrating how ingrained dispositions shape individual actions within organizational fields.

Critical analysis is essential in autoethnography. It involves examining personal stories through a sociological lens, questioning assumptions, and considering systemic influences. This reflective process exposes power hierarchies, cultural norms, and ethical issues that inform personal and collective experiences. Ethically, researchers must maintain authenticity and honesty while respecting confidentiality, ensuring that personal narratives are shared responsibly.

The vividness of storytelling is vital. Descriptive language and emotional honesty create engaging narratives that resonate with readers. When combined with analytical rigor, autoethnography becomes a compelling way to critique and understand management phenomena, making invisible social forces visible and accessible.

In conclusion, autoethnography is a valuable methodology for exploring personal experiences in management. Its strength lies in its capacity to combine emotional storytelling with critical sociological analysis, producing insights that are both meaningful and academically robust. This project demonstrates how personal narratives can illuminate broader organizational truths, fostering a deeper understanding of work, management, and society.

References

• Adams, T. E., Ellis, C., & Sparkes, A. C. (2015). Autoethnography: Understanding Qualitative Research. Routledge.
• Ellis, C., Adams, T. E., & Bochner, A. P. (2011). Autoethnography: An Overview. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12(1).
• Giddens, A. (1984). The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. University of California Press.
• Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Vintage Books.
• Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Harvard University Press.
• Reed-Danahay, D. (2009). Auto/Ethnography: Rewriting the Self and the Social. Berg.
• Spry, T. (2001). Performing autoethnography: An embodied methodological praxis. Qualitative Inquiry, 7(6), 706-732.
• Liamputtong, P. (2013). Qualitative Research Methods. Oxford University Press.
• Holman Jones, S. (2005). Autoethnography: Making the personal political. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed., pp. 763–791). Sage.
• Ellis, C., & Bochner, A. P. (2000). Autoethnography, Personal Narrative, Reflexivity. The Sociological Quarterly, 41(4), 643–648.