Action Research

The continuity of change determines the way we think and work. Consciously shaping the structure of a company, the culture of an organization, is the most effective means of change. Because this culture determines how employees act or not, how they communicate or not, how they think or not think. Every organizational culture is complex and difficult and at the same time largely invisible. To use the iceberg analogy: 10% is visible above the surface, 90% is hidden. The main task of our organizational culture analysis is to make the hidden visible and to understand that it can be shaped. This is what makes the difference. We have many years of expertise in preparing and supporting projects through qualitative impact analyses and action research. You can rely on this. The combination of qualitative research with classic organizational development supports the development of processes, programs and projects.

In contrast to the qualitative impact research conducted by p4d (see there), we accompany and support organizational self-analysis under the heading of “action research”: selected employees and managers conduct interviews and participatory observations (shadowing) in their organization themselves. We accompany the process of self-analysis and train employees, managers and other stakeholders to develop their own learning questions, conduct interviews themselves and conduct research in the spirit of change. In addition, we support the survey process through professional shadowing of managers and employees in their day-to-day work and through professional participant observation of everyday working life. We also advise and moderate the entire analysis process.

• Your employees become active researchers and explorers of the desired change.
• Self-conducted explorations deepen insight and understanding, as the phenomena are experienced first-hand
• Empathy, constructive listening and the ability to change perspective are trained
• The knowledge flows into the organization at all times – and is still there when we are gone.

• is close to phenomena, i.e. it supports the view of concrete case studies on challenges and successes of cooperation, helps in the reconstruction of procedures and processes and in the description of similarities and differences in dealing with challenges of cooperation
• is systemic, i.e. it helps people to view and understand their own culture from different perspectives. It enables a change of perspective for the interviewer and the interviewee and is interested in interrelationships at the level of work and organizational culture.
• is holistic. We attach great importance to the factual level, the personal level and the relationship level of the collaboration as well as atmospheric components such as the interview dynamics.
• helps to make areas of tension in collaboration visible and to describe the challenges involved. Such areas of tension often exist between aspects of leadership and personal responsibility, in conflicts of objectives, in cooperation at interfaces, in dealing with expectations of task fulfillment and the scarce resource of time, in the understanding of processing depth, and much more.
• sensitizes all those involved – the interviewer and the interviewee – and thus serves to improve cooperation. The interview itself increases the understanding of managers and employees for their own work and organizational culture and for their own contribution to shaping the culture. The interviews also serve to prepare for planned follow-up processes and workshops.
• is a learning and collaborative process. We support and accompany the team of interviewing employees and managers, share our experiences and analyze the results together.
• is confidential, i.e. individual statements are of course anonymized.