Informality in organization and research: a review and a proposal <s> Grounded Theorizing <s> In response to impending skills shortages and changing employment patterns, the UK construction industry recently has made considerable efforts to attract more women to its professions. However, despite their increasing representation, there are indications that women experience difficulties in developing their careers within the industry. This research investigated the careers of men and women working for large construction companies, in order to establish the gender determined influences on women's career progression. A primarily qualitative methodology was employed for the research, in which career profiles were developed through ethnographic interviews with 41 matched pairs of male and female employees. This allowed the gender specific determinants of careers to be established across a range of different organizations, and from informants at different vocational and life-cycle stages. The analysis resulted in the formulation of a set of eight interrelated theoretical models, from which a theory of women's career development was constructed. The theory reflects the belief that the construction workplace is a competitive and conflictual environment, where women are overtly and covertly discriminated against by men, who use structural systems to undermine their participation. The women interviewed were found to have dealt with these barriers in a way which perpetuated existing work cultures. If reflected throughout the industry, this would suggest the existence of a self-fulfilling cycle of women's continued under-achievement. The paper puts forward the radical proposition that women should not be attracted to the industry unless steps are taken to moderate its exclusionary and discriminatory culture. <s> BIB001 </s> Informality in organization and research: a review and a proposal <s> Grounded Theorizing <s> Although a wide range of human and organizational factors have been found to be important in the operation of projects, those determined by cultural variables are less well defined. One such influence concerns the notion of 'project affinity', the commitment and attachment by stakeholders and participants to projects and their outcomes. The temporal nature and transient involvement context provided by construction projects arguably presents a climate in which many participants are less likely to display commitment to its goals. This note is concerned with the issue of whether an attachment to a project's goals or to the completed product can lead to improved commitment among those involved. The concept of project affinity was developed in the course of a case study investigation in which operatives' attitudes towards the construction of a cancer research facility were explored. Because of the contribution of the facility to the future care of cancer sufferers, the concept of project affinity proved helpful in understanding a factor that appeared to be influencing the commitment of those involved. The results suggest a complementary concept to that of 'project chemistry' (c.f. Nicolini, 2002). <s> BIB002
Grounded theory research should meet the weak requirement. It may or may not meet the strong requirement. Indeed, disagreement has arisen between the founders of the approach   as to whether it is legitimate to introduce pre-formulated theoretical terms into grounded theory analysis. Others have wished to broaden the approach still further (though in a somewhat different direction), stipulating only that theorizing should take place simultaneously with fieldwork  ). At one extreme, then, it can be difficult to distinguish between grounded theory and UA research; at the other, between grounded theory and theoretically informed research. Grounded theory work that has been carried out in construction management includes, for instance, BIB001  BIB002 . 3. Theoretically Informed. The term 'theoretically informed research' refers here to research that draws upon theory in a manner that is not formally specified. There are a wide variety of approaches that fall into this class. At one extreme, theory may be drawn upon in ad hoc manner to explain, or elucidate findings. From the pragmatic point of view of a management discipline, it may have something to recommend it, as it allows for the cherry-picking of useful ideas, without the need for rigorous intellectual justification. Then again, such ad hoc theorizing might be a form of grounded theorizing as mentioned above. It might be an adjunct to an exploratory, or scoping study. It might be a preliminary to a more systematic theoretical development, or application of already existing theory. At the other extreme, it might be research which arises from a principled application of existing theory, but uses informal ethnographic or historical methods to test or extend this. To the extent to which research is theoretically informed, it does not meet the strong requirement   ). An alternate reporting criterion is  Postulate of Adequacy. This stipulates that the theoretical concepts used should be understandable by members of the research setting in common sense terms. In this way, the point(s) of view held by the subject(s) of the research are taken into account in the formulation of theory. Whatever level of theorizing is achieved, it is important that the theory remains true to its empirical referents. Thus, observation of the weak requirement remains a useful test of the validity of the findings.