From change to development - expanding the concept of

intervention

Jaakko VirkkunenCenter for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research

Marika Schaupp Finnish Institute of Occupational Health

ISCAR 2008

Introduction: our hypotheses

Currently, the development of work activities is largely carried out

through short-term change projects, in which industry ‘best practices’

are implemented

In methodological discussion formative interventions in work activities

are also often depicted as stand-alone, one-time actions without

paying attention to more sustaining relationships between activities.

In the new societal conditions of the global “high tech” capitalism and

“information society” a mastery of complex societal activity systems

calls increasingly for

theoretical-genetic thinking and generalizations (as opposed to abstract-

empirical generalizations concerning ‘best practices’)

long term interaction between research and practice

Therefore also new applications of the basic theoretical insights of the

Cultural Historical Activity Theory are needed

Our presentation

We will first discuss shortly three key concepts of activity theory

from the point of view of linkages between specialized activity

systems the zone of proximal development

the method of double stimulation as a prototype of cultural

remediation and formative intervention

forms of generalization

Then we will describe a case concerning the development of an

individual’s activity and her learning of theoretical-genetic

generalization in work development

Finally we use the case to explain our idea of extended

intervention

The zone of proximal development

Vygotsky’s concept of an individual’s ZPD: social support that leads to independent use of a cultural artifact.

del Rio & Alvarez: ZPD is not only about provisional support but also about the establishment of new permanent connections in the functional design of cultural systems.

Engeström’s concept of the ZPD of an activity: recurrent double-bind situations in individuals’ daily actions in an activity can be overcome by collaboratively creating a historically new form of the activity that has become culturally possible

Two questions:

How to understand the development of individual actions into a new form of collective activity?

What is the role of inter-activity connections in the ZPD of an individual and an activity system?

Vygotsky’s method of double stimulation as a prototype of remediation and of formative intervention

First stimulus: a problem that the subject cannot solve with the help of the previously learned concepts and methods.

Second stimulus: a neutral artifact that the subject can make into an instrument for organizing the problematic situation and working out a solution.

The process of remediation in which the subject makes a cultural artifact into an instrument in his/her the action

In real life work activities the “problematic first stimulus” is often related the need of a customer. The second stimulus can be provided by a tool providing activity.

Intervention can be understood as a special form of social support for the process of remediation: for encountering a challenge (first stimulus), for finding a cultural artifact (second stimulus), and for making the artifact into an instrument for the action in order to meet the challenge.

The process of remediation in an activity system: practitioners’ learning activity

The collaborative creation of a historically new form of activity can take place in practitioners’ joint learning activity, which means a change of focus from individuals’ actions to the structure of the joint activity.

Learning activity calls for instruments to carry out genetic-theoretical analysis of the local activity system and to model its developmental contradictions:

Developmental Work Research methodology and the Change Laboratory method based on it are such instruments, but they are demanding

and cannot be used without support

Models

Methodology

Problem

Context

New activity

Division of labour

between individuals

Division of labour

between collectives

Community of

individuals

Rules for collectives

Individual

Collective

Community of

collectives

Rules for individuals

Engeström 1987: The structure of learning

activity

Phases of learning a new form of generalizing in Tina's activity

Tina the In-house developer

Object The first stimulus

The second stimulus

Inter-activity connections

1. Tina becomes a trusted developer

Coaching teams in collaborative work

Complex object/ inadequate tools

Change Laboratory as a potential tool

New client relationships, contact to the methodological community of DWR

2. Learning genetic analysis and modeling in team development

Supporting a team’s learning activity

Re-interpretation and negotiation of orders with clients

3. Expansion in the object of development

Supporting the learning activity of a business unit

Shared broader new object with one client

Methodology training → new interpretation of orders and the tool

New client order and support from the methodological community lead to a new form activity

4. Connecting CL to a new road building concept?

Creating tools for business units to implement a new production concept

Discussions with the development manager to define the object of development

CL as a methodology for supporting learning activity connected to the current change

Production management and designers as clients and co-developers, methodological community asresource

A chain of cycles of expansive development andinterventionsThe “first stimulus” emerges in the activity through client contacts and the

“second stimulus” and support through contacts with members of a

methodological community. Expansion from actions to new kind of collaborative activity Stabilization and masteryof the use of instruments

CED1CED2FS1SS1Legend:CED1,2 ... = INTERDEPENDENT CYCLES OF EXPANSIVE DEVELOPMENT FS1, 2 ... = FIRST STIMULUS 1, 2, ....SS1, 2 ... = SECOND STIMULUS 1,2...I1, 2 ... = INTERVENTION 1,2,...

FS2FS3FS4SS2SS3SS4I4I1I2I3CED3CED4

Conclusion

The development of a new kind of activity that is based on a

demanding methodology calls for a sustained relationship

between the specialists of the methodology and the

practitioners making it into an instrument in their activity.

Such a sustained relationship makes it possible for the

specialists to use the emerging challenges in the

practitioners’ activity as the basis for a chain of interventions,

in which the practitioners make the methodology step by step

more comprehensively into an instrumentality in their activity.