In my inquiry design, I would like to use first-person, second-person and if possible third-person inquiry ideally integrated with each other.
First-person inquiry
“First person action research/practice skills and methods address the ability of the researcher to foster an inquiring approach to his or her own life, to act awarely and choicefully, and to assess effects in the outside world while acting. “ (Reason, 2001)
It is suggested to attend below questions for the interest of first person inquiry (Reason and Bradbury, 2001):
“Who am I? What is important to me? What is worthwhile engaging with?
What frameworks of thinking/feeling do I bring to my life and work? What creative and distorting perspectives do I bring? Am I stuck in one frame or able to appreciate and delight in alternative frames?
What is the quality of my behaviour? Do I have a range of behaviours appropriate to the situation? In particular, can I act in such a way as to increase the quality of the conversation? Am I flexible, diplomatic and outrageous, cunning and simple, wise and foolish? Is my behaviour congruent with my purposes?
Am I awake to what is happening within me and in the world around me?
How do I act now to increase the quality of dialogue and inquiry?”
As a part of first-person inquiry, I will continue my personal quest for what I call now connectedness. I will also consciously bring in experiences that will potentially create moments of connection. I will also increase "awareness is characterized by contact, by sensing, by excitement and by gestalt formation" (Perls, 1951) and advocate true presence in my life which is currently distracted with certain elements of modern life like mobile phones, email. I will notice what I feel and try to make sense of what I feel during these moments. I will try to make “the boundary between the observer and the observed” disappear. (Bohm, 1980)
I will continue self-reflective activities like meditation, physical activities involving flow and connectedness like ski and sailing. Torbert suggests to establish contact with four distinct territories to widen and deepen our awareness through such experiences (Torbert, 1991). These territories are:
- sound, touch, and color of the world outside
- breathing and other inner bodily sensations
- emergent thinking and feeling
- dynamics of one's very attention
Journaling is a very effective method for first-person research. For this purpose, I will use a weblog which will serve as a journal for me to make sense of what I notice and feel in writing. The journal activity will help me to capture the evolving meaning of connectedness throughout the inquiry. In the journal, I will also keep track of my continued experience of connectedness and try to relate them to my inquiry questions. In what way did I feel connected? What did I notice and feel? What is the sense that I make of what I notice? What did I learn as a part f this experience? Did it help me to grow? In which way did I achieve growth, if I did? The interactive nature of the blog will also give me the opportunity to integrate first, second, and third person inquiry.
Second-person inquiry
“Second person action research/practice addresses our ability to inquire face-to-face with others into issues of mutual concern—for example in the service of improving our personal and professional practice both individually and separately. Second person inquiry is also concerned with how to create communities of inquiry or learning organizations (Reason, 2001). It “starts with interpersonal dialogue and includes the development of communities of inquiry and learning organizations. “(Reason & Bradbury, 2001)
I will do second-person inquiry with colleagues in my own organization as well with representatives of one or two client organisations. I will also seek opportunities to extend this level of inquiry to the members of an organisation like Cirque Du Soleil as a potential representative of connectedness in organisations.
Second-person inquiry will be done in three ways: face-to-face interviews, group workshops and search conferences. Interviews will be especially useful with colleagues and key clients. Workshops and search conferences can be done with key clients or with a diverse audience selected from our Annual Human Resources Conference participants.
At this level of inquiry, I would try to identify situations where people had moments of connectedness. I would also look beneath these situations and try to see what enabled people to have these moments. I would also try to explore the conditions that make individuals live this experience of connectedness organizations.
I will establish personal contact with some of the thought leaders that I have known personally like Charles Handy, Richard Pascale and Peter Senge and bring in their insight with the help second-person inquiry. I am interested to learn their thinking about:
Their own experience of connectedness
Contexts that enable people to have episodes of connectedness in general and in organisations
Conditions which enable individuals to live this experience of connectedness in organisations
Affect of connectedness on growth and vitality in organisations
Impact of different organizational features like culture, design, strategy, leadership on connectedness
Value-added of connectedness for individuals and organisations
Third-person inquiry
“Third-person research/practice aims to create a wider community of inquiry involving persons who, because they cannot be known to each other face-to-face (say, in a large, geographically dispersed corporation), have an impersonal quality.” How is it possible to go “beyond the relatively contained and small-scale practices offirst- and second-person action research to stimulate inquiry in whole organizations and in the wider society?”
I also would like to use my weblog as a third-person research medium enabling me to reach a wider community in different locations. Our reach to 1000 people in the conference every year looks like a great opportunity to conduct a third person inquiry. We work regularly with several consultants and thought leaders around the world in different capacity and this network may serve for a good medium for third person inquiry.
I would probably use an electronic survey at this level. This survey would enable me to inquire further about:
- Demographics and their possible relation to connectedness
- Possible contexts that enable connectedness
- Certain conditions for connectedness
- Affect of connectedness on growth and vitality in organisations
- Relationship of different organizational features like culture, design, strategy, leadership with connectedness and their impact.
- Value-added of connectedness for individuals and organizations
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