Evaluación del proyecto

Though this Group had its origins in MAF Tech, most of the workers had joined since the inception of AgResearch and were generally younger than those in the W&S Group and the E-Group. This unit was actually only a ‘group’ in terms of occupying the same physical space (the end of one floor of the University of Otago Biochemistry Department), but all workers were from the Animal Genomics

Platform. There were parts of at least five science groups in the unit with four being led by the three scientists on site and the Platform Leader while others were led by scientists based at Invermay. The thirteen or more54 scientific workers in the MBU did the molecular biology components of the research for their different science groups. In the past, sheep have been the flagship for all the MBU’s research. The Group was working hard to reduce its dependence on sheep. It wanted to move away from work on product traits, such as identification of the genes that affect fleece- weight, fibre diameter, or leanness of sheep, to applications of DNA tracing such as a saleable product that identifies a sample of DNA back to its source. The prime focus of the MBU has been on gathering DNA information to form the Sheep Gene Map. This sounds, and is, a clinical interest, but for some members of the Group more human interests underpinned this clinical interest. Miles, told his story:

… right now what would make me feel good would be if I could find a gene for facial eczema. The first case of facial eczema was in about 1887. Now its 2000. We’ve had that problem for 120 years. We are putting up with it. Other countries

53 _{This offshoot was completely unanticipated. The patent attorney thought of it. The MCG had 5} patents pending in early 2001.

54 _{It is difficult to say how many workers occupy the MBU because there are always students doing} Masters or PhD degrees who come and go.

don’t have that problem because the fungus that causes it is not found there … and our company and our Government are saying that since it’s only a New Zealand problem, if we had a great discovery, it doesn’t generate money for [the CRI] or New Zealand, because you can’t sell it overseas … I would have so much satisfaction if I can do something which the farmers have been putting up with [for so long]. So that is more on the sentimental side because I know the historical aspect of it … when we first discovered a … gene could be involved in it, we tried to patent it. The lawyer said, is it worth it? $15,000 a year for the patent and how much can we generate from the patent? We come up with no profit, you see…55

The MBU’s recent work on the Inverdale gene responsible for multiple births and sterility in sheep (FRST Parliamentary Report, 1999; Galloway et al., 2000) has been publicised nationally and was published in Nature Genetics, the journal with the highest international reputation in the molecular biology field. Another group in the MBU was researching the Booroola gene which also affected fertility. Others were researching leanness as a genetic trait, and the genetic resistance of sheep to internal parasites. (Internal parasites are a significant problem in the New Zealand sheep industry and are controlled by drench chemicals to which the parasites have become resistant.)

The funding of this Unit was focused on the close relationship between the sheep genetic map and the human genome. It is argued that this is a closer relationship than that with the ‘mouse map’. (Most researchers studying human health issues use mice.) This link to human health and human reproduction was emphasised in the Unit’s projects. For example, the way in which facial eczema damages the liver is of interest in human medicine.

The science groups that make up the MBU had no funding problems but were aware that they were riding the wave of interest on the part of biotechnology industries in genomics, and the belief that this was one of the areas of research that distinguishes a knowledge society from others (Hodgson, 2000). As Raewyn, a scientist, said:

… at the moment the molecular stuff seems to be the winner, but that’s just the flavour of the month. I mean, I know the sustainable people think that they’re not flavour of the month, but a few more Greens in Parliament and they’ll all be the flavour of the month. I just realise now that even from the Government down, it’s in-words that are the flavour of the month.

55 _{Publicly funded research needs to solve problems that are “unique to New Zealand (and which} others will have little or no interest in solving)” (ACRI, 2002: 7). RSNZ (2002: 2) emphasises that research should be for New Zealand’s benefit. (Note that this is a national goal not a company goal.)

In this quote Raewyn has aptly described the inherent insecurity of working in scientific research.

This section has described the diversity of the work done by these science groups and their current position within the science funding system. Those working in the groups come from MAF Tech, DSIR or have joined the

organisation since the formation of AgResearch, reflecting the breadth of their backgrounds. The selection of these groups should make the results of this research represent the views of most scientific workers within this organisation.

4.6 Conclusion

This chapter has justified the use of the ethnographic method, which, when used alongside an interpretive perspective, provides an appropriate way of studying the nature of work in an organisation, from the standpoint of the workers. It has

described how I went about this research and given a full description of the structural features of the organisation studied. The nature of the work of the science groups used as case studies has been described and some of their other interesting

characteristics have been presented in order to provide a background against which to position the emerging themes from the data that follow in Part B.

Conclusion to Part A

In Part A I have described how I came to do this research as a result of being a worker in AgResearch myself. I have positioned my research within the framework of New Zealand’s restructuring of the public sector. Following this an explanation was provided of the methods I used. I described the perspective taken in this research, placing emphases on the interpretations of the actors of their actions and my observations of them in their workplace. Finally the organisation and the groups within it that I researched were portrayed in order for the reader to develop some feeling and understanding of them and their work. In keeping with an inductive approach appropriate to the use of qualitative methods, I next write of my initial findings, telling the story of why scientific workers do this particular work and the continuing impact of restructuring on them.

PART B: NEGOTIATION OF IDENTITY IN A TIME OF

CHANGE

This part of the thesis explores the observations of working life in AgResearch and the data from the interviews of the scientific workers in the four case studies. Chapter 5 describes why work is important to scientific workers. The work of science

practice and the environment of that work provides feedback to scientific workers which reinforces and maintains their identity or valued sense of self. I demonstrate what it is about work that is so meaningful to them and where this meaning is

challenged by change. The irony is that if these workers did not care about their work so much, they would not be feeling so unhappy and discontented.

In Chapter 6 I give an account of the responses of workers to the changes they are experiencing as a result of the restructuring of science funding. It is these responses that are analysed further in Part C in the light of the academic literature on work.

PART B: NEGOTIATION OF IDENTITY IN A TIME OF

CHANGE