The Clinical Perspective in Fieldwork

by Edgar H. Schein

Unlike other types of qualitative research, the clinical perspective in field research does not aim to be impartial and uninvolved. The clinician is usually a consultant brought in specifically to effect change in an organization, and therefore works under a very different set of technical and ethical restraints. Edgar Schein succinctly outlines the clinical perspective in field research, how it differs from other types of qualitative research and its inherent rewards and difficulties.

77 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Edgar Henry Schein (March 5, 1928 – January 26, 2023) was a Swiss-born American business theorist and psychologist who was professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He was a foundational researcher in the discipline of organizational behavior, and made notable contributions in the field of organizational development in many areas, including career development, group process consultation, and organizational culture. He was the son of former University of Chicago professor Marcel Schein.--Wikipedia.org

Reviews

[Gertjan de Groot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great booklet especially for consultants

In this small booklet makes Schein his first plea for the clinical perspective, later called clinical inquiry/research. He states that consultants are in the best position to do organizational research because the clients invite them to help solving organizational problems. Consultants will gather more relevant data of what is really going in the power centres of organizations than any ethnograph. His plea is today as relevant as it was 20 years ago and reading this book will initate the reader in the 'secrets' of clinical inquiry/research.

[Abiel · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book Schein make his point regarding two very different roles, that, in practice, very often become merged and mixed: the role of the ethnographer as an "invisible" recorder of the nature of a given culture or organization, where he is expected to be unobtrusive and not affecting the daily activities in the place studied.

At the other hand, the clinical perspective, stemming from action research, is a very different role: the clinician is not impartial nor uninvolved. The clinician is usually a consultant brought in specifically to effect change in an organization, but in order to change it he needs to gain trust of members of that organization, and most of all, be helpful.