Action research as academic anti-freeze for organisational change

Mackay, David (2009) Action research as academic anti-freeze for organisational change. In: Euroma Annual Conference 2009, 2009-06-14 - 2009-06-17.

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Abstract

This paper argues that in addition to making specific technical contributions to industrial partners, academics afforded the time to engage in appropriate action research can play roles of 'catalyst', 'translator' and 'negotiator' when assisting organisations'unfreezing' for change. Through analysis of funded engagements with two Scottish construction firms, it is argued that action research is worthy of focus by the operations management research community as a means of conducting effective industrial intervention whilst delivering multiple academic outputs in a time-efficient manner.