Understanding participation in entrepreneurial organizations: some hermeneutic readings

Abstract

This paper explores the use of participative methods in an entrepreneurial organization. It does this through a series of hermeneutic readings of the situation, which develop an increasingly satisfactory understanding of the complexities of the development process. The paper begins by describing the case study site and the market that it operates within before considering the role of corporate culture on entrepreneurial firms of this kind. The first reading of the situation, using participative methods and the sociology of translation, is then presented and a critique of the limitations of this reading is presented. A second reading, drawing on Heidegger's ideas as applied to the notion of entrepreneurship, is then presented. This second reading proves to be far more satisfactory and the paper ends with a summary and reflections on the process of making a series of readings of the development process at the case study site.