Engaged Scholarship: A Guide for Organizational and Social Research

The relationship between theory and practice, research and action, is fundamental to all fields of applied social science. Should research findings and knowledge be useful for science, practice, and policy? If so, how should such research be designed, carried out and disseminated to achieve the twin goals of rigor and relevance? These challenges are particularly relevant in the applied areas of management and organization studies where there is a distinct responsibility for researchers to engage with the 'real world'. In this carefully crafted and thoughtful book, leading management researcher Andrew Van de Ven both presents the broad intellectual challenge of 'engaged scholarship', and also sets out a clear framework and guidelines for carrying out soundly based and useful research for advancing both science and practice. At a time when some may question the value and status of academic knowledge; and others, contrastingly, urge a closer relationship between researchers and research users - be they businesses, governments or other institutions - the challenge of engaged scholarship is as relevant as ever, and there is a real need for the thoughtful and considered approach offered by Van de Ven. The book both provides a manifesto for engaged scholarship in the social sciences, and clear framework for research design and methodology. It will be an invaluable reference point and guide for academics, researchers and graduate students across the social sciences concerned with rigorous and relevant research in the contemporary world.

Table of Contents:
1: Engaged Scholarship in a Professional School 2: Philosophy of Science Underlying Engaged Scholarship 3: Formulating the Research Problem 4: Building a Theory 5: Process and Variance Models 6: Designing Variance Studies 7: Designing Process Studies 8: Communicating and Using Research Knowledge 9: Practicing Engaged Scholarship

About the Author :
Andrew H. Van de Ven is Vernon H. Heath Professor of Organizational Innovation and Change in the Carlson School of Management of the University of Minnesota. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1972, and taught at Kent State University and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania before his present appointment. He is co-author of Group Techniques for Program Planning (Scott Foresman, 1975), Measuring and Assessing Organizations (Wiley, 1980), Perspectives on Organization Design and Behavior (Wiley, 1981), and The Innovation Journey (1999), Organizational Change and Innovation Processes: Theory and Methods for Research (2000), and Handbook of Organizational Change and Innovation (2004), all by Oxford University Press. Van de Ven was 2000-2001 President of the Academy of Management and is a Fellow of the Academy of Management.

Review :
Van de Ven provides succinct, yet philosophically informed, summaries of alternative philosophical positions available to researchers. 'Andy Van de Ven is internationally renowned for doing superbly crafted research that has made a difference in resolving societal problems. In this book, he teaches us all how to define problems, contribute to theory, offer resolutions, and communicate results in ways that transform the knowledge-practice gap, making it into a well-travelled two-way street. Experienced researchers will find much to learn in this sophisticated guide to bridging the knowledge-practice gap and students will make it their methodology bible. My copy is already littered with passages marked by underlinings, folded corners, and Post-it notes.' 'This is another profound and practical piece of scholarship from Andrew van de Ven. He deserves credit for challenging the limitations of much current management research and for projecting a view of a more engaged and practical form of scholarship.' 'For decades I've admired Andy's systematic application of the "diamond model" outlined in this book. Andy's impressive list of accomplishments, both as a scholar and as a trainer of scholars, speaks to why this is a long awaited field guide to what has become known as engaged scholarship. This book is a gold mine of practical, proven wisdom for anyone seeking to effectively bridge the realms of theory and practice. I suspect we are witnessing the birth of an organizational studies classic.' Without both rigor and relevance, business schools and their faculty will loose institutional legitimacy. Engaged Scholarship is a call to action and clear pathway for scholars. Van de Ven provides an insightful set of ideas where scholars can learn from the phenomena in service of insightful research that, in turn, affects practice. This co-production of knowledge opens up fundamentally new way for scholars in professional schools to conduct their research. This book is a wonderful and important contribution. Professor Andy Van de Ven's (2007) tour de force provides a method of engaged scholarship for studying complex social problems that often exceed our individual skills to examine on our own. Engaged Scholarship is a participative form of research... Van de Ven (2007) is a landmark publication that offers potential for a paradigm shift (Kuhn, 1970) moving from reductionism (Pfeffer, 1993) and towards theoretical and methodological pluralism. It persuasively offers engaged scholarship as a better way than the current status quo of creating knowledge for social science and practice.