Ethnographic fiction science: Making sense of managerial work and organizational research processes with Caroline and Terry

The story of Caroline and Terry is a tale of a manager and a participant-ob server researcher. It is also a tale of organizational politics, gender rel ations and the relationships between human resource managers and other mana gers. The story is in part a fiction. But, at the same time, it is a piece of social-science writing. It is 'made up' but it is also 'true'. It uses i magination but is also theoretically informed and draws upon research field work. The story demonstrates how ethnographic research accounts can be writ ten in a way that bridges the genres of creative writing and social science . This 'ethnographic fiction science' has eight characteristics, four of wh ich give it a fictional dimension and four of which make it social scientif ic.