Empirically the project is set up as a multi-sited ethnography with case studies in three business companies and three integration programs for the unemployed. The research design includes participant observation, interviews with participants / employees and the corresponding staff and the analysis of documents in use in the field.
In the economic system we conduct case studies in the following companies:
1) A Swiss-based multi-national company, which uses a highly sophisticated performance management system comprising elaborate formal procedures to deal with so called "low performers". Data include fieldnotes of managers meetings, team building sessions, roundtables with social workers and line managers etc. as well as 3 formal interviews with managers, 7 interviews with employees, an interview with the head of the internal social services and various company documents.
2) A member company of one of the biggest retail groups in Switzerland. The company also uses formal employee assessment tools applicable to all ranks. Observational data include fieldnotes of a training course for managers on the use of this assessment tools and several employee assessment interviews. 8 interviews were conducted with employees, managers and a social worker.
3) A medium sized bank operating nationwide. The bank is in the process of introducing perfomance assessment tools. Fieldwork includes the observation of a training course for managers and 10 interviews with managers and employees.
As a location for those (temporarily or permanently) expelled from the labor market we selected three integration programs for the unemployed.
1) A virtual trading company with 22 workplaces for clerical staff with formal qualifictaions.
2) A workshop for approx. 50 unskilled workers.
3) A program, which offers coaching and work experience for unemployed teenagers and young adults without any formal qualifications. All three programs are run by the same public utility foundation.
Our database consists of fieldnotes, 19 interviews with staff and unemployed participants, 7 recorded interactions and clients' files and other written documents.
The analysis of all three types of our data (fieldnotes, interviews and documents) followed the principles of the grounded theory design and coding techniques and was complemented by procedures stemming from ethnographic semantics and MCD analysis.
