Empowering Methodologies in Management Research Workshop

Rohit Shah organising themes on post-its.

A few days after the Empowering Conference the project team held a Workshop to plan our next steps. On day One we worked on the Case Study Data the Indian Students brought with them. We participated in Data Analysis sessions focusing on the discovery of Themes to then trying to develop these themes into Concepts and meaningful descriptions. Starting with revising individual case studies we were surprised at the end of the day by how some Topics were replicated in the others.

Jaideep and Nikhil Kumar discussing themes

 On day Two we discussed the planned Project outputs, namely a Chapter book edited by Emma, Sunita and Tim, and an Online Course to be created on the Open University OpenLearn platform and which will be informed by the work done so far. Will post more about this later.

Avilasa Sengupta presenting her data

During the workshop I had the chance to copy the Students' Data Files into a secure space within the University's SharePoint platform. The data sets are comprised of audio-visual material of interviews and participant observation, and transcriptions. Next step is to do an inventory of the data and setup to work on the above project outputs.

And finally we also had time to relax. Breaks were not only refreshing but a good time to talk and know each other more. On day One during the lunch break, Tim brought his nice, vintage(?) camera and took pictures of us.

Empowering Methodologies in Management Research Conference

We are half way through the project and as planned we hosted a Conference on Empowering Methodologies, 29-30 of May at the Michael Young Building, Open University. I attended both days and enjoyed the experience. We received a healthy number of attendees and a diverse set of scholars who presented a variety of perspectives on qualitative research. Those perspectives proposed innovative ways to develop qualitative research methodologies involving more democratic and empowering views. We also had the opportunity to meet with our Indian colleagues who visited the UK for two weeks. They attended the Conference and a two-day Workshop hosted on the 3-4 of June.

Starting the Conference on Day 1, Emma, gave an introductory presentation titled "What are Empowering Methodologies?". Professor Emily Keightley (Loughborough University) continued with ‘Creative Methods in Studying Memory and Change’, followed by Dr Emanuela Girei (University of Sheffield) presenting ‘Decolonising Management Knowledge and Research Practice’ and Professor Torkild Thanem (Stockholm University) presenting ‘Embodied Research Methods in the Social Sciences’. A panel discussion on ‘Opportunities and Challenges in Empowering Methodologies in Management Research’ closed the first day; this was chaired by Steve Brown with Professor Sunita Singh Sengupta, Professor Gillian Symon (Royal Holloway, University of London) and Dr Sophie Mills (University of Nottingham).

Professor Torkild Thanem from Stockholm University

Panel Discussion: Professor Sunita Singh Sengupta, Dr Sophie Mills, Professor Gillian Symon and Professor Steve Brown

After the Panel Discussion everyone gathered for drinks and a nice dinner at an on-campus restaurant. I could see everyone enjoying themselves following up conversations that began at the conference. Personally I had a great time talking to our Indian Colleagues (Professor Sunita, Avilasa, Guang, Nikhil, Rohit, Sumeet and Jaideep) about their impressions of the Conference, the University Campus and the UK in general.

Indian Delegates

Continuing with the Conference, Dr Nirmal Puwar (Goldsmiths, University of London) started day two with ‘Live Methods and the Sociological Imagination’ followed by Dr Lauren McCarthy (Royal Holloway, University of London) on ‘Visual Participatory Research: From Development to Management Studies’.

Dr Lauren McCarthy, Royal Holloway, University of London

Dr Nirmal Puwar, Goldsmiths, University of London

The final session was a World Café on "Doing Empowering Research" lead by Dr Tim Butcher and which involved our six students from University of Delhi presenting their Case Studies and their experiences at carrying out Empowering Methodologies. The students got useful feedback and more ideas to continue their work for the project. For me, this was the highlight of the whole event. The attendees were so interested, energetic and enthusiastic about meeting our Indian colleagues, so much that they asked the organisers to continue with the World Cafe a few minutes more after we had ran out of time!

Rohit Shah

Sumeet Anand

Guangpuanang Kahmei

Avilasa Sengupta

Nikhil Kumar

Jaideep