ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a method to study managerial work. David Marples proposed that the manager be viewed as a decision-maker and that sequences of problem-solving episodes be studied as a means to develop an understanding of managerial work. In designing a methodology to study managerial work, it was necessary to find a compromise between using structure and excluding it. The researcher may study individual episodes in a comprehensive way, or he may relate sequences of special purpose episodes. Rosemary Stewart discussed the problems of coding complex and confidential activities. In addition, there are the problems of coding evening work and meetings held outside the organization where the researcher cannot go, and the problem of coding telephone conversations, with the researcher plugged into one end only. The greatest difficulty concerned the coding process. In the social sciences, where measuring tools are crude, it is often difficult to categorize observations.
