Abstract
A number of criticisms have been levelled at Action Research over the years. Among these has been the observation that the practice of Action Research is insufficiently distinct from Consulting. Indeed, some academics appear to see consulting as little short of making a deal with the Devil. In contrast, we believe that there is the potential for a heavenly marriage between Action Research and Consulting: not only do they have much to learn from each other but they also can usefully complement each other. This chapter focuses on how the practice of Consulting would benefit from the adoption of specific Action Research principles. We briefly review the background literatures of both Action Research and Consulting, particularly Management Consulting. We also consider a previously-developed set of principles and associated criteria that help to ensure the rigor and relevance of Canonical Action Research. The discussion section highlights how the principles and criteria for Action Research can usefully contribute to high quality consulting practice. We conclude with a call for more dialogue and hands-on interaction between practitioners of Action Research and Consulting.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
6. References
Avison, D.E., Lau, F., Myers, M. & Nielsen, P.A. (1999). Action Research. Communications of the ACM, 42(1), 94–97.
Baskerville, R. (1999). Investigating information systems with action research. Communications of the AIS, 2(19), 1–32.
Baskerville, R. & Pries-Heje, J. (1999). Grounded action research: A method for understanding IT in practice. Accounting, Management and Information Technology, 9(1), 1–23.
Baskerville, R. & Wood-Harper, A.T. (1998). Diversity in information systems action research methods. European Journal of Information Systems, 7(2), 90–107.
Benbasat, I. & Zmud, R. (1999). Empirical research in information systems: The practice of relevance. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 23(1), 3–16.
Bunning, C. (1995). Placing Action Learning and Action Research in Context. International Management Centre: Brisbane.
Careers in Consulting (2001). Facts and trends in Consulting, available online at http://www.careers-in-business.com/consulting/mc.htm
Caulkin, S. (1997). The great consulting cop-out, Management Today, 58(3), 32–36.
Cohen, L. & Manion, L. (1980). Research Methods in Education, 2nd Ed. Croom Helm: Dover, NH.
Cunningham, J.B. (1993). Action Research and Organizational Development. Praeger Publishers: Westport, CT.
Curle, A. (1949). A theoretical approach to action research. Human Relations. 2, 269–280.
Davison, R.M. & Vogel, D.R. (2000). Group support systems in Hong Kong: An action research project. Information Systems Journal, 10(1), 3–20.
Davison, R.M., Martinsons, M.G. and Kock, N.F. (2004). Principles of Canonical Action Research, Information Systems Journal, 14(1), 65–86.
Dickens, L. & Watkins, K. (1999). Action research: rethinking Lewin. Management Learning, 30(2), 127–140.
Easley, C.F.. and Harding, C.F. (1999). Client versus consultant, Journal of Management Consulting, 10(4), 3–8.
Eden, C. & Huxham, C. (1996). Action research for management research. British Journal of Management, 7(1), 75–86.
Gable, G.G. (1997). A multidimensional model of client success when engaging external consultants, Management Science, 42(8), 1175–1198.
Hasek, G. (1997). The era of experts, Industry Week, 246(10), 60–67.
Heller, F. (1993). Another look at action research. Human Relations, 46(10), 1235–1242.
Hult, M. & Lennung, S.-Å. (1980). Towards a definition of action research: A note and bibliography. Journal of Management Studies, 17(2), 241–250.
Klein, H.K. & Myers, M.D. (1999). A set of principles for conducting and evaluating interpretive field studies in information systems. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 23(1), 67–94.
Kock, N. & Lau, F. (2001). Introduction to the special issue: Information systems action research serving two demanding masters. Information Technology & People, 14(1), 6–11.
Kock, N., Avison, D., Baskerville, R., Myers, M. & Wood-Harper, T. (1999). IS action research: can we serve two masters? Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Information Systems. De, P. and DeGross, J. (eds.), 582–585. The Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY.
Kumar, V., Simon, A., and Kimberley, N. (2000). Strategic capabilities which lead to management consulting success, Management Decision, 38(1–2), 24–35.
Lau, F. (1997). A review on the use of action research in information systems studies. In: Information Systems and Qualitative Research, Lee, A.S., Liebenau, J. & DeGross, J.I. (eds.), 31–68. Chapman and Hall, London.
Martinsons, M.G., Davison, R.M. and Tse, D. (1999). The balanced scorecard: A foundation for the strategic management of information systems, Decision Support Systems, 25(1), 71–88.
Martinsons, M.G. (1993). Strategic innovation, Management Decision, 31(8), 4–11.
McKay, J. & Marshall, P. (2001). The dual imperatives of action research. Information Technology & People, 14(1), 46–59.
McLachlin, R.D. (1999). Factors for consulting engagement success, Management Decision, 37(5), 394–402.
McTaggart, R. (1991). Principles for participatory action research. Adult Education Quarterly, 41(3), 168–187.
Monteleone, F. (2000). Anyone need a consultant?, Computerworld, 34(5), 52.
Mumford, E. (2001). Advice for an action researcher, Information Technology & People, 14(1), 12–27.
O’Shea, J. and Madigan, C. (1997). Dangerous company: The consulting powerhouses and the businesses they save and ruin, Times Books, New York, NY.
Robey, D. & Markus, M.L. (1998). Beyond rigor and relevance: Producing consumable research about information systems. Information Resources Management Journal, 11(1), 7–15.
Senn, J. (1998). The challenge of relating IS research to practice. Information Resources Management Journal, 11(1), 23–28.
Shapiro, E.C., Eccles, R.G. and Soske, T.L. (1993). Consulting: Has the solution become part of the problem, Sloan Management Review, 34(4), 89–95.
Wright C. and Kitay J. (2002). But does it work? Perceptions of the impact of management consulting’, Strategic Change, 11(5), 271–278.
Zmud, R. (1996). Editor’s comments: on rigor and relevancy. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 20(3), xxxvii–xxxviii.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Davison, R.M., Martinsons, M.G. (2007). Action Research and Consulting. In: Kock, N. (eds) Information Systems Action Research. Integrated Series in Information Systems, vol 13. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36060-7_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36060-7_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-36059-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-36060-7
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsBusiness and Management (R0)