The Continuous Improvement Grid: An Empirical Investigation into the Effectiveness of a Systems,and Action Research,Based Continuous Improvement Intervention,for ‘New’ Organisation Development

This paper is a rare example of a large scale (n = 1310), positivist, evaluation of an action research program. It documents how the Royal Navy used the principles of scholarly consulting and pragmatic science to develop, apply and review a systems based tool, and associated ‘new organisation development’ intervention, to help staff explore and share perceptions of working practices, in order to expand their awareness of their current work situation and so uncover opportunities for improvement. Survey results suggest that the majority of individuals found the interventions valuable and participants in the events enjoyed significantly higher levels of understanding of the organisation, and greater collective, and individual, benefit from it. Findings also provide empirical evidence of the importance of involvement to making successful change, especially when dealing with the change averse. Overall the experience, of which the action research based study and associated positivist survey were part, reinforce the importance of what is described as ‘normative realigning pedagogy’—helping people change by facilitating their generation of new forms of understanding.