Atlantic Crossings: A Genealogical Analysis of the Relationship between Systems Thinking and Action Research in the United Kingdom

Conclusion It has been argued that the conditions for the ready acceptability of action research arise from (albeit different) macro-political (socio-economic) imperatives — both in the U.K. and in the U.S.A. In the U.S.A of the 1930s, perceived imminent social breakdown (and its economic corollary) was the “driver” whilst in the U.K. of the 1950s, perceived relative economic decline was the “driver”. Both of these drivers led to macro and micro initiatives to “install” action research on the shop floor. Academia was used as one of the vehicles by which such installation was to take place; academics ’ (widespread) “liberal agenda” being especially conducive to the notions of participation and inclusivity. Further research could investigate how it came about that the metaphor of the economically efficient capitalist organisation became the dominant one for evaluating the effectiveness both of the U.K. and the U.S.A. as nation states — and for evaluating activities within those nation states. At any rate, as it could now be argued that democracy leads to increased economic efficiency (by reference to both Lewin“s and the Tavistock Institute“s work), so the corollary is now propounded with increasing vigour and certitude; i.e. that the “true” function of democracy should be “properly” seen as that of increasing economic efficiency under capitalism. Consequently, research agendas which overtly aim to produce results which improve the economic efficiency of the funding nation are now increasingly valorised, whilst those that do not are increasingly denigrated.