Organizational Action Research Research Articles

Chasing balloons as scientific practice: On transformative cocreation and epistemic ethics of care in the emerging field of youth citizen social science

How does including youth in research within a citizen social science framework challenge and transform our participatory action research practices and approaches? Through a storying journey we unravel how the training and subsequent conducting of a co-creative research process with young citizen social scientists are evolving from a cacophony of traditions, approaches and disciplines, among them youth participatory action research, action research in organizations, citizen science and social anthropology. The article is based on empirical research with a group of young people in Oslo, Norway, involved in a large collaborative citizen social science project on social inclusion of youth in Europe. We have witnessed closely how an epistemic ethics of care is integral to securing the epistemic justice of youth and argue that citizen social science can promote both epistemic justice and epistemic abundance by including youth in all parts of a rigorous research process that produces new scientific knowledge. Yet, we found that performing an ethics of care is (close to) impossible within the current conditions and structures of social sciences, as our ideals and views on what science is, delimit the practices of relational care necessary for inclusive processes. The implications of our findings call for an ethics of care framework for both citizen social science and action research practices.

Logic modelling as hermeneutic praxis: Bringing knowledge systems into view during comprehensive primary health care planning for homelessness in Australia.

Logic modelling is used widely in health promotion planning for complex health and social problems. It is often undertaken collaboratively with stakeholders across sectors that hold and enact different institutional approaches. We use hermeneutic philosophy to explore how knowledge is 'lived' by - and unfolds differently for - cross-sectoral stakeholders during comprehensive primary healthcare service planning. An Organisational Action Research partnership was established with a non-government organisation designing comprehensive primary health care for individuals experiencing homelessness in Adelaide, Australia. Grey literature, stakeholder input, academic feedback, a targeted literature review and evidence synthesis were integrated in iterative cycles to inform and refine the logic model. Diverse knowledge systems are active when cross-sectoral stakeholders collaborate on logic models for comprehensive primary health care planning. Considering logic modelling as a hermeneutic praxis helps to foreground and explore these differences. In our case, divergent ideas emerged in how health/wellbeing and trust were conceptualised; language had different meanings across sectors; and the outcomes and data sought were nuanced for various collaborators. We explicate these methodological insights and also contribute our evidence-informed, collaboratively-derived model for design of a comprehensive primary health care service with populations experiencing homelessness. We outline the value of considering cross-sectoral logic modelling as hermeneutic praxis. Engaging with points of difference in cross-sectoral knowledge systems can strengthen logic modelling processes, partnerships and potential outcomes for complex and comprehensive primary health care services.

Book Review: Coghlan, D. (2019). Doing action research in your own organization (5th ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd.

Book Review: Coghlan, D. (2019). Doing action research in your own organization (5th ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd.

Management Consulting Analysis and Applications of Adaptive Marketing and Organizational Strategy During COVID-19

This management consulting case study on adaptive marketing during COVID-19 in the real estate industry focuses on the overvaluation of housing utilizing horizontal diversification changes across demographics. Horizontal diversification is described as adding new products to an existing brand that targets existing consumers. The management consultants engaged in an action research analysis of Moreso Real Estate during COVID-19 as the organization seeks to discover innovative ways to penetrate the real estate market. Although COVID-19 still poses many challenges for businesses, this organizational development action research seeks to uncover practices in which businesses still face questions of how to meet the demand of the market. The management consulting organizational development framework utilized include the Ansoff Matrix and Balanced Scorecard Model. The intent is to influence the world of practice by providing viable strategies and recommendations from a real-world perspective.

“Action research is not only a method.” 5 questions answered by Marianne Kristiansen and Jørgen Bloch-Poulsen, authors of “Action Research in Organizations. Participation in Change Processes”

Bibliography: “Action research is not only a method.” 5 questions answered by Marianne Kristiansen and Jørgen Bloch-Poulsen, authors of “Action Research in Organizations. Participation in Change Processes”, Argentina, IJAR – International Journal of Action Research, 2-2021, pp. 189-193. https://doi.org/10.3224/ijar.v17i2.06

Exploring the Nature of Business Strategy Change for Mental Health Practices in the Age of COVID-19

The Convergence Lab (TCL), a mental health medical group practice that provides group and individual therapy for its adult clients. TCL is a 5-year old organization with five (5) clinicians inclusive of and one (1) full-time office manager and 5 clinicians are full time staff. As a result of COVID-19, TCL has experienced an 75% decrease in revenue since patients are unable to complete their appointments in person. The paper examines how one mental health medical group practice used a management consultant to help the practice change its business strategy to respond to COVID-induced business challenges using automation and technology driven strategic approaches. This inquiry uses organizational development action research intervention and a content analysis of the literature to create real-world solutions that will have value to scholar practitioners that are doing applied research to help similar organizations that are challenged to respond to the global pandemic.

¿La investigación-acción organizacional tiene futuro?

This is not an ordinary article. It was written in response to some questions that the current and the former IJAR editors-in-chief asked us to reflect on. We did so gratefully, because this was a good opportunity to look back on 25 years of doing AR in organisations. The article describes four challenges of future organisational action research. Firstly, in the future an increasing number of skilled employees will make it necessary to move from co-influence of how to implement goals, to a greater degree of co-determination. Secondly, the article argues there is a need for an increased focus on documenting AR processes. Thirdly, the article calls for more selfcritical reflections on the concrete ways action researchers exercise power. Fourthly, questioning the possibilities of doing AR in organisations will become important in the future, due to socio-economic conditions such as lack of time. The article is based on a four-year research project that we carried out on various American and European approaches to action research in organisations in the 20th century. It includes, too, a description of our different personal ways into AR and some of the AR concepts we developed along the way.

Development and implementation of work-related medical rehabilitation in cancer patients using organizational ethnography and action research methodology.

To develop a work-related medical rehabilitation (WMR) program for cancer patients based on the best available evidence, the expertise of rehabilitation professionals and the perspective of the patients, to ensure the fidelity of its implementation and to prepare its subsequent outcome evaluation. The implementation study was based on organizational ethnography and action research, and followed a multimethod, participatory and iterative approach to data collection and analysis. The authors carried out observations in 4 rehabilitation centers and conducted focus groups with rehabilitation professionals and patients. The obtained data were subjected to qualitative content analysis. All findings were discussed promptly with the rehabilitation centers at feedback meetings that contributed to the further development of the program. The following WMR modules were defined based on the findings: additional work-related diagnostics, multi-professional team meetings, an introductory session, work-related functional capacity training, work-related psychological groups and intensified social counseling. Process descriptions for the subsequent evaluation of the program via a cluster-randomized trial were also developed, containing, e.g., instructions for patient information and recruitment. Implementation studies can help to prepare for valid trials as they facilitate ensuring the feasibility, acceptability and fidelity of program implementation and evaluation. Organizational ethnography and action research are suitable methods for carrying out such studies. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2019;32(2):217-28.

Implementing the Namaste Care Program for residents with advanced dementia: exploring the perceptions of families and staff in UK care homes.

Increasing numbers of older people with advanced dementia are cared for in care homes. No cure is available, so research focused on improving quality of life and quality of care for people with dementia is needed to support them to live and die well. The Namaste Care programme is a multi-dimensional care program with sensory, psycho-social and spiritual components intended to enhance quality of life and quality of care for people with advanced dementia. The aim of the study was to establish whether the Namaste Care program can be implemented in UK care homes; and what effect Namaste Care has on the quality of life of residents with advanced dementia, their families and staff. This article explores the qualitative findings of the study, reporting the effect of the programme on the families of people with advanced dementia and care home staff, and presenting their perceptions of change in care. An organisational action research methodology was used. Focus groups and interviews were undertaken pre/post implementation of the Namaste Care program. The researcher kept a reflective diary recording data on the process of change. A comments book was available to staff and relatives in each care home. Data was analysed thematically within each care home and then across all care homes. Six care homes were recruited in south London: one withdrew before the study was underway. Of the five remaining care homes, four achieved a full Namaste Care program. One care home did not achieve the full program during the study, and another discontinued Namaste Care when the study ended. Every home experienced management disruption during the study. Namaste Care challenged normal routinised care for older people with advanced dementia. The characteristics of care uncovered before Namaste was implemented were: chaos and confusion, rushing around, lack of trust, and rewarding care. After the programme was implemented these perceptions were transformed, and themes of calmness, reaching out to each other, seeing the person, and, enhanced well-being, emerged. Namaste Care can enrich the quality of life of older people with advanced dementia in care homes. The program was welcomed by care home staff and families, and was achieved with only modest expenditure and no change in staffing levels. The positive impact on residents quality of life influenced the well-being of family carers. Care staff found the changes in care enjoyable and rewarding. Namaste Care was valued for the benefits seen in residents; the improvement in relationships; and the shift towards a person-centred, relationship-based culture of care brought about by introducing the program. Namaste Care deserves further exploration and investigation including a randomised controlled trial.

Participation and Social Engineering in Early Organizational Action Research: Lewin and the Harwood studies

Abstract This article deals with Kurt Lewin’s concepts of participation, change and action research in organisations. It presents a series of experiments conducted by some of Lewin’s former Ph.D. students from 1939 to 1946 at Harwood, a textile factory in Virginia, which contributed to early organisational action research. The article has three purposes. Firstly, it demonstrates how articipation occurred to a certain degree in the Harwood organisation where the workers took part in group decisions based on management experimenting with participative management. It shows that the overall goal of the Harwood studies was to increase efficiency through changes in work group dynamics, and that this goal was determined by management and action researchers. The article concludes that participation was enacted as involvement, i.e. as a managerial tool. Organisational action research thus seems to have started as a form of organisational development studies (OD). Secondly, it shows that the research process was enacted primarily as co-operation between researchers. Workers and foremen participated by providing data and feedback, not as co-producers of knowledge in the research process. Thirdly, the article situates Lewin’s understanding of participation and change within a philosophy of science framework and characterises his concept of action research as applied, change-oriented social engineering, based on a natural science paradigm. The article argues that action research as applied research reduces the scope of participation. The article reflects critically on how to understand past experiments without translating the past into the present, and discusses a discrepancy between the radical contents of Lewin’s theories and the Harwood experiments. Keywords: Organisational action research, participation, involvement, Kurt Lewin, organisational development. ----- Participacion e ingenieria social en la Investigacion-Accion organizacional temprana: Lewin y los estudios de Harwood Resumen Este articulo aborda los conceptos de Kurt Lewin de participacion, cambio e Investigacion-Accion en las organizaciones. Presenta una serie de experimentos realizados por algunos de los ex-alumnos de doctorado desde 1939 a 1946 en Harwood, una fabrica textil en Virginia, que contribuyo a la Investigacion-Accion organizacional temprana. El articulo tiene tres propositos. En primer lugar, emuestra como, hasta cierto punto, se produjo la participacion en la organizacion de Harwood, donde los trabajadores participaron de las decisiones de grupo basadas en la experiencia de gestion con la gestion participativa. Esto muestra que el objetivo general de los estudios de Harwood era aumentar la eficiencia a traves de cambios en la dinamica de los grupos de trabajo y que este objetivo fue determinado por investigadores de gestion y accion. El articulo concluye que la participacion fue realizada con involucramiento, es decir, como una herramienta de gestion. Por lo tanto, aa Investigacion-Accion organizacional parece haber comenzado como una forma de estudios de desarrollo organizacional (OD). En segundo lugar, se muestra que el proceso de investigacion se realizo principalmente como co-operacion entre investigadores. Los trabajadores y los capataces participaron proporcionando datos y devoluciones, no como co-productores de conocimiento en el proceso de investigacion. En tercer lugar, el articulo situa la comprension de Lewin sobre la participacion y el cambio dentro del marco de la filosofia de la ciencia y caracteriza su concepto de Investigacion-Accion como aplicacion y la ingenieria social orientada al cambio, basada en un paradigma de la ciencia natural. El articulo argumenta que la Investigacion-Accion como investigacion aplicada reduce el alcance de la participacion. El articulo reflexiona sobre como entender los experimentos pasados sin traducir el pasado dentro del presente, y discute la discrepancia entre los contenidos radicales de las teorias de Lewin y los experimentos de Harwood. Palabras clave: Investigacion-Accion organizacional, participacion, involucramiento, Kurt Lewin, desarrollo organizacional. ----- Bibliography: Kristiansen, Marianne/Bloch-Poulsen, Jorgen: Participation and Social Engineering in Early Organizational Action Research: Lewin and the Harwood studies, IJAR, 2-2017, pp. 154-177. https://doi.org/10.3224/ijar.v13i2.05

Educating and supporting tennis parents: an action research study

This study examined the effectiveness of an evidence-based sport parent education programme designed to meet the stage-specific needs of British tennis parents. Using an organisational action research framework, six workshops were run over a 12-week period for tennis parents with children between the ages of 5 and 10 years. Workshops took place in three high performance tennis centres and had an average attendance of 22 parents. Data were collected using participant diaries, emails, social validation feedback forms, reflective diaries and post-programme focus groups (n = 19). The impact and effectiveness of the programme was evaluated qualitatively using a thematic analysis. Results indicated that the programme was effective in enhancing tennis parents’ perceived knowledge, affective states and skills across a range of learning objectives. Results also provide a unique understanding of parents’ experiences of participating in a sport parent education programme. Insights are provided for practitioners in relation to the design, content and delivery of future sport parent education programmes.

Een praktische gids voor een weerbarstige praktijk: actieonderzoek in je eigen organisatie

In this contribution the author reviews Doing action research in your own organization by D. Coghlan & T. Brannick.

Embodied generosity – the ethics of doing action research in the places where we work

Therefore, doing action research in your own organization is political. Indeed, it might be considered subversive. Action research has a subversive quality about it. It examines everything. It stre...

Veiklos tyrimas dalyvaujant socialines paslaugas teikiančių organizacijų tyrimuose

The aim of publication is to discuss the nature of participatory action research (PAR) in different types of elderly care organizations – private and public sectors. Participatory action research in organization is considered as interpretative qualitative research method for empowering and emancipation of managers and employees, promoting reflection and critical consciousness. The research is aimed to initiate changes of different directions in organizations fostering humanization approach in private organizations and commercial approach in public organizations. Public elderly care sector in Lithuania is characterized by critical shortage of services. As consequence, not publicly funded and profit-oriented private providers of elderly care emerged in the sector. In the context of enhancement of neoliberal social policy these two types of organizations face challenges to meet needs of users. Private organizations are fostered to promote values based on critical humanistic theory. Public organizations are fostered to introduce neoliberal concept of empowerment. Methodology of PAR is designed implementing several stages of research in private and public elderly care organizations to meet current challenges. The first stage of research project involved explorative focus groups in four organizations (two private and two public) seeking to reveal needs for change in elderly care organizations and to create scenarios for implementationof these changes. The second stage implies practical realization of scenarios in organizations what will be led by reflections and critical group discussions with managers and employees. The last stage concludes the process of research by providing methodological guidance for promoting changes in organizations of different sectors and produce knowledge on development of practice in elderly care. The paper presents results of explorative focus groups analysis that enabled researchers and research participants to build scenarios for promoting change.

Sustainable solutions for wheelchair and seating assistive technology provision: Presenting a cosmopolitan narrative with rich pictures

BACKGROUND: Concepts of sustainability are beginning to emerge in relation to appropriate provision of wheelchair and seating assistive technology (WSAT) from design to follow up and management. OBJECTIVES: 1. Raising awareness and understanding of and actively considering the complex nature of stakeholders’ participation in the wheelchair and seating provision. 2. Establishing a consensus regarding key goals and sustainability indicators when developing an action plan for sustainable wheelchair and seating provision systems, that would allow for effective process monitoring and measurement. METHOD:Qualitative research design, involving key stakeholder perspectives by utilising a soft systems methodological framework including organisational ethnography and critical participatory action research was chosen to study this complex system. Research processes involved participant observation, individual interviews and a series of collaborative workshops. These processes were made up of four main pillars: 1) stakeholder identification, 2) understanding perspectives, 3) meaningful collaboration and 4) strategy development. Pillars 2 and 3, sought to understand stakeholder perspectives individually and collectively, are addressed in this article. RESULTS: Pillar 2 presents rich pictures which were created to represent collective experiences of wheelchair and seating provision. Pillar 3 presents solutions for building sustainable systems. Findings identified the complexity of the system and key areas for development. Specific concerns reported to exist related to individual and nationwide organisational roles, responsibilities and regulation which appeared to influence the disproportionate rhythm of the wheelchair and seating provision system. CONCLUSIONS: A better understanding of this primary need is required to set provision of WSAT for prioritisation at a public and policy level both nationally and internationally.

Doing action research in organizations: Using communicative spaces to facilitate (transformative) professional learning

This paper considers the nature of professional learning arising through the processes of carrying out action research in professional organizations. It suggests that communicative space opened up outside of the professional context can lead to unanticipated professional learning. Such learning could be considered transformative in the way it leads professionals to reframe their understanding of the dilemma arising from doing action research. To illustrate this, two cases are presented to show the pivotal role university tutors can play not only in the way they create and maintain communicative space but also in the way they purposefully employ strategies to interrupt and challenge viewpoints, assumptions and practices held by professionals doing action research, enabling professional learning to become transformative.

Insider action research: premises and promises

PurposeThis paper aims at developing a set of guidelines for potential inside action researchers (IARrs).Design/methodology/approachAction research was done in three units of Indian Railways. At each unit two IARrs were engaged. The six IARrs and the author (also an IARr at one of the units) used reflection during action and reflection after action to conduct the action research.FindingsThe paper shows that IARrs must carry good credibility, relationships have to be continually worked, ethical clearance must be dynamic to the emerging situations and the IARrs should not emphasize the pattern of their previous interactions with the members of the research world.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is based on the action research done in manufacturing units within Indian bureaucracy. The generalization of findings to other organizational set up was not verified.Practical implicationsIt brings out specific “dos” and “don'ts” for a prospective IARr.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the action research method by bringing out new issues faced by IARrs while conducting insider action research in large organizations. With respect to large‐scale change, it brings out that perception of shared world among IARrs facilitates large scale change. Middle managers are better suited as IARr than top managers and an ab‐initio large scale planning is not necessary to cause a large scale change in the long run.

Dynamics between organisational change processes and facilitating dissensus in context inquiring dialogues

Abstract The article examines the dynamics between organisational change processes and facilitating dissensus in a dialogic organisational action research project. The article has two purposes. Firstly, it shows how earlier organisational change processes become present in the social interaction between partners and action researchers as tensions between different interests and voices. Secondly, based on underststanding facilitating as enactment of power, it discusses if and how dissensus can be facilitated as context inquring dialogues where dissensus becomes the vehicle of future changes. This discussion shows that facilitation of dissensus even at team level deals with a complex situation. The article presents these two purposes in relation to co-operation with the joint team in the Citizen Service of the Municipality of Silkeborg (CSMS) in Denmark from August 2008 to September 2009. In dialogue with different theories, the article defines theoretical concepts as complexity and organisational change, power and facilitation, participation and voice, and dissensus approach. Keywords: dialogue, power, participation, organisation, facilitation

Can work‐based learning programmes help companies to become learning organisations?

PurposeThe idea of the learning organisation as an aspiration for a continuous process of learning has become widely accepted by many organisations. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether demand‐led higher education work‐based learning programmes can help nurture a supportive culture of learning and continuous improvement that helps companies to become learning organisations.Design/methodology/approachAn analysis of students’ work‐based negotiated projects was undertaken to determine the extent to which their projects facilitated organisational learning. The analysis was carried out using an organisational learning checklist, developed through reference to the literature and research on organisational learning and learning organisations.FindingsThe study highlights the fact that although work‐based learning programmes can facilitate some aspects of organisational learning, the principles of organisational learning are not necessarily embedded in work‐based programme design.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the results cannot be considered generalisable because they are based on a single case, further analysis of a greater range of work‐based learning programmes could establish external validity of the findings. Further research could include the development of an organisational learning taxonomy or action research to develop a work‐based programme that embeds organisational learning principles.Practical implicationsThe principles of organisational learning should be considered when designing work‐based learning programmes.Originality/valueThe study highlights the importance of considering organisational learning when designing demand‐led, higher education work‐based learning programmes and outlines a method for analysing the extent to which existing programmes embed organisational learning principles.

Proactively Managing for Outcomes in Statutory Child Protection—The Development of a Management Model

Statutory child protection is undertaken within a complex organizational environment, presenting challenges for frontline managers as they seek to mobilize staff and resources to achieve positive client outcomes. A management model, even one designed specifically for this sector, is likely to face many barriers to its successful implementation. This paper details the development of such a model in the Australian state of Queensland. The organizational action research method focused on identifying the critical components of the management model and understanding the inhibitors and facilitators of the implementation to further refine the model and support its replication. Using a proactive change process, three management teams implemented the model, enabling an increase in the capacity of direct service staff to undertake effective service activities to thereby promote improved client outcomes.