Doing case-based inter-organisational ethnography

Construction projects often have an inter-organisational governance arrangement in which different complementary organisations collaborate to achieve the aims of a project. This chapter zooms in on the characteristics of inter-organisational collaboration and explores how these inform ethnographic fieldwork in the context of construction projects. Everyday work in these projects was informed by dynamics at three different sites: the project office, the construction site and at the home organisation. We build on the techniques adopted in multi-sited ethnography, as well as our own experience in ethnographic fieldwork, to present an overview of questions that provide practical pointers for future ethnographers to make the most out of their research experience while they are in the field. The questions concentrate around a reflective practice towards the places, people and project context that shape each unique inter-organisational project.