Organizational research—determining what drives a business, how all the pieces work together, and the extent of its capacity for change
I’m reading Just enough research by Erika Hall. I picked it up expecting to brush up on my research skills for my new job but found something unexpected. A chapter on organizational research.
I know. That topic itself isn’t a big surprise to find in a book about research. I thought it was about how to set up a research practice within an organization. Instead, the chapter described using organizational research to get work done in a big company.
Using your research skills, you find out who needs to be part of your project. You run customer interviews with those people to understand them. You find out what are their needs, what kind of context can they offer you, how often do they need to be kept in the loop, and if they know anyone else that needs to be involved.
Along the way you develop context, identify challenges, and build consensus.