Building generative theory from participatory action-oriented research: The organization as co-researcher in organizational change.

Abstract

More than two thirds of all organizational change processes fail, carrying with them enormous social and economic consequences. The cause of failure is usually ascribed to the way actors co-generate the change process. Given the low success ratio, there is an urgent need for more actionable knowledge on change. This is knowledge that goes beyond merely explaining and predicting by evoking concrete actions and opportunities to transform an organization into a more learning system. This paper proposes a participatory action-oriented method that produces this kind of knowledge by linking researchers and practitioners in a joint learning journey. Continuously enacting high quality relational practices between researchers and client system is seen as the very core of the method.