Barbara Czarniawska – författare

The latest volume in the Qualitative Research Methods series, A Narrative Approach to Organization Studies presents a specific approach to organization studies and provides illustrations of its use. Inspired by the works of Bakhtin, Eco, Rorty, and Silverman, author Barbara Czarniawska asserts that narratives are still the main carriers of knowledge in modern societies. Drawing on more than 25 years of field organization studies undertaken throughout Europe and the United States, Czarniawska takes the reader through the narrative approach, from positioning one's self in the field to writing up the research. A Narrative Approach to Organization Studies will be an invaluable research tool for researchers in management, public administration, sociology, anthropology, education, and political science.

Personnel Management in Secret Service Organizations pinpoints key events in an agent’s career, focusing on how they enter their profession, how they perform espionage work; how they are trained and managed and what the circumstances of promotion and demotion might be, up to the point of exit from the profession (through retirement, capture, or death). Within this framework, it illustrates the ways that secret service organizations play a crucial role in contemporary societies.

Drawing comparisons with personnel management in standard organizations, Personnel Management in Secret Service Organizations will be a valuable resource for researchers and students of management and organization. The use of narratology-inspired methods will appeal to younger scholars with an interest in organizational studies too.

Management of big cities is a relatively unresearched area, as compared to city planning and city governance. A study of Warsaw city management reveals the transformation process typically found in European countries in political and economic transition. In A City Reframed, Czarniawska conceptualises city management as an "action-net" under transformation, where three types of action are in focus: "muddling through", or coping with daily problems; "reframing", or changing the frame of interpretation of the world in order to take successful action; and "anchoring", the testing of new ideas on potentially involved parties in order to secure cooperation or minimize resistance. "Muddling through" is central to management in Warsaw, as it no doubt has always been: it is this "muddling through" that makes cities function. The specificity of the Warsaw picture is its demand for "reframing" and numerous and varied attempts have been made to achieve a "change of frame". They were sometimes successful, sometimes not, the skill of anchoring only slowly emerging from the most recent past, with the sediments of the old regimes an obvious obstacle. The study pinpoints the phenomena central to the construction of the action-net of city management, and traces its further connections (or lack of such), both temporally and spatially.

Management of big cities is a relatively unresearched area, as compared to city planning and city governance. A study of Warsaw city management reveals the transformation process typically found in European countries in political and economic transition. In A City Reframed, Czarniawska conceptualises city management as an "action-net" under transformation, where three types of action are in focus: "muddling through", or coping with daily problems; "reframing", or changing the frame of interpretation of the world in order to take successful action; and "anchoring", the testing of new ideas on potentially involved parties in order to secure cooperation or minimize resistance. "Muddling through" is central to management in Warsaw, as it no doubt has always been: it is this "muddling through" that makes cities function. The specificity of the Warsaw picture is its demand for "reframing" and numerous and varied attempts have been made to achieve a "change of frame". They were sometimes successful, sometimes not, the skill of anchoring only slowly emerging from the most recent past, with the sediments of the old regimes an obvious obstacle. The study pinpoints the phenomena central to the construction of the action-net of city management, and traces its further connections (or lack of such), both temporally and spatially.

Casting the Other: Maintaining Gender Inequalities in the Workplace focuses on the production and maintenance of gender inequalities in organizations. By emphasizing ''difference'' as something to be managed many organizations institute the ''problem of difference'', and while orgainzations pay lip-service to ideas of equality, their day-to-day practices may be unchanged and unchallenged. Discrimination of various groups such as women, immigrants and older people continues and its dynamics remain unclear, largely because of the difficulties of studying it in the field. Additionally, various programs aimed at removing inequality, such as gender equality of managing diversity programs, may actually promote it by making differences visible and stabilizing them. Management, under these circumstances, comes to refer to the management of appearances which take the place of more radical acts to change the ''status quo''.

Casting the Other: Maintaining Gender Inequalities in the Workplace focuses on the production and maintenance of gender inequalities in organizations. By emphasizing ''difference'' as something to be managed many organizations institute the ''problem of difference'', and while orgainzations pay lip-service to ideas of equality, their day-to-day practices may be unchanged and unchallenged. Discrimination of various groups such as women, immigrants and older people continues and its dynamics remain unclear, largely because of the difficulties of studying it in the field. Additionally, various programs aimed at removing inequality, such as gender equality of managing diversity programs, may actually promote it by making differences visible and stabilizing them. Management, under these circumstances, comes to refer to the management of appearances which take the place of more radical acts to change the ''status quo''.

“It is simply too much” is a common complaint of the modern age. This book looks at how people and institutions deal with overflow - of information, consumption or choices. The essays explore the ways in which notions of overflow – framed in terms of excess and abundance or their implicit opposites, scarcity and dearth – crop up in a number of contexts such as sociological and economic theory, management consulting, consumer studies, and the politics of everyday life. Chapters range from studies of overload at home, at work or in the world of cyber information; strategies of coping with overflow in institutions such as news agencies; and historical comparisons. When, where, how and for whom is overflow a problem or a blessing?

“It is simply too much” is a common complaint of the modern age. This book looks at how people and institutions deal with overflow - of information, consumption or choices. The essays explore the ways in which notions of overflow – framed in terms of excess and abundance or their implicit opposites, scarcity and dearth – crop up in a number of contexts such as sociological and economic theory, management consulting, consumer studies, and the politics of everyday life. Chapters range from studies of overload at home, at work or in the world of cyber information; strategies of coping with overflow in institutions such as news agencies; and historical comparisons. When, where, how and for whom is overflow a problem or a blessing?

This clear, straightforward textbook embraces the practical reality of actually doing fieldwork. It tackles the common problems faced by new researchers head on, offering sensible advice and instructive case studies from the author’s own experience.

Barbara Czarniawska takes us on a master class through the research process, encouraging us to revisit the various facets of the fieldwork research and helping us to reframe our own experiences. Combining a conversational style of writing with an impressive range of empirical examples she takes the reader from planning and designing research to collecting and analyzing data all the way to writing up and disseminating findings.  

This is a sophisticated introduction to a broad range of research methods and methodologies; it will be of great interest to anyone keen to revisit social research in the company of an expert guide.

This clear, straightforward textbook embraces the practical reality of actually doing fieldwork. It tackles the common problems faced by new researchers head on, offering sensible advice and instructive case studies from the author’s own experience.

Barbara Czarniawska takes us on a master class through the research process, encouraging us to revisit the various facets of the fieldwork research and helping us to reframe our own experiences. Combining a conversational style of writing with an impressive range of empirical examples she takes the reader from planning and designing research to collecting and analyzing data all the way to writing up and disseminating findings.  

This is a sophisticated introduction to a broad range of research methods and methodologies; it will be of great interest to anyone keen to revisit social research in the company of an expert guide.

This clear, straightforward textbook embraces the practical reality of actually doing fieldwork. It tackles the common problems faced by new researchers head on, offering sensible advice and instructive case studies from the author’s own experience.

Barbara Czarniawska takes us on a master class through the research process, encouraging us to revisit the various facets of the fieldwork research and helping us to reframe our own experiences. Combining a conversational style of writing with an impressive range of empirical examples she takes the reader from planning and designing research to collecting and analyzing data all the way to writing up and disseminating findings.  

This is a sophisticated introduction to a broad range of research methods and methodologies; it will be of great interest to anyone keen to revisit social research in the company of an expert guide.