Beyond theory : changing organizations through participation / / [edited by] Stephen Toulmin, Björn Gustavsen

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910822450003321
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Amsterdam ; ; Philadelphia, : J. Benjamins Pub., c1996
• ISBN: 1-283-32787-2; 9786613327871; 90-272-7616-1
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (241 p.)
• Collana: Dialogues on work and innovation ; ; v. 2
• Altri autori (Persone): ToulminStephen <1922-2009.>; GustavsenBjørn
• Disciplina: 658.4/063
• Soggetti: Organizational change; Action research; Management - Employee participation
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: BEYOND THEORY; Editorial page; Title page; Copyright page; Table of contents; Preface; Note; Introduction; Chapter 1. Development and the Social Sciences: An uneasy relationship; Introduction; The point of origin: The experiment; The diffusion problem; General theory and local projects; A redefinition of the points of departure; The job design workshop; Reform of the work environment; The LOM program; Research and development: Issues and perspectives; The organization of this book and its main themes; Notes; Chapter 2. Workplace Development and Research: Two examples; Introduction; Pelly AB; Mopro ASConcluding remarks; Notes; Chapter 3. Creating Reflective Dialogue; Setting the stage: A puzzle in nursing research and practice; Creating dialogue: The first round of responses; The second round of responses: What might you do?; The third round: What about the nurse-physician relationship?; Notes; Chapter 4. Workplace Development, Gender and Communicative Competence; Introduction; Some issues of methodology; The Birth Clinic Project: An overview; The development organization; Perceptions of work in the Birth Clinic; Before (and after) the project; The homogenous groups; The heterogeneous groups The vertical slice project management group; Results; Concluding remarks; Notes; Chapter 5. Strategic Management from the Bottom Up: The start of a process of managerial, organizational and institutional change; Introduction; Strategic Management from the Bottom Up: building organizationalcompetences; Principles of Strategic Management from the Bottom Up; Limitations of decentralization and business units; Increasing importance of immaterial rewards; Reasons for higher involvement in strategic decision making; Why a cross section of the organization speeds up the information flowThe implementation of Strategic Management from the Bottom Up; What are strategic questions?; Continuing Strategic Management from the Bottom Up through aknowledge platform; Implications for the content of management tasks and the position of theshop floor; Conclusion; Chapter 6. Action Research and Regional Development; A regional approach to innovative structures; Notes; Chapter 7. The Development Organization as Communicative Instrumentation: Experiences from the Karlstad program; 1. Background and purposes of the action research program in Karlstad2. Three phases in the development process of the K-projects; 3. Project descriptions; 4. Communicative instruments in a development organization; 5. From dialogue conferences to the development organization and beyond; Notes; Chapter 8. Searching for a Program in National Participation: An action research experiment in Turkey; I. Introduction; II. Research strategy; III. The context: structuring the organizational ecology; IV. Process principles; V. The outcomes: how action unfolded; VI. Discussion of difficulties and dilemmas
• Sommario/riassunto: Action Research is one of the most practical and down-to-earth ways of doing research into working life. Beyond Theory draws on examples and actual cases to discuss action research within the framework of the modern, and postmodern, theory of science debate. While action research has been much criticized by the traditionalists, the book reflects a convergence between action research and positions emerging out of the critique of scientific traditionalism. Discussions between these two fields of knowledge, originally so very different, can enrich both. The book will be useful not only to