Being a journal editor – supporting authors and pushing boundaries

For the last few years I have been an associate editor of the Action Research Journal. With the commissioning editor and other associate editor colleagues, we shape the direction of action research through the Journal. This includes agreeing on special issues of the Journal on important subjects, such as artfulness in organizational practice that I worked on (Warwick et al., 2022), or deciding the criteria for good quality transformative research that we will include in the Journal (Bradbury et al., 2019). This stuff that gets headlines and profile, but it is not what I enjoy most about being an associate editor.

What I enjoy is working with authors to make their research the best it can be. Being an academic journal, each paper is sent to anonymous reviewers who make comments on its quality, suitability for the Journal and how it can be improved. When the comments come back it is my job to see if we can carry on working with the authors or to say that it would be better elsewhere. If the paper goes ahead I work with authors to interpret what the reviewers are getting at in the context of what the Journal sees as being important. This can take months or years, but it needs to be good.

In focusing on methodology aimed at making transformative improvements to the world (AR+, 2022) our topics are broad, not just related to organization development which is my main interest. The most recent paper I supported (Ghetti et al., 2023) was an incredibly moving account of helping a person through bereavement when his son took his own life. This person was Jeremy, who through the process of working with the authors over several years wanted to become a recognized co-author of the paper by waiving his anonymity. For Jeremy, this was important for him and his son. It was a process of ethical thought and negotiation in recognizing the voice of those being researched, something that we do not pay enough attention to. For me, it was a privilege to be part of Jeremy’s story. It also says something else that I think is important, that of ethically pushing the norms and practice of research methodology and organizational life more generally.

You can view a conversation with the authors here.

You can get more details of the Journal article and AR+ here.

References

AR+. (2022). Action Research +. https://actionresearchplus.com/

Bradbury, H., Glenzer, K., Ku, B., Columbia, D., Kjellstr€, S., Arag, A. O., Warwick, R., Traeger, J., Apgar, M., Friedman, V., Chuan Hsia, H., Lifvergren, S., & Gray, P. (2019). What is good action research: Quality choice points with a refreshed urgency. Action Research, 17(1), 14–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476750319835607

Ghetti, C. M., Schreck, B., & Bennett, J. (2023). Heartbeat recordings in music therapy bereavement care following suicide: Action research single case study of amplified cardiopulmonary recordings for continuity of care. Action Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/14767503231207993

Warwick, R., Khandekar, S., Traeger, J., & Riestra, M. S. (2022). Artfulness in the organisational playground: Actions and choices. Action Research, 20(1), 3–9. https://doi.org/10.1177/14767503221080238

The changing world – conversations with MBA students

Over the last week or so I’ve been working with MBA groups – online of course.  In the midst of Covod-19 I posed the question ‘how our the world different now?’ And to explore the question I posed the following lines of inquiry:

• How does your world look right now?
• What sense of making of the future?
• What are you leaving behind?
• How do we capture the very raw (and fleeting) experience we are going through right now?
• How is our decision-making changing?

Each one of these questions is fascinating, but here I am going to focus on the last one – how is our decision-making changing?

Key themes that came up in one conversation included:

• Dispersal of decision making, particularly to the frontline.
• How rapid decisions are having to be made.
• How many of the assumptions that are there to help decision making are having to be redrawn.
• Through all of this navigation is possible and is taking place.

However, there were two overarching themes that emerged which are important to draw attention to, these are trust and the changing role of senior leadership.

When it comes to trust we can spit this into two. Firstly, on an optimistic note, the here and now, our ability to decide in a rapidly changing context. Secondly, being pessimistic, the implications for the longer term, what problems are we storing up.

In this rapidly changing world it seems that we are more trusting in each other. Perhaps we have no choice. To trust someone is also to take a risk and to be vulnerable. But in trusting people, being prepared to take a risk and for this to work out well adds to a reinforcing cycle that enhances working relationships and enables us to see the potential in others.  Setting up hospitals from scratch that can treat thousands, how we are supporting hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable people, local authorities turning upside down how they provide services are all evidence of what can be achieved. I suspect all of this is dwarfed when we add up the small everyday efforts that millions of us are making.

But are we storing up problems for later, what might be the shadow that we might miss? In being adaptable and fast moving what are the rules and governance arrangements that we are leaving behind? Where does this leave democracy and the ability for citizens and elected representatives to shape decisions and to hold the powerful to account. These are questions that are not only important on the national political stage but are very real in all avenues of life: healthcare, police, where and how we work, who we mix with etc. Being generous, it will take time for the pulleys and levers of scrutiny to catch up, but it is a question that we need to keep on top of.

In all of this where does this leave the role of the Chief Executive and the top team? Leading from the front, or supporting and enabling the front line? Local knowledge, context and expertise are key. More than in any other time senior leadership is about enabling others to make good decisions, to make sure people communicate with each other and to provide the resources they need. In short, this is a form of more humble leadership that shapes, reassures and enables.

Click here for a video on how our world is changing and implications for MBA students.

 

Artfulness in the organisational playground

Artfulness and the playground, two words you do not normally associate with the serious world of organisational life. I am going to offer two invitations, but before I do let me explain.

Firstly, artfulness. Here art is both an artefact, for example the painting, piece of music or even the benefits of a well-managed project, and the processes we use, for example how we paint a picture, run a challenging workshop or even show up at a meeting. ‘Being artful’ congers thoughts of skill, craft and even cunning, just think of the Artful Dodger in Dickens’ Oliver Twist. And then there is the social dimension: for art to have value, that value has to be recognised by others and conditions need to be in place to nurture and support artful practice. So art has a number of fascinating qualities to it.

Secondly, playground. The playground is the place of creativity, games and laughter. It is where we can make our own worlds with actors, plots and stories. It is the opposite of sitting in rows with forced concentration listening to the teacher. But then there is the shadow side, the place of bullies, power and coercion. The playground is not a neutral place, there are hierarchies and places where the ‘cool’ people are, but others are excluded. And none of this is written down, it needs to be learnt by sensing what is around us, making mistakes and involving others.

If we dwell on these two words we have the opportunity to imagine organisational life differently. We can come up with different answers to questions such as:

• How do we support others to grow and develop?
• What is of value and why?
• Why do people act like they do?
• What would happen if we did something different?

Now for the invitations. James Traeger and I are associate editors of the Action Research journal and we are editing a special edition on artfulness in the organisational playground, here is the call for papers that gives all the details of what we are looking for and why. If you are tempted to write an article it would be great to hear from you. You can also find details here about submitting your paper to the journal.  We have another invitation as well. Every month for an hour we hold an online gathering to explore our artful practice in organisational life, if you would like to be part of this #ArtfulKnowing group please write an e-mail to Pip Rowson at pip.rowson@mayvin.co.uk. 

Picture Credit: On and On, 1951 (serigraph), Gershgoren, Milton (1909-89) / Dallas Museum of Art, Texas, USA / Tom Gooch Memorial Prize (Dallas Print Society, Dallas Art Association and Leon A. Harris, Jr.), 1st Annual Dallas National Print Exhibition, 1953 / Bridgeman Images.

Artful knowing in everyday life – developing insights from action research

https://mayvin.co.uk/

If we are to find solutions to difficult problems we need to pay attention to different and artful ways of knowing. These are forms of knowledge that draw attention to the fact that we are all creative people able to see and live in the world in imaginative ways. This is despite what school and formal education might have done to us in forcing us to think in linear and scientific ways. However, it is more than this; it is social too. For example, what conversations can we have to enable others to see their world differently and how can they do likewise for us? Both of us became intrigued by the artistry of everyday life in our book, Organisation Development – A Bold Explorer’s Guide, in the chapter Artful Practice to Inspire Human Systems we said of art:

.. in this sense is not just the creation of beautiful objects by the talented few; it extends to the way do our daily work, at home and beyond, and what we see in others on the broadest canvases. To meet the challenges of the future new and imaginative ways of working will be essential (p77).

Recently we became Associate Editors of the Action Research journal, focusing on organisation development. In order to get to know the journal in a fresh way we set ourselves a challenge. In going back through the fifteen years of the journal, which six articles have the most relevance to artful knowing? This is not just about coming up with a list; it is more. What new insights can we generate from one article shining a light on another, perhaps years apart? Most intriguingly, how might different subject areas come together to say something new. A couple of questions one on what we should be looking for the second the questions we should be asking, so:

• What sort of difference to people’s lives, communities, work and workplaces should we hope to find in this writing?
• Taking artful knowing in organisation development as an example, what kind of questions should we be asking?

If you have any thoughts and ideas it would be great to hear from you.

Rob Warwick and James Traeger.

Ref: Traeger, J. & Warwick, R (2018) Organisation Development: A Bold Explorer’s Guide, Libri Books

Lessons from literature: opportunities for leadership development

I have just finished the first draft of an article for a conference in the summer.  And I’m rather pleased.   That said it will need a lot of polishing before it is ready to see the light of day.  I have become fascinated in how literature can be used in leadership development.  The literature I have drawn on is an eclectic mix from Greek mythology, Victorian melodrama to Shakespeare. All too often case studies in management literature seem dull and flat. We do not share in the characters’ success or plight. Instead we are presented with facts and asked to make judgements without appreciating the connected themes of relationships, power and history behind the participants. It draws us to ask the question ‘why on earth would they do …?’

In literature we travel with the participants and share their risks, doubts and ambiguity as they take their next steps. We are therefore not prompted towards ‘clever’ solutions but instead we share a sense of their dilemmas. The point I’m illustrating is that instead of focusing on the separation between the subject (the reader) and the object (the participants in the case study) there is a temporal process of becoming engaged with the character’s story.   Literature can therefore be used as a catalyst to develop our own narratives of connected events over a period of time.  It provides insights into our own development in the context of our wider social story that we are part of. This is a useful addition to action learning and leadership development. I also argue that this way of engaging with our own stories can make a contribution to management knowledge, providing more realistic accounts that we can emotionally and logically relate to.

The Social Development of Knowledge and Leadership

Luc Viatour / http://www.Lucnix.be

As I have mentioned in my blog and website I am writing a book with a friend ofmine, Douglas Board, called The Social Development of Knowledge and Leadership.  Next month we will be arranging workshops and discussion to test the ideas and get feedback before we submit the final manuscript to the publisher towards the end of the year.Here is a taster of our book, if you have any comments or thoughts it would be great to hear from you.

Who the book is aimed at

The book is for people who, at a certain point in their career, are asking some fundamental questions about their leadership within the social melee in which they have found themselves. They have questions left unanswered by the formulaic advice and prescriptions offered by the many books on leadership.  It is aimed at people who want to work seriously with their own experience, not the abstract experience of others, so as to improve their own practice.  For some this may lead to a further programme of study, such as a doctorate or master’s degree, in which personal experience is going to be an important theme.  And by addressing the experience of their own leadership they will have something new to say to the community that they are a part of; in other words they will be creating practical knowledge.

Structure and inspiration for the book

The book has a varied ‘texture’ and pace ranging from narratives of our experiences to detailed argument.  This is intentional; the aim is to reflect the experience of everyday life.   In other words, life is not a clear linear passage of events presented with clarity and offering rational choice, a presentation that can often be seen in many books on leadership.  It is in the context of everyday life that leadership has to have meaning.  We therefore argue that attention should focus on the practical day to day realities that people face as they interact with others– emotionally, viscerally, and intellectually and so on.

We draw inspiration from the complexity sciences.  Drawing on the recent work of weather scientists and the natural sciences generally complexity provides an opportunity to consider organisational life as being non-deterministic and non-linear.  It allows us to raise our heads from the post Enlightenment ‘comfort’ of cause and effect, linearity and certainty.  Here we explore complexity though the power, or anticipated power, between people as they work together; not within discreet organisations but across the web of connections that they are part of, both knowingly and unknowingly.

Leadership

There are many theories on leadership and in the book we give a brief overview of some.  It can be tempting to be weary of the variety and the ease by which people offer a view into this crowded space without criteria to judge one idea from another (criteria that exists with knowledge).  However, for us, leadership is both important and meaningful, whatever the complex and ambiguous edges.  Between those moments of ‘significance’ (such as a presentation to the board) and the ‘routine’ (such as 1:1 with a member of staff) there are differences that can matter, differences that can be recognised as leadership.

Instead of offering models or frameworks we emphasise the importance of the essentially contested nature by which we all have to get along with each other.  It is here that acts of leadership are made in the context of unique situations that people find themselves in.  The leader, in paying attention to their own practice with others, becomes more aware of the connections, interconnections, the impact they have on others and the practical effects they have.  It is here that the complexity sciences form a useful analogy.

Knowledge

For knowledge to count as such there is a tendency to privilege the abstract, detached and universal.  This can be at the expense the continually contested nature of ongoing human interaction in which logic, ‘common sense’, anxiety, fear and hope all play out as people face those multiple and ambiguous choices in everyday life.  To us, all of this is important, not just the logical, post-hoc interpretation of the detached observer.  And it is in the rigorous process of working with one’s experience, as expressed in narrative, as part of a group process that valuable insights and knowledge can be gained.

The interaction of leadership and knowledge

As a leader engages in a process whereby they consider carefully their own experience new insights become apparent to them.  Once apparent they have a choice to act differently and in doing so new patterns of interaction occur.  At a practical level this might include meeting with different groups of people, engaging in different types on conversation or challenging the ‘way things are done’.  From this both the leader and those they interact with start to notice what has been hidden by a veil of familiarity that is shared amongst the group.  A familiarity often termed as ‘culture’.  It is in this process that both the leader can change and develop, but also create knowledge for the group.  And it is also our argument that these insights will be of value to organisations and to academics.

In practice

The importance of narrative has already been mentioned.  This is in the context of what we have termed immersed reflexivity.  A group of people, or learning set, is formed and with the support of a facilitator they draft narratives of important events.  These are written close to the time of the event so as not to lose the ambiguous choices and the emotion that can quickly dissipate when a person looks back in hindsight.  These narratives are shared with the set and discussed.  Areas that seem obvious, ‘clear cut’, or not worth a mention are noticed by set members and form a focus for conversation.  In noticing these and acting differently (which can in itself be a risk that needs to be carefully managed) at work relations change as do the interactions and power dynamics.  This becomes available for further discussion.  It is here that the opportunity arises to compare experience with accepted knowledge.  This might include those unsaid customs within an organisation’s culture and the accepted wisdom reflected within the professional press or in academia.

It is here that both the development of leadership and the creation of knowledge coincide.

Where we draw our inspiration from

These include: the complexity writer Ralph Stacey; the sociologists Pierre Bourdieu, Norbert Elias and Sudhir Venkatesh; the philosophers George Herbert Mead and Gilbert Ryle.

How the practice of research challenges both research and practice

A couple of days I ran a workshop at Cass Business School with a friend on how clinical research comes to affect practice.  As a case study we used the experience of Macmillan Cancer Support, an organisation that enables people to live with of cancer.  The particular aspect of Macmillan’s work that we discussed had a simple aim: it centred on the question of how different professionals and researchers across different organisations can overcome traditional boundaries and work together for the benefit of the patient.

Traditionally in research the objectives are stated,methodology agreed, actions implemented, results obtained, conclusions drawn and findings published: a key feature being a separation between the funding organisation, the researchers and the researched.  However, in the community we talked about (a group of researchers most of whom had clinical backgrounds) the practice of research was interwoven with the activity of practitioners.

This approach draws all the players on the ‘pitch’, in this case the commissioners, researchers, practitioners and patients; they became actively involved as the work developed and as insights became apparent and different courses of action decided upon.  This is a real opportunity.  It forces the questions; ‘is the work that were doing together useful, does it deliver the outcomes that both the researchers and the practitioners need and what do we need to do next?’

So, in undertaking research along with practice it enables the development of a collective memory that enables further discussions to be taken with sound evidence from research.  It also provided evidence to discuss with commissioners and others of the value (or not) of various practices and working relationships.

In this approach there are links with Action Research particularly: a focus on getting to grips with practical organisational problems; an emergent approach to how research was conducted;and using insights as they become apparent to initiate beneficial change.  However, there were differences, for instance there was no mention of cycles of research and activity, or indeed of ‘steppingback’ and considering the activity from a neutral space as is commonly spoken about.

The way of working pioneered by Macmillan has not only delivered practical benefits for the organisation, the researchers and the patient, but also provided a real challenge on how we carry out research.

Reference:  Donaldson, A., Lank, E., & Maher, J. (2011). Communities of Influence – Improving Healthcare Through Conversations and Connections. London and New York: Radcliffe Publishing.

Reflexivity as methodology: an approach to the necessarily political work of senior groups

This week Douglas and I had our paper on reflexivity as a research method published in Educational Action Research, here is the abstract and the weblink:

Research into senior groups and their political nature has serious gaps. We claim that participants in the process are best placed to be both researchers and, with others, the subject of research. Here we illustrate the shortcomings of current methodologies, such as action research, due to the spatial separation and detemporalisation between what is being researched and the construction of a research interpretation. We highlight a tendency to veer towards the intellectual post hoc interpretation of events at the expense of the visceral nature of immersed human experience. Reflexivity in this paper refers to the attention paid to engaging with one’s own experience and the noticing of one’s sometimes unsettling movement of thought over an extended period of time and by doing so how this in turn affects one’s own practice with others. We give examples of and argue for reflexive practice that understands and overcomes its own immersed nature.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09650792.2012.647757

Action Research and Strategic Analysis: Learning From Each Other

I have a foot in both camps: business strategic analysis/organisational development and academic organisational research.  I’m always interested when one can add something to the other – and this is the purpose of this posting.

Action Research is a field of organisational research that aims to be rigorous source of academic knowledge in the ‘tricky’ area of people in organisations.  By ‘tricky’ I mean that people are unpredictable – they have their own minds.  Therefore research does not lend itself to the ‘certainty’ that can be found in maths, physics and other hard sciences.  However, a rigorous approach to researching people in organisations can provide valuable insights that can be of benefit to organisations themselves and academia.

In order to achieve this research must be rigorously set up, conducted and assessed.  This is vital in order to follow the inevitable twists and turns that occur in researching people and organisations.  In my experience the world of strategic analysis has much to learn from academia, even the big management consulting firms could pick up more than a few tips.

Several years ago the NHS Research Health Technology Assessment team came up with a number questions that help to assess the quality of research, analysis and projects in Action Research.  To me these are relevant today as they were then.  Here are a few:

• Is there a clear statement of the aims and objectives
• Is the approach to be used (in this case Action Research) the most appropriate method
• Will the research be project managed in an appropriate way (proportionate to size and complexity)
• What are the ethical issues that are envisaged and how might they be handled
• Is there sufficient funding and time
• Will the actual data and insights that might be gained along the way address the question
• How will the rigour of the findings be tested and checked along the way
• If and when things change or take a different turn will the approach be able to cope – is there sufficient flexibility
• If the project is split into phases are the objectives of these clear and will the envisaged approach address these
• Is there a clear link between the proposal and an existing body of knowledge (for example within an organisation) in order to give it context
• At each step along the way will there be an opportunity to reflect on progress to date and how this addresses the original objective.  It might well be that the objective needs to change in light of one’s research
• Is it clear how the research will be read and judged

I am not suggesting that these questions should be set, answered at the beginning of a project and fixed; but they do offer a useful agenda for both the client and the consultant to develop a shared understanding and to hold each other to account.

Source: Waterman, H, Tillen, D, Dickson, R and de Koning, K (2001) Action research: a systematic review and guidance for assessment, Health Technology Assessment, Vol 5, No 23, p48-51