Getting Smart: Developing an Action Research Approach to the Integrated Management of Technical and Organizational Innovation

This paper elaborates and illustrates a model of action research that currently informs a major project to design and implement team based manufacturing cells in three Australian companies. The basic assumptions of action research and its distinctive variants are summarised and the particular approach of the SMART project is presented. It is argued that this approach is both distinctive and of importance as a research model for investigating and promoting integrated process innovation, particularly within Australia and other less industrialised countries.