Labels Uncovered, Clarity Gained
This one is just going out to those of you who have subscribed, I am so grateful for your support. Thank you!
I don’t, and won’t normally share my academic submissions here, but this time I thought it might be worth the exception.
Reading academic papers is not my favourite, and writing them is a challenge every time. This paper is unique within the DBA program because it is personal. For the most part I have been learning that my opinion, perceptions, and voice don’t matter when it comes to academic writing. Well, maybe not so much that they don’t matter, but they shouldn’t be front and centre in research work. And that is fair. This deliverable however was a task to share our positionally and our understanding of how it may impact our research.
So, by it’s nature, this paper feels a whole lot more like me, and actually readable compared to the other deliverables I have submitted so far. It also happens to be one of the shorter assignments we have had at just 2000 words.
If you do have time to read through it, I’d love to know your thoughts. Any ah-ha moments for you? How do you describe your worldview? I’d love to hear from you in the comments or by replying when this hits your inbox.
Labels Uncovered, Clarity Gained
Who is Melissa Marcelissen the Researcher?
Identifying as a storyteller at heart, I have always valued the ability that stories have to connect people, convey complex ideas, and influence meaningful change. In my leadership development practice, storytelling is a key component of how I deliver training material and a skill that I encourage leaders to develop so they can enhance their impact and influence within their teams. This deep-seated belief in the power of story and connection underpins my professional identity and will also shape my approach to research.
Despite this strong affiliation for narrative and stories, when I started the DBA program, I found myself primarily considering quantitative research methods. I planned to focus on comparing hard data like inclusion and belonging scores from employee surveys. I believed this would be necessary to increase credibility to the potential positive impacts of inclusive leadership training. This assumption was driven by my own perception that quantitative results may often be deemed more factual or influential within the world of organizational research and practice.
This juxtaposition between my internal belief in the power of storytelling and the assumption I made that quantitative validation is necessary, uncovered a broader internal tension: my personal experiences in corporate settings where numerical data had been held up as more objective and therefore more legitimate than qualitative insights. Although I did find confirmation of these concerns in course material, whereas some researchers have adapted their methods and prioritized quantitative study to increase odds of publication (Buchanan & Bryman, 2007), overall, engaging with the material from MGMT 710 has already been transformative. Understanding and embracing the notion that no organizational question or problem is simple, and that understanding organizational dynamics is fundamentally about the ‘why’, not the existing data (Daft, 1983) has challenged my initial assumptions on what my research approach should look like.
My social location as a GenderQueer person assigned female at birth, raised in a religious, middle-class family in southwestern Ontario, impacts my perspective of social systems and the world around me. These elements of my identity not only influence how I perceive the world but also guide the types of research questions I find compelling. I present to many as a white woman, and my background has provided me with certain privileges, while limiting my ability to fully understand the perspective of those with other diverse intersectional experiences.
Driven by a bias for action and an idealistic mindset, I generally tend to focus on practical solutions and the positive impacts of focusing on the collective good. I often share that inclusive leadership saved my life and I believe that strong, purpose-driven leaders have the potential to change the world and positively impact the employees they lead.
By engaging with, and reflecting on this course to date, it is clear how important it is for all of us, especially those engaged in research, to continually question and deconstruct the biases and assumptions that we have been conditioned to accept (Berger, 2015). Throughout this paper, I will leverage this positionality, along with key concepts from readings to date to share my (still evolving) reflections on my own ontological and epistemological leanings, the research questions that fuel my drive, and the considerations from an ethical perspective that may go into how I collect data and share findings in the pursuit of my doctoral degree.
Curiosity is a Superpower
People closest to me would probably report that I say things like, “two things can be true”, “I wonder…..”, “If I’m the smartest person in the room, I’m in the wrong room”, “is that true though, how do we know?”, and “I’m SO curious about…” often. The concept of intentional, productive stupidity as a healthy mindset for doctoral students and researchers (Schwartz, 2009), was quite comforting and well within my current approach to not just research, but most things.
Despite my brief delusions of needing to don a quantitative researcher’s sweater at the onset of this program, it is no surprise considering my positionality and worldview that my research design will consist of primarily, if not exclusively, qualitative curious questions. I’m seeking to understand if causality can be established between managers who receive training and development in inclusive leadership competencies, and a positive impact on their employees’ sense of inclusion and belonging. More important than simply documenting a yes/no answer to this question, I will seek to understand why and how manager’s employees are positively impacted by their development. I do not claim or aspire to position manager training as a fix-all to organizations ability to create inclusion and belonging. I will however seek to understand if this is a potential avenue to create meaningful advancement in equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDIB) efforts.
Structure, Narratives, Perceptions, and Transformative Impacts
As I start to consider myself a researcher, I acknowledge that some things can be considered as fact, yet I have an unwavering belief that within organizations, much of what dictates reality is neither static, nor objective. Constructivism acknowledges that these subjective realities are shaped by individual interactions and historical experiences occurring both inside and outside the current environment (Creswell & Creswell, 2023). This aligns well with how I see the corporate world: not simply through ‘facts’, but also through personal stories and experiences that can more accurately define the workplace.
Additionally, the concept of a transformative worldview aligns with why I want to complete this research. My purpose is to make work better for as many people as possible so they can bring their best self’s home. I wouldn’t be subjecting myself to what our co-hort has affectionately coined “self-induced mid-life trauma” (Figure 1) if I did not believe that this research has the potential to encourage real change and have a positive impact on the workplace. A transformative worldview positions research as a means to create change, to challenge the status quo, and to provide a platform for those who are often pushed to the outskirts of corporate power dynamics (Creswell & Creswell, 2023). I believe that researchers have not just the ability to uncover and share knowledge, but also to blaze a path to a better way of doing.
Figure 1
As I look forward to how these worldviews will shape my research approach, I find the concept of partnering critical realism and constructivism intriguing. I expect that these merged paradigms will play a role in my research questions, approach, and design. Critical realism creates an ability to acknowledge that organizational knowledge is inherently subject to variability caused by social structures, while still providing the ability to establish causality (Syed et al., 2010). By layering constructivism into the epistemology, findings may include knowledge that comes from both social interactions, and the structures put into place that contribute to causality (Bogna et al., 2020).
Applying this theoretical foundation to my proposed research, manager training and development could be looked to as the causal structure in potentially producing an increased perception of inclusion and belonging. Syed et al. (2010) supports this idea, suggesting that understanding the variance in outcomes requires a look at underlying structures, in this case, the existence or absence of management training programs themselves. At the same time, constructivism will allow me to dig into the subjective experiences of individual employees whose manager’s received this training. I intend to investigate how the diversity of a team, the absorption of training by their manager, and the application of inclusive leadership competencies shape each employee’s perception of their workplace. The individual stories and reported impacts will offer a unique perspective on the impact training. This qualitative approach acknowledges the complexity of individual experiences within organizational structures and aligns with Bogna et al.’s (2020) approach, which values the depth that comes from understanding the social constructions of those within the team.
I Want to Change the Workplace, but First, I’ll Aim to Do No Harm
As I navigate this research, my own story and stories of others, ethical considerations are top of mind. In adopting the dual lenses of critical realism and constructivism for my research into inclusion and belonging, I am aware of the complexity in this field. Reflexivity in research, the need for a critical self-examination of my role and influence as a researcher means being continually mindful of how my positionality, my choices in methodology, and my interactions with participants could shape the research process and outcomes (Orr & Bennett, 2009), along with potential impacts of the experience of participants. In practice, ethics in my research will acknowledge the power dynamics at play, especially as I explore diverse team compositions and their manager’s impact on their sense of inclusion and belonging.
In seeking to understand if inclusive leadership training influences employees' perceptions of belonging, I will hold considerations of digital ethics, recognizing the evolving nature of data collection and the need to ensure privacy and consent in increasingly digital organizational environments (Whiting & Pritchard, 2018). As employee feedback often involves sensitive data, ensuring confidentiality and respecting participant autonomy will be included in my ethical approach.
Through the layered epistemology of social interactions and structural influences, my aim is to gather insights that respect the voices and stories of the participants, honouring their lived experiences without imposing my own narrative. This stance is not just about rigor in research; it's about respect, a commitment to doing no harm, and actively seeking to benefit participants and the broader workforce through the knowledge developed.
Five Weeks, Exponential Growth
As I reflect on what I’ve learned in just the first five weeks of this course, the journey from an apprehensive quantitative researcher to a homecoming of sorts towards a qualitative approach has been enlightening. This paper has served not only as an opportunity to reflect on the academic theories covered thus far, but also as an affirmation of my belief in the power of narrative and personal stories to access truths within the corporate world. Finding academic labels for my existing ideology has reinvigorated my commitment to pursuing research that not only builds on existing knowledge but can be truly transformative.
My social location and personal history have shaped the questions I ask and the lens through which I receive and interpret potential answers. I understand that research is not just about uncovering facts but about understanding contexts, interpreting nuances, and advocating for meaningful change. As I move forward, the research questions I develop will continue to be informed by my existing dedication to making the workplace a more inclusive environment where everyone can thrive. This commitment is now rooted in the knowledge that research, especially within the field of EDIB, has the potential to not just reflect the world as it is, but to shape what it will be.
Through the complexity of this challenge, I recognize the ethical responsibilities that accompany my role as a researcher. The principles of doing no harm, ensuring reflexivity, and respecting the diverse perspectives of research participants will guide my approach. As I apply critical realism to establish causality and constructivism to delve into subjective experiences, my focus will remain on producing research that respects, reflects, and perhaps most importantly, rectifies.
As I conclude this paper, I am reminded of the responsibility and opportunity that lies ahead. It is an exciting undertaking not just to satisfy academic curiosity but to use gained knowledge as a tool for social justice and change. Armed with insights from this course and a clearer understanding of my ontological, epistemological, and methodological stance, I am more prepared than ever to embark on this research journey, hoping to inspire change that extends into organizational life.