Search

This paper identifies a newly emerging function for the behavioral scientist and exemplifies its activities by describing and analyzing some recent work in the organizational change area. First, some traditional strategies of change are discussed, followed by a description and analysis of some of the newer change programs associated with the National Training Laboratories, Tavistock Institute, R. R. Blake, C. Argyris, and others. Finally, the "role strains" which inhere in this new action role are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I am grateful to Professor Dubin for the careful attention he has given to the somewhat neglected pattern variables and for his considerable effort in exploring their potential usefulness. His article has led to a serious reconsideration of the problems he has raised-in particular, the relation between what he refers to as Model I (the pattern variables as formulated in Toward a General Theory of Action ) and Model II (the paradigm of four functional problems of systems of action from Working Papers, and later publications). Dubin suggests that the usefulness of Model II is impaired by too drastic a condensation, and that it cannot be reconciled with Model I. The Editor's invitation to comment on his paper has given me the opportunity to work out an overdue clarification of the ways in which Model II builds on and goes beyond, rather than replaces, Model I. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the process wherein persons move from disparate points in space all time one to common location at time two. Theoretical explanations of this phenomenon are reviewed and critically examined. An alternate interpretation is advanced and supported by data from a study of one non-periodic assembling process. A correlation of R =` 67 is obtained between time receipt of assembling instructions, and related a facilities, and the completion of the assembling process. We discuss time implications of these results, and the alternate interpretation for future theory' and research on the assembling process and other aspects of collective behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with isolated purposive acts rather than with their integration into a coherent system of action. This limitation is prescribed by expediency, for a treatment of systems of action would introduce further complications. Furthermore, unforeseen consequences are not to be identified with consequences, which are necessarily undesirable. For though these results are unintended, they are not upon their occurrence always deemed axiologically negative. In short, undesired effects are not always undesirable effects. The intended and anticipated outcomes of purposive action, however, are always, in the very nature of the case, relatively desirable to the actor, though they may seem axiologically negative to an outside observer. This is true even in the polar instance where the intended result is the lesser of two evils or in such cases as suicide, ascetic mortification and self torture which, in given situations, are deemed desirable relative to other possible alternatives. Rigorously speaking, the consequences of purposive action are limited to those elements in the resulting situation, which are exclusively the outcome of the action that is those elements, which would not have occurred, had the action not taken place.

This paper is concerned with developing a means of studying social action, rather than attending only to structure. A county self-survey of health conditions is used as a test case. Certain assumptions and questions are specified and the flow of action is abstracted. On this basis, a model is developed. Five analytical components are seen: (1) convergence of interest, (2) establishment of an initiating set, (3) legitimation and sponsorship, (4) establishment of an executing set and mobilization of community resources, (5) fulfillment of a "charter." Each component is presented and discussed in some detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article has been an attempt to synthesize and apply the theories and methods of action research to a practical research problem. It grew out of the needs of the authors for a framework within which to analyze specific actions of community groups. In the spring and summer of 1932 it was used as the basis for a field study of 145 community-needs-oriented actions in ten rural communities in North Carolina. Community research in the United States has been predominantly structural in emphasis. While acknowledging the fundamental importance of structural studies, it must be recognized that they have not been very fruitful for predicting actions of organized groups within communities. Even in those studies of communities in which the functions performed by structural elements have been featured, the group or organization itself is the major focus or unit of analysis. The twin aims of understanding and allowing the researcher to predict group actions under given conditions, either actions of the total community or the actions of some part of the community, are met only in small degree by concentrating on this unit.

In the past several years it has not been uncommon for the caseworker to take on the responsibilities of research interviewer in addition to his regular social work duties. This has come about for a number of reasons and is mainly to be seen in the action-research type program. It is assumed, often without question, that the caseworker qua caseworker, by virtue of his training and experience in human relations, is admirably suited for the position of research interviewer. The argument of this paper is that he is not so qualified. This erroneous impression has created unnecessary problems in social work-research endeavors. The successful completion of the action-research program is heavily contingent upon the caseworker's ability and willingness to accept the dual role researcher and caseworker. The focus is on the caseworkers in the organization that found themselves with the prospect of accomplishing two diverse tasks casework and research. They were faced with the predicament of reconciling a basic job orientation to a system whose demands they saw as deviating from some rather fundamental tenets of their profession. For a successful action-research program the individual in the focal position must be equipped to act in the capacity of caseworker and researcher simultaneously and with equal effectiveness, but the two roles must remain independent to prevent contamination of one by the other.

Parsons' classificatory system defining the social act is analyzed for tautologies and restrictions in the relationships among its elements. This generates a set of all possible viable social acts. It is also Productive to view this system as a statement of Process in the act. From this stand point, prediction of human behavior becomes possible based on the Probabilities of the occurrence of each type of act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the political incursions in the process of evaluation research. Researchers who undertake the evaluation of social action programs are engaged in enterprise fraught with hazards. They are beset by conceptual and methodological problems, problems of relationships, status and function, practical problems and problems of career and reward. There is also an increasing requirement to boost visibility and scope of evaluation research in recent years. The big change that is expected is that both programming and evaluation are now national in scope. Programs may actually become no more standardized in form, content and structure than they ever were, but they are funded from a common source and bear a common name, which is "community action program,".

The article presents comments of the author on a paper related to the applicability of the Guttman scale in rural sociological research merits the attention for two reasons. First it directs the attention of rural sociologists to a relatively little known research technique, which has proved to be of great value in other research areas. Secondly, it explores the possibilities of this technique for action research; in the words of their summary: how to apply research in the service of policy makers. However, it seems that the authors have stated their case a bit overoptimistically, where they describe the possibilities of the Guttman scale as an "instrument d'action et de pedagogie." The authors speak of elaborating standards for the measurement of attitudes, capable of showing the characteristic stages in the process of evolution of farmers, to indicate the exact place of each category in the process, to make possible comparisons--on the psychological level--between the different categories and to control the effectiveness of the actions undertaken.

Introduces several papers on the selected features and pertinent issues in the field of organization development (OD) in the U.S. Events, theories and circumstances that occurred prior to the emergence of OD; Description of action research and training, as well as examples of the flexibility and power of the approach to change; Argument for human resource development.

This article is the author's response to sociologist Glenn Goodwin's criticism of his article "Heeding Skinner's Call," published in the November 1973 issue of the periodical "The American Sociologist." The author says that the type of social theory he refers to is social-action theory. To him social-action theory always represented an exercise in pure epistemology. By locating the causal nexus of action in the subjective meaning attached by the individual to a social stimulus, social-action theorists have called for the development of a subtle science of the subjective, so subtle, and so subjective that it has little hope of providing constructive guidelines for pragmatic utilization of sociological knowledge. The author says that in "Heeding Skinners Call," he placed major emphasis upon the operationalized knowledge being produced by the experimental psychologist. But one need not and must not stop with this type of technology. He also made passing reference to the contribution that could be made by refinements in architectural technology in designing human social space. Likewise, one could proceed to include the biological and chemical technologies that are expanding one's understanding of the human nervous system.

Researchers and consultants interested in the solution of problems in work organizations have made regular use of action research. Systematic attempts to use the interplay of action and research as the basis for promoting planned change designed to deal with social problems appear to be of more recent origin, although since action research is a form of applied research and is often conducted outside the academic world, early attempts to use such an approach may simply have escaped notice through lack of reporting. However, with the exception of the Bristol Social Project in the mid-fifties, there seem to be few examples of such enterprises in Great Britain prior to the advent of the Educational Priority Area project in 1968 and the community Development Project in 1969. This article discusses the experience of these projects as research enterprises, and points to some of the difficulties involved in conducting action research in the field of social problems. It considers two main problems which face projects of this sort that of providing findings of general relevance, and that of working in a local situation where there is no single power structure.

This article presents a description of action research and training as well as examples of the flexibility and power of the approach to change in organization development in the U.S. The approach used in this article by no means exhausts AT and R methods and strategies. The action research that emerges today is often melding of all the four methods of action research in 1984. The National Training and Development Service has been investing its resources heavily in AT and R as a change strategy.

The article looks at Group Feed-back Analysis (GFA) as it applies to field research. GFA claims to possess a number of advantages over other feed-back methods. The author notes that any method which helps to improve the quality or speed of learning is considered to be part of a change facilitating process. GFA has been applied in various non-training situations to produce action based on research findings. The article discusses the action research application of Group Feed-back Analysis and the theoretical model within which GFA appears to work as a change agent. The author focuses on a description of the method for use in training. The author makes mention of reports which suggest that the trend towards descriptive teaching is due in part to the low quality of the teaching staff utilized in the study.

The article focuses on the value of action research, which has been developed by the Tavistock institute of Human Relations in Great Britain. Action research, or the sociotherapeutic approach, is a collaboration between social scientists and managers who identify and try to resolve human problems in the work situation. A project conducted by the Research Department of Ashridge Management College focused on management at small firms. The development of management strategy is defined in three time periods and changes in organizational structure and communication patterns are evaluated. The risk in action research is sharing the decision-making process with outsiders whose expertise is not an exact science.

This article deals with experience gained in the course of an action-research project which has been under way in Austin, Minnesota since 1948, at George A. Hormel & Co. The workers are organized in Local 9 of the United Packinghouse Workers of America. The objective of the project is to understand the ways in which these workers are related to the industrial and social process and to explore ways and means of establishing the kind of inner and outer relatedness which will allow them to develop their individual potentialities to the greatest extent. The author of this article seeks to address two interrelated problems: (1) how can the social researcher, as an outsider, get valid data, and; (2) how can such data be obtained within a context of mutual understanding and willingness to collaborate in sharing information in a real social situation?

Professor George Geiger has provided a very thoughtful framework for describing and clarifying the role of the social scientist in action-research projects. With some minor variations in usage, the term action-reached has continued to denote the activity of applying research methodology to the diagnosis and solution of practical problems of taking action. The author of this article attempts to examine some of the problems of the social scientist who is faced with the decision of whether or not to participate, and how to participate, in action-research with some action group in the society. The invitation probably comes from some group that wants to become more scientific in evaluating its program and making better policy decisions.

The development of action research in community problems represents a significant change in the social participation of the social scientists. This article aims to suggest that those who are concerned with action research on community projects may with advantage consider the scope and limitations of other types of social research, and the difficulties and successes of established professional disciplines concerned in tackling human problems, particularly medical practice and social case work.

This article examines the relations between education and human relations. Attempts to undertake more fundamental work in connection with human relations in the schools and their effect on personality development meet with the resistance which is to be expected to any study which threatens the status quo. The study of these resistances and of their methods for their dissolution constitutes a major task for action research and reveals a new role for the psychologist in education. A sketch is given on the character of the school system and of the principles on which action research should rely in seeking to modify it in the direction of democracy.

This article is a revision of the article titled "Principia Sociologica," which appeared in the third volume of "The British Journal of Sociology," which discusses theories of sociologist Talcott Parsons. In the pre-Bales era we have the action systems and the pattern variables. There has been some modification of both these sets of concepts. An action is a constituent of three systems: as a physical act it is a constituent of the organic system, as a purposeful piece of behavior it is a constituent of a personality system and if it is directed towards another person or set of persons it is a constituent of a social system. The pattern variables, are concerned with the way we apprehend the objects towards which we act and the way we orient ourselves towards them. An object may be apprehended as a member of a class or in its own right as having something of particular significance to the actor. In addition an object may be appraised for what it is or for what it does.

Sociologists should not be surprised that social psychologists, social anthropologists, and others almost ignore the contributions of sociology to what is called action research and group dynamics. It is not unusual for the contributions of sociology to be overlooked by men in other fields. Action research deals with what sociologists have been calling social problems and social conflict. Group dynamics and social processes appear to mean about the same thing. One meaning of action research is the scientific investigation of functioning social structures, usually small ones. Important questions are raised when action research refers to making social changes in large social systems as a result of research. This involves valuing: adopting social policies and reforming social structures which are socially undesirable so that they will function in what is hoped will be a more socially useful manner. It means making an ethical judgment about the structure or functioning of some groups, preferring one to another, and basing such preferences on data gained by research. The idea that scientists are doing research for the purpose of solving moral ethical problems shocks the minds of many scientists. They insist that science and scientists are essentially amoral, nonethical and nonutilitarian.

This article presents an evaluation of large-scale social action programs in education. It has three major parts. First, a delineation of political character of the new programs was made, in order to distinguished them from the traditional objects of educational evaluation. Second, a review of some evaluations of the new programs was undertaken to illustrate and define the major obstacles to evaluation. Finally, a suggestion was given for the elements of a strategy which might improve the evaluation of social action programs. The political aspects of evaluation are not peculiar to social action programs. they do, however, assume more obvious importance as an educational program grows in size and number of jurisdiction covered: the bigger it is, the greater the likelihood for the overt appearance of political competition. The politics of social action programs produce two evaluation problems. First, some are conceptual, the program's nature and aims have not been well understood which resulted to a misconceived evaluation. second, others are practical, the interested parties do not agree on the ordering of priorities which the programs embody, thus resulting to conflicting political interests.

This article focuses on the evaluation of the educational program in early and middle childhood and the increased emphasis on the importance of comprehensive evaluation of the general school program. Furthermore, attention was given to the aspects of evaluation related to procedures of reporting to parents, testing, grading, and promotion. Action-research procedures have maintained their place in school instruction and evaluation programs. Investigations of the relationships between various hypothesized predictors and teaching competency were extensive in spite of the many studies purporting to determine concomitants of teacher competency. Finally, many of the major contributions of evaluation were those of textbook writers, and recognition of the importance of adequate evaluation procedures was widespread.

This article discusses the community action projects in the area of intercultural relations. This article will attempt to identify issues in the forefront of thinking of social researchers, achievements typified by specific investigations, general accomplishments represented by specific studies, and trends and prospects in social research. A major issue of concern to social researchers deals with researcher-practitioner relationship, and research and action balance. A second issue that appears frequently in the study has to do with the development of adequate assessment tools and technics. A third issue is the need for more basic research. A fourth issue concerns the need for socially significant research. The following trends and prospects emerge in social research: further development of an interdisciplinary approach, recognition of the relative ineffectualness of propaganda and fact dissemination as a method of changing attitudes and behavior, interest in the genesis of anti-minority attitudes in children, focus on the two-directional nature of intergroup tensions, discussion of the psychological approach, and recognition of the need for greater control in analysis and assessment of the variables being studied.

The article discusses the introduction of an action research program in teacher education in the U.S. This article presents a survey over graduates of the Teacher Recruitment and Training Program directed at the San Francisco Unified School District, in cooperation with San Francisco State College. Reports from several schools participating in the program indicates varying degrees of success in developing a program in which practice is more closely articulated to theory. One contribution of the program is the continuous experience in public schools enabling the teacher-trainee to get a more realistic perception of education.

The article provides information about the Dutch registration service for current social science research by the Social Science Council of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences and Letters, together with support of the public authorities in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Headed by H. P. Hoge-weg-de Haart, the registration service will undertake to register all social research in an early stage of progress. It will include research in the fields of sociology, cultural anthropology, social geography, demography, political science, and other research that has special social bearings.

The article offers information about the joint effort of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching with the Council for Elementary Science International in organizing a meeting to improve the instruction in elementary science in the U.S. The proposed meeting is expected to aid the prima-facie importance of research in the understandings of the council. Classroom teachers in the elementary are encouraged to participate in action research. The council took a direct effort to stimulate action research in elementary school science.