An Unsolicited Sociotechnical Intervention in a Public System: A Participatory Action Research Approach

<p>This research concerns itself with Participatory Action Research in a hostile setting. The thrust is a sociotechnical one, with the intent being to enhance the capacity of the Wallop Public School System, Wallop, USA, to address its problem of racial disparate treatment of Black children. The potential for Organizational Learning among the school system's senior staff is studied. Some new theory about such hostile interventions is proposed. Also discussed are questions about reliability and construct validity within the context of the multiple role playing that an interventionist has in this setting. The role of the press is reflected in the intervention reporting. Some probes are also posed concerning the role of the technical skill level of participants in any sociotechnical intervention. Linear programming and traditional statistics are used to develop a measure of full racial integration and a pupil assignment model for racial balance.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering

Year dc:date.available

1991

Author dc:creator

• Dorsey, Ely Alfred, Jr.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Laurence D. Richards
• Resit Unal
• Larry D. Lee
• Frederick Steier

• Hostile interventions
• Racial balance
• School integration
• Public schools
• Participatory action research
• Educational Administration and Supervision
• Industrial Technology
• Operational Research
• Systems Engineering

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/emse_etds/160

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.odu.edu:emse_etds-1154