What is Action Research - Essay Example

?Action Research Introduction Action Research is known by different s and is considered as a collective and collaborative effort for problem solving. It is also a process of self-reflection and is undertaken by the participants of inquiry. What is critical to note however, is the fact that it is done in order to improve the problem solving and initiate a collaborative approach towards the problem solving. What lies at the core of this research methodology is the use of scientific study and the researcher ensures that the overall intervention is properly backed up by the theoretical considerations. Due to its very nature, action research therefore can have many applications in real life and within organizational set up too. Organizations can easily use action research to find creative and innovative solutions to their most pressing problems and engage various stakeholders to find out solutions which can help organizations to become more efficient and cost effective. Action research can also play significant role in organizational development and employee’s professional life. It can easily be used in various situations by the employees as well as the managers to overcome organizational problems and achieve the required objectives of the organization. Through following a systematic process of action research, individuals as well as organizations can actually solve their real life problems. This paper will discuss as to what action research is, what its various stages are and how it can actually be used in real life by citing different examples. What is Action Research? As mentioned above, action research is also known by different names including participatory research, collaborative research, action learning etc. Most of different names however, are considered as different variations of the same theme. Action research aims to achieve dual objectives of using practical concerns in solving the problems and on the other hand to further the goals of social science also. As such, in action research, researchers not only aim to tackle the system but also collaborate with people related with the system to change in the desired direction. (Mcniff) The critical difference between this type of research and other types of research is the use of scientific study. While conducting action research, researcher has to base assertions on the theoretical consideration and as such most of the time spent by researchers is on perfecting the methodological tools to better suit the situation being investigated. Action research also seems to challenge the social science research which is mostly based upon sampling by adapting a robust process of conducting research. Action research therefore focuses on continuous process of theorizing and collecting data and making inquiry in the midst of new and emerging structures as a result of the steps taken at the various stages of research. (Whitehead and McNiff) Stages of Action Research There are three critical stages of action research which are: Planning This is the stage of preliminary diagnosis and data gathering as research actively engages into gathering of data and planning for finding out what actually the problem is and how to tackle it properly. This is also called the input stages as at this stage it is felt that there is something out of control and organization should share the same with the researchers and consultants to actively participate into the process of finding out what is actually wrong at the given point in time. Feedback by the researcher is also sought at this stage of the action research. Action Stage This stage is also called transformation stage as it is this stage that the actual learning starts to take place. Actions regarding learning processes are undertaken in order to define action steps and do the action planning. This stage is also considered as the changing stage as it is at this stage that the actual change process is initiated. Result Phase This phase is the final phase and is also called the output phase because it is at this stage that the action research actually bears the fruit. This stage actually demonstrates the actual changes taking place and progress is determined. It is also at this stage that the results of actual corrective steps taken at the second stage are materialized. Researcher aims to review and analyses whether the steps taken at the second stage of the research have actually provided the desired results or not. If the results are not according to what was expected, researcher engages into another learning process in order to make corrective changes in order to achieve the desired results. Action Research in Daily Life Action research can be used in ordinary life of an individual to solve the problems and find solutions based upon the evaluation of data collected. For example, an individual looking to decide on which career to choose from can use action research to find out different alternatives for the career choice. By following typical process of action research, an individual can actually first highlight as to what is actually the problem. By highlighting the problem of making a right career choice, a person can actually starts to get feedback and find data regarding which career may suit the strengths of the person and can provide maximum monetary benefits. Once data is collected regarding which careers are paying more, a person can actually take action to develop the skills and qualifications required to get into that career. At the last stage of action research, the results would suggest as to whether a person has taken correct measures in the second stage to achieve the desired result. Conclusion Action research is considered as one of the most effective research methodologies using the scientific method. By supporting the research through theoretical considerations, action research actually helps organizations to learn by doing. Action research therefore is a combination of systematic thinking of solving problems and also integrating social science with the problem solving in systematic manner. It is critical to note that action research is also known by different names how they are considered as different variants of the same theme and actually projects the same methodology for problem solving. Bibliography Mcniff, Jean. Action Research: Principles and Practice. London: Routledge, 2002. Whitehead, Jack and Jean McNiff. Doing and Writing Action Research. New York: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2009. History of Organizational Development Introduction Though since the beginning of time, men started to improve the life and make it easier and more organized. The quest for making consultative decisions and involvement of many individuals in making collective decisions has been one of the earliest forms of organization. Through this way, men actually attempted to form early organizations to achieve common objectives and goals through collaborative efforts. It is however, critical to note that exactly how organization development started and from where its history emerged is difficult to ascertain. The modern beginning of organizational development however has much to borrow from the emergence of industrial revolution in developed countries. Kurt Lewin is considered as the founder of organization development. It is however, critical to note that the term organization development started to become a dominating point of discussion especially after 1950’s much after the death of Kurt Lewin. The concepts of group dynamics as well as action research however, has come from the work of Lewin and were subsequently further refined to cater to the wider needs of the organizations as well as academicians. Over the period of time organization development or OD has evolved both at the practitioner level as well as at the academic levels. This paper will discuss about the history of organization development, how it evolved and how it gained the present day significance for both the practitioner as well as academician level. History of Organization Development As discussed in the introductory part, organization development has long historical roots as man since his inception has attempted to organize things. Various religious figures also seem to use the consultative process and group dynamics to make various decisions. What is important to note however is the fact that no one is able to clearly establish as to when the field of organization development started? It has also been observed that field of organization development emerged and it continue to emerge to create better and more significant influence for organizations. (McLean) It is critical to note that early influencers in the field of organization development were psychologists. Early theories of Sigmund Freud, Jung, and Carl Rogers significantly influenced the way field of organizational development is still emerging. The overall development of OD as a serious discipline started to emerge from four major backgrounds. T-Groups or the laboratory training was one of the earliest initiatives undertaken by Kurt Lewin. T-Groups were initiated in order to provide an opportunity to the people to know and react to their own behaviors and are considered as one of the effectives tools adapted during that time to understand organization development and problem solving. The work of Kurt Lewin is considered as one of the most important influences in the field of organization development. Through his consultative work with many organizations, he developed important theories and processes which allowed organizations to improve their efficiency. It was during the period of World War II that he started to experiment with process of collaborative change based on systematic process. He adapted the process of collaborative change in phase wise process of planning, taking action and subsequently measuring the results. This process also laid the foundations for action research as later on this process was further formalized to include it as action research steps wherein organizations would learn through an adaptive process of learning. He also participated in the laboratory experimentation which was later on followed by his colleagues due to his death. It is however, critical to note that the term organization development was not coined by Lewin as it was Richard Beckhard who coined this term. Originally the term organization development was to describe the bottoms up approach for bringing in change within the organizations. During 1960s era, organization development however was mostly implemented through the consultants and not much theoretical impetus was behind the implementation. It was also during this period that organization development was without any concrete definition as it was mainly implemented through practice rather than theory. Later on during 1970s and 1980s the discipline of organization development actually started to become more formalized with more theoretical emphasis being placed on the overall process of organization development. It was also during this period that universities started to develop curriculum and degree programs for this discipline. The era of 1970s and 1980s therefore witnessed a tremendous improvement in the seriousness with which this discipline was pursued and undertaken for practice as well as academic purposes. (Haneberg) During 2000s, organization development theories contributed towards the development of concepts such as total quality management, team building, process reengineering as well enriching the jobs of employees. The history of Organization development therefore has remained a continuously evolving process over the period of time. Many new ideas and theories emerged as a result of work done historically. The future course of organization development however may not be strong as academicians have attempted to underline different factors which may contribute towards the overall demise of organization development theory. Conclusion Organization development started as a process of finding solutions to the organization’s problems and understanding the behavior of individuals on their jobs. Group dynamics, team building and use of action research were some of the issues which were discussed extensively over the period of time. Early influencers of theory in organization development were mostly psychologists and most of the subsequent work in the field has also been affected by the work of earlier psychologists. Work of Kurt Lewin is considered as one of the most significant contribution towards the development of this discipline. He not only developed action research as a credible mean of developing organization learning but also presented theoretical underpinnings on group dynamics, team building as well as bringing in systematic process of change within the organization. Not much happened in terms of developing organization development as a serious discipline however, later decades witnessed a systemic increase in the theoretical development of the subject. It started to become more formalized and the overall breadth of the subject was increased. Bibliography Haneberg, Lisa. Organization Development Basics. New York: American Society for Training and Development, 2005. McLean, Gary N. Organization Development: Principles, Processes, Performance. New York: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2005. Client-Consultant Relationship Introduction Consultant services are mostly advisory in nature with consultants providing profession and technical support to the organizations in order to identify management problems, develop solutions for them and properly implement them in order to achieve the desired organizational objectives. Consultancy therefore is an advisory service which is based upon a contract and is mainly focused upon identifying management problems, finding solutions for them and implementing them to achieve the desired outcome. The overall nature of relationship between client and consultant can be delicate at times and can present significant challenges for both the clients and the consultants to actually sort out things in effective manner. Since in consultancy services, client serves as the buyer of knowledge and consultant as a change agent therefore there may exist a friction between the roles of the two. This friction therefore can create problems between the relationship of a client and the consultant. Due to very nature of the relationship between the two, there may arise different issues and basic problems underlying the relationship of the two. (Rothwell and Sullivan) This paper will discuss about the basic problems underlying the relationship between the client and consultant. Basic Problems and Issues One of the key and basic problems faced by the client as well as the consultant is the lack of proper communication. Both the clients and the consultant at times may fail to clearly identify and communicate as to how the overall project will proceed and what will be effectively the role of client and consultant at different stages. Another critical and basic problem is the development of false expectations where both the client as well as the consultant may develop high as well as low expectations. Misjudging the expectations and setting them either at the higher level or lower level may not allow the development of required level of trust between the client and the consultant. Rationally setting expectations and subsequently sticking with the same. Entry and contracting is a critical issues faced in OD client-consultant relationship since entry into the contract, both on the psychological level as well as the financial level, may take place over a period of time. This may result into issues as to what was actually agreed between the parties and how the contract was actually formed. (Anderson) This relationship can also result into lack of trust as client’s subordinates may feel manipulated to agree with the goals and objectives of their superiors. Maintenance of neutrality by the consultant therefore is one of the key issues which need to be maintained during the whole project period. Client may also over-estimate the role of consultant and consider the consultant as the expert. Developing the perception of expertise of the consultant therefore may create dependency on the expertise rather than allowing the organization to develop its own resources for the solutions of the problems. Conclusion The overall relationship between the client and the consultant may be delicate and consultant, from the perspective of OD, must help client to develop its own resources to tackle the organization problems. Bibliography Anderson, Donald L. Organization Development: The Process of Leading Organizational Change. London: SAGE, 2011. Rothwell, William J. and Roland L. Sullivan. Practicing Organization Development: A Guide for Consultants. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2005. Entry and Contracting 1. Face to face meetings or phone calls initially to discuss the OD problems. 2. Presentation of problem by the client. 3. Starting the process of sorting out what group must do in order to start the process of logical organization development intervention. 4. Formation of psychological contract 5. Defining the financial aspect of the contract Read More