Co-design in the prison service: a learning perspective on employee-driven innovation

A COLAB Model of Workplace Transformation in the Criminal Justice Context

“…Researchers facilitate the examination of cultural and historical dimensions of work activity from these multiple perspectives (Engeström, 1987). This process destabilises each participant's perceptions of current practice (Aakjaer, 2018). They encounter new, unfamiliar perspectives that disturb their view of hitherto unexamined organisational norms and "make the familiar strange" (Halse et al, 2010).…”

“…The mirror material (Fig. 8.3G) could therefore also include audio or written clips of interviews, photographs or sketches of problematic situations, scenarios, drama, role playing, storytelling and story boards (Aakjaer, 2014, 2018.…”

“…to stimulate reflection and dialogue and codesign interventionists use reflective statements such as "what if…? " (Aakjaer, 2018). The simplicity of these statements has an appeal for those participants for whom the activity systems framework is perceived as less accessible.…”

“…Hereby, participants construct an explicit model of a new idea that offers a solution for the identified problem. These could be new products, infrastructure, forms of interaction, constellations of people, services models or organisational practices (Aakjaer, 2018;Slappendal, 1996). These are social innovations that are socially driven with an eye on added public value (Mulgan et al, 2007;Alford, 2009).…”

“…These were adapted to the CJS context. The tool kit took the Change Laboratory as its baseline model but combined this with the strengths of three other methods: Boundary Crossing Workshops (e.g., Kerosuo & Engeström, 2003;Virkkunen & Newnham, 2013;Teräs, 2016), Activity Clinics (Clot et al, 2000;Clot, 1999) and Codesign (Aakjaer, 2014(Aakjaer, , 2018. The chapter does not delve into the theoretical complexity of each method.…”