1、What Anthropology Brings to BusinessA Foreword for the Textbook General Business Anthropology (2nd edition)Alex Stewart, Marquette UniversityAnthropology has a great deal to offer for business researchers, whether their research is applied and commercial or “pure” and foundational. Here are seven ma
2、jor advantages of an anthropological approach: patient participant observation, insider vistas, methodological versatility, relevant expertise, cross-cultural alertness, a bias for the underdog, and respectful collaboration.1. Patient participant observation. Applied anthropologists face stricter de
3、adlines than do their disciplinary colleagues (Aguilera, 1996). However, all anthropologists try to make long-term commitments to stick with it and learn a social and cultural setting in depth (Hamada Connolly, 2011; Tian, 2011). Their patience contrasts with most “qualitative” research in business
4、schools, which pays more attention to supposedly theoretical elaborations than it does to data quality or to the basis of that quality in fieldwork duration, participant roles, and attention to context (Stewart, 1998).2. Insider vistas. The reward for the anthropologists stints of immersion is acces
5、s to insiders vistas: to actions, interactions, and expressions that typically are hidden from view (van Marrewijk, 2011). Impression management is a task of all organizations; organization scholars can be among the duped. Other levels and other units of the same organization may fail to see past fa
6、cades (Kondo, 1990; Sayles, 1993; Weeks, 2004). For those business leaders who truly want to know what goes on in their terrains, anthropologists have the tools for the task (Jordan, 2011).3. Methodological versatility. In fact they have many such tools, evidenced in Bernards (2011) Research Methods
7、 in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Even ethnography - the default tool - is far from standardized and comes in many configurations. Perhaps it is better thought of as a toolbox that holds many methods. Ethnography varies in the way that data are (so-called) collected: not jus
8、t participant observation but also oral histories, life stories, and interviews designed to elicit the informants cultural world with minimal reactivity (Spradley, 1979). Modes of data collection (and presentation) also include visual methods such as photoethnography and ethnographic film (for a cla
9、ssic example, Bateson van Marrewijk, 2011). Moreover, anthropologists can take as their data the prior ethnographic record, seeking qualitative or quantitative syntheses of its findings. Within anthropology, the best known such approach is hypothesis testing using the dataset of the Human Relations
10、Area Files (Ember Weeks, 2004; van Marrewijk, 2011). Kinship studies is another example of expertise that is relevant to the majority of businesses world-wide, as these are in some sense “family firms” (Gao, 2011; Stewart, 2010). Perusing just the table of contents of recent introductions to the dis
11、cipline will uncover many other topics of relevance to business. A few examples: “contested norms and social control. property and tenure” (Hendry, 2008); and “rebels and innovators”, and “the changing nature of consumption” (Rosman, Rubel, ethnocentrism ought not (Jordan, 2011; Tian, Zhou Weeks, 20
12、04). However, most anthropological studies of commerce have focused on small scale entrepreneurs (Stewart, 1991). As an illustration of concern for the underdog, protection of the intellectual property of indigenous peoples can be and has been a business anthropologists mission (Walle, 2011). This b
13、ias might seem to be a detriment for a business anthropology, but I will argue the opposite. Anthropologists have the tools to study the same organizations as other students of business. Even here, their attention to the less obvious corners of organizational life can reveal what managers miss. Howe
14、ver, they also have the tools, and a comparative advantage, in the study of the great majority of the globes businesses and entrepreneurs. As such, they are uniquely positioned to contribute to the economic advance of what Prahalad in his recent (2010) book has called “the bottom of the pyramid”.7.
15、Respectful collaboration. Examples of studies of female, small scale and micro entrepreneurs are the books by Behar (1993) and Simon (2003). I adduce these as examples to illustrate another well honed skill in anthropology: the collaboration between researcher and researched in the creation of the t
16、ext. Both books report with relatively little filtering the words and life stories of the protagonists. Business anthropologists, like all ethnographers, face challenges in reporting for the wider scientific community while also respecting confidences of particular individuals who, despite the use o
17、f pseudonyms, may be identified by others in their circles (Weeks, 2004, p. 29). One of the solutions is what Van Maanen (2011, pp. 136-138) terms the “jointly told tale” in which scholars and practitioners collaborate in the write-up.This approach has been advocated for business anthropology (Aguil
18、era, 1996), although - like the use of multiple ethnographies as data - it offers much room for further exploration. “Room for further exploration”: this expression serves as my summary statement for business anthropologists. Clearly they face exciting possibilities, when they combine a love for the
19、 scholarly world with an entrepreneurial willingness to craft their own careers. Doing so may seem a daunting prospect, but this is the prospect for everyone now: there are few if any settled, secure “job ladders” to be climbed (as Lane, 2011, reports in a tale jointly told with high tech job seeker
20、s). Therefore, those who have read this far are fortunate to have this book as a resource, that can help you explore how you, in your own fashion, can combine both worlds of business and anthropology.ReferencesAguilera, F. E. (1996). Is anthropology good for the company? American Anthropologist, 98,
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36、 Press.van Marrewijk, A. (2011). European developments in business anthropology. In R. G. Tian, D. Zhou, & A. van Marrewijk (Eds.), Advanced readings in business anthropology (pp. 43-56). Toronto: North American Business Press.Walle, A. H. (2011). Facilitating intellectual property rights: A role fo
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