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Using ANT ideas in the managing of systemic action research
Author(s) -
Lewis Paul
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
systems research and behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 1092-7026
DOI - 10.1002/sres.832
Subject(s) - interpretation (philosophy) , action (physics) , actor–network theory , context (archaeology) , process (computing) , ant colony , sociology , politics , ant , management science , knowledge management , epistemology , computer science , business , process management , political science , economics , artificial intelligence , social science , ant colony optimization algorithms , law , physics , quantum mechanics , biology , paleontology , computer network , philosophy , programming language , operating system
Abstract Little guidance has been given to the management of action research and this paper suggests that ideas from the actor‐network theory (ANT) may be helpful. Although ANT has been widely used as a tool for interpretation and description of the interplay of the social and technical aspects of organizations, this paper presents a different use of the ideas. It advocates a proactive use, to bring about changes in a situation rather than merely observing and describing that situation disinterestedly from the outside. The case is described of a long‐term action research study carried out within a corporate bank, where the ideas of ANT were employed in this way, as a device for understanding the turbulent social and political context of the research, to plan and manage the intervention process, and where ideas such as networks of interest, translation of interests and black boxes were used to practical effect. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.