Bo Strangert
Methodical consequences of early field-based projects
Two years of observation, training and supervision of activities prepared the way for the final design and conduct of each OD project. The healthcare project started with a long period of systematic and participant observation as a basis for a deliberate plan which then governed the implementation. In contrast, the inspection project developed by close cooperation between inspectors and researchers from the very beginning.
Task design with qualitative configurations. Both projects confirmed the need for using configurations of qualitative data, basically of objective character but complemented by subjective accounts. This included task features with implications of cognitive, emotional and social perspectives in addition to medical and ADL matters. A dual-purpose categorization of basic components was used to elucidate and affect experiences and actions. Regarding a patient’s situation and needs in the healthcare case, one focus was on how cognitive and emotional judgments of the staff generated actions; a complementary focus was on the patient’s own reactions.1 In the inspection case, the corresponding foci were on the inspector’s and the employer’s respective representations of business and work environment as well as on their corresponding judgments of action.2
Many categorized transactions between parties occurred through oral communication during different types of meetings. Coordinating and recording these events in control networks was a crucial condition for systematic learning and quality of development.
Handling diversity by control systems. Important conclusions from those early field studies concerned the implications of diversity — of patients and staff, and of work environments, managements and inspectors. Because action research and development aim at reliable and continuous improvement, diversity of conditions has to be dealt with in the designs, both theoretically and practically, although it makes design solutions more complex.
The interactions between patient and personnel in healthcare or between inspector and manager in work environment supervision were to a crucial extent regulated by control systems in order to fulfill specific task obligations or purposes.3 But they also included communication and actions which are sensitive to the diversity of the participants on a case. The sensitivity applies to a broad spectrum of features. In the healthcare project, the categorical schema ought to support holistic and open transactions, though a deeper and more specific application also depends on personal qualities and norms among staff and patients. In the inspection project, a corresponding diversity among inspectors and employers has to be controlled within the boundaries of provisions and business possibilities.
A dynamic perspective is necessary: many subtle preconditions must be patiently fulfilled to support constructive learning by experience and action during sometimes fragile conditions. Hence, the major agents in both projects needed comprehensive instructions and training. The aims and substance behind these measures are thoroughly explained in the project reports but would be explored further in supplementary papers on this website. 3
Different views in meetings can, for example, be an emotional nuisance and impediment to action or inspire to stimulating creative thinking and talk. Such problematic events occurred frequently in both projects and are inevitable but also necessary for learning by experience. Nonetheless, they deserve to be dealt with constructively and should therefore be positively attended to in the process. A goal for further method development would be to design communicative means which facilitate a positive use of diverse information within the frame of control systems.
Action R&D. The evidence from these early projects confirmed that the conducted interventions by organizing and learning at work would generally be sufficient to attain the intended objectives in comparable contexts. Notice that the interventions were enforced once the objectives and means were devised, tested and negotiated. The approach was in fact action-directed R&D in practice. The full support and participation of the responsible authorities contributed significantly to the positive results. However, the field work required large R&D resources, nevertheless necessary for achievement and sustainable effects. Hence, one goal for future R&D pointed to design of more efficient and less time-consuming means for organizational interventions.4
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1 Inducing holistic strategies for healthcare of elderly and long-term patients.
2 Design and implementation of 'system inspection' in work environment contexts.
3 Concept development and modeling in complex and diverse healthcare contexts, and
Concept development and modeling in complex and diverse supervision contexts.
4 See Research Methodology and Applications: Action Research. Remarks on its theoretical basis.