Jörgen sandberg. Stockholm School of Economics. A classic managerial problem, страница 5

Phenomenography as an Interpretative Approach to Competence

Building upon previous interpretative research on competence, in earlier research (Sandberg, 1994) I explored how attributes are integrated into work performance and outlined the possible variation in workers' competence. In that study, phenomenography was adopted as an interpretative approach to competence. This approach was originally developed by an educational research group in Sweden in the seventies (Marton, Dahlgren, Svensson, & Säljö, 1977) to describe the qualitatively different ways in which aspects of reality are experienced (Marton, 1981). Overviews of the development and use of this approach are offered by Dall'Alba and Hasselgren (1996), Marton (1981), Marton, Hounsell, and Entwistle (1984), Marton and Wenestam (1984), Ramsden (1988), and Marton and Booth (1997). As in other approaches within the interpretative research tradition, the primary focus of phenomenography is on the meaning structure of lived experience—that is, the meaning an aspect of reality takes on for the people studied. In the phenomenographic approach, the term conception is used to refer to people's ways of experiencing or making sense of their world. In the present study, a conception signifies the indissoluble relation between what is conceived (the conceived meaning of reality) and how it is conceived (the conceiving acts in which the conceived meaning appears).

METHODS

Selecting Participants and Collecting Data

A phenomenographic approach to competence was adopted during an empirical study in the department of engine optimization at the Volvo Car Corporation in Sweden. The task of an all-male group of approximately 50 engineers was to develop engines for new models of cars. To obtain data that captured the greatest possible variation in competence within this group, I selected 20 optimizers, following Glaser and Strauss's (1967) notion of theoretical sampling in terms of theoretical relevance. More specifically, maximum variation in formal education and length of time in optimization work were criteria for selection. The selection of 20 optimizers was based on previous phenomenographic studies (more than 50 doctoral theses and between 500 and 1,000 research reports [Alexandersson, 1994]), in which the variation of a phenomenon reached saturation at around 20 research participants, after which no new conceptions emerged. In this study, the variation in competence began to repeat itself after about 15 optimizers.

In exploring what constituted competence in engine optimization by taking engineers' conceptions of their work as the point of departure, I used observation and interviews. The aim of the observation and interviews was to capture the possible variation in conceptions of engine optimization in a rich and comprehensive way. First, I tried to establish what Apel (1972) called a community of interpretation. According to Apél, the production of valid knowledge presupposes an understanding between researcher and research participants about what they are doing. First of all, I arranged a seminar with the optimizers in which I explained that my aim was to understand their lived experience of engine optimization. I then spent approximately one week in their department, observing and talking with the optimizers about their work. I also attended internal seminars about their work, such as the introduction program for new employees. Finally, on beginning each interview with a worker, I reminded him that my purpose was to discuss his experience of engine optimization.

The interviews took place in the department of engine optimization and lasted between two and three hours. Two principal questions were put to the selected optimizers: "What does optimization work mean for you?" and "What is a competent optimizer for you?" These questions were elaborated and substantiated with follow-up questions. For example, questions such as "What do you mean by that?" , "Can you explain that further?" , and "Can you give an example?" were posed so that the workers were required to elaborate and demonstrate what their statements meant in practical situations. This dialectical process continued until we made no further progress. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed word-for-word. In all, the transcriptions amounted to some 700 pages of single-spaced text.