Opening the Doors of the Ivory Tower: Action Research as a Tool Supporting Cooperation between Universities and External Organizations

Abstract

In this chapter we discuss how, as a tool for organizational change, action research can affect the development of cooperation between a traditional university and the external environment. The case analyzed was a two-year action research project carried out in cooperation with over 20 employers. This project was carried out at multiple levels and had several essential goals. Apart from its emancipatory role in the shift in the way students carry out their master's theses (toward application, implementation, where organizations become the research subject instead of the research object), the project's aim was to open up the university to cooperation with its environment and conduct useful research. The results indicate that action research through the democratization of the process of introducing changes and its bottom-up nature influences the development of real cooperation between the university and external organizations. Additionally, they contribute to the emancipation of university knowledge, its democratization, dehierarchization, as well as cocreation and sharing with cooperating organizations.

Citation

Jałocha, B., Bogacz-Wojtanowska, E., Góral, A., Prawelska-Skrzypek, G. and Jedynak, P. (2021), "Opening the Doors of the Ivory Tower: Action Research as a Tool Supporting Cooperation between Universities and External Organizations", (Rami) Shani, A.B. and Noumair, D.A. (Ed.) Research in Organizational Change and Development (Research in Organizational Change and Development, Vol. 29), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 143-171. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0897-301620210000029007