Constructing Interorganisational Collaboration: The Action Researcher as Boundary
A paper presented during the 5th Critical Management Studies Conference.
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This paper by Tony Huzzard, Beth Maina Ahlberg, Marianne Ekman aims to explore critically the role of an action research team in the social construction of interorganisational collaboration.
The authors argue how the action researcher, rather than being a neutral discursive gatekeeper in collaborative development projects, is an active constructor of the discourse shaping the collaboration. A case is presented showing how the researcher role is thus better seen as being an active boundary subject mediating across various professional and organisational perspectives rather than a passive boundary object. Accordingly, by focusing on the discursive role of active researchers as boundary subjects, the authors believe we can reflect more critically on the roles we adopt in our intervention endeavours and their inevitably political nature.
The 5th Critical Management Studies Conference was held at the Manchester Business School from 11 to 13 July 2007. More information is available at http://www.mngt.waikato.ac.nz/ejrot/.
Website (URL): http://www.mngt.waikato.ac.nz/ejrot
Author(s): Tony Huzzard, Beth Maina Ahlberg and Marianne Ekman