Showing papers in "International journal of action research in 2009"

Doing Action Research in Your Own Organisation

Abstract: David Coghlan and Teresa Brannick (2009): Doing Action Research in Your Own Organisation Sage, London 2010, (3rd edition), $ 44.95, euro 27.99 (amazon), pp. 184, Paperback ISBN: 9781848602168 Reviewed by Richard Ennals This new edition of a popular text, used by researchers and practitioners, focuses attention on central issues in Action Research. David Coghlan has been an active participant in many of the separate traditions of Action Research. Both he and his co-author Teresa Brannick teach in University Business Schools in Dublin, moving Action Research into the mainstream. This new edition takes the opportunity to refer to the latest literature in a fastgrowing and diverse field. It provides a valuable foundation for new researchers in the field. There has been a separate literature, for example dealing with Educational Action Research (Noffke/Somekh 2009; McNiff/Whitehead 2009), with a focus on the individual reflective practitioner. By contrast we can point to work on Action Research and Organisational Renewal, which has included consideration of major managed programmes (Gustavsen et al. 2001; Levin 2002; Fricke/Totterdill 2004) which have deployed Action Research in order to pursue policy objectives. This has raised questions as to how Action Research is itself to be defined (Greenwood/Levin 2007). At this point we may have concluded that what different instances of Action Research have in common is that they are cited as instances of Action Research. There are family resemblances. However, readers of earlier editions of works in the field (e.g. Reason/Bradbury 2001) will have noticed limited cross-citations of literature from other traditions. Coghlan and Brannick have made a welcome contribution, both in the breadth of their referenees, and in the platform which they provide for further debate and development. The title of the book deals with Action Research in one's own organisation. The implication is that such research is not necessarily part of a larger scale managed programme. Reliance is not to be placed on research expertise from outside. The authors define Action Research as "an approach to research which aims at both taking action and creating knowledge or theory about that action. The outcomes are both an action and a research outcome, unlike traditional research approaches which aim at creating knowledge only". They set out the cyclical process of planning, taking action, and evaluating. They emphasise the collaborative dimension, whereby the members of the system which is being studied participate actively in the cyclical process. They highlight the diversity of approaches. The focus is on the combination of organisational roles with the additional demands of a role of inquiry and research. This raises practical challenges such as the selection of a research question, attaining some sense of objectivity, and choice of frameworks for viewing and understanding the data. Action Research work can be undertaken for different reasons, including securing academic qualifications, with some expectation of benefit for the organisation. Action Research can involve dealing with emergent processes, and leading radical change, which requires a capacity for self-reflection, realistic expectations, self-containment and an ability to learn. The book is intended to complement books exploring the theory and practice of action research (Greenwood/Levin 2007; Reason/Bradbury 2008; Shani et al. 2008). The three sections of the book cover "Foundations", "Implementation", and "Issues and Challenges in Researching Your Own Organisation". The book ends with discussion of closeness and distance with respect to the organisation under study, contexts of politics and ethics, and hints on writing an Action Research Dissertation. The style of the book is clear and non-dogmatic, making good use of diagrams and summaries. Researchers and research students will have encountered scepticism about Action Research, and arguments that more traditional approaches are "safer", in the context of the need for academic recognition. …

Organising - A Strategic Option for Trade Union Renewal?

Abstract: Against the background of a deep crisis in trade union representation, the authors seek to determine some possible starting points for a renewal of trade unions. The employees’ organisations are seen as actors who have a strategic choice as to which power resources to tap. Though the specific national systems of industrial relations influence the unions’ strategic options, there are nevertheless various opportunities for trans-national learning processes. This contribution analyses the potential for trade union renewal, drawing on several examples of organising approaches in the USA and Germany.

Olav Eikeland (2008): The Ways of Aristotle. Aristotelian phrónêsis, Aristotelian Philosophy of Dialogue, and Action Research

Abstract: Philosophers writing on Plato’s work during Hellenism and later on in Antiquity would often be inclined to view his basic project as a protreptic one, even if Plato did not write a separate protreptic manual. However his pupil, Aristotle did write such an “eincheiridion”, a handbook for using dialogue to help another person to be master of his own life. The “Protreptikos”, the text of which was reconstructed recently, was famous among the so called “exoteric” works of Aristotle, and in line with Epicurus’ famous “Letter to Menoikeus”, Cicero’s “Hortensius”, Epictetus’ “Encheiridion”, and “Seneca’s “De clementia”, to mention just a few. In short protreptic is the art of turning, “trepo”, another person to the essence of his life, and strengthening his awareness of the good. The dialogical capacities of the protreptic speaker spur the listener to reform his life, but not, like the Christian tradition through a revealed and all-excluding “kerygma”, but through a non-dogmatic philosophical discourse using the person’s own desire to transform himself – St. Augustine was spurred by Cicero’s protreptic treatise, “Hortensius” to convert, “conversion” being the Latin translation of the Greek word “epistrephein”, a word with the same root as “protreptic”. However, protreptic, eagerly pursued by great rhetoricians like Isokrates, has no trace of persuasiveness in it, it works at the level of conviction. The

How to Generate Knowledge from Single Case Research on Innovation

Abstract: The article starts with some specifications of the question raised in its title. These specifications makes clear that in practice this is a question of providing some partial, supplementary knowledge which is useful for those who are involved in processes of organisational change and innovation. Then follows a few methodological considerations, which emphasises the complementary role of the researchers versus to actors within enterprises in the kind of action research projects presented in this article. The case presented is one of broad participation in organisational innovation, based on an action research project in a Norwegian enterprise. It is shown that contrary to common belief, the broad participation in the discussions and the preparation of the foundations for the decision making by the top management is of great importance both to the employees and to the enterprise, even though the final decision on organisational choice was quite different from what was wanted and expected by the employees and the middle management. In the final section it is argued that the possibility of making use of knowledge generated from single case research on innovation is immensely enhanced when the diffusion of knowledge takes places as an aspect of national programmes of innovation. This is because then not only the general validity of but also the general interest of such knowledge are much greater. Key words: knowledge generation, organisational innovation, broad participation, dialogue conference, decision making I. Introduction: What kind of knowledge to be generated? "How to generate knowledge from single cases" may be considered an example of the kind of general questions of which it is not possible, or wise, to try to provide a general answer. On the other hand, any answer that may be given to this question will fail if it is not able to attain general interest. And, in order to attain general interest, the answer must also be of some general value, not to say validity. To this I have no objection. What I would object to, is the belief that there has to be established in beforehand criteria according to which the general value and validity of the answers can be judged. The most important, and the less controversial, consequence of the fact that it is not always possible to give general answers to general questions is that the question itself has to be specified. Thus, as for the question of what knowledge can be generated from single cases in action research, I will try to make this question more precise by presenting a few specifications. Firstly, I will remind that the knowledge provided by action research is presumed to be knowledge that is useful outside the scientific community, useful to the so-called practitioners. Action research within working life is presumed to be useful for various groups of actors, both within the enterprises and within the organisations and institutions that are somehow devoted to working life development, reforms and politics. In a very general sense, knowledge from action research by and large seems to have the same kind of goal as knowledge generated from management and organisation studies: to provide a better understanding in order to support and promote better managerial and organisational practices. This means that the kind of knowledge to be generated from action research is knowledge that should be useful in efforts of enterprise development, organisational change and innovation. This purpose of providing useful knowledge has an implication that is quite often overlooked by the more conventional studies of management, organisation and innovation: in order to be useful knowledge, the knowledge generated has to be of a kind that adds something to the knowledge that the actors within the organisations in the field already have. For instance, there are lots of case studies of organisations that to a very large extent only reproduce the knowledge of the organisational phenomena that already exists among the members of the organisation(s) in question. …

Learning along with Participatory Action Research - A Finnish Perspective

Abstract: Many definitions of action research, especially of participatory action research, include the idea of learning as one core result of the interventions. These definitions cover the learning of all people involved, and present an interesting learning challenge for the researchers applying action research. In Finland, the first action research projects in working life research were started as late as in the 1980s. Since then action research has held its own as a significant tool in the development of work organizations, particularly in the enhancement of employee involvement and learning at work. This paper provides an example of the interaction between theory and practice as a part of action research processes in the Finnish municipal sector, and consequently as a part of the learning of the action researchers. The learning process is captured by re-reading of, and reflection on, the earlier publications. The findings are presented in the form of a conceptualizationoriented learning narrative that complements the learning taken place, either on the government policy level or on the programme level, depending on the larger organizational background of the action research conducted. Parallel to learning, this paper focuses on participatory action research employing dialogue forums and especially on its particular characteristics that give a voice and, to a certain extent, also offer a choice to the employees in using their discretion in the formulation of organizational change. Key words: learning of the researchers, learning at work, employee involvement, participatory action research, dialogue forums, organizational change, dialogue forums 1. Introduction 1.1 Action research data as a source of new interpretations There are many approaches to action research, so many that Reason and Bradbury (2001) call them a "family" of action research approaches. What the members of this family have in common is the type of research settings that combine a generation of new knowledge to change-oriented activities, often called interventions, and nowadays also to the participation of the people in question. In Finland, the first action research projects in working life research were started as late as in the 1980s and they all employed some types of participatory action research (PAR) approaches and methods. These first projects were conducted as joint efforts by the Ministry of Labour, the Finnish Employers' Management Development Institute and the University of Helsinki. Also, the Education Centre of the Finnish Metalworkers' Union offered training in the method for its members and their employers. (Alasoini et al. 2006.) The action research approach that the author of this article is familiar with is a combination of the classic action research cycles which involve evaluation-based learning (Lewin 1948) and a communicative, Scandinavian type of action research which relies strongly on dialogue between all stakeholders. The acquaintance with the matter started in a municipal action research project called the Quality Project in 1991-1993 (Kasvio et al. 1994). The project, funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund and the participating municipal organizations, was a joint endeavour of the Local Authority Employers, trade unions and the Work Research Centre, University of Tampere. A group of seven researchers, including the author of this paper, was confronted with quite a big learning challenge when starting to apply action research in practice. None of the researchers had any earlier experience of it, but in addition to the original research texts, some literature of the field that was already partly translated into Finnish (Kasvio 1990: 119-123) proved useful in the course of the process. 1.2 Action research in Finnish municipal organizations: Quality Project and Quality Network The aim of the pioneer Quality Project was to provide new ideas for the modernization of the municipal service organizations in Finland. …

Action Research and New Media Concepts

Abstract: The book 'Action research and new media' by Greg Hearn, Jo Tacchi, Marcus Foth and June Lennie, breaks new ground in a number of ways. It explores the new internet media using action research. At the same time it uses the new media to reach out to the participants in action research studies. Three new varieties of action research are developed and described. Ethnographic action research, as its name implies, takes an ethnographic approach to action research studies. Network action research researches community networks – the “communicative ecology” – while employing those networks as research tools. Anticipatory action research brings a perspective of foresight to action research. In their account the authors present a record of their endeavours, successful and unsuccessful. The result is a series of studies that can stand as exemplars of sophisticated, flexible, critical and self-reflexive participatory field research.

Phronesis as the Sense of the Event

Abstract: In this article, the Greek concept of phronesis is analyzed on the basis of its philosophical roots, and the indispensability of its strong normative content is emphasized. This creates a distance to most of the recent understanding of phronesis as prudence, and hence as practical wisdom with a pragmatic and strategic content. The strong dilemmas created by the normative background of real phronesis presents management and leadership as a choice in every situation. From this foundation, phronesis is interpreted as primarily the sense of the event, and an alternative concept of the event is developed. The presentation of the event also demands a theory of the relation of mind and matter, and hence of the body in the event. This is achieved under inspiration from Stoic philosophy. With this in mind, the more serious approaches to practical wisdom: phronesis as determinant of meta-concepts of research; phronesis as a liberating organizational strategy of learning; phronesis as a strategy of knowledge management; phronesis as a narrative strategy; and phronesis as the capacity of the leader, are presented and analyzed. Finally lines are drawn as to the importance of the consciousness of the event and of its theoretical implications, such as through the concept of phronesis for action research.

Alternative Paths for Working Life Reform? A Comparison of European and East Asian Development Strategies

Abstract: This paper expands the discussion on working life reform from the well-known European examples to cover recent developments in East Asia as well A comparison between two European (Finland and Ireland) and two East Asian (Singapore and South Korea) workplace development strategies is carried out by making use of Naschold’s model that he developed in the early 1990s The main question is how are the macro-level differences in the developmental role of the state and the micro-level differences in the systems of industrial relations and human resource management reflected in the strategies and what policy implications might be drawn from the analysis At the end, the paper also compares each country’s strategy in relationship to its own earlier historical development and aims to analyse how radical are the strategy choices that have been made

The Next Generation of National R&D Programmes in Norway: Consequences for Action Research and Regional Development

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of a new national RD Asheim/Isaksen 2002; Fricke/Totterdill 2004; Asheim/ Gertler 2005). Many also endorse the argument that, in order to successfully develop such collaborative relations, regional actors should be given both resources and autonomy to carry out their own local development activities (Ennals/Gustavsen 1999; Amin 2004). For instance, drawing on a study of regional development policy in Sweden and the USA, Goldfarb/Henrekson (2003) show that regionalization of RD Reason/Bradbury 2001; Park 2001; Streck et al. 2005; Streck 2006). Indeed, as Lewin (1946) has argued; if people are active in decisions affecting them, they are more likely to adopt new and better ways. These perspectives also reflect current policy trends in Norway, where the authors of this paper are conducting their research. Many policy makers now militate against standardised, top-down regional development policies, campaigning instead for a bottom-up approach where one seeks to differentiate and customise development activities to regional needs. For instance, according to the last inaugural declaration of the government, there is a need to stimulate growth in the regions through greater and more locally adapted investments in RD decentralization of R&D resources can make regional development processes more efficient and locally relevant, both in the sense that more local actors get mobilized in R&D, and in the sense that decisions about R&D activities get taken closer to those who stand to be affected by these (Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development 2004). …

Instead of Managerialism: From What Goes on Inside Our Heads to What Our Heads (and Bodies) Go on Inside of - the World between Us

Abstract: Theodore Taptiklis is a former McKinsey & Company consultant who, over the course of a 40 year career in business and organizations, undertook a wide variety of roles, including board member, senior executive, strategist and change manager, business development manager, and worked also in a variety of line-management positions as both an employee and as a professional advisor. He characterizes his professional life during that time as a progression from, not only a position of arrogant certainty to one of increasing ignorance, but also as one from realizing the all-consuming pervasiveness and insidiousness of traditional management doctrine (managerial ism) to the possibility of more authentic and liberating ways of experiencing organizational life. The starting point for this process of 'unmanaging' ourselves, he suggests, is what we can notice each moment in our experience of the activities occurring between us in our everyday lives - a move from understanding our own practices as outside observers of them to engaged participants within them. Key words: managerialism, utterances, responsiveness, systems thinking, life events Review Essay Theodore Taptiklis: Unmanaging: Opening up the Organization to its own Unspoken Knowledge Palgrave Macmilan, Basingstoke, UK, and New York, USA, 2008, pp. 237, euro 31.99, Paperback ISBN: 978-0-230-57352-9 "What is happening now has significance - in these surroundings. The surroundings give it its importance" (Wittgenstein, 1953, no. 583). "Giving grounds, justifying the evidence, comes to an end; - but the end is not in certain propositions striking us immediately as true, i.e., it is not a kind of seeing on our part; it is our acting, which lies at the bottom of the language-game" (Wittgenstein, 1969, no. 204). This, I think, is a quite marvellous book. It is precisely about what it says it is about in its subtitle: opening up organizations to their own unspoken knowledge. What I think Taptiklis has realized is, that although many of our activities in the world are already partially ordered, it is open to us to further specify them, i.e., to order their structure further, in a timely manner, to fit the particular exigencies of local circumstances. In other words, those who are good at organizing do not, and cannot, simply follow rules or procedures; they do not, and cannot, simply repeat in the present moment what was successful in the past. They must work within the complexities of the present moment for yet "another first time" (Garfinkel, 1967, p. 9) in a way sensitive to the potentialities, the uniquely available local resources, to fashion appropriate lines of action. Thus he explores in this book the kinds of capabilities we require if we are going to organize our activities in this much more responsive-to-local-circumstances fashion, to organize in ways that make much more use of often unspoken and thus unnoticed local knowledges. The book is in three parts. It is about (1) the whole original background of theoretical and philosophical thought from out of which managerialism as such, i.e., the idea that all organizations can be run and understood in the same way, has arisen; (2) the severe limitations of that background; and (3) what a very different way of thinking about ourselves and our relations both to each other and to the larger surroundings of our lives might look like, sound like, and feel like. But instead of proposing yet another new theory or model, Taptiklis takes instead our mostly unthinking, spontaneously enacted, mostly speech intertwined, everyday activities as the background surrounding from out of which all our activities arise and make sense, and back into which they return to exert their influence. In other words, Taptiklis focuses on the importance of the fact that, as living, active, embodied human beings, we are continuously moving around and spontaneously responding to the others and othernesses around us. …

Popular Education and Participatory Research: Facing Inequalities in Latin America *

Abstract: The paper analyzes the construction of a pedagogical-investigative method, which has as its key element the development of strategies for overcoming inequalities in Latin American societies Paulo Freire and Orlando Fals Borda, among others, provide elements for understanding the origins of a method which, in research, has a close relation to the educational dimension and, in education, integrates the investigative dimension as a part of the process of developing active subjects in their communities The paper refers to research projects that were developed using participatory methodologies, attempting to identify some recent developments, advances and limits Among these projects, special attention is paid to those that show the role of pedagogical mediations in participatory social processes in South Brazil (state of Rio Grande do Sul), particularly the activities of a garbage recyclying association and the implementation of the participatory budget in a municipality in South Brazil

Facing Resignation and Silence: A Transforming Action-Research Experience in Brazil

Abstract: This article aims to discuss how the action research process can allow socially and historically constructed silences to be overcome. These kinds of silences prevent the emergence of dialogues necessary to the investigation mode. The necessary dialogues are built through the creation of a common participatory universe, and the construction of a consensual space between researchers and subjects of the practice, between those who are different and those who are the same. The article analyzes an action research project with women embroiderers in the suburbs of a large Brazilian city, directed at the formation of a working collective. Focusing on this experience, the authors discuss the strategies used to break the silence between the researcher and the group, considering the differences between researcher and group that could reinforce silences that already existed for participants. In a joint conclusion, the authors point out that action research can work as a critical instrument for breaking silence, allowing subjects to produce communicative processes that make it possible to overcome “resigned states” in order to transform their reality.