John Van Maanen introduces qualitative research through examples of its application in organizational research. Each article serves as an exemplar of well-written, substantively focused and theoretically relevant qualitative research. The articles represent a broad range of research styles, methods, topics and level of analysis, and the studies cover four areas of research: organizational process; groups in organizations; organizational identity and change; and the societal and institutional environment. Organizations studied include factories, churches, universities, engineering groups, fisheries, voluntary organizations, basketball teams and pop music recording firms.