Ravalier PhD Theis.pdf - Anglia Ruskin Research Online

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the usefulness for the researcher. However participative research is different -
participants create new knowledge while eliciting action and change strategies.
Despite the elicited differences between traditional and participative
research intimated by Northway (2010), it is clearly acknowledged that a
variety of combinations of these approaches can occur during research
which is still regarded as participatory. Indeed Diaz and Simmons (1999)
argue that very few research studies which are described as participatory
fulfil each of the criteria set out above, and yet are still assumed to be
participatory. These approaches should therefore be viewed more broadly
than how they are discussed by Northway (2010).
However, the literature on the effectiveness of employee
participation within research has been varied (Dejoy et al., 2010). For
example Dalgren and Gard (2009) conducted a meta-analysis looking at
studies which utilised primary-focussed organisational stress reduction
studies. Analytical outcomes found that participation in primary
organisational change initiatives were effective in the improvement of
organisational health and effectiveness. Participative approaches were
also found to create learning among participants. Similarly Dejoy et al.
(2010) implemented a participative approach to employee problem
solving in 11 shopping stores in the USA, with 10 further stores acting as
controls. It was found that the worksites which received the participatory
interventions fared 'better' than the control stores, and even with negative
external organisational pressures impacting upon organisational
effectiveness the participative interventions appeared to buffer the
negative effects of these pressures.
Despite this, not all participatory approaches have been shown to be
completely effective. For example Kobayashi et al. (2008) conducted a
participatory approach in which 321 participants located through
particular departments of a manufacturing organisation took part in
participatory research in order to reduce job stressors. It was found that
significantly positive differences in psychosocial stressors were found for
the female workforce only, with no significant change discovered amongst
the male population. Despite this the research did also find that