Action Research Action Learning and Process Management Assoc. Inc. 

A L A R P M  Conference Abstracts

Solutions outside the square   
Practitioner Development Conference
Bardon Conference Centre,
Brisbane, Australia, 12 - 13 July, 1998

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Pam Swepson & Graham White
"Mixing paradigms. An entomologist and a psychologist as joint project leaders."

Graham White (entomologist) and Pam Swepson (psychologist) would like to discuss with you how they think it is possible to constructively mix paradigms to the benefit of both. They would like their fellow participants to constructively challenge the idea of mixing paradigms.

Graham and Pam convinced an industry funding body to finance an electronic (email and fax) stakeholder consultation and decision making process about the potential problem of silver leaf whitefly infecting significant Queensland vegetable industries. The principle stakeholders were scientists currently working on the bug and growers who have or are likely to have the problem in the near future.

Together Graham and Pam designed a process that brought together the dispersed research results of Australian and overseas scientists to bear on the problem along with the disparate opinions of growers in different industries and differently effected at this stage. They also designed a process to enable all the stakeholders to be involved in the decision making process of what to do next and where. Their process was time consuming but cost efficient to all of the stakeholders; ie no-one except Graham and Pam had to attend meetings!

They think that this is indeed a mixing of paradigms, but would like to discuss it with you.

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ALARPM Assoc. Inc. PO Box 1748 Toowong   Qld   4066	Phone:  617 3870 9812 Fax:        617 3870 4013 Email:   alarpm@uq.net.au
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