Catching values in flight: A process perspective on researching values in organisations

Abstract

Values are often hardly visible and taken for granted in organisations, leaving us with the question of how to study them. An emerging stream of studies on values work utilises a process approach to research values, work and practice in organisations, identifying how values and value practices are brought into being in organisational life. This chapter focuses on the use of process studies in relation to the investigation of values work in organisations. The chapter explains and exemplifies how values work can be studied through a strong-process perspective identifying work and practices that develop, grow or terminate values over time. Process studies identify various mechanisms related to the performative, situated and agentic nature of values work. Different methodology approaches are suggested for process studies investigating values work and institutionalising processes.