Making process accessible

Robust processes for learning, change and action research


Bob Dick

 

This is an index to documents authored or co-authored by me, and a commentary -- an "explication" -- on those documents.  With the exception of this index, the documents are in PDF format.  To read them you'll need a recent version of Acrobat Reader.  If you don't have it, you can obtain a free copy from the Adobe site.

If you'd like to skip to the index, click here.  If you'd prefer first to read some background information, read on...

What's it about?

When I began to plan the thesis I read much of my earlier writing to identify some themes.  It became evident that much of my writing was about the design and facilitation of processes for learning, change and research.  Further, for 30 years now I've been interested in processes which were robust -- easy to use, and quite resistant to failure even in the hands of novices.

Accordingly, that's the emphasis in the explication and the documents referenced below.

Background

The explication and associated documents were submitted in late 2005 to International Management Centres Association in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Letters, DLitt.  This is not a university-accredited award.  I did it for fun and learning rather than for a qualification.

In all, 72 associated documents are summarised in the explication.  Most of those documents are available by following the links below.

For a handful of them the journal publisher holds the copyright.  Where possible I've provided a link to the publisher's web site, where the papers may be available for a price.

Some others are books and monographs which I have only in hard copy.  (That's not quite true.  I have electronic copies done in earlier versions of MS Word.  In current versions of Word the formatting is mangled.  I'm not prepared to make them available as they are and I don't presently have the time to reformat them.)  Most of them are for sale as bound books or monographs from  Interchange, details on the web site.


The index: the thesis explication

(The explication is a commentary on documents I had written previously. You'll find links to those documents in the section following this one.)

Preamble containing the Abstract and various preliminary material

Chapter 1  Introduction, in which I identify "process" as the theme of this explication and preview the conclusions about process which I will draw and illustrate from my experience and my publications

Chapter 2  Context, in which I describe the background experience I bring to this task, and the theories and concepts which have most shaped how I think about process

Chapter 3  The nature of knowledge, in which I outline briefly my approach to philosophy  and then describe the style of theory which underpins much of the practical work described in this document;  I explain how it differs from some common conceptions of theory

Chapter 4  Learning processes, in which I describe the development of democratic and experiential learning processes using a process of continuous improvement;  I then identify some principles for the design of learning processes, including robust processes

Chapter 5  Change processes, in which my writing on change processes, theories and skills is summarised, and some conclusions about the design and facilitation of change processes are drawn;  the emphasis is again on processes which are robust in the hands of relative novices, and on the skills they require to use these processes successfully

Chapter 6  Action research processes, in which I present and summarise documents on action research and related topics;  using them, I identify further characteristics of processes which are effective in the hands of practitioners, including novices

Chapter 7  Achieving robust processes, in which I draw together the characteristics of robust processes previously identified, and in some instances extend them further

Chapter 8  Conclusions, in which I summarise the features which contribute robustness to facilitation processes, identify my contribution to knowledge, nominate possible further developments, and finally reflect on the explication and its personal significance for me

References  to work by other authors cited in the explication.


The associated documents

(These are the documents referred to in various chapters of the explication beginning with Chapter 3.)

Chapter 3: the nature of knowledge
(a) The nature of theory

Paper 01   Bob Dick (nd) A model of models. Background paper for a departmental seminar. First written about 1976. Graphics updated and reformatted.  [84 KB]

Paper 02   Bob Dick (2001) Maslow revis(it)ed: Maslow's hierarchy of needs examined and reformulated. A discussion paper originally written in the 1980s, revised 1990, 1993. References added for this version, 2001.  [184 KB]

Paper 03   Bob Dick (2002) Practitioner theories. Draft paper.  [124 KB]

Paper 04   Bob Dick (2002) Questions for reflection. A resource paper for a public on line course in action research.   [88 KB]

Chapter 4: Learning processes
(a) University classes

Paper 05   Bob Dick (1989) Mechanisms for democracy in learning: some reflections on continuing experiments on democracy in the tertiary classroom, second edition. Chapel Hill: Interchange. First edition 1987. Reformatted with very minor changes 2002.  [356 KB]

Paper 06   Bob Dick (1991) Educating the change agents. Studies in Continuing Education, 13(2), 139-152. An invited and refereed paper.  [156 KB]

Paper 07   Bob Dick (1990) Democracy for learners. In B. Smith, ed., Management development in Australia. Sydney: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich [pp 140-148]. Invited book chapter.  Not included.

Paper 08   Adelle Bish and Bob Dick (1992) Reflection for everyone: catering for individual differences. A paper prepared for the Reflective practices in higher education conference held in Brisbane 11-13 July 1992.  [180 KB]

(b) The design of learning processes

Monograph — Tim Dalmau and Bob Dick (1992) Managing transitions: a key to creating effective learning environments. Chapel Hill, Qld.: Interchange.  This monograph may be purchased from Interchange.

Paper 09   Bob Dick (2001) Design for learning: processes and models for the design of learning activities. Chapel Hill: Interchange. (Version 5.06). First edition 1981. Revised and reformatted regularly, this minor revision 2001.  [308 KB]

(c) Examples of activities

Paper 10   Bob Dick (2002) The design of experiential learning activities. Unpublished paper (mimeo).  [108 KB]

Paper 11   Bob Dick (1986) Self and others. An extract from Bob Dick, Learning to communicate: activities, skills, techniques, models. A joint publication of Interchange and the University of Queensland Bookshop.  [368 KB]

Paper 12   Bob Dick (1987) Tight-rope: a video script on telephone communication skills. Developed for Department of Social Security. 
[136 KB]

Paper 13   Bob Dick (1991) Powerplay: a "do-it-yourself" simulation. A paper accompanying an experiential workshop at the Experiential Learning Conference, Hawkesbury Agricultural College, 1989, and subsequently revised.  [96 KB]

(d) Other papers

Paper 14   Bob Dick (1996) Is it time to revise the scientist-practitioner model? An unpublished discussion paper.  [92 KB]

Paper 15   Bob Dick (1995) A Venusian anthropologist's report on the teaching of psychology, with the preface "On being a Venusian anthropologist." Nathan, Qld: Griffith University, School of Behavioural Science.  [136 KB]

Paper 16   Bob Dick, Alf Lizzio and Keithia Wilson (1995) Course design: a Masters/PhD program in organisational psychology. Nathan: Griffith University, School of applied psychology. A discussion paper.  [100 KB]

Chapter 5: Change processes
(a) Change models

Paper 17   Bob Dick (2001) Community and organisational change: a manual. Chapel Hill, Qld.: Interchange.  [528 KB]

Paper 18   Bob Dick (1990) Processes for community consultation. A resource document prepared for the use of facilitators and members of local area consultative committees associated with the community consultation project for road planning in Queensland. Brisbane: Department of Transport.  [480 KB]

Paper 19   Bob Dick (2001) Community consultation checklist, fifth revision. Interchange: mimeo.  [108 KB]

Paper 20   Bob Dick (2002) Joyful productivity: creating joyful and productive cultures, version 1.06. Chapel Hill, Qld: Interchange.  [208 KB]

Paper 21   Bob Dick (2003) A brief history of organisations. Interchange, unpublished mimeo.  [336 KB]

Paper 22   Tim Dalmau and Bob Dick (1991) A diagnostic model for selecting interventions for community and organisational change, second edition. Chapel Hill: Interchange.  [244 KB]

Paper 23   Tim Dalmau and Bob Dick (1990) Politics, conflict and culture: concepts for cultural change. Chapel Hill: Interchange.  [404 KB]

Monograph — Tim Dalmau and Bob Dick (1990)  From the profane to the sacred: small groups as vehicles for cultural change, revised edition. Chapel Hill: Interchange.  This monograph may be purchased from Interchange.

Monograph — Bob Dick and Tim Dalmau (1994)  To tame a unicorn ... recipes for cultural change, third edition. Chapel Hill: Interchange.  This monograph may be purchased from Interchange.

(b) Change skills and methods

Paper 24   Bob Dick (2002) Building agreement from disagreement: the anatomy of dialectical processes. Chapel Hill, Qld.: Interchange.  [180 KB]

Book — Bob Dick (1991)  Helping groups to be effective: skills, processes and concepts for group facilitation, second edition. Chapel Hill, Qld.: Interchange.  This book may be purchased from Interchange.

Paper 25   Bob Dick (1987) The management of conflict: a systematic approach to team building and mediated and unmediated conflict resolution. Chapel Hill: Interchange (mimeo).  [296 KB]

Paper 26   Bob Dick (1983) Conflict resolution skills and techniques in management development. Part 1. Journal of Management Development, 2(3), 42-54. Part 2. Journal of Management Development, 2(4), 15-31.  Not included.

Monograph — Bob Dick (1990)  Frameworks for effective third party conflict management. Chapel Hill: Interchange.  This brief monograph may be purchased from Interchange.

Paper 27   Bob Dick (1996) The 7 functions of team building. An unpublished conference paper  [132 KB]

(c) Personal applications

Monograph — Bob Dick (1989)  Jung for sceptics: Jung's psychological types as decision-making preferences. Chapel Hill: Interchange.  This monograph may be purchased from Interchange.

Paper 28   Bob Dick (2003) Managing upwards: a workbook. Chapel Hill, Qld.: Interchange (mimeo).  [132 KB]

Paper 29   Bob Dick (1990) Planning your own development. In B. Smith, ed., Management development in Australia. Sydney: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich [pp 260- 266].  [112 KB]

Paper 30   Bob Dick (1983) Life and career planning: a workbook exercise. Brisbane: Department of Psychology, University of Queensland.  [112 KB]

(d) Interventions

Book — Bob Dick (with the help of ideas from Frank Denham, Robyn Cross and Eve Robinson) (2001)  Search: a participative community planning process including a participant workbook, version 7. Chapel Hill, Qld: Interchange.  This workbook may be purchased from Interchange.  A free partly formatted version is on the action research web site.

Paper 31   Vidler, Lloyd, and Dick, Bob (1985) Mapping: planning for the future of the Division of Mission and Parish Services [of the Queensland Synod of The Uniting Church]. Unpublished mimeo.  [136 KB]

(e) Action learning

Paper 32   Bob Dick (2002) Action learning. An extract from Cropper, B., Dick, B., Donaldson, B, and Patty, C., Learning from action. Brisbane: Department of Families.  [292 KB]

Paper 33   Bob Dick (in press) Improving leadership capability with action learning. Prepared for Stewart Hase and Lester Davis, eds., Forget the map. Get a compass. Australian Institute of Management / McGraw-Hill Australia.  [116 KB]

Paper 34   Bob Dick (1997) Universities are learning organisations, aren't they? An invited talk given at Southern Cross University, 9 October 1997.  [104 KB]

(f) Action science

Book — Bob Dick and Tim Dalmau (1999)  Values in action - applying the ideas of Argyris and Schšn, second edition. Chapel Hill, Qld: Interchange.  Not included.  The book may be purchased from Interchange.  The first third of it is an overview of the ideas of Argyris and Schon, available on the action research web site.

Paper 35   Bob Dick and Tim Dalmau (1992) Discussing the undiscussable: improving group effectiveness and openness. Paper presented at the Second World Congress on Action Learning, University of Queensland, 1992.  [88 KB]

Paper 36   Bob Dick and Tim Dalmau (1992) Discussing the undiscussable: workbook. Experiential workshop presented at the Second World Congress on Action Learning, University of Queensland, 1992.  [168 KB]

Paper 37   Bob Dick (1992) Practising what we preach: identifying the gaps between espoused and actual values. A brief paper prepared for the First International Values Symposium, Warilda Conference Centre, Brisbane, 20-21 July 1992.  [124 KB]

Chapter 6: Action research processes
(a) Action research overall

Paper 38   Bob Dick (1997-2005) Areol: action research and evaluation on line. Copy of an email and web based course in action research. An index to the original materials is on the web at http://www.uq.net.au/action_research/areol/areolind.html  [596 KB]

Paper 39   Bob Dick (1997-2002) Occasional pieces in action research methodology. Occasional discussion pieces appearing on the armnet-l mailing list. Available on line at http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/arm/op000.html  [204 KB]

Paper 40   Bob Dick (2001) Action research: action and research. In Shankar Sankaran, Bob Dick, Ron Passfield and Pam Swepson, eds., Effective change management using action learning and action research : concepts, frameworks, processes, applications. Lismore, NSW, Australia: Southern Cross University Press, pp 21-27.  Not included.  The book in which this was included may be purchased from Southern Cross University Press.

Paper 41   Bob Dick (2002) Action research: action and research. A paper prepared for the seminar "Doing good action research" held at Southern Cross University, Monday February 18, 2002.  [204 KB]

(b) Data collection and rigour

Monograph — Bob Dick (1990)  Convergent interviewing, version 3. Brisbane: Interchange.  Out of print.  A shorter account of the interviewing method is available on the action research web site.

Paper 42   Bob Dick (1999) Rigour in data collection. An unpublished paper prepared as a resource for thesis candidates using interviewing for data collection.  [68 KB]

Paper 43   Bob Dick and Pam Swepson (1994) Appropriate validity and its attainment within action research: an illustration using soft systems methodology. Paper presented at World Congress Three on Action Learning, Action Research and Process Management, University of Bath.  [168 KB]

Paper 44   Bob Dick (1999) Sources of rigour in action research: addressing the issues of trustworthiness and credibility. A paper presented at the Association for Qualitative Research Conference "Issues of rigour in qualitative research" at the Duxton Hotel, Melbourne, Victoria, 6-10 July 1999.  [128 KB]

MonographBob Dick (1999) Rigour without numbers: the potential of dialectical processes as qualitative research tools, third edition.  Brisbane: Interchange.  Not included.  May be purchased from Interchange.

Paper 45   Bob Dick (1990) Small group decision-making: a robust version of Heller's group feedback analysis. Chapel Hill: Interchange. Revised from an earlier drafts written in 1988. There have been minor corrections since 1990.  [240 KB]

Paper 46   Bob Dick (1999) Structured focus groups. Chapel Hill: Interchange (mimeo). An unpublished paper first written in 1993 and revised in 1994 and 1999. It is used as a resource document for helping people learn to facilitate focus groups.  [100 KB]

(c) Characteristics of action research

Paper 47   Bob Dick (2002) Action research as meta-research. A paper prepared for the International Sociological Association Conference, Brisbane, 7-13 July 2002.  [128 KB]

Paper 48   Bob Dick (2001) Making the most of emergent methodologies: a critical choice in qualitative research design. A paper prepared for the Association for Qualitative Research conference, Melbourne, 5-7 July.  [356 KB]

Paper 49   Gerry Roberts and Bob Dick (2003) Emancipatory design choices for action research practitioners. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 13(6), 486-495.  Not included.  May be purchased from Wiley.

(d) Action research theses

Paper 50   Bob Dick (1993) You want to do an action research thesis? - How to conduct and report action research. (Including a beginner's guide to the literature). Chapel Hill, Qld.: Interchange. Available on the web at http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/ gcm/ar/arp/arthesis.html  [388 KB]

Paper 51   Bob Dick (2002) Action research for theses and dissertations. The Learning Organization, 9(4), 159-170. This invited paper first appeared in O. Zuber-Skerritt (2000) Action learning, action research and process management: theory, practice, praxis. Brisbane: Action Research Unit, Faculty of Education, Griffith University.  Not included.  May be purchased from Emerald.  

Paper 52   Bob Dick and Alan Davies (1995) Thesis supervision at a distance: the potential of email. A paper presented at the Open Learning Conference, Ballina, 4-6 September 1995.  [116 KB]

Paper 53   Bob Dick (1995) Action research theses. A resource paper accompanying AREOL, the on line course in action research.  [104 KB]

Paper 54   Bob Dick (1994) Action research: is it too risky for theses? Address to Social Psychology Study Group, School of Behavioural Science, Griffith University, May.  [80 KB]

(e) Reviews

Paper 55  Bob Dick (2001, October). Utopia made practical? Action research comes of age. Review Essay: Peter Reason & Hilary Bradbury (Eds.) (2001). Handbook of action research: participative inquiry and practice [32 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research [On-line Journal], 3(1). An invited book review.  [128 KB]   Also available at FQS.

Paper 56   Bob Dick (2002) The essential U&I. Review of Wadsworth, Yoland, ed. (2001) The essential U&I. Melbourne: Victoria Health Promotion Foundation. ISBN 0-9579990-0-3. [pp 225 + xi] Au$27.50. ALAR: Action learning and action research journal, 7(2), 106-112. An invited review.  [116 KB]

Paper 57   Bob Dick (2004) Action research literature: themes and trends. Action Research, 2(4), 425-444. An invited review of recent action research literature.  Not included.  May be purchased from Sage.

Paper 58   Bob Dick (2003) Rehabilitating action research: response to Davydd Greenwood's and Bjorn Gustavsen's papers on AR research perspectives in Concepts and Transformation, 7(2), 2002, and 8(1), 2003. Concepts and transformation, 8(3), 255- 263.  Not included.  May be purchased from Benjamins.

(f) Grounded theory

Paper 59   Bob Dick (2000) Grounded theory: a thumbnail sketch. A paper written as a resource document for thesis candidates using grounded theory for data analysis. It is available on the web at http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/arp/ grounded.html

Paper 60   Bob Dick (2003) What can action researchers learn from grounded theorists. Paper prepared for the research symposium at the Australian and New Zealand ALARPM/ SCIAR conference, Gold Coast, 4-5 May 2003. A refereed paper.

(g) Action research and evaluation

Paper 61   Bob Dick (2003) The Snyder evaluation process. A resource file to support the on line program AREOL: action research and evaluation on line. Slightly revised in 2003 from earlier editions in 1990, 1997 and 1999. The 1999 version is available on line at http://www.uq.net.au/action_research/arp/snyder.html  [152 KB]

Paper 62   Bob Dick (2001) Qualitative evaluation for program improvement. A document prepared for and distributed at the IIR conference on evaluation, Brisbane, 7-8 September. Initially prepared as a resource document for an invited paper in 1992. Revised 1998, 2001.  [416 KB]