Action Research in Business Management

Action research is a wide and diverse solutions process, and different persons have different perspectives about what action research is, what it is for, who can do it and how. Action research is a practical form of inquiry that enables anyone in every job and walk of life to investigate and evaluate their work. The inquiry includes, what improvement do we need to do in order to streamline the work process? And how improvement can be carried out? And how do we prove that the work process has improved? From this account, action research has become an important tool in providing solutions be it personal or professional. It has also become popular as a form of professional learning across the professions and disciplines, including leadership studies (Branson et al, 2016) and management and business studies applications (Coghlan & Shani, 2016).

Action research is viable because it is easily applied by every practitioner and/or researcher, be it the professional or the student. Action research can be a powerful form of liberating professional inquiry about a problem as such the practitioner and/or researcher could themselves investigate their practices and find solutions for the problem's approach. As such, action research is a methodology that combines ‘action’ and ‘research’ together. During a study, the practitioner and/ or researcher performed the current work practice and reflected on what has happened and used this information to plan their intervention. The idea is to provide the solution based on the research methodology and data analysis with validation through a mixed-method approach of qualitative and quantitative analysis. Through this, the intervention or solution is formulated and implemented as required for the next course of action. The process of action research has a refining effect on action and the practitioner and/or researcher will gain an understanding of the work process performed. Through the reflection cycle, the practitioner and/or researcher will then provide the required justification, that the intervention did enhance the work process and provide the improvements as required.