Table of Contents
About the Author ix
Preface x
Acknowledgements xv
Online Resources xvi
Part I Foundations 1
1 Introducing Action Research 3
Inquiring in your own organization 3
A brief introduction to action research 5
Three audiences, voices or practices 7
The action research cycles 8
Quality and rigour in action research 15
Ethics 16
Conclusions 17
Recommended reading 17
Exercise 1.1 Enacting the action research cycles 18
2 Researching Your Own Organization 19
The focus of the researcher and the system 20
Action research at home 26
Conclusions 27
Recommended reading 28
Exercise 2.1 Assessing your research focus 28
3 Knowing-in-Action 29
Inquiring in the present tense 29
The structure of human knowing 30
Valuing, deciding and taking action 35
A general empirical method 36
Authenticity 37
Action science and collaborative developmental action inquiry as first-person practice 39
Developing first-person skills through journaling 43
Second-person skills 44
Conclusions 47
Recommended reading 48
Exercise 3.1 First-person knowing-in-action 49
Exercise 3.2 Keeping a journal 50
Exercise 3.3 Developing inquiry skills 51
4 Understanding Action Research 53
Action research as practical knowing 54
The foundations of action research 58
The philosophies of action research 60
Interiority 61
Modalities of action research 64
Conclusions 72
Recommended reading 72
Exercise 4.1 Finding your philosophical roots 73
Exercise 4.2 Selecting a modality 73
Part II Issues and Challenges in Researching Your Own Organization 75
5 Preunderstanding, Role Duality and Access 77
Preunderstanding 77
Role duality: Organizational and researcher roles 81
Access 86
Conclusions 88
Recommended reading 88
Exercise 5.1 Assessing your preunderstanding: the learning window 89
Exercise 5.2 Assessing your group's preunderstanding: the learning window 89
6 Managing Ethics and Organizational Politics 91
Ethics 92
Politics 97
Integrating roles, politics and ethics 104
Conclusions 104
Recommended reading 105
Exercise 6.1 Assessing ethical challenges 105
Exercise 6.2 Assessing political issues 106
Exercise 6.3 Force field analysis 107
Part III Implementation 109
7 Constructing and Selecting Your Insider Action Research Project 111
Constructing your action research project 111
Selecting your research project 116
Writing an insider action research proposal 117
Developing the action research 119
Conclusions 120
Recommended reading 120
Exercise 7.1 Questions for constructing and selecting 120
Exercise 7.2 Writing a thesis proposal 121
8 Designing and Implementing Your Action Research Project 123
Structuring and directing 124
Designing and implementing change 124
The process of planned change 126
Planned change through action research 129
Learning mechanisms 132
Data generation as intervention 134
The role of technology 137
How do you know when to stop? 137
A note of caution 138
Conclusions 139
Recommended reading 140
Exercise 8.1 The process of implementation 140
Exercise 8.2 Reflection for praxis 141
9 Using Frameworks to Study Organizations in Action 143
Organizational assessment 144
Systems thinking and practice 145
Systems thinking and action research 146
Change and learning 147
Conclusions 150
Recommended reading 151
Exercise 9.1 Understanding your organization 151
Exercise 9.2 Using systems thinking 152
10 Interlevel Dynamics in Insider Action Research 153
Levels of analysis in action research 153
Interlevel dynamics 158
Interievel dynamics of change 159
Interlevel dynamics of strategy 161
Conclusions 163
Recommended reading 165
Exercise 10.1 Applying interlevel dynamics 165
Exercise 10.2 Interlevel change issues 166
11 Writing Up Your Insider Action Research Work 167
An action research thesis 167
Constructing and writing your thesis 169
Dissemination 177
Publishing 177
Conclusions 178
Recommended reading 179
12 In Conclusion 181
Glossary 189
References 195
Author Index 213
Subject Index 217
