Evolution of a Parallel Learning Mechanism: Thirty-Five Years with the Kaiser Permanente Communications Forum

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. Focus is on a parallel learning mechanism that has been used to support communications and change during two large-scale information technology interventions. It begins with basic background information on participatory action research in organizations. Since the case setting is Kaiser Permanente, the chapter provides some information on the U.S. healthcare industry context and then shifts to Kaiser's communication forum, a learning mechanism that has been in place for 35 years. Cognitive, structural, and procedural aspects of the learning mechanism are explored, and the chapter features interviews with some of the key forum players. Both in the forum's infancy and in its current more institutionalized state, the pharmacy organization has been in crisis. Implications for the use of parallel learning structures on a long-term basis to support long-term participatory action research are explored along with contributions to theory on insider/outsider action research.

Action research in business and management: A reflective review

“…Over the years, action research has been utilized in wide variety of industries, such as manufacturing (Pace & Argona, 1989;Pasmore & Friedlander, 1982), agriculture (Meister & Gronski, 2007), biopharma (Roth, Shani, & Leary, 2007), business and information, construction, energy (Baker & Jayaraman, 2012), fashion design (Cirella, Canterino, Guerci, & Shani, 2015), media (Walton & Gaffney, 1989), food (Kocher, Kaudela-Baum, & Wolf, 2011), defense, health care, automotive (Williander & Styhre, 2006), telecommunication, fish farming (Lund, 2008), mining (Blumberg & Pringle, 1983), pharmaceutical (Ngwerume & Themessl-Huber, 2010;Stebbins & Valenzuela, 2015) and electronics (Fredberg, Norrgren, & Shani, 2011;Schuiling, 2014).…”