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By Scott Bellows
In Summary
- The Action Research Model contains eight useful steps to identify and fix potential problems.
Ever since childhood, Ondiko pondered the unfortunate
reality of youth underemployment in Kenya. He examined the root causes
as well as probable solutions.
While still a student in university in 2011, Ondiko founded a
youth-based organisation. By 2014, the entity grew to 50 full-time
staff and nearly 1,000 volunteers at universities across Kenya.
Ondiko began to realise that the organisation could
achieve loftier goals with some possible modifications. He knew some
problems existed in various departments due to varying levels of skill
sets. Inasmuch, Ondiko decided to hire an external organisational
development consultant to look into the prospective issues.
So, as a leader of an organisation with potential
issues, Ondiko clearly does not want to continue with the status quo.
He, like most leaders, desires to change his entity for the better.
Such leaders must understand the steps of the
Action Research Model for organisational change. The Action Research
Model contains eight useful steps to identify and fix potential
problems.
1.Any change initiative must begin with identifying the problem.
When gathering your team together, take care not to become too specific with the problem. Acceptable problems may entail: “we fail to respond to client inquiries fast enough” or “our products are less creative than competitors”.
When gathering your team together, take care not to become too specific with the problem. Acceptable problems may entail: “we fail to respond to client inquiries fast enough” or “our products are less creative than competitors”.
Do not proceed to label something internal to your
entity as the problem in this stage, such as: “our sales team is lazy”
or “our design engineers lack talent”. Focus on the end problem, or
outcome, rather than possible inputs or outputs that may cause the end
problem at this point.
2.Spend some time and consult with an organisational development behavioural science expert.
Organisations from Kisumu to Mombasa and Paris to
Shanghai often skip behavioural science advice. Then, those same
entities often wonder why their respective change initiatives do not
work.
A behavioural science expert understands the
motivations, expectations, and performance possibilities of workers.
Include such individuals early in the process, such as here at the
second stage.
Then, your approach, investigation, and solutions
will run more smoothly. It will save you headache later. Find certified
organisational development experts who understand worker behaviour
through Kenya’s not-for-profit industry association: Institute of
Organisation Development Practitioners.
3.Collect data and conduct preliminary diagnosis of possible problems and root causes.
Data collection could involve surveys, staff and
stakeholder interviews, focus groups, as well as simple observations of
staff interactions and reviews meeting minutes where possible.
4.Provide feedback back to the key client or organisation work group.
Companies in today’s competitive Kenyan environment
desire actionable advice driven by data rather than non-quantified
anecdotal observations. So, do not stand in front of the executive team
and merely recount a few observations.
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