Action Research: Helping Organizations to Change

Abstract

This chapter has been written to provide some guidance to researchers who wish to be actively associated with assisting change taking place in the organizations that they are studying. This means that they will not be detached observers interested only in observation and documentation, but will take on a role as a facilitator of the change process. This can be done through advice to management, in which case the researcher is operating in a manner similar to a consultant, but it can also be done more democratically. My own approach, which has been developed over many years, is to assist the future users of any new system, together with those who will be affected by its use, to play an important role in the systems design process. This role can take different forms but usually incorporates the design of the organizational structures that will surround new technology. Many groups have now become designers of their own systems ranging from clerks, salespeople and technologists to senior managers.