Positivist and Interpretivist Research

Positivist and Interpretivist Research Qualitative research can be defined as, A multi-method in focus, involving an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its subject matter. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of or interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them. Qualitative research involves the studied use and collection of a variety of empirical materials case study, personal experience, introspective, life story interview, observational, historical, interactional, and visual texts-that describe routine and problematic moments and meaning in individuals lives (Denzin and Lincoln, 1994). Qualitative research emphasizes qualities of entities the processes and meanings that occur naturally (Denzin Lincoln, 2000). Qualitative research methods have for many years made a significant contribution to management research. In this essay, I critically evaluate Gepharts paper on qualitative research, where he writes pertaining to traditional research methods such as positivism and post positivism, interpretive research and critical postmodernism. In the second part of the essay, I evaluate David Silvermans On Finding and Manufacturing Qualitative Data from the book A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about Qualitative Research where his methodology merges with the two methods highlighted in Gepharts paper. Gephart in his paper brings to light three main research traditions used in management research. They are positivism and postpositivism, interpretive research and critical post modernism, which have evolved from the behaviourist and cognitive perspectives of qualitative research. In this part of the essay I shall give an overview about the three research traditions and the distinctions between them. Positivist and post positivist research traditions arise from the behaviourist perspective of qualitative research which is based on the knowledge of consistent relationships. The term positivism was first introduced by Auguste Comte, Our doctrine is one which renders hypocrisy and oppression alike impossible. And it now stands forward as the result of all the efforts of the past, for the regeneration of order, which, whether considered individually or socially, is so deeply compromised by the anarchy of the present time. It establishes a fundamental principle by which true philosophy and sound polity are brought into correlation; a principle which can be felt as well as proved, and which is at once the keystone of a system and a basis of government. (Auguste Comte, 1798-1857). A major tenet of logical positivism is its thesis of the unity of science (Hempel, 1969 Kolakowski, 1968). In its broadest sense, positivism is a position that holds the goal of knowledge. In a positivist view of the world, science is seen as the way to get at truth, to understand the world well enough to predict and control it. In other words, Positivism assumes an a priori (truth) which is discoverable through methodical, rigorous, careful observation that can be proven through testable and repeatable methodologies. A post-positivist might begin by recognizing that the way scientists think and work and the way people think in their everyday life are not distinctly different. It can be defined as, non-foundational approach to human knowledge that rejects the view that knowledge is erected on absolutely secure foundation for there are not such things; Post-positivists accept fallibilism (the philosophical doctrine that absolute knowledge is impossible) as an unavoidable fact of life (Phillips Burbules, 2000). It is characterized by a more nuanced belief in an ontologically realist out there reality that can only be known within some level of probability (Groat Wang, 2002). Additionally, Post-positivists concede that the experimental methodologies employed in the natural sciences are often inappropriate for research involving people (Groat Wang, 2002). Within Post-positivist methodologies, the researcher is autonomous from the subject of inquiry, objectivity is important, and the inquirer manipu lates and observes in a dispassionate, objective manner. This perspective assumes modified experimental, manipulative methodologies that can include both qualitative and quantitative practices (Denzin Lincoln, 2003). Positivism and post-positivism are almost similar, the only difference is, Post-positivism takes into account the criticisms against and weakness of the rigidity of positivism, and now informs much contemporary social science research, including reality-oriented qualitative inquiry (Patton, 1990). Interpretive research tradition arises from the cognitive perspective of qualitative research which is based on shared understanding and awareness of multiple social and organisational realities. The foundation assumption for interpretive research is that knowledge is gained or at least filtered, through social constructions such as language, consciousness, and shared meanings (Klein Myers, 1999). In addition to the emphasis on the socially constructed nature of reality, interpretive research acknowledges the intimate relationship between the researcher and what is being explored, and the situational constraints shaping this process. Interpretive research traditions take the position that humans are social animals that live in societies and as such investigate and interpret lived experience and their inter subjective realities (Bruce H. Rowlands, 2005). Interpretive researchers thus attempt to understand phenomena through accessing the meanings participants assign to them (Orlikowsk i Baroudi, 1991). Unlike atoms, molecules and electrons, people create and attach their own meanings to the world around them and to the behaviour that they manifest in that world (Schutz, 1973). Interpretive studies assume that people create and associate their own subjective and inter-subjective meanings as they interact with the world around them. Positivism and Interpretive research can be distinguished as objective versus subjective (Burrell Morgan, 1979), nomothetic versus idiographic (Luthans Davis, 1982), quantitative versus qualitative (Van Maanen, 1979), outsider versus insider (Evered Louis, 1981), and etic versus emic (Morey Luthans, 1984). Critical postmodernism transcends mere description or reconstructs reality and derives meaning from situations through its critical approach. Critical postmodern theory is about the play of differences of micro political movements and impulses of ecology, feminism, multiculturalism, and spirituality without any unifying demand for theoretical integration or methodological consistency (Boje, Fitzgibbons Steingard, 1996). Critical postmodern is definable as the nexus of critical theory, post colonialism, critical pedagogy and postmodern theory (Boje, 2001). Critical postmodern theory is a way to get a clearer understanding of the relation between modern and postmodern, and take a Deleuzian journey into the middle of the hybridity of pre-modern, modern, and postmodern (Boje, 1995). Critical postmodern spatial theory privileges the lived spatialities of left-margined communities as sites of socio-spatial critique. A postmodern identity politics enacts critical postmodern spatial theory by nurturing the development of, and solidarity between, counter publics, which are subaltern community spaces where private spatialities of alienation are brought to public discourse (Allen, 1999).This tradition is focused on how meanings and reality are shaped over time and seeks to uncover and understand the historical evolution of these meanings, practices, contradictions and expose hidden inequalities in societies. The five distinguishing characteristics of the three research traditions (i) positivism and post positivism (ii) interpretive research and (iii) critical postmodernism, are as follows. First is in terms of the underlying assumptions about reality. Positivism and postpositivism adheres to realism and rely on the assumption of an objective world external to the mind that is mirrored by scientific data and theories; interpretive approach proceeds through the advocacy of relativism with investigation proceeding with data derived from interlinking contextual realities so that data holds both objective and subjective characters; while critical postmodernism adheres to historical realism or the assumption that material or symbolic reality comprised by multidimensional values that crystallizes over time so that the investigation involves the collection of objective and subjective data. Second is in terms of the goal of the investigation. Positivism and post-positivism proceeds with the goal of discovering truths, interpretive research is in line with the goal of describing and understanding of meanings, and critical postmodernism is guided by the goal to uncover hidden interests and contradictions in order to arrive at criticisms that in turn facilitate change. Third is in terms of the tasks involved in the investigation. Positivism and postpositivism involves the identification, explanation and control of variables directed towards the verification of hypothesis or non-falsified hypotheses, interpretive research applies through producing descriptions of members meaning and definitions of situation in order to have a clear understanding of the manner that reality is constructed, while critical postmodernism involves the task of determining insights from the structures of relationships and historical changes that reveal contradictions. Fourth is in relation to the unit of analysis of the research traditions. Positivism and postpositivism utilises variables as the core unit of analysis, interpretive research focuses on verbal and non verbal actions, while critical postmodernism centres on contradictions, criticism, signs and symbolism as key elements of the research. Variables become the core unit of analyses because of their objective reality. Verbal and non verbal are the units of analyses in interpretive research because of their subjective nature. Conflict, criticism and symbolism are the core unit of analyses of postmodernism because these elements appropriately capture historical realism. Fifth is with regard to the focus of the methods. Positivism and postpositivism involves the discovery of facts and the comparison of these facts with predefined hypothesis or propositions, interpretive research does not predefine dependent or independent variables, does not set out to test hypotheses, but aims to produce an understanding of the social context of the phenomenon and the process whereby the phenomenon influences and is influenced by the social context (Walsham, 1995), while critical postmodernism involves the derivation and understanding of historical evolution of meanings, conflicts and inequities evolving through time as the method of data gathering and analyses. Since positivism and post positivism involve objective reality, the methods that apply in these research are those useful in gathering facts while methods able to derive meaning appropriately applies to interpretive research and critical postmodernism because these should be able to capture subjective realities in order to derive meaning. Over the last generation there has been a shift in qualitative methods, from a scientist-oriented research, toward a more dynamic representational strategy .Beginning in the late 19th century, Antipositivism was perhaps the first movement to challenge the rigid nature of dominant Positivism. Early Antipositivists like Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911), Heinrich Rickert (1863-1936) and later, Max Weber (1864-1920), addresses the Positivist failure to appreciate the fundamental experience of life, and instead favour physical and mental regularities, neglecting the meaningful experience that was really the defining characteristic of human phenomena. Adorno, 1969 (cited in Fuchs. C Sandoval. M., Positivism, Postmodernism, or Critical Theory? : A Case Study of Communications Students Understanding of Criticism) stresses that positivism is only oriented on appearance, whereas critical theory stresses the difference between essence and appearance. Above all, critical theory, poststructuralism, a nd postmodernism are effective as critiques of positivism, interrogating taken-for-granted assumptions about the ways in which people write and read science (Stockman, 1984). Such opinions against positivism lead to a breakthrough from positivism to other research traditions such as interpretive research and critical postmodernism which meet the needs of current researchers. In contradiction to Gephart, Silverman takes a rather interpretive and critical postmodernist stance when writing his piece about manufactured data and found data. Silverman in his paper uses Sacks insights to support the positive things that can be learnt through observations (found data) and the critique view on the use of interview data (manufactured data). He also states that researchers prefer to manufacture data using artificial research settings such as interviews and focus group which use pre-determined research questions. Manufacture of data to answer a specified research problem is precisely the method which quantitative or positivist researchers prefer as explained by Gephart. Alternatively, naturally occurring (found) data arises from being aware that the research situation is not straight forward as eliciting data from interviews. Indeed collecting data through reading, looking, listening, facial expressions, sights, sounds, smells etc are taken into account. It provides a broader perspective of the research problem in hand when compared to manufactured data. Data manufactured through interview talk is approached with very different expectations, this can be explained by, The meaning of an answer is not a straightforward matter of external or internal reference, but also depends on the local and broader discursive system in which the utterance is embedded (Wetherell Potter, 1988). Positivist might interpret interviews in a different manner when compared to interpretive and critical postmodernist. Positivist researchers believe that their research methods and data mirror reality. The positivist researcher might strive to discover objectively the truth hidden in the subjects mind, Rather than an interviewee providing prepared/manufactured responses to standard questions designed to be unbiased and neutral, we strive to engage in social construction of a narrative with our participants. In this way we hope to activate the respondents stock of knowledge. (Richie and Rigano, 2001: 744, cited in Post-Positivist Approaches To Research : Anne B Ryan). We regard ourselves as people who conduct research among other people, learning with them, rather than conducting research on them (Wolcott, 1990). Researchers dont ask themselves is this the truth? Rather, we talk about the issues raised during the interviews, the participants reactions, and our interpretations of these interwoven ideas. In this context, it seems right to open up the interpretive discussions [to our respondents], not f or them to confirm or disconfirm them, but to share our thinking and how the ideas might be used. (Richie and Rigano, 2001: 752, cited in Post-Positivist Approaches To Research : Anne B Ryan) Use of manufactured data in qualitative research might make the respondent bias his result, as stated by Crotty (1998) Leading to the epistemological idea that the very act of observation causes a particle to behave differently. Sacks states that, we can treat what people say as an account which positions itself in a particular context. Here the researcher is viewing what people say as an activity awaiting analysis, thus the researchers interpretations play a key role in manufacturing data. Bringing such subjectivity to the fore, backed with quality arguments rather than statistical exactness (Garcia Quek, 1997). Many researchers have criticized the use of manufactured data in qualitative research, which is the positivist view as stated by Gephart and the greater use of naturally occurring data or found data which is the interpretivistic approach. The Dead Social Scientist Test describes manufactured data as, The test is whether the interaction would have taken place in the form that it did had the researcher not been born or if the researcher had got run over on the way to the university that morning'(Potter, 1996). In all research, the choice of data depends on the research problem. Equally, there is no question that all polarities should be investigated particularly where, as here, they involve an appeal to nature (Speer 2002). As Kuhn (1964) stated in his publication The structure of Scientific Knowledge, scientists work withinà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬and are constrained byà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬prevailing paradigms while questioning the alleged objectivity and value-free neutrality of scientific discovery. Interpretive approach is synonymous with ethnography. Doing ethnography is doing an interpretation of the behaviour of human subjects in their local settings. Interpretivistic do not reject the concept of a real world out there but presented the reality which mattered most and they try to understand the respondents response in their own terms. Researchers are the measuring instruments and their understanding will derive from personal experience rather than manipulation of variables, as Hirschman(1986) puts it, personally experienced knowledge serves as scientific data. Reality has to be constructed through the researchers interpretation and ability to communicate the respondents reality; hence the researcher has to be a part of the research to conduct a successful research. Qualitative researchers can access naturally occurring data by finding everyday features in extraordinary settings, this is an interpretive approach. Naturally occurring data can serve as a wonderful basis for theorizing about things that the researcher would never imagine. What ordinarily happens in the world around us means we can start with things that are not currently imaginable, by showing that they happened (Sacks, 1992). Sanday (1979) states that, empathy and identification with the observed people are needed to go about the understanding held by the human subjects. Geertz says that, the trick is not to get yourself into some inner correspondence with your informants. The researcher uses ethnography and manages to interpret an individual behaviour in such a way that it no longer appears to be absurd but appears rational. A successful interpretation is one which makes clear the meaning originally present in a confused, fragmented, cloudy form.. what is initially strange, mystifying, puzzling, contradictory (for the researcher) is no longer so, is accounted for (Taylor, 1979). As stated by Potter (2002), naturally occurring data opens up a wide variety of novel issues that are outside the prior expectations embedded in interview questions. In addition to the interpretive approach through the critical approach, the researcher is able to delve into the determination of differential characteristics, nature of conflict, aspects underlying differences and conflicts, and consequences of differences and conflict which help to address the issues that arise in naturally occurring data. With these types of information derived through the application of critical postmodernist tradition, the investigative approach is able to assess data and explain reasons for these differences and conflicts that in turn catalyses the determination of solutions that leads to eventual change. It can be supported as with the following evidence. Critical postmodern theory is a way to get a clearer understanding of the relation between modern and postmodern, and take a Deleuzian journey into the middle of the hybridity of pre-modern, modern, and postmodern (Boje, 1995). A critical postmodern project can move us beyond exploitation, racism, sexism, and abuse by reframing and restoring organization theory away from its patriarchal lingo in order to reaffirm social justice, equality, democracy, and the wonders of multiplicity (Boje, 1995: 1004). In a critical postmodern theory, such as Tamara, we can explore the micro-practices of organizational life, as well as contextualize the stories of the marginal Other, within the workings of a post-industrial supply and distribution chain addicted to sweatshops, and the cover-stories produced and distributed by the postmodern storytelling organizations that turn out consumer identities and spectacles for mass consumption (Boje, 1995: 99 8-2). On the plus side, there is always resistance to the forces of global and individual domination and exploitation that stem from the strange hybridity of premodern, modern, and postmodern organizing amalgams. Ultimately, the criticism provides insights into historical events to catalyse change that should be for the betterment of relationships and systems. It can be summarised that good qualitative research is difficult and challenging to undertake. Data manufactured through artificial research settings such as interviews and focus groups restricts the information available to the researcher and it also leads to biased results since the respondent is aware of the researchers need. The positivist researcher might strive to manufacture data by discovering objectively the truth hidden in the subjects mind; while interpretivist tries to collect naturally occurring data by understanding the respondents response in their own terms. Reality has to be constructed through the researchers interpretation and ability to communicate the respondents reality; hence as Silverman states the researcher has to be a part of the research to conduct a successful research. Thus naturally occurring data (interpretivist) is more suitable for qualitative research than manufactured data (positivist) because, Naturally occurring data does not flood the research setting with the researchers own categories (embedded in questions, probes, stimuli, vignette and so on) It does not put people on the position of disinterested experts on their own and others practices and thoughts. It does not leave the researcher does not leave the researcher to make a range of more or else problematic inferences from the data collection arena to topic as the topic itself is directly studied. It opens a wide variety of novel issues that are outside the prior expectations embedded in, say, interview questions. It is a rich record of peoples living their lives, pursuing goals, managing institutional tasks and so on. (Potter,2002) Ultimately the type of data used in qualitative research depends on the research topic hence researchers prefer to combine and test their observations by asking questions from the research sample. REFERENCES Journal Articles: Agger.B., 1991. Critical Theory, Poststructuralism, Postmodernism: Their Sociological Relevance. Annual Review Social, 17, pp.105-31. Allen S. Lee.,1991. Integrating Positivist and Interpretive Approaches to Organizational Research, Organization Science, 2(4), pp.342-365. Boje, D. M., 1995. Stories of the Storytelling Organization:A postmodern analysis of Disney as Tamara-Land. Academy of Management Journal, 38(4), pp.997-1035. Boje, D. M., Fitzgibbons, D. E., Steingard, D. S., 1996. Storytelling at Administrative Science Quarterly: Warding off the postmodern barbarians. pp. 60-92. Boje, D. M., 2001c. Tamara Manifesto. Tamara: Journal of Critical Postmodern Organization Science (Online). 1, pp.15-24. 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Grounded in Practice: Using Interpretive Research to Build Theory. The Electronic Journal of Business Research Methodology, 3(1), pp.81-92. Available online at, www.ejbrm.com. Sanday, Peggy R., 1979. The Ethnographic Paradigm(s). Administrative Science Quarterly, 24(2), pp.527-538. Sanna Talja., 1999. Analyzing Qualitative Interview Data: The Discourse Analytic Method University of Tamper, Library Information Science Research,21(4), pp.459-477. Schutz, Alfred. 1973. Concept and Theory Formation in the Social Sciences. Maurice Natanson (Ed.), Collected papers, 1, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, pp48-66. Speer, S., 2002 Natural and contrived data: a sustainable distinction?. Discourse Studies, 4 (4), pp.511-25. Szmigin, I. Foxall,. G., 2000. Interpretive Consumer Research: how far have we come?, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 3(4), pp.187-197. Van Maanen, John., 1979. Reclaiming Qualitative Methods for Organizational Research : A Preface. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24(4), pp.520-526. Walsham, G., 1995. Interpretive Case Studies in IS Research: Nature and Method. European Journal of Information Systems, 4(2), pp.74-81. BOOKS: Burrell, Gibson. Gareth, Morgan., 1979. Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis. London: Heinemann Crotty, M., 1998. The Foundations of Social Research: Meaning and Perspective in the Research Process. London: Sage Publications. Denzin, N. Lincoln, Y. S., 1994. Introduction : Entering the field of qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin Y. W. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research: 1-17. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Denzin. N. K. Lincoln, Y. S., 2000. Introduction: The discipline and practice of qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin Y. S. Lincoln (Eds), Handbook of qualitative research. 2nd ed.: 1-28. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Denzin, Norman., Guba Lincoln., 2003. 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Theories o/Modernity and Postmodernity . Newbury Park, Calif: Sage Taylor, Charles., 1979. Interpretation and the Sciences of Man., R. Rabinow W. Sullivan (Eds.), Interpretive Social Science, Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, pp.25-71. Wetherell, M. Potter, J., 1988. Discourse analysis and the identification of interpretive repertoires. In: Antaki, Charles Editor. 1988. Analysing everyday experience: A casebook of methods Sage, London, England, pp. 168-183. Wolcott,H.F., 1990. Writing up qualitative research. Sage publications, 20. ONLINE ARTICLES: Anne. B .R., Post- Positivist Approaches To Research. http://eprints.nuim.ie/874/1/post-positivist_approaches_to_research.pdf Boje.D., 2001. What is Critical Postmodern Theory? http://business.nmsu.edu/~dboje/pages/what_is_critical_postmodern.htm Trochim. W., Positivism Post-Positivism www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/positvsm.php

Sample Literary Research Paper

Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, best known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, has written many novels, poems, and short stories in his lifetime but his most famous for his children's â€Å"nonsense† novels: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the sequel Through the Looking Glass. His works, especially the two mentioned, have influenced countless readers over the years, and references to his writings can be found in every type of media from the song â€Å"White Rabbit† by Jefferson Airplane to the the Matrix trilogy. While both books are intended for a child's entertainment, they are full of symbolism and hidden critique. His clever wordplay, use of logic and reasoning, and incredible imagination are all trademarks of his style of writing, which is often referred to as â€Å"literary nonsense. † To readers with little experience with Carroll's work, this term seems to perfectly describe Carroll's confusing and often rambling style, but when more thoroughly inspected, it becomes obvious that this â€Å"nonsense† has a far deeper meaning. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is about a young girl, Alice, who gets bored doing her multiplication tables one day and follows a white rabbit into a hole. Through this hole, she ends up falling into Wonderland, a place where there are potions and foods that can change the drinker's size, a tea party thrown by a Mad Hatter and a March Hare, and a Caucus-race that everybody wins. As Alice journeys through Wonderland she meets stranger and stranger, or, as she says, â€Å"'Curiouser and curiouser! ‘† (15), characters such as a hookah-smoking caterpillar sitting on a mushroom and a grinning Cheshire Cat who is not all there all the time: â€Å"'Well I've often seen a cat without a grin,' thought Alice; ‘but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life! ‘† (94). She runs into three gardeners who are painting the Queen of Hearts' roses from white to red so she will not cut their heads off. Alice and the Queen play a game of croquet in which the mallets are live flamingos and the balls are hedgehogs until the Queen eventually orders the beheading of everyone but Alice, the King, and herself. The book ends with Alice discovering that the whole experience was a dream from falling asleep while doing her multiplication. The story itself became much more popular upon the release of the Disney animated version. Many parts of this movie, however, were not originally found in the book but are instead found in its sequel. Through The Looking Glass is very similar to Alice's other journey, but this time she steps through her mirror, also known as a looking glass, and finds herself on a giant chess board inhabited by the Red and White chess pieces from the set in her room. When she asks the Red Queen if she can play, she is told she can take the place of a white pawn and start on the second square and will become a queen if she reaches the eighth. She eventually meets Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum who tell her the poem â€Å"The Walrus and the Carpenter. † She later meets Humpty Dumpty who tells her that he can make words mean whatever he wants and then proceeds to explain to her the meaning of the poem â€Å"Jabberwocky. † Alice is then taken prisoner by a Red Knight and later rescued by a White Knight, both of whom keep falling off their horses, and guided safely to the eighth square where she is made a queen and invited to the Red and White Queen's nonsensical dinner party, after which she once again wakes up and realizes that the whole thing was just a dream. The poem â€Å"The Walrus and The Carpenter† from Through the Looking Glass is a classic tale narrated by Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum about a walrus and a carpenter who, while strolling down the beach one sunny night, convince a large bunch of oysters to take a walk with them: â€Å"Their shoes were clean and neat-/ And this was odd, because, you know,/ They hadn't any feet† (74-75). After much talk of whimsical nonsense, the walrus and the carpenter eat the unsuspecting oysters. There are many speculations on what the symbolism behind this poem actually is, but one theory, addressed in the movie Dogma, suggests that it is about religions tricking their followers. According to this theory, the walrus represents Eastern religions as either Buddha or Ganesha, while the carpenter represents Jesus and all Western religions. The two of them trick the helpless oysters, representing the innocent masses, with their words and then use them for their own gain, which in this case is as food. Many argue that this is not the true meaning behind the poem since Carroll was also an Anglican clergyman, but it is also noted that he was pushed towards his clergy position by his father and eventually grew to dislike the whole of the Anglican Church. The true meaning of the poem may never be known since Carroll never told anyone, and it was one of many things left unexplained in his diaries. â€Å"Jabberwocky† is yet another famous poem from Through the Looking Glass, containing many of the characteristics that earned Carroll's works the title â€Å"literary nonsense. This poem is first read by Alice when she holds the book containing it up to her mirror, and the first stanza is later told by her to Humpty Dumpty when he claims to be able to explain any poem ever invented and a good many that haven't been invented yet. â€Å"Jabberwocky† is about a boy who is warned by his father to beware the Jabberwock, a great beast with jaws that bite and claws that catch, and s o takes his vorpal sword and seeks the beast. When they meet, the boy slays the monster and takes its head back to his father to receive his praise. Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice that many of the words in the poem are portmanteaus, or words with two meanings packed into them. For instance, â€Å"slithy† means both â€Å"lithe† and â€Å"slimy,† while â€Å"mimsy† is â€Å"flimsy† and â€Å"miserable† at the same time. He also clears up the rest of the nonsense words in this poem such as â€Å"outgribing,† which he says is something between bellowing and whistling with a sneeze in the middle. The first stanza goes: â€Å"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe / All mimsy were the borogoves / And the mome raths outgrabe† (126). As Humpty explains it to Alice, this loosely translates to, It was four in the afternoon and the slithy toves, a mix between a badger, a lizard, and a corkscrew, went round and round the grass-plot of a sundial until they had worn holes in the ground. The borogoves, thin, shabby birds with their feathers sticking out, were mimsy and the mome raths, sorts of green pigs that lost their way, outgribed. This style of making up words to describe altogether new concepts or creatures as he pictured them has been compared to that of Dr. Seuss: it provides entertainment to children who laugh at these nonsense words, while at the same time has its own meaning when explained. Lewis Carroll had a writing style unlike any seen before his time. His â€Å"literary nonsense† has provided entertainment for countless children, while amusing and stimulating the minds of adults at the same time. While many of the characters and events in Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are known or debated symbols or references to something else, their true meanings could only ever be understood by Carroll himself.

Martha Stewart Lost Reputation Essay

Martha Stewart places her name on her products. She becomes the face of her company and the voice of her brand. When her personal misconduct occurred, she made her company vulnerable and risky as well. This case study examines how Martha Stewart managed her corporate communication when her public image and reputation were tarnished on trial for alleged insider trading scandal. The trial not only led her to prison but also hurt her brand equity. The study shows that Stewart’s early response to her crisis demonstrated lack of situation awareness. In the beginning of her investigation, she kept her public persona intact, ignoring or downplaying her role in it. As a result, what Stewart called â€Å"a small personal matter† later became a full -blown crisis. If she had managed her communication in a more timely manner, the magnitude of her crisis might have been minimized. This article also provides detailed insights for organizations to learn from her crisis response strat egies. Keywords: Organizational crisis, Crisis communication, Image restoration 1. Introduction The personalities of strong business leaders can help shape and enhance their corporate image. In some cases, the leaders become the virtual icon of the corporate brand, lendi ng their personal prestige to the brand and personifying the company. They can also threaten the company when they are involved in a scandal. In this situation, the consequences for the company can be critical as in the Martha Stewart’s insider trading crisis in the United States. The crisis management scholar, Roux-Dufort (2000) points out that corporate crises as â€Å"a privileged moment during which to understand things differently† (p. 26). As such, there is a growing body of literature on organizational learning in the wake of corporate crisis (Mitroff, 2002; Shrivastava, 1998). The Stewart case, in particular, drew the attention of media for years. The crisis of Martha Stewart’s insider trading raised the issue about the Martha Stewart’s multiplatform franchise; that is, the media world and homemaking business are intricately interwoven with her persona. Stewart’s empire has an impressive business synergy as shown by her TV programs that promote her magazines, her website which sells her products, and her p roducts which are a link to her TV programs. She is the face, voice and personality behind the brand and, thus, the two – Stewart and the brand – are inseparable. After Stewart’s personal misconduct, the interlocking nature of her business proved to be vulnerable and risky. Moreover, Stewart’s crisis had both legal and public relations components (Jerome, Moffitt, & Knudsen, 2007). Allegations of insider trading against Martha Stewart led to her imprisonment. Her strategic plan in response to the insider trading accusations and the media attention su rrounding this crisis left Stewart trying to take action to restore her image. In a sense, it is important to understand how Stewart herself and her company managed their corporate communication when her public image and reputation were tarnished under the investigation of the insider trading scandal. This article explores how the high profile iconic Martha Stewart responded when confronted with an organizational crisis that threatened existence. It also provides detailed insights for organizations to learn from her crisis response strategies. 2. Background of Martha Stewart’s Insider Trading Beginning with the 1982 publication of her book Entertaining, Martha Stewart made a name for herself as a homemaking diva. In September 1997, Stewart became chairperson, president, and CEO of her new company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MSO since 1999. As the chief of MSO, Stewart used her name and face to make connections with various businesses including a line of housewares, television shows, radio channels, magazines and a series of books on entertaining. On December 27, 2001, Stewart sold 3,928 shares of her ImClone stock worth US$228,000 the day before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected approval of Erbitux, ImClone’s anti -cancer drug. By selling ahead of the FDA rejection, Stewart received about US$45,000 more than if she had sold the stocks later. Compared to her wealth, it was certainly an insignificant sum and in fact, during her Larry King Live interview, she said it was â€Å"miniscule, really, about 0.006 percent of my net worth† (Four nier, 2004). Stewart had denied any wrongdoing, insisting she did not receive any advance knowledge from Sam Waksal, the founder and CEO of ImClone about the decision on Erbitux (Pollack, 2002). Instead, her sale of ImClone stock was part of a predetermined plan to sell if shares fell below US$60. Later, Stewart was officially indicted on charges of securities fraud and obstructing justice related to her sale of ImClone stock on March 5, 2004. Judge Cedarbaum dismissed the securities fraud charge against S tewart, saying prosecutors had failed to present enough evidence on the issue (Masters & White, 2004). However, obstruction of justice, charges of conspiracy, and making false statements remained. Stewart served a five-month prison sentence between October 8, 2004 and March 4, 2005 for these charges. On August 7, 2006, Martha Stewart reached an agreement with the securities’ regulators over the insider-trading civil charges and agreed to pay US$195,000 to settle a five-year legal battle. 3. Literature Review Crisis events can and do strike organizations of all types. Every kind of organization, from larger organizations to small family owned businesses, have the potential of being a victim of crisis (Seeger, Sellnow, & Ulmer, 2003). In many circumstances, crisis immediately raises questions from an organization’s many different publics (Marra, 1998). In this view, for an organization to manage the effects of a crisis it must communicate to both internal and external stakeholders. Ulmer, Sellnow, and Seeger (2007) suggest all crises involve the general communication strategies of reducing uncertainty, responding to the crisis, resolving it, and learning from it. The ability to communicate quickly and effectively is clearly an important component of successfu l crisis management. Effective crisis communication can not only defuse or eliminate crisis, but it can sometimes bring an organization a more positive reputation than before the crisis occurred (Kauffman, 2005). On the other hand, Marra (1998) argues if an organization fails to respond to a crisis in the correct manner, a bad situation can be made worse. Hence, crisis communication strategies can substantially diminish the harm caused by a crisis or magnify the harm if mismanaged. In this study, the stream of crisis response models from communication scholars and public relations professionals (Benoit, 1995; Coombs, 1999, 2007) are utilized as the theoretical framework to interpret the crisis response strategies that Martha Stewart employed in her insider trading crisis. According to Benoit (1995), firms or individuals may take preventative and restorative approaches to image problems. Five strategies (i.e., denial, evasion of responsibility, reduction of the offensiveness of the act , corrective action, and mortification) make up the rhetoric or image repair discourse. Each of these strategies has a set of tactics within them. Denial is the strategy employed when the rhetor simply chooses to deny the actions he is being accused of or shift the blame from the organization to outside individuals or agencies. The second strategy is evasion of responsibility is the strategy that the rhetor can blame circumstances beyond his control. It consists of four possible tactics: provocation, defeasibility, accident and good intentions. Benoit’s third major image restoration strategy, occurs when the rhetor attempts to reduce the degree of offensiveness experienced by the accuser. To this end, Benoit includes six tactics: bolstering, minimization, differentiation, transcendence, attacking the accuser, and compensation. The fourth category of the typology is corrective action, which attempts to correct the situation rather than counterbalance it. The final image restoration strategy, mortification, requires the rhetor to take responsibility for the action and to issue an apology. Benoit and colleagues have applied the model to a variety of different crisis situations. For instance, Benoit and Brinson (1994) analyzed AT&T’s defense following an interruption of its long-distance service in New York in September of 1991. Initially, AT&T tried to shift blame to low-level workers. As the complete story emerged, however, AT&T apologized for the interruption (mortification) and began to bolster its image by stressing its commitment to excellence, the billions of dollars invested in service, and the quality of its employees. Finally, AT&T promised corrective action and introduced a comprehensive review of its operations to anticipate and prevent further problems. It also stressed its commitment to providing excellent service and its willingness to spend billions of dollars to do so. Given these corrective action strategies, AT&T’s finally restored its image. Benoit (1995) also examined Union Carbide’s response to the Bhopal, India, gas leak that killed thousands and injured hundreds of thousands. Union Carbide’s primary strategies, bolstering and corrective action, were focused on four specific actions: a relief fund, an orphanage, medical supplies, and medical personnel. Although these strategies were appropriate and timely, Benoit claimed that Union Carbide failed to address the most important question: What were they doing to prevent another tragedy? Coombs (1999, 2007) develops situational crisis communication theory, creating 10 categories of basic organizational crisis communication strategies. These strategies are further grouped into four posture: 1) â€Å"denial posture† including attack the accuser (confronting person claiming a crisis occurred), denial ( asserting no crisis), and scapegoat (shifting the blame to others outside the organization), with an attempt to eliminate the crisis by denying its existence or the organization’s responsibility for the crisis; 2) â€Å"diminishment posture† which takes the forms of excuse (denying intend to do harm or claiming inability to control) and justification (minimizing severity of damage) with the purpose of weakening the link between the crisis and the organization by claiming the crisis is not the organization’s fault; 3) â€Å"rebuilding posture† of compensation (providing money or other gifts to the victims) and apology (taking full responsibility), which strives to restore legitimacy by seeking public approval and forgiveness; and 4) â€Å"bolstering posture† which includes reminder (telling stakeholders about its past good works), ingratiation (praising stakeholders and/or reminds them of past good works) and victimage (reminding stakeholders that the organization is a victim of the crisis, too). Using Coombs’s typology of crisis response strategies, Wilcox and Cameron (2006) examined the case of Intel. In 1993, Intel initially denied there was a problem with its Pentium 586 chip. As the crisis was covered in the mainstream press, Intel used the justification strategy by assuring that the problem was not serious enough to warrant replacing the chips. It minimized the concerns of consumers. In fact, Intel mismanaged the handling of its crisis communication. First, it did not disclose to the public the information about the Pentium flaw when they initially realized there was a problem. Then when the problem finally did come out into the open, they downplayed it instead of helping the users who had purchased the flawed chips. After considerable damage had been done to Intel’s reputation and IBM had suspended orders for the chip, Intel took corrective action to replace the chips. Subsequently, Andy Grove, Intel’s president, issued a full apology. Based on Benoit’s image repair theory and Coombs’s typology of crisis response st rategies, the following research questions are posited: RQ 1. What strategies did Martha Stewart use to manage her insider trading crisis? RQ 2. Were these strategies effective or ineffective? RQ 3. What can we learn from Martha Stewart case? 4. Methodology The case study is employed in this study, as it is effective in illustrating public relations management in real situations (Hendrix, 2004). According to Yin (1994), the six sources of evidence that are typically associated with the case study include documents, archival records, interviews, direct observation, participant -observation, and physical artifacts. In this study, texts documenting Stewart’s discourse in response to incidents that threatened her image were collected from multiple sources. Specifically, this study used predominantly two types of data: documents and archival records. It began with gathering data and finding facts related to cases and defining the specific tasks. The actions and communication strategies used by Martha Stewart wer e reviewed with information from her corporate websites, press releases and media coverage. MSO is a publicly traded company. A look at the organizational archival records (e.g., stock prices, sales and annual reports) and official government records (e.g. , court records and commission reports) contributed to understand the impact of corporate scandals have had on the companies’ financial performance and their stakeholders. The media coverage on the Martha Stewart case was found through Lexis Nexis Academi c keyword search of â€Å"Martha Stewart & insider trading† in The New York Times and The Washington Post. These newspapers were selected because of their large circulation, prominence and influence on public opinion. For the purpose of the valance of news narration in this study, the period of analysis covered two time frames (during the crisis and post crisis). The first time frame started from the trading day to the verdict, beginning in December, 2001 and running through March, 2004. The second time frame started from the day of sentencing to her release from prison, beginning on July 16, 2004 and running t hrough March 2005. Since the research questions of this study were related to crisis communication strategies, the unit of analysis of this case study was Martha Stewart’s response to stakeholders during and post crisis. Thus, the strategies were apparent through the types of evid ence. 14 By examining corporate communication employed by Martha Stewart during the crisis and post -crisis period, the procedures for analysis involved three steps. First, after the data were collected from multiple sources, a detailed timeline of relevant events leading up to the crisis itself, and the post-crisis process was created. For example, the chronological order of the Martha Stewart case was constructed in the following manner: 1) the investigation (January, 2002 – June, 2003); 2) indictment (June – December, 2003); 3) verdict (January – May, 2004); 4) sentencing (June – July, 2004); 5) in prison (October, 2004); and 6) release from prison (March, 2005). Second, after the chronological order of actual events was refined, a narrative description and process analysis of each event was thus constructed. A worksheet served as an organizing tool for evaluating each event. All data collected were analyzed using the typology of crisis response strategy. Finally, a thick descript ion and analysis of the findings of each research question was conducted. 5. Analysis of Martha Stewart’s Crisis Response Strategies 5. 1 Investigation The story about Martha Stewart’s ImClone stock sale was broken to the public in the Wall Street Journal on June 7, 2002 (Adams & Anand, 2002). In the article, her lawyer, John Savarese, indicated that Stewart had set the price at US$60 for selling the stock but in fact, as of June 7, 2002, the stock price of ImClone sank to a low US$8.45 a share. Using the strategy of differentiation, Savarese further was trying to put distance between Stewart and Sam Waksal. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that she spoke to Sam, or had any information from anybody from ImClone during that week †¦ I am absolutely sure that there was no communication of any kind between her and Sam, no passing of any information from him to her. (Adams & Anand, 2002, p. B2) On June 12, 2002, Waksal was arrested for insider trading and soon after, the stock price of MSO plunged 12 percent, closing at US$15. From June 6, 2002, when congressional investigators started looking into Stewart’s sale of ImClone shares, the stock price of MSO had dropped 22 percent. Stewart immediately denied any insider trading or wrongdoing and, in a public statement, she said she knew nothing about the pending FDA announcement. She claimed that when the share price dropped below US$60 – the level at which she had agreed with her broker – she returned a call from her broker and sold the s hares on December 27, 2001. She acknowledged that after the trade, she immediately called Waksal but could not reach him, and he did not call her back. The message she left read: â€Å"Martha Stewart called. Something is going on with ImClone and she wants to know what† (Hays, 2002a, p. C1). She proclaimed her innocence in her statement: â€Å"In placing my trade, I had no improper information. My transaction was entirely lawful† (White, 2002, p. E1). However, the congressional investigator questioned Stewart’s sale, noting that ImClone dropped below $60 at least once before while Stewart owned it (White, 2002). On June 18, 2002, Stewart tried to resolve concerns about her sale of ImClone shares and hired a new lawyer, James F. Fitzpatrick, who submitted several documents to congressional investigators. This was the first time Stewart used a strategy of corrective action as a response to the inquiries. On June 19, 2002, MSO stock rebounded sharply, climbing from US$2.05, to US$14.4 and then to US$16.45, suggesting that her corrective action was working. However, Ken Johnson, a spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the documents would help answer some questions but â€Å"we still don’t have an answer to the most nagging one: was Ms. Stewart’s pre-existing agreement to sell reached in late November, as she says, or in mid-December as some reports have indicated?† (Hays, 2002b, p. C7). On June 25, 2002, she appeared on CBS’s The Early Show, and when asked by the host, Jane Clayson, about the ImClone shares during a cooking segment, she replied while slicing a cabbage with a big knife. I’m involved in an investigation that has very serious implications. I have nothing to say on the matter. I’m really not at liberty to say. And as I said, I think this will be resolved in the very near future and I will be exonerated of any ridiculousness. And I just want to focus on my salad because that is why we’re here. (Clayson, 2002) Apparently, Stewart had no idea how to handle the situation and was unwilling to respond to the questions. She continued to dodge public inquiries and ignored the increasing outcry for answers about her role in the insider trading scandal.

Victimless Crime - 1399 Words

Victimless crime is defined as a violation of community standards or an illicit act against a government policy or agency (Wisegeek, 2009) yet, which neither directly harms nor violates the rights of any specific person, although some people may claim it harms society as a whole. Many people consider such acts as drunk driving, prostitution, public drunkenness, assisting someone to die at his or her request, using drugs, white-collar crimes, and abortion to be victimless crimes. They feel, as though there are no individual victims for these crimes; no one is being hurt or directly affected, so there is no crime being committed. In this paper, I will discuss the effects that these crimes have not only on the individuals that commit the†¦show more content†¦In this scandal, many people in upper management made quite a bit of money off the employees of the corporation, leaving them jobless and broke with no retirement. (Enron Scandal, 2008) Tax evasion is not considered to be as big of a crime as accounting fraud because of the publicity that accounting fraud receives in comparison to tax evasion. The only times that you really hear about tax evasion is when it includes big movies stars or government officials. Such people in the news lately would include Wesley Snipes, Richard Pryor, Martha Stewart, Don King, and the latest, Tom Daschle. Christopher M. Sigerson of the IRS, (2008) said it best when he said, â€Å"We should not forget that the ultimate victims in tax fraud cases are the people of the United States and those who do not pay their fair share cheat their neighbors and their country.† When people commit tax fraud, the victims are the rest of the law-obeying citizens that do pay their taxes, the â€Å"common† people. Drug abuse, another crimes that is considered victimless, actually has many victims. Not only the abuser, who becomes a victim to the addiction, becomes a victim in this crime. They become a victim to the dr ug as their body becomes dependant on the substance. Recent studies have shown that every year in the United States there is an estimated 320,000 babies born addicted to some form of drugs. Withdraw will happen in 55 to 94 percent of all infants exposed to heroin or other opiates.Show MoreRelatedIs Victimless Crimes Is Defined As A Victimless Crime933 Words   |  4 Pageschose to write about is Victimless Crimes. I will be defining the term as well as discussing a few of the known victimless crimes along with the penalty/punishment for each in the states of Alabama, Kentucky and Michigan. A victimless crime is defined as an incident or crime where there is no distinct victim legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Victimless Crimes. There are many different crimes that can be categorized as a Victimless Crime. 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