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ActionresearchWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Actionresearchinorganizationdevelopment

[edit]

WendellL.FrenchandCecilBelldefineorganizationdevelopment(OD)atonepointas"organization
improvementthroughactionresearch".[3]IfoneideacanbesaidtosummarizeOD'sunderlying
philosophy,itwouldbeactionresearchasitwasconceptualizedbyKurtLewinandlaterelaboratedand
expandedonbyotherbehavioralscientists.Concernedwithsocialchangeand,moreparticularly,with
effective,permanentsocialchange,Lewinbelievedthatthemotivationtochangewasstronglyrelatedto
action:Ifpeopleareactiveindecisionsaffectingthem,theyaremorelikelytoadoptnewways."Rational
socialmanagement",hesaid,"proceedsinaspiralofsteps,eachofwhichiscomposedofacircleof
planning,actionandfactfindingabouttheresultofaction".[4]
Unfreezing:Facedwithadilemmaordisconfirmation,theindividualorgroupbecomesawareofa
needtochange.
Changing:Thesituationisdiagnosedandnewmodelsofbehaviorareexploredandtested.
Refreezing:Applicationofnewbehaviorisevaluated,andifreinforcing,adopted.
Lewin'sdescriptionof
theprocessofchange
involvesthreesteps:[4]
Figure1summarizes
thestepsandprocesses
involvedinplanned
changethroughaction
research.Action
researchisdepictedas
acyclicalprocessof
change.
1. Thecyclebegins
withaseriesof
planningactions
initiatedbythe
clientandthe

Figure1:SystemsModelofActionResearchProcess

changeagentworkingtogether.Theprincipalelementsofthisstageincludeapreliminary
diagnosis,datagathering,feedbackofresults,andjointactionplanning.Inthelanguageofsystems
theory,thisistheinputphase,inwhichtheclientsystembecomesawareofproblemsasyet
unidentified,realizesitmayneedoutsidehelptoeffectchanges,andshareswiththeconsultantthe
processofproblemdiagnosis.
2. Thesecondstageofactionresearchistheaction,ortransformation,phase.Thisstageincludes
actionsrelatingtolearningprocesses(perhapsintheformofroleanalysis)andtoplanningand
executingbehavioralchangesintheclientorganization.AsshowninFigure1,feedbackatthis
stagewouldmoveviaFeedbackLoopAandwouldhavetheeffectofalteringpreviousplanningto
bringthelearningactivitiesoftheclientsystemintobetteralignmentwithchangeobjectives.
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Includedinthisstageisactionplanningactivitycarriedoutjointlybytheconsultantandmembersof
theclientsystem.Followingtheworkshoporlearningsessions,theseactionstepsarecarriedout
onthejobaspartofthetransformationstage.[5]
3. Thethirdstageofactionresearchistheoutputorresultsphase.Thisstageincludesactualchanges
inbehavior(ifany)resultingfromcorrectiveactionstepstakenfollowingthesecondstage.Dataare
againgatheredfromtheclientsystemsothatprogresscanbedeterminedandnecessary
adjustmentsinlearningactivitiescanbemade.Minoradjustmentsofthisnaturecanbemadein
learningactivitiesviaFeedbackLoopB(seeFigure1).
MajoradjustmentsandreevaluationswouldreturntheODprojecttothefirstorplanningstageforbasic
changesintheprogram.TheactionresearchmodelshowninFigure1closelyfollowsLewin'srepetitive
cycleofplanning,action,andmeasuringresults.ItalsoillustratesotheraspectsofLewin'sgeneralmodel
ofchange.Asindicatedinthediagram,theplanningstageisaperiodofunfreezing,orproblem
awareness.[4]Theactionstageisaperiodofchanging,thatis,tryingoutnewformsofbehaviorinaneffort
tounderstandandcopewiththesystem'sproblems.(Thereisinevitableoverlapbetweenthestages,since
theboundariesarenotclearcutandcannotbeinacontinuousprocess).
Theresultsstageisaperiodofrefreezing,inwhichnewbehaviorsaretriedoutonthejoband,if
successfulandreinforcing,becomeapartofthesystem'srepertoireofproblemsolvingbehavior.Action
researchisproblemcentered,clientcentered,andactionoriented.Itinvolvestheclientsystemina
diagnostic,activelearning,problemfindingandproblemsolvingprocess.

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