The elusive meaning of success for student and tutors in a business school: A learning and teaching project

This working paper presents the findings of a student/tutor participative inquiry into the meaning of ‘success’ for students in the university. The paper tells the story of how the inquiry developed, and analyses how learning developed through co-inquiry practices based on working with visual materials. The associated conference presentation by student/tutor co inquirers, is also available on the Research Repository

Challenging partnerships: Sustaining women's collaborative relationships in changing business and political environments

Senior managers, practitioners and users of public, community and voluntary sector services are currently struggling to develop effective partnership workingwithin increasingly challenging political and organisational environments. Women's organisations face specific challenges to represent their sector and issueseffectively within these partnershipsThis research report explores and theorizes the specific challenges experienced by women who came together from different countries, organisations and sectors tocreate new methods for mainstreaming women's equality and for sustaining women in leadership roles.It offers:· An approach for supporting partnerships and collaborations between women and between women and men across organisations and sectors;· Methods for facilitating collaboration and learning within and across organisational boundaries.The doctoral research was conducted through action inquiry and based on consultancy practice, 1997-2001. Through the research practical methods were developed for facilitating learning between diverse individuals from different countries, organisations and sectors, and for sustaining them as they implemented new practice within their organisations. This report introduces a conceptual framework for effective working within partnerships and across organisational boundaries and describes the methods and associated skills that were developed. It will be of interest to action researchers and practitioners in women's organisations and within the wider voluntary sector. It will also be of use to women and men who are seeking more effective ways of working to promote gender equality and diversity in public services, in the context of multi organisational, cross sectoral or transnational partnerships

Challenging Partnerships: Sustaining women’s collaborative relationships in changing business and political environments

This research publication offers a framework for naming and theorising the methods and skills needed to support exchange of learning, development and implementation of new practice across organisational boundaries. It will be of interest to women and men who are action researchers and practitioners, who are involved in partnership or collaborative work relationships, and is of direct relevance to women and those managing and supporting women in organisations

Two to the power of three: an exploration of metaphor for sense making in (women’s) collaborative inquiry

This paper explores how working with metaphors provides a way to explore under the surface dynamics embedded in the practice and processes of collaborative inquiry. We argue that metaphors are a form of presentational knowing and provide a bridge between experiential knowing and propositional knowing. We have surfaced an exploration of horizontal (sibling) and vertical relations using retrospective inquiry. This paper demonstrates the reality, messiness and politics of collaborative research inquiry processes, which tend to be understudied and under-theorized. We are concerned to affirm the value of collaborative inquiry, and at the same time, break some taboos and myths concerning the practice of this form of inquiry, in particular, between and among women. We hope that our work will provide an impetus to further research in this territory