3. The case study
3.1. Method
Current literature shows that existing research does not fully address how organizational routines can be operationalized so that they can contribute to the understanding of organizational behavior through empirical studies. In this respect, we intend to offer both an empirical and an analytical contribution. These goals, the nature of the research question and of the gaps we found in the literature led us to choose the case study methodology (Eisenhardt, 1989; Pettigrew, 1990; Yin, 1994; Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007). Since we are interested in both standard operating procedures, and recurrent interaction patterns, we need data-gathering methods able to capture both. While standard operating procedures and eventually the gap between the firm’s realized and expected performances could be traced using documental and archival sources, in order to identify the recurrent interaction patterns, observation and in-depth interviews were the only possible options available. A qualitative case study thus was the most well-suited method to gather the data necessary to study both aspects of organizational routines. The empirical material presented in this paper was collected at a European research centre specializing in automobile design. It was established as a ‘green field’ research centre close to a plant of a major European car maker in 1988 and today has around 750 employees, mostly engineers. Our field study involved employees responsible for the development of vehicle engineering (in particular all the mechanical systems except for the style).
Three data-collection methods were used: (1) archival sources (about 2000 pages of company
official documents [norms and procedures] were analyzed); (2) extensive semi-structured
interviews (the authors carried out more than 60 h of interviews, both to explore and to get
a deeper understanding of particular issues; these interviews involved the head of the vehicle