Presentational Form in First Person Research

Abstract

Rigorous reflection for the purposes of learning about and changing our own behavior as the foundation of an organizational change process (in the action science tradition) can include representing our tacit knowing with an artistic form and then applying explicit analytic techniques to the artistic form to generate actionable explicit knowing. This process is illustrated with an example of a collaborative off-line reflection process based on a presentational (or artistic) representation in which I learned in what ways and in which conditions I cooperate with and re-enforce power systems rather than speaking to or fighting the power. This process suggests: 1) the need for first person research in order to act as a third person change agent; 2) the need for second person research in order to do first person research; 3) the need to use multiple forms of representation and; 4) the advantages of presentational forms.