Using template and matrix analysis: A case study of management and organisation history research

The purpose of this paper is to present a qualitative research method using oral history interview data that may advance new types of methodological inquiry in management and organisation history research.

The method, the authors present, combines matrix and template analysis using oral histories from unstructured interviews with 31 senior managers in the UK individual personal pensions product market to illuminate how the construction of “matrices” and “templates” can then be compared and contrasted across different time periods, and at different units of analysis, to analyse complex temporal data.

The authors highlight the veracity of a combination of template and matrix analysis for researchers handling management and organisation history data.

Elaborations of new research methodologies suitable for handling historical data remain few and far between. The proposed method offers a new approach for handing temporal textual data.