Systems Thinking in Action Learning and Action Research
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Special issue: Systems Thinking in Action Learning and Action Research ALAR Journal Vol 21 No 1 August 2015 ALAR Journal is published by the Action Learning, Action Research Association Inc (ALARA) . Managing editor: Susan Goff Issue editor: Debora Hammond, Shankar Sankaran and Susan Goff Editorial team in alphabetical order, for this issue: Michael Dent, Susan Goff, Vasudha Kamat, Margaret O’Connell, Zada Pajalic, Rachel Perry, Riripeti Reedy, Steve Smith, Emmanuel Tetteh, Lesley Wood Editorial inquiries: The editor, ALAR Journal ALARA Inc PO Box 1748 Toowong, Qld 4066 Australia [email protected] ALAR Journal Volume 21 No 1 August 2015 ISSN 1326-964X CONTENTS Editorial 3 Debora Hammond, Shankar Sankaran and Susan Goff Application of the Structured Dialogic Design 11 Process to Examining Economic Integration and Free Trade in Cyprus Yiannis Laouris, Tatjana Taraszow, Mustafa Damdelen, Ilke Dağlı, Derya Beyatlı, Andros Karayiannis, Kevin Dye, & Alexander N. Christakis Systemic Pedagogy: A Design for Action 53 Researcher Collective Self Development Ross Colliver, Susan Goff, Riripeti Reedy and Vicki Vaartjes ALAR Journal Vol 21 No 1 August 2015 Page 1 ALARj 21 (1) (2015) 1-2 © 2015 Action Learning, Action Research Association Inc www.alarassociation.org All rights reserved. Developing Pictorial Conceptual Metaphors as a 77 means of understanding and changing the Australian Health System for Indigenous People Bronwyn Fredericks, Kathleen Clapham, Dawn Bessarab, Patricia Dudgeon, Roxanne Bainbridge, Rowena Ball, Marlene Thompson (Longbottom), Clair Andersen, Mick Adams, Len Collard, Deb Duthie and Carolyn Daniel Negotiating the right path: Working together to 108 effect change in healthcare service provision to Aboriginal peoples Michael Wright and Margaret O’Connell Scaffolding of task complexity awareness and its 124 impact on actions and learning Pia Andersson Communal-Photosynthesis Metaphor: 148 Autobiographical Action-Research Journeys and Heuristic-Action-Learning Frameworks of Living Educational Theories Emmanuel Nii Ayikwei Tetteh ALARA membership information and 177 article submissions © 2015. ALARA Inc and the author(s) jointly hold the copyright of ALAR Journal articles. ALAR Journal Vol 21 No 1 August 2015 Page 2 ALARj 21 (1) (2015) 3-10 © 2015 Action Learning, Action Research Association Inc www.alarassociation.org All rights reserved. Editorial Debora Hammond, Shankar Sankaran and Susan Goff Dear Readers, A warm welcome to this special issue on ‘Systems Sciences and Action Research’, a joint effort between the Action Learning and Action Research Journal (ALARj) and the Action Research Special Integration Group (AR SIG) of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS), which is intended to explore the relationship and encourage integration between action research and systems thinking. As the organizer of the AR SIG in 2013, Professor Shankar Sankaran, in collaboration with Professor Debora Hammond, proposed the theme for this issue and worked with Managing Editor Dr. Susan Goff to issue a call for papers and to serve as co-editors in the project. We are grateful to the reviewers, from ALARA, ISSS, ANZSYS (The Australia New Zealand Systems Society), and INCOSE (International Council for Systems Engineering), who generously contributed their time to review papers. Robert Flood, who edits Systemic Practice and Action Research, elaborates on the link between systems thinking and action research by stating that ‘action research carried out with a systemic perspective in mind promises to construct meaning that resonates strongly with our experiences within a profoundly systemic world’. (Flood 2010: 282). Foster-Fisherman & Foster (2010: 248) make a strong argument for systemic AR by stating that ‘Systemic AR has a great promise as a method for promoting large-scale systems change. Systems thinking is one framework that can be useful for action researchers who hope to pursue transformative change and reveal, among other things, the axiomatic knowledge within a targeted context’ (p. 248-249). ALAR Journal Vol 21 No 1 August 2015 Page 3 ALARj 21 (1) (2015) 3-10 © 2015 Action Learning, Action Research Association Inc www.alarassociation.org All rights reserved. The practice is more recently recognised in the publication “The SAGE Encyclopedia of Action Research” (Coghlan and Brydon- Miller, 2014) who identify Systemic Action Research as having distinctive practices including: building pictures of the system, multiple starting points for inquiry, multiple and parallel inquiry strands, and fluid inquiry groups which follow the issues. The works of Danny Burns, Yoland Wadsworth, Merinda Epstein, and Susan Weil are discussed amongst others. Historically, there has been a close association between action research and systems theory and practice, particularly in the United Kingdom. Growing out of his involvement with a group of action researchers at the University of Lancaster in the 1960s, Peter Checkland developed Soft Systems Methodology, which has been very influential in the evolution of applied systems theory. Action research has been a foundational practice in the socio-technical systems approach, developed by Eric Trist and Fred Emery of the Tavistock Institute. Trist was initially inspired by Kurt Lewin, who is credited with the development of the concept of action research, and the open system concept introduced by Ludwig von Bertalanffy, father of general systems theory. Midgley (2001) brought the focus on critical systems thinking at work in boundary creation within participatory inquiry environments underpinning much of the methodology of current Systemic Action Research praxis: “Boundary critique gives rise to the possibility of embracing theoretical pluralism. This is because different theories imply different boundaries of analysis, meaning that choice between boundaries also involves choice between theories.” (p. 103). Although the connections are not quite as explicit in the United States, there was a close association between Trist & Emery and Russ Ackoff, who was one of the leading figures in the evolution of applied systems theory in the U.S. He introduced an interactive approach to planning that embodies key features of action research, including the involvement of all stakeholders in the planning process and a continuous process of planning, action and reflection. Similar principles can be seen in 1) the practice of ALAR Journal Vol 21 No 1 August 2015 Page 4 ALARj 21 (1) (2015) 3-10 © 2015 Action Learning, Action Research Association Inc www.alarassociation.org All rights reserved. interactive management introduced by John Warfield in collaboration with Alexander Christakis, who went on to develop co-laboratories of democracy with Kenneth Bausch, and 2) the process of idealized design developed by Bela H. Banathy. Many of these threads are explicitly interwoven in the article by Yiannis Laouris et al ("Examining Economic Integration and Free Trade within Cyprus using Structured Dialogic Design"), which builds on Warfield's interactive management and Christakis's and Bausch's co-laboratories of democracy to describe the implementation of a structured dialogic design (SDD) process. Including economists and business experts representing both communities, the project sought to address the challenges of economic integration between Turkish and Greek Cyprus. The process involves articulating a clear vision of desired outcomes, identifying obstacles to the realization of the vision, and exploring the relationships between the obstacles to discover the root cause. As the authors note, "[a]n effective and realistic action plan needs to first deal with the identified root causes of the root cause map in order to reach the desired situation, that is, the idealized vision." In contrast to Laouris et al, who draw primarily on developments in the applied systems field that reflect the basic principles of action research, Ross Colliver et al ("Systemic pedagogy: A Design for Action Researcher collective self-development"), describe the facilitation of a conference intensive for action researchers with the intention of integrating a more systemic approach to learning participatory knowledge generation skills. The following passage reflects the explicit focus on collaborative inquiry in addressing the dynamics of power and seeking meaningful change: Action Researchers ask questions about significant concerns in everyday organisational and public contexts. Through facilitating collaborative learning, they assist people to form the knowledge that informs actions with the intent to reduce the impact of those significant concerns. The process of inquiry itself develops the practices that not only constitute change; they also build awareness of the power and associated ethics, to do so. Ethics are essential in the reconfigurations of power, authority and agency that come with action. ALAR Journal Vol 21 No 1 August 2015 Page 5 ALARj 21 (1) (2015) 3-10 © 2015 Action Learning, Action Research Association Inc www.alarassociation.org All rights reserved. In connection with the focus on issues relating to power and agency, the authors highlight the importance of honouring different worldviews, particularly the knowledges and languages of communities that have traditionally been marginalized, empowering them to "co-construct a future rather than simply submit to a mono-cultural and dominant form of power to control a future that only reflects the past." This process of nurturing mutual understanding in multi-cultural