Negotiated Project Engagements: Learning from Experience

How far is it possible to capture the lessons to be drawn from successive projects that involve intervention by social scientists within or between organizations, whether acting as researchers, as consultants, as agents of change, or in some combination of these roles? This paper outlines the way in which a framework was developed, by staff and associates of The Tavistock Institute, for examining the varied and often subtle influences of successive "negotiated project engagements" on the development of wider personal, institutional, and disciplinary programs. This framework is designed to take into account the contrasting perspectives of the investigators themselves, of their organizational hosts, and of any external sponsors whose primary concern will normally be with project outcomes at a more generalized level. As an illustration, particular reference is made to the experience of a pioneering project concerned with policy-making in city government. This project was undertaken to advance the understanding and practice of public planning, while also exploring the potential for synergy between the perspectives of operational research and applied social science. The paper concludes with some speculations about the potential for further developing this kind of framework in supporting experiential learning.