Conozcamos el pasado de la Tierra

Observational enquiry Positivistic enquiry Document studies Interview studies EBA Process 12 months at Organization’s premises Personal communication Internal surveys External surveys ARG surveys Corporate Plans, AOPs EBA documents Management and w orkplace documents One-to-one interview s Group interview s Taped interview s Internal Surveys

The Internal Survey was developed in conjunction with the Organization

through the ARG to measure the variance, if any, to the Organization’s culture between t1, the beginning of the intervention in May 1994, and t2, the end of the intervention in May 1995. The survey (see appendix 3) was tested twice on a pilot group within the Organization, with feedback from this group

requiring several alterations to the Survey before it was eventually handed out and completed by each participant at the start of each of the first Performance Partnership Workshops and again at the end of each of the last Follow-Up workshops.

Data from the completed surveys were transferred to code sheets then entered onto the ANU (Leonard) mainframe (unix) and analysed using the SPSS

program. The survey data, which included six data entry points on most questions, from strongly disagree to strongly agree, was compressed to two categories (agree / disagree) then transferred to an excel spreadsheet for

further analysis and presentation. A total of 78 people filled in the first survey and 69 the second, representing a 97.5% and 92% response rate respectively, as the Organization’s fulltime staff numbers were 80 at t1 and 75 at t2.

Cumbersome Survey

At the level of purpose, both the Organization and the research wanted to achieve much the same result making agreement reasonably straightforward. However, when attention turned to negotiating the more detailed goals and objectives that I wanted for the Research and the Organization wanted from the Intervention, then the research side got a little more complicated than otherwise would have been the case.

When the questions pertaining to areas the Organization wanted to see

measurable improvements in as a result of the Intervention were added to the Internal (longitudinal t1-t2) Survey it grew, and when further questions that the Organization wanted to know about itself for its own purposes were added it grew further.

Eventually these additions made the survey rather large and cumbersome, taking about 40 minutes to complete, and collecting a lot of data which was not particularly useful for the purpose of research. Anyway, it was through these negotiations that the points listed on page 13 (chapter 4), and below, became the agreed goals of the Intervention and also served as the headings for the different sections of the Internal Survey. The fact that the Intervention was competency / performance based, meaning that there had to be

measurable improvement in the targeted areas for the Change Agent to get paid, meant that the goals had to be stated in such a way that there could be a before (t1) and after (t2) measure of how successful the Intervention was in achieving them.

External Surveys

To assist with assessing the degree of change, if any, that had been observed in the Organization’s culture by external agencies that the Organization

frequently interacts with (its world), a second ‘External’ Survey (see appendix

134

4) was developed and conducted between December 1995 and February 1996. Once again breaking with conventional positivist research, the survey

questions were developed with the input of staff within the Organization being members of the Action Research Group. The survey was targeted at

individuals who headed up external agencies that frequently interacted with the Organization. A comprehensive list of 25 agencies, including the relevant contacts for each agency, was provided by the Managing Director. These included: State Agencies and Commonwealth Government Departments which shared policy or program responsibility for the Resource; Industry Bodies; Conservation Agencies; Scientific Agencies; International Agencies; Industry Members; and Community Groups who use the Resource.

Of the possible 20 respondents, 17 people completed surveys representing an 85% response rate and including agencies from all the relevant areas Australia wide. The survey was conducted mostly by telephone from November 1995 to January 1996, with some surveys being completed in person. For the fourteen telephone respondents, I called each person and read out a brief statement describing who I was and why I was calling; I then read out the questions to them, and noted their answers. For the three respondents available in person, I gave them a copy of the survey and asked them to complete it by hand themselves. In response to the first 18 questions, which were framed as questions or statements, the respondents were asked whether they 'agree', 'disagree' or 'can't say', and to the last 2 questions they were asked to

comment which I transcribed or they wrote themselves. The three data entry points (agree, disagree and can’t say) which were then entered into an Excel spreadsheet for evaluation and presentation.

ARG Survey

The ARG was composed of: members of the Working Group (management and union representatives responsible for negotiating an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement covering terms and conditions of employment); staff members from a perceived 'problem' area of the Organization; and other interested staff and managers. The ARG developed its own survey (see appendix 5) that was conducted five months after the intervention to further assess the

effectiveness of the intervention on members of the Organization. In particular the ARG was focussed on whether or not participants had noticed any lasting change in their relationships to:

1 themselves; 2 each other;

3 and the organization as a whole;

4 thereby transforming the organization’s culture 5 and its relationship to its environment

Structured and unstructured interviews were also used extensively with

each member of the Organization having at least six structured interviews of approximately one hour’s duration where they had to provide written answers to questions given at each interview.

Unstructured interviews were used mainly to assist with diagnosing the

problem within the Organization and to assist with confirming / disconfirming assumptions being drawn about the factors contributing to the lack of ‘soft’ skills in the Organization. Several taped interviews were also conducted to get an accurate picture of the Organization’s history and to assist in diagnosing the problem. Each member of the Organization was asked to fill in the survey and results were collated and analysed by the ARG with findings disseminated back to the Organization for further comment before finalising. There was also time set aside at the final stages of the intervention for each person to give

feedback on the intervention process in a formal manner that was noted and written up.

The Action Research Group’s survey findings were analysed using an excel spreadsheet. The results from the telephone survey of the external agencies were also analysed using excel as the questionnaire is simply an agree / disagree / can’t say format.

In conjunction with the findings of the above surveys a rich descriptive analysis is to be developed, based on hundreds of hours of one-on-one structured

interviews and many hours of unstructured interviews along with extracts from the taped interviews and formal feedback sessions.