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A visual inquiry into ethics and change

Margaret L. Page (Department of Business and Management, Faculty of Business and Law, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK)
Hugo Gaggiotti (Department of Business and Management, Faculty of Business and Law, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK)

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management

ISSN: 1746-5648

Article publication date: 4 May 2012

1291

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the practices and findings of a visual inquiry developed by the co‐authors with students in a Business School in the south west of England. The authors are interested in how students engaged with the visual as a practice of inquiry and how this contributed to their development of a critical approach to the concept of ethics in business organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

Students visited an exhibition shown as part of the 100 days countdown to the COP15 UN climate change conference, and constructed visual representation of questions and dilemmas related to ethical business practice. The analysis focuses on student presentations, and the discussions that these provoked on the relationship between “business” and “ethical practice”.

Findings

Doing co‐inquiry with visual images enabled many students to engage more proactively with ethical dilemmas; to attend to deeply felt values that they were not accustomed to bring into the rule bound environment of the classroom; to develop critical readings of the visual as a discourse about business organisations and their claims to ethical practice; and to create their own visual representations of ethical dilemmas within business practice.

Originality/value

The research methodology brings together inquiry‐based learning and visual inquiry in the context of undergraduate learning in a business school. The paper considers the significance of the methodology and findings as a contribution to visual inquiry methodology and practice, and as a medium for enabling students in a business school to develop their ethical sensibility.

Keywords

Citation

Page, M.L. and Gaggiotti, H. (2012), "A visual inquiry into ethics and change", Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 72-85. https://doi.org/10.1108/17465641211223474

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2012, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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