Page 79 - DMGT520_ORGANIZATION_CHANGE_AND_DEVELOPMENT

Organization Change and Development

Notes and being generally unable to answer questions about everyday life. According to Argyris,
Lewin’s action research was characterized by six features: “. . . (1) it was problem-driven, (2) it
was client-centered, (3) it challenged the status quo and was simultaneously concerned with
(4) producing empirically disconfirm able propositions that (5) could be systematically
interrelated into a theory designed to be (6) usable in everyday life.” All six characteristics
should be present in action research programs but often are not.
Another variation of action research is “appreciative inquiry.” David Cooperrider and Suresh
criticize current action research as too problem centered, too action-oriented, and not sufficiently
concerned with creating theory. They propose Appreciative Inquiry (AI) to augment
contemporary action research and introduce their article with these words:
For action-research to reach its potential as a vehicle for social innovation it needs to being
advancing theoretical knowledge of consequence; that good theory may be one of the best
means human beings have for affecting change in a post-industrial world; that the discipline’s
steadfast commitment to a problem-solving view of the world acts as a primary constraint on its
imagination and contribution to knowledge; that appreciative inquiry represents a viable
complement to conventional forms of action-research; and finally, that through our assumptions
and choice of method we largely create the world we later discover.
Appreciative inquiry advocates four principles for research on organisations: research should
begin with appreciation, should be applicable, should be provocative, and should be
collaborative.

Several other varieties of action research exist. The concept of grounded theory in sociological
research appears to be similar to action research, as does Edgar Schein’s clinical inquiry. Shani
and Pasmore, and Shani and Bushe present good reviews of action research.
The final variant of action research comes from the quality movement. The action research
model is similar to the Shewhart cycle of “plan, do, check, act” – a virtual mantra in Total Quality
Management (TQM) programs. Walter A. Shewhart was the “father” of statistical process control
and TQM.

Shewhart advised that to improve quality you should: plan a test or change intended to improve
something; do a small-scale test; check the effects of the test: and act on the new learning. Then
plan new tests based on the knowledge gained and repeat the cycle again and again. This
ongoing process was the road to continuous quality improvement, he asserted. It looks a lot like
action research.

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
6. Action research example is the application of the scientific method of fact-finding and
experimentation to practical problems requiring action solutions and involving the
collaboration and cooperation of scientists, practitioners, and laypersons.
7. An empirical action research is that in which the actor keeps a systematic, extensive record
of what he or she did and what effects it had.
8. Whyte and Edith L. Hamilton is a cogent example of the relation of action research to OD.
9. Centrality of objectives, and the different role requirements of the consultant/change
agent vis-à-vis the client exhibits viewing action research as an approach to problem
solving.

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