Relational and Existential Challenges of Practicing Dialogic Action Research – Working with Social Concrete Blocks in Organizations

In: International journal of action research: IJAR, Band 3, Heft 1+2, S. 15-37

Open Access

Abstract

"The article illustrates that there seems to be a fairly large distance between
action research ideals of dialogue, democracy, participation, and involvement
and the actual challenges we have met when practicing dialogic
action research in hierarchical organizations where dialogue is always
already embedded in organizational power relations. An overall purpose is
to show that we are not only involved professionally as action researchers,
but also challenged existentially as human beings when practicing dialogic
action research. This has at least two consequences. One is about giving
up knowing in advance. The other is about focusing on the quality of the
relations with the participants, because this relationship seems to have
critical impact on the quality of the results of dialogic action research
projects.
The article presents some concepts developed in dialogic action research
projects in Danish, private and public organizations such as AR dilemmas,
self-referentiality, emergent mutual involvement and not knowing, social
concrete blocks, and the arbitrary punctuator." (author's abstract)