Action Research in OD
Action research is one of the distinctive features of OD and one of its core origins (Schein
1989; French and Bell 1999; Pasmore 2001; Bradbury et al. 2008; Coghlan 2012; Klev and
Levin 2012). As a collaborative, interventionist form of research OD is grounded in its
Lewinian roots in the scholarship of practice (Burnes and Cooke 2012). For Lewin, it was
not enough to try to explain things; one also had to try to change them. This insight led to
the development of action research and the powerful notion that human systems could only
be understood and changed if one involved the members of the system in the inquiry
process itself. So the tradition of involving the members of an organization in the change
process which is the hallmark of OD originated in a scientific premise that this is the way
(a) to get better data and (b) to effect change (Schein 1989). Action research was based on
two assumptions which are the cornerstones of OD. One is that involving the clients or
learners in their own learning, not only produces better learning but more valid data about
how the system really works. The other is that one only understands a system when one
tries to change it, as changing human systems often involves variables which cannot be
controlled by traditional research methods.