Action research Principles, Organisational learning and Leading Change
Forgasz, (2011) explains what action research is and isn’t. He cites Lewin (1946, 1952) who described action research briefly as proceeding in a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of planning, action, and the evaluation of the result of the action. He further outlines each exact stage of the action research process.
Similarly, according to Stringer (2004), action research involves 9 steps of which the characteristics are;
· Change: improving practices and behaviours by changing them
· Reflection: People thinking, reflection, and/or theorising about their own practices, behaviours, and situations
· Participation: People changing their own practices and behaviours, not those of others
· Inclusion: Starting with the agendas and perspectives of the least powerful, widening the circle to include all those affected by the problem
· Sharing: People sharing their perspectives with others
· Understanding: Achieving clarity of understanding of the different perspectives and experiences involved
· Repetition: Repeating cycles of research activity leading toward solution to a problem
· Practice: Testing emerging understandings by using them as a basis for changing practices or constructing new practices
· Community: Works toward the development/building of a learning community (Stringer 2004, p. 6).
Stringer provides models and figures to illustrate the process of ‘starting small’ and ‘working developmentally’ (Stringer, 2004, p. 11-12.). He explains that it is a systematic inquiry that improves problems in classrooms and schools, and is cyclic and collaborative in approach. ‘The process includes design of the study, data gathering, data analysis, communication of outcomes and taking action’ (Stringer, 2004, p. 13).
Within the context of action research, and implementing outcomes, there is a focus on using change management principles to implement new practices. But it is transforming culture which ‘leads to deep, lasting change’ (Fullan, 2002, p. 18) and he states that ‘The goal is not to innovate the most. Innovating selectively, with coherence is better’ (Fullan, 2002, p. 17).
Fullan has written extensively on change forces and leading change and states that ‘Change is a journey, not a Blueprint’ (Fullan, 1993, p.21). He talks about how a shared vision is ‘essential for success’ and how it ‘must evolve through the dynamic interaction of organisational members and leaders’ Fullan (1993 p.28). He described five core mind-action sets that characterise successful leaders in all learning organisations. ‘The conclusion, then, is that leaders will increase their effectiveness if they continually work on the five components of leadership – if they pursue moral purpose, understanding the change process, developing relationships, foster knowledge building, and strive for coherence – with energy, enthusiasm and hopefulness’ (Fullan, 2001, p. 11).
Fullan’s Motion Leadership, The Skinny on Becoming Change Savvy (2011), outlines his ‘6 secrets of change’ which are his Instructional Core Principles (Love your employees, connect peers with purpose, capacity building prevails, learning is the work, transparency rules and systems learn). Fullan also explains the ‘Power of Ready-Fire-Aim’. Due to the complex and messy nature of change, a ‘Ready, fire, aim’ approach is more effective than developing a comprehensive strategic plan before implementation (Fullan, 1993, p. 31). He also cautions to ‘honour the Implementation Dip’ which basically explains that things will get much worse before they get better, so it is important to persevere, and provides strategies for leadership to ‘help people get through the dip’ (Fullan, 2011, p; 3). Fullan (2003) further explains that for change to occur ‘each and every teacher has the responsibility to help create an organization capable of individual and collective inquiry and continuous renewal’ (p. 39).
Implementation of change due to action research needs to be sensitively approached, taking into consideration leadership support, school culture, ‘unfreezing, movement, refreezing' (Lewin, 1946) and ‘force field analyses'. Force field analysis can assist with deciding situations likely to change, it measures resistance and allows one to identify when it is just not working. Reddin (1970) as explained by Allix (2011) identifies how to change and when to change, ‘change reaction,’ and how we have to take into account the human factor in ‘change’. Fullan (1993, p. 24) also states, ‘When complex change is involved, people do not and cannot change by being told to do so’.
Understanding the school to maximise change is vital. Organizational learning … ‘encompasses both processes and outcomes. It can be described as the ways firms build, supplement and organize knowledge and routines around their activities and within their cultures, and adapt and develop organizational efficiency by improving the use of the broad skills of their workforces’ (Dodgson, 1993, p. 377) as explained by Allix (2011).
The highest level of organizational learning is ‘deutero-learning: ‘This is when members of an organization learn about previous contexts for learning, by reflecting on and inquiring into previous episodes of organizational learning, or failure to learn, and incorporating this understanding into their organizational practices or theories-in-use on a continuous basis, (Allix, 2011). All of the principles and practices will be applied in my ARP in the coming months as we go through the steps to implement change and improve on existing teaching and learning. Currently we have just applied the planning and the introduction to the action.