Approches ethnographiques (CFA)

 “Approches Ethnographiques” introduce students from different backgrounds to practice ethnographic research in organizational settings. We start from the premise that learning about organizational culture requires sharing the day-to-day experiences of organizational members. With this goal in mind, this innovative educational project invites students to develop alternative views on their apprentice context, in particular their work practices, team relationships, and the larger dynamics structuring the organization of contemporary work. Based on in-depth, long-term, observation and participation, in the setting provided by corporations, we teach students to develop close descriptions and interpretations of their experience and to adopt a reflective and critical posture questioning taken-for-granted assumptions.

We work over 12 months and combine educational capsules at Emlyon (courses, seminars, writing, and multimedia creation workshops) with the “field” experience of the students. Accordingly, we provide in-class theoretical insights about the fundamentals of ethnographic research which are soon after applied by students in the field, and over time, to refine new perspectives on organizations and society. We begin with introductory sessions about the epistemological principles of ethnography, which we then combine with the practice – regular and repeated – of observation, note-taking, and ethnographic interviews, following the inductive approach of analysis. Alongside fieldwork progression, we share insights from existing research about their topics of interest, as they emerge from field immersion (e.g., power relationship, digital communication at work, work-lifealance).

The course culminates in the restitution of these learnings through a multiplicity of innovative formats. While writing is traditionally the prerogative of the ethnographer, students are encouraged to draw from a wide range of tools and to experiment with formats that resonate with the issues raised. This sharing of experiences and analyses, exposing creative perspectives on life(s) at work, took place in Paris in December 2022. It took the form of a multimedia exhibition articulating photographs, videos, tapes comics, podcasts, and others (TikTok accounts, etc.), considered as tools of ethnographic expression.

Pedagogical team : David Courpasson, Guillaume Dumont, Denis Giordano