Scratching the Shiny Surface of New Workplaces: A Note on Methodology

Abstract

When organisations invest in new plants there is commonly a commitment to managerially constructed workplace cultures. This makes the investigating of employee resistance in new worksites more complicated. This article explores the processes of an ethnographic research project that aimed to uncover employee resistance in a greenfield worksite. Performing ethnography allowed the researcher to 'scratch below' the shiny surface of the new workplace to uncover interesting patterns of resistance and cooperation in this workplace.