Action Research: Knowing and Changing (in) Organizational Contexts

The chapter provides a conceptual and operational framework for the AR approach, highlighting how it challenges the traditional ways to interpret research, generate knowledge, and view change. In order to point out some distinctive features the contribute examines three turning points in the process of AR that highlight its peculiar character and the issues that it must address. These three turning points are the start-up of an AR process, its management, and its conclusion: they do not convey a standardized view of AR, rather phenomenologically emphasize the dynamic through which each AR unfolds, albeit in always changing, specific and contextualized declination. Two case experiences are used to illustrate the crafting of AR processes, and their nature and quality different from any other form of research in organizational contexts. The conclusions summarize the most important implications of the AR-based approach