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ORAL HISTORY AS PART OF A CORPORATE ARCHIVES PROGRAM: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
by Claudette John, CIGNA Corporation
In the June issue of the Newsletter, -I promised that I would close the
"Dialogue" on corporate oral history by featuring examples of successful
interview questions. Obviously, many good questions are so specific to one
interview or series of interviews that it would not be helpful to quote them
here. Others may not qualify as proper questions at all, emerging as they do
directly from conversation. And, of course, some of the best questions are the
brief follow-ups: "When?" "Who did that?" "Why?" "Where?"
Three archivists responded to my request for their "best" questions: Elizabeth
Adkins of Kraft, James Fogerty of the Minnesota Historical Society and Harry
Keiner of CIGNA, Hartford. Some of their questions are included below; the rest
are selected from my old standbys.
"Will you tell me a little about yourself ÷ where you were born and raised,
where you went to school, and how you got started at Kraft?" "Why did you choose
to work for Kraft?" (Adkins) All four of us usually begin with similar
questions.
"What are your views on the current relationship between government and
industry?" "In what areas can government help industry?" "What can industry do
to reduce friction with government?" (Fogerty) Harry Keiner tries, when
appropriate, to have the people he interviews put the information they give him
into an industry-wide context.
Elizabeth Adkins asks salesmen: "Do you remember your first sales call?" "What
was it like?" "Will you describe to me a typical work day?" I use variants of
these questions for interviewees who have spent some time in sales. Both
Elizabeth and I use the latter question for anyone whose daily routine may be of
interest to researchers. And I must admit that I have used it when I was too
ignorant of certain aspects of someoneÂs career to ask anything more specific.
Harry Keiner, recalling past interviews for a history of Pratt and Whitney
Aircraft, noted that project work for engineers is a team effort, so it was
always important to ask who else was involved. He learned a great deal about how
consultants were used by the company (something he had not been aware of) by
asking that question.
I almost always ask, "What two or three people within the company were most
instrumental in helping you in your career?" A variant for officers is "What two
or three people were most instrumental in helping you build the kind of program
(or company) you wanted to build?" Sometimes I ask: "Who was the most gifted or
talented person you worked with?" "The most difficult?" "The most ruthless?" Or
I may mention some of the intervieweeÂs most influential contemporaries and ask
him or her to talk about those people.
I have found that my "best of times, worst of times" duo elicits interesting and
revealing responses: "What was your best year (or business experience) with the
company?" "What was the worst?" Elizabeth Adkins asks, "Looking back on your
years at Kraft, of what accomplishments are you the most proud?"
Jim Fogerty and I both interview top executives. He interviews as an outsider
and talks to executives from many different companies. Among his favorites are
"What are your views on foreign competition for American industry?" or
variations on that theme: "Is foreign competition a problem for your firm?"
"What can American industry -- especially your part of it -- do to compete with
foreign firms more effectively?" Finally, he inquires about the intervieweeÂs
views on corporate philanthropy and uses appropriate follow-up questions to
probe the reasons for approval or disapproval.
The executives I interview are from CIGNA and its two predecessor companies. I
may pinpoint problem areas, for example, a major loss in one division, and ask
how the problem was analyzed and resolved. I ask several people who are bound to
have different perspectives, including the officer who solved the problem. When
I interview a former chairman, president, or CEO, I always ask, "How were you
chosen as president?" and "How did you choose your successor?" I ask about
relationships with boards of directors or, in the case of a chairman, his
relationship with management. I ask about corporate governance: "In the period
when you were restructuring the Board, you must have had some discouraging
moments as well as times when you wanted to shout, ¯Hurrah! IÂve done it. Will
you give me an example of each?"
All of us ask questions about products and marketing and management philosophy
and about changes over the years. My final question, the one I use in some form
at the end of every interview, is "If you were the historian interviewing
(intervieweeÂs name), what would you have asked that I did not?" Then I ask them
to answer their own question.
Although I have promised to leave the topic of oral history, as always, I shall
be happy to include your comments or, in this case, your favorite interview
questions in the next issue. Write to me, Claudette John, CIGNA Corporation
Archives, 1600 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or to the editor of this
newsletter. Have a happy and healthy holiday season.
to top of 1989
ORAL HISTORY AS PART OF A CORPORATE ARCHIVES PROGRAM: INTERVIEWING
by Claudette John, CIGNA Corporation
In this, the fourth column on corporate oral history, I want to discuss
interviewing techniques, to suggest how communication may be established between
the interviewer and the interviewee. Most of what I have to say is my opinion
and is based on my own experience. It is drawn as much from what I consider to
be my failures as it is from my successes.
Much has been written about interviewing styles, and I suspect far more has been
said. Advice ranges all the way from "Confront the interviewee; follow up
aggressively; be nasty, if necessary," to "Be an exceptionally good
listener/recorder; donÂt interfere; donÂt attempt to guide the session."
Needless to say, in a corporate setting, consistently going for the jugular
could cost you your program. More important, is the fact that creating an
atmosphere of antagonism will interfere with the easy flow of information and
insight that is the essence of good oral history. On the other hand, while the
opposite extreme might be useful in some circumstances, most business people are
far more comfortable if the historian structures and guides the session. And the
results usually will be more suitable for business uses as well as for research
by scholars of business.
Should the interviewer be aggressive, or adopt a persona, or make outrageous
statements to illicit particularly revealing responses? You will, of course,
develop a style that is effective for you, appropriate for the program, and
ethical. The only concrete answer I can give to that question is based on my own
experience. Be honest with yourself and be honest with the interviewee. Your
goal as an oral historian is not so much to get answers as to enable the
interviewee to communicate fully with his or her future audience. You do that by
allowing him to communicate with you in depth and on several levels. Establish a
rapport with your subject. Look at him. Even though you must watch the tape,
monitor sound levels and, perhaps, check your notes from time to time, keep eye
contact as much as possible.
There is, without doubt, much more to establishing rapport than eye contact. You
must be genuinely interested in what the interviewee has to say. The depth of
that interest is revealed as much by the quality of your preparatory research as
by your manner during the interview. There is no substitute for sincerity.
Understanding on a personal as well as an intellectual level is crucial. In
fact, there are times when nothing less than empathy will suffice; maybe we
should measure an oral historianÂs EQ--empathy quotient. My guess is that
journalists, as a group, can use a far greater variety of interviewing
techniques successfully than oral historians.
Does this mean that I have chosen not to ask the "tough" questions? No. I save
them until later in the interview, or series, when the interviewee has become
more comfortable with me and with the process. If I ask a tough question and
donÂt get an answer, I may follow up by restating it. If that doesnÂt work or
the answer seems not to be complete, I may broach the subject again from a
different direction-÷and again, and again. Often I get additional information
each time. I may drop the question until the next interview to let the
interviewee think about it or come to terms with it. Some interviewees will come
back to the question themselves, without prompting. Most of these "delayed"
answers appear to be honest and fairly straightforward. If a response seems to
be overly rationalized, just keep the interviewee talking around the subject;
the truth--from his perspective--is likely to emerge. Certainly there are ways
to check the accuracy of a statement: archival records, other interviews,
internal consistency, etc.
Sometimes humor will bring forth an answer:
Me: Why were you made senior vice president of the Group operations:
He: I had training in ...; I had experience in ..., and I
suggested ... as a new product.
Me: Were there any other reasons?
He: No.
Me: Mr.
He laughed and admitted that, to some extent, that was true and proceeded to
tell me the whole story.
This column is obviously a very subjective one. I hope it will inspire (or
incite) some of you to share the benefits of your interviewing experience
through "Dialogue." In the next issue of the Business Archives Newsletter, I
would like to feature your comments on "Interviewing" and to discuss interview
questions. I plan to use a couple of my own more successful questions and some
from other oral historians who are doing business-related interviews. I
especially want to include questions used by readers of this newsletter. Please
send your favorite questions to me or to the editor. Remember, IÂll identify you
in the column unless you ask me not to. Write to Claudette John, CIGNA
Corporation Archives, 1600 Arch St., Philadelphia, PA 19103 or to the editor of
this newsletter before Thanksgiving. I hope to see you all at the Annual Meeting
in St. Louis this fall.
