Participant-Observation in the Modern Era of Organization Studies.

The theme of this year's Academy is "Broadening our Sight." Broadening our sight involves getting a new view on the theories and the methods we use. Firsthand experiences, as provided by participant-observation methods, are a great source of learning and a way to broaden our sight by looking at an organizational phenomenon through the "eyes" of the informants (Douglas, 1976; Pratt, Lepisto & Dane, 2018). Several scholars (see call for papers in Academy of Management Review by Haveman, Mahoney & Mannix, 2019) in the management field have stressed the importance of going into the field to get a better understanding of how people in organizations deal with current issues and thus get a fresh look at possibly outdated & theories (Pratt & Rouse, forthcoming). This symposium's purpose it to offer a new perspective on how the researcher can take actions in their work, and what participating in the contexts we study can bring to qualitative work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]