Abstract
While action research is well-established in the field of organization development and change (ODC) its profile in human resource development (HRD) is less visible. Even less visible within HRD are accounts of how action research is conducted within organizations by their managers and other members who adopt it as an approach to managing change and other organizational challenges. In order to share thoughts and ideas on doing action research we draw from academic knowledge as well as experience integrating theory and practice, from being engaged in designing, delivering, assessing and improving group and individual activities to support ongoing learning and development. In this guest editorial, we introduce insider action research and its potential for HRD research and offer views from professional and personal experience, analysis, thoughts and speculations about how action research is important and useful for HRD and how those who use and benefit from doing it may be able to be encouraged to more widely share case studies and to write up insider action research projects for publication.
Action Research
Action research engages in research-in-action rather than research about action. As Coghlan (2011) discusses, it focuses on real organizational issues, rather than those created particularly for the purposes of research. It operates in the domain of how people participate in systems (organizations and communities) and so applied behavioral science knowledge is both engaged in and drawn upon. Action research’s distinctive characteristics are that it addresses the twin tasks of bringing about change in organizations and in generating robust, actionable practical knowledge, undertaken in the present tense in a spirit of collaboration and co-inquiry, whereby research is constructed with people, rather than on or for them. It constitutes a form of social science with a different theory of knowledge production in that it produces practical knowledge which is contingent on action in a particular situation and which contributes to organizational members’ capacity to address their own issues or problems (Coghlan, 2011).
Action research is a theory of social science that is distinct from the common quantitative-qualitative categorizations of research. As Susman and Evered (1978, p. 601) have long argued, it “constitutes a kind of science with a different epistemology that produces a different kind of knowledge, a knowledge that is contingent on the particular situation and which develops the capacity of members of organizations to solve their own problems”. In a parallel mode, Gibbons et al. (1994) have argued it is time for a mode of research (which they call Mode 2 knowledge production in contrast to Mode 1) that is transdisciplinary, heterogeneous, socially accountable, reflexive and is produced in the context of a particular application.
One of the rich features of action research is the opportunity to learn with and from others, through listening and attending, acknowledging differences and assumptions when they are addressing a worthwhile issue. There is also joy and tension in collaborative inquiry and decision making, with the shared purpose of taking action, reflecting on what happened, and planning the next step to make to continue the process until the opportunity is met or the problem is addressed. We have used action research in work roles for development programs in organizations, as university professors/lecturers, supervisors, managers and internal and external consultants. As well as undertaking and publishing action research through roles as academic supervisors we have been able to be involved in many other research projects conducted by practitioners who undertake post-graduate studies.
From this description it can be seen how action research is congruent with the main directions of HRD theory and practice (Githens, 2015; Holian & Coghlan, 2015; Maurer & Githens, 2010; Sanyal & Rigby, 2017; Yanmil & McLean, 2022). It has been and continues to be well suited for use as part of a wide range of HRD initiatives and activities. Although it may be most well known as being useful in organization development (Coghlan, 2015) there are also other important applications, such as leadership and management skills development, coaching and mentoring including the development of mentoring skills, employee engagement, innovation and creativity, work-integrated learning, occupational health and safety, wellbeing, and diversity and inclusion.
Action research is particularly pertinent to current opportunities, issues and changing demands associated with a focus on the Future of Work, including sustainability and the natural environment, use of artificial intelligence technologies, and flexible employment (Delany, 2022). Flexibility in both employees’ physical location and the time periods within which they can work was already commencing before 2020 and accelerated by the need for many organisations to pivot to flexible and remote working arrangements and establishing, managing and supporting hybrid teams as a result of the recent global health pandemic.
Insider Action Research
While the phenomenon of insider research is well established (Brannick & Coghlan, 2007; Fleming, 2018; Teusner, 2016), that of insider action research has emerged as an important way of understanding and changing organizations (Coghlan, 2007, 2019, Coghlan & Holian, 2007, 2021; Coghlan & Shani, 2015). When complete members of an organization seek to inquire into the working of their organizational system in order to change something in it, they can be understood as undertaking insider action research. Complete membership is contrasted with those who enter a system temporarily for the sake of conducting research; it may be defined in terms of wanting to remain a member within a desired career path when the research is completed. In some cases, it is also possible that those who are involved in leading change have little choice but to continue to stay in the same system afterwards and so need to maintain effective basic working relationships to avoid negative repercussions.
The context of insider action research is the strategic and operational setting that organizational members confront in their working lives. HRD issues of organizational concern, such as systems improvement, building capabilities, organizational learning, the management of change and so on are suited to insider action research, since (a) they are real events which must be managed in real time, (b) they provide opportunities for both effective action and learning, and (c) they can contribute to the development of theory of what really goes on in organizations (Coghlan & Shani, 2015). Scholar-practitioners can also use insider action research as the foundation and opportunity to exercise the scholarship of practice, (Coghlan, 2013), frequently for postgraduate masters or doctoral studies (Coghlan et al., 2014) to write up case studies and explore and share insights about successes and failures.
The nature of insider action research differs from the more traditional approach of a participant-observer in a number of ways. Rather than being an outsider who enters the setting for a given period in order to study it, the insider already belongs to the organization before the research begins and plans to remain after it is completed. They have a primary established, legitimate full role in the organization in addition to their role in the research, and this involves genuine ongoing relationships with other members of the group. Organizational members who are undertaking insider action research may be open about the research as their aim is to address pertinent opportunities for positive innovations or to address organizational issues that are of concern. They can be quite overt about the research that is being done and are able to invite others to join in information gathering, making meaning of what has been noticed, as well as sharing reflections and interpretations which contribute to learning and outcomes.
Insider action research can be seen to involve managing three interlocking challenges (Coghlan, 2019; Holian & Coghlan, 2013). First, insider action researchers need to build on the closeness they have with the setting, while at the same time to create distance from it in order to see things critically and to be able to generate alternative options in collaboration with others who are directly involved and to enable change to happen. This is referred to as preunderstanding. Second, they have to hold dual roles, their organizational member role(s) and the action researcher role, and the consequent ambiguities and conflicts between these that can arise. As part of the process of critical analysis as well as arising from reflective practice, associated with individual differences in power, knowledge, experience, hopes and fears, assumptions and preferences. Third, they also have to manage organizational politics and balance the requirements of open and honest communication while maintaining effective working relationships and their future career plans with requirements for the success and quality of their action research. An aspect of organizational politics is the engagement of fellow organizational members as co-researchers. How this unfolds will often need to differ from what is done when action research is conducted by external or internal consultants. Co-researching involves different types of conversations and more interactive relationships than what is usually done if those leading the project or program are contracted to consult with clients and meet with representatives.
` Action research is a dynamic process where the situation changes as a consequence of deliberate action. Insider action researchers have to deal with uncertainty and emergent processes, not as distractions but as central to the research process. Lewin’s often cited maxim that one only understands a system when one tries to change it is illustrative of the development of preunderstanding that occurs in the course of an insider action research initiative. Similarly, in the emergent nature of the shifting situation in a system’s change process, how the insider action researchers hold their dual roles and survive and thrive politically are challenges that need constant renegotiation.
Case-in-Point
Coghlan et al. (2014) present how two of the authors as senior managers in their companies, respectively, describe a set of HRD challenges that became the focus of insider action research projects initiated for purpose of executive development and to improve company performance. Each company undertook large-scale change initiatives: how to enhance knowledge creation and dissemination in an R&D environment and how to positively influence individual acceptance of organizational changes. Each initiative involved the creation and working with teams, which were set up to progress the respective initiatives and to deliver research outcomes. Each initiative produced both tangible outcomes for the companies and research output for the scholarly community. Coghlan et al. conclude that adding the competency (knowledge and skills) to design, facilitate and lead change by means of insider action research provides added value to the two managers’ basic business disciplinary knowledge. Insider action research facilitated executive development, created new knowledge and developed change leadership capabilities.
Implications for HRD
In this guest editorial we have sought to introduce the potential of insider action research to enhance HRD research and practice. As Githens (2015) argues, action research seeks to impact and improve and change strategic and operational practice in organizations. To this we add the transformation of organizations themselves. Action research is both a theory of change and a practice of changing (Coghlan, 2023). It addresses the issues that organizations identify as needing to be addressed, whether named as problems to be solved or opportunities to be exploited. Accordingly, the HRD challenges of employee development, change and innovation and skill development are appropriate for both the strategic action and the knowledge development of action research.
Our point of departure in this guest editorial is that insider action research is both a dynamic way of developing human resources in organizations and of creating actionable knowledge. We have explored how the outcome, with regard to the tasks and skills relating to preunderstanding, is the capability to inquire into what is close and familiar in collaboration with relevant others. The role duality-based tasks and skills enhance the capabilities to engage in asking the relevant questions and change and learn while addressing the intricacies of organizational politics.
We have aimed to give insider action research a greater visibility within HRD in order to enhance the field of HRD research and practice. Insider action research entails a process of praxis, that is, experimentation in a practice field that gives rise to knowledge through systematic inquiry. Those who undertake and engage in insider action research demonstrate the practice of HRD by virtue of their work with others to enable change to take place and to co-generate actionable knowledge. It is by virtue of the collaborative enactment of change and the co-generation of actionable knowledge by organizational members that insider action research offers a rich approach to extending our understanding of the dynamics of HRD.
