Stories of working conditions – Narratives, vignettes, and poetry in narrative analysis

Extended abstract for the poster presented at the 2nd conference of the Association of European Qualitative Researchers in Psychology, Milan 26–28 June 2024.

Erika Wall, Professor in Health Science
Department of Health Sciences
Mid Sweden University, Sweden.
www.miun.se/en/personnel/w/erikawall/
erika.wall@miun.se

Jonny Bergman, PhD in Sociology/Senior Lecturer in Social Work
Department of Psychology and Social Work
Mid Sweden University, Sweden.
www.miun.se/en/personnel/b/jonnybergman/
jonny.bergman@miun.se

This summary focuses on our ongoing research using various approaches to narrative analysis. We aim to expand the understanding of what narratives can encompass, how they can be analyzed, and how innovative methods, including poetry, can be incorporated in the analysis and presentation of results.

Our primary objective is to emphasize the importance of refining narrative methodologies to facilitate enhanced listening within organizational research in times of change and uncertainty. Our starting point is that it is possible, and that we need to, create space to listen to the statements about working conditions that exist in the regular working day. Instead of focusing on the conditions for staff to be heard or to ask specific questions about working conditions through surveys and structured interviews, as has been common in previous research, we turn to perspectives focusing on opportunities to listen to stories in everyday work among the employees.

We believe that this can done by listening to and participating in the staff’s conversations about and during their everyday work. Stories will be gathered through participant observations as well as listening to how work is told in narrative interviews about the working day. The collected material will then be analyzed using narrative analysis with the support of theories of power and resistance, whereby we propose that we can create a space for enhanced listening. Creative methods in the form of poetry as part of narrative method and subsequent artistic design might further deepen and nuance the analyses and presentation of results.

Below, we present three research examples to illuminate the various approaches to narrative analysis that together motivated us to emphasize the need for enhanced listening within organizational research. Firstly, we focus on how resistance on working conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic was captured using narrative analysis. Secondly, we explore how time and temporality in individual stories shape various collective narrative vignettes, and, in the last example, we seek to push the boundaries of conventional narrative representation by drawing inspiration from the realms of poetry for narrative analysis and the presentation of results.

Narratives for enhanced listening

Three research examples that emphasize the importance of refining narrative methodologies to facilitate enhanced listening within organizational research:

1. Critique of working conditions can be captured using narrative analysis.

In the study entitled “Time for changed working conditions within the health care sector. Time and temporality in narrative sensemaking during the first phase of the corona pandemic in Sweden”, we focused on stories about working conditions in the Swedish health care sector during the initial phase of the corona pandemic in the spring of 2020. The narrative analysis was based on 33 interviews with health care professionals conducted during the first weeks of the corona pandemic. The narrative analysis, with a focus on the stories told, created an opening to understand the corona pandemic as an event that draws attention to something more than the work situation right now, namely a critique of working conditions on a general level.

2. Time and temporality in individual stories can shape diverse collective vignettes.

Further findings from the analysis presented above, is that we found that when linking interpretations of narratives to time and temporality, two different storylines could be found. The narrative analysis showed that different perspectives on time was used to support the argumentation in the participants’ stories. Based on how the stories in the material appeared when analysed through the lens of time and temporality, two perspectives were found that formed two different narrative vignettes. One vignette was linked to the specific situation of the first phase of the corona pandemic and the other related to the work situation during the corona pandemic as part of an, in time, extended period and context.

3. Poetry in narrative analysis and in the presentation of results can push the boundaries of conventional narrative representation.

In a research project on a sustainable work life for young adults, poetry have been used in the narrative analysis when analyzing perceived security when new at work. In this project, an in-depth narrative analysis has been carried out where the essence of an (previously completed) thematic analysis made around safety at work has been deepened through the creation of a poem together with an illustration. The poem, reproduced in its entirety below, expresses the emotional core of the analytical themes created in the earlier analysis presented in the article "Sense of security when new at work". The poem thus expresses the essence of the previous findings, which are here further processed through narrative analysis with the use of poetry as the form for the creation of narrative vignettes. The analysis is framed by the health-promoting perspective and therefore expresses positive examples of feeling safe in the workplace as a young person and new to the job. The poem is based on excerpts from the in-depth interviews conducted with young adults who are new to work in the trade.

The capable novice, I am

Shelf-clad walls filled with cereals,
the scent of freshly ironed workwear.
I’m the new one at the workplace.

When I nervously practice serving customers,
the warmth of my mother’s voice I hear:
advisory, descriptive, explanative.

I feel like the little child.

When I gingerly unpack goods,
the backing tones of my friends I catch:
take it easy, take care, recover.

I need someone mirroring me.

When I curiously learn new tasks,
the colleagues’ declarations of trust I notice:
supportive, expectant, approving.

I appreciate being seen as the skilled one.

Incessant asking’s from consumers seeking stuff,
the smell of cardboard packages.
I’m the new one at the workplace.

Being given room for all what I am,
at the work floor and far away:
that’s sense of security for me.

I am the novice
I am the capable
I am

We have also used poetry in narrative analysis in a study regarding safety for the elderly. It is known that elderly people are often injured in their own homes – usually in the living room, bedroom, or entrance – because of illness and/or slipping or tripping on carpets. Based on empirical material from interviews with the elderly and their relatives (their adult children) as well as web-based official government information directed to the elderly and their relatives, we have created a narrative analysis focusing on experiences of risk and security, especially in relation to the handwoven rag-rugs common in Sweden.

With the intention of accessing the complexity of perceived security for the elderly, a narrative vignette is crafted as a fictive debate article by the rag-rugs interwoven with lyrics of “the rugs’ battle song” (inspired by and with quotations from The Beautiful South’s “the table”). The writings illuminate the various narratives of the rugs, depending on who is discussing if there should be carpets on the floors in the homes of elderly or not.