“Organization Development (OD) is a change effort that is carried out in a participative way, involving those affected by the change, and that uses action research as a key roadmap for the change” (Rothwell, 2012, p. 276).
I recall learning about Action Research in the first course that I had in the OD&C curriculum with World Campus. What has been interesting is that I have had several opportunities to apply it during change interventions that I have been involved with at my organization.
One recent example is with respect to formalizing the process by which new associates are onboarded to the organization. IN this case, the challenge that had been presented by the stakeholders is that there is inconsistency across the organization- some departments are conducting different processes. Parts of the Action Research model that my project team has been following include conducting focus groups to collect feedback and then share that with the stakeholders, in addition to collecting feedback from them. We then were able to collect information and put it into an action plan (which was intended to create a more formal, company-wide process). We presented this recommendation to the stakeholders,they approved, and we are in the process of implementing it.
Whether there are small-scaled or large scaled change efforts, I have found that the ARM is a solid, relatively simple way to systematically work through the intervention. It’s been incredibly useful.