A quasi-experimental study of an action-research project: The effect of project visibility

A three-year Action-Research organizational development (OD) project in an automotive parts manufacturing plant was designed to: (a) increase employee participation, and (b) solve specific problems. All employees were surveyed before and after interventions. The OD effort was directed at the largest of four internal business units in the Plant, called the Experimental group. The remaining three business units formed the Comparison group, resulting in a quasi-experimental research design. Elements of the OD effort to increase employee participation included; (a) collaboration in data gathering, interpretation, and action planning, (b) widespread dissemination of survey results, and (c) collaboration in four issue-specific Task Forces. Besides differences in focus, the Task Forces also differed in the degree of their “visibility” to employees. We define visibility as: (a) the number of employees exposed to the intervention, and (b) the degree to which the intervention was directly observable by employees. Task force visibility was directly related to Task Force success, as measured by data from the second survey. Detailed suggestions for increasing employee participation and the visibility of OD projects are offered. In addition, some new suggestions are also offered for the effective conduct of Town Hall meetings in order to achieve decisions that need both high quality solutions and high employee acceptance.