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A quandary in management practice: Academic research or consulting?

Version 2 2024-06-03, 08:01
Version 1 2014-10-28, 10:30
journal contribution
posted on 2024-06-03, 08:01 authored by Andrew CreedAndrew Creed, A Zutshi
This paper compares the practice of academic action research against management consulting. Consulting is founded upon a body of underpinning knowledge drawn from a different perspective than action research. Nevertheless, consulting and action research, in practice, draw from similar methods of investigation. The difficulty in distinguishing action research from consulting adds to unique ethical problems in practice. In this paper, an ethics quandary is identified, defined and explored with implications for research practice. An example of an action research project is presented to highlight the potential ethical dilemma and conflict of interest points of
the investigation, whether as an academic or a consultant. The authors, by crystallising the boundaries of academic action research and consulting posit that, when designed and executed well, risk can be minimised to gather rich and deep insights into management practice.

History

Journal

International journal of management practice

Volume

7

Pagination

39-54

Location

Olney, England

ISSN

1477-9064

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2014, Inderscience Enterprises

Issue

1

Publisher

Inderscience Enterprises