Action Research in Organisations and Communities: Origins, Evolution and Success Stories

Abstract

The paper begins with a short incursion into the origin and evolution of action research as a form of knowledge and of a specific intervention in organizations and communities. It proceeds then to reveal the interferences with the participative research and with the classical research technique of findings restitution, towards the goal of organization and community change promotion. Some success stories are then presented: that of Xerox, of the Mondragón-Cornell project, of Pasmore and Friedlander project, and, from Romania, that of the Alba Iulia Local Community Barometer 2015.