Action Research in Organisations / Edition 1

by Jean McNiff, Jack Whitehead

Overview

The current orthodoxy is that 'knowledge' is the most powerful resource for organisational success. So how can managers develop the appropriate knowledge base to make their organisations grow? The answer lies in action research. Action research is increasingly perceived and used as a powerful methodology to promote professional awareness and development. However, there are very few texts that demonstrate how this can be utilised to promote management and organisational improvement or that emphasise the reflective nature of improving professionalism. Action Research in Organisations fills this gap. Aimed at both practising managers and university students alike, key features of this title include:
* the location of management and organisational theory within a framework * examination of the principles and practice of action research
* real-world examples and case studies of people attempting to improve their own situations through action research.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415220125
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/07/2000
Series:	Routledge Studies in Human Resource Development
Pages:	348
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jean McNiff, Jack Whitehead

Table of Contents

Introduction Part 1: What is the Nature of Organisational Knowledge? 1. Learning Organisations and the Responsibility of Managers 2. Learning Organisations as Good Societies 3. Action Research, Power and Control Part 2: How is Organisational Knowledge Acquired? 4. Doing Research 5. Empirical Research 6. The Interpretive Research Paradigm 7. The Critical Theoretic Research Paradigm 8. Action Research Part 3: How is Organisational Knowledge put to Use? 9. Action Research in Organisations 10. New Theories of Organisation Part 4: What are the Implications for Living Theories of Organisation as Generative Transformational Processes? 11. What Should be the Focus of Management Education? 12. My Epistemology of Practice of the Superintendency 13. How One School is Fulfilling the Vision of Peter Senge's 'Learning Organization'