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Guest post by: Ben Nash Become an Author

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There are lots of change management models out there (McKinsey’s 7 S model, Kotter’s Eight Step Model, to name but two). A change model put forward way back in 1947 by Kurt Lewin called Action Research (AR) often gets overlooked. While many current models put the emphasis on planning and analysis, Lewin emphasizes taking action and then learning from the results. Learning from experience (always a good thing!) is what AR is all about. In AR you pretty much dive right in with an intervention in a real world system with the aim of improving things then you closely scrutinize the effects of your actions. AR is a three step process:

1. Planning (including reconnaissance)
2. Taking actions
3. Fact finding about the results of the actions and making adjustments

Sounds simple—but how often do organizations fail to take action when they should? Quite often it would seem! In summary AR is an informal, qualitative, interpretive, reflective, collaborative, and experimental methodology that requires all the participants to be collaborative researchers. The AR methodology combines the strengths of academic research (objective, scientific, but often not too relevant) and consulting research (often subjective, case based, and not very scientific – but relevant to the issue).

For more information on Action Research take a look at: Doing Action Research in Your Own Organization by Dr David Coghlan and Dr Teresa Brannick.

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