That's why more companies are turning to people like Steve Priest. P riest is a business ethics consultant who has helped companies like Sears Roebuck and Co., Motorola, Inc., and Sara Lee keep business practices and employees on the up and up. Priest helps companies deal with everything from gifts and entertaining clients to internal investigations. Priest says the most successful business ethics programs blend company culture and values. I t's called ethnography, and more companies are using it to improve existing products and to develop new ones.
Ethnography involves observing or videotaping consumers using products.
The goal is to capture consumer behaviors and patterns in context, rather than gather information through surveys or questionnaires. Survey results often are inexact since there is a difference between what people say they do and what they actually do and between what they say they need and what they actually need. When Rubbermaid Inc. asked 15 teams to observe consumers' home storage practices, the groups came up with 300 new product ideas in just three days. M eanwhile, Johnson Controls uses video ethnography to help auto makers differentiate their vehicles with new interior designs and features. Four small cameras are placed strategically in a car, and the family is asked to go about its daily routine.