4

An Integrative Action Research on
Leveraging Business Intelligence to Sustain Data Integrity in Workload Management
Report and to Create a Culture of Transparency and Accountability in the Workplace
Submitted by:
TAN, MA. MERCEDES D.
11671068
Submitted to:
Dr. Benito L. Teehankee
August 11, 2020

Leveraging Business Intelligence to Sustain Data Integrity 1
Table of Contents
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ 1

List of Tables ................................................................................................................................... 3
List of Figures.................................................................................................................................. 3
Acknowledgment ............................................................................................................................. 5
Abstract............................................................................................................................................ 6
Chapter 1 - Rationale and Purpose ............................................................................................... 7
Issue/Problem/Opportunity ........................................................................................................ 7
Significance of Action Research ................................................................................................. 9
Chapter 2 - Background and Context ......................................................................................... 10
External Context ....................................................................................................................... 10
About Regional Headquarters in the Philippines ............................................................... 10
Internal Context ........................................................................................................................ 10
The CXV Company and The Manila Business Center ...................................................... 10
Organizational Framework of CXV Company................................................................... 11
The Workload Management Tool ........................................................................................ 14
Position of the Researcher .................................................................................................... 15
Academic Context ..................................................................................................................... 15
Chapter 3 – Methodology and Methods of Inquiry ................................................................... 18
The Action Research Cycle ...................................................................................................... 18
Methods of Data Collection ...................................................................................................... 19
First-person inquiry .................................................................................................................. 19
Realistic ORJI ........................................................................................................................ 20
Ladder of inference ............................................................................................................... 21
Left-hand Column ................................................................................................................. 22
Meta-learning ......................................................................................................................... 23
Second-person inquiry .............................................................................................................. 23
Forms of inquiry .................................................................................................................... 23
Four Parts of Speech ............................................................................................................. 24
Hypothesis testing .................................................................................................................. 24
Force field analysis based on critical realism ...................................................................... 25

Systems thinking .................................................................................................................... 26
Third-person inquiry ................................................................................................................ 26
Change Management Strategy ................................................................................................. 27
The Prosci ADKAR® Model ................................................................................................ 27
Lean, Kaizen and DMAIC Framework ............................................................................... 28
Agile and Scrum Framework ............................................................................................... 28
Addressing role duality, organizational politics, and ethical concerns ................................ 29
Role duality ............................................................................................................................ 29
Organizational politics .......................................................................................................... 30
Ethical considerations ........................................................................................................... 31
Ensuring quality / trustworthiness of action research ....................................................... 32
Chapter 4 – Stories and Outcomes (First Cycle) ....................................................................... 34
Constructing .............................................................................................................................. 34
Planning ..................................................................................................................................... 52
Taking Action ............................................................................................................................ 55
Evaluating Action ...................................................................................................................... 62
Chapter 5 – Meta-learning After First Cycle ............................................................................. 65
Content Reflection ..................................................................................................................... 65
Process Reflection ...................................................................................................................... 66
Premise Reflections ................................................................................................................... 67
Chapter 6 – Stories and Outcomes – Second Cycle ................................................................... 69
Constructing .............................................................................................................................. 69
Planning ..................................................................................................................................... 74
Taking Action ............................................................................................................................ 77
Evaluating Action ...................................................................................................................... 81
Chapter 7 - Meta-learning After Second Cycle.......................................................................... 86
Content reflection ...................................................................................................................... 86
Process reflection ....................................................................................................................... 87
Premise reflection ...................................................................................................................... 89
Chapter 8 - Extrapolation to a Broader Context and Articulation of Usable Knowledge ..... 94
Reference ....................................................................................................................................... 98
Appendices ................................................................................................................................... 103
Appendix 1. Signed De La Salle University- General Research Ethics Checklist ............. 104
Appendix 2. Signed De La Salle University- Research Ethics Checklist for Investigations
involving Human Participants (Checklist A) ........................................................................ 109
Appendix 3. Signed De La Salle University- Research Ethics Checklist for Investigators
conducting Action Research (Checklist F) ............................................................................ 116
Appendix 4. Informed Consent of Participants .................................................................... 123
List of Tables
Table 1. The Digital Platform Team’s Agile Role and Responsibilities ...................................... 12
Table 2. Role duality in first-, second-, and third-person practice ............................................... 30
Table 3. Timeline of Workload Management Tool Development ................................................ 35
Table 4. The Realistic ORJI – Cycle 1 ......................................................................................... 37
Table 5. Stakeholder Analysis Matrix .......................................................................................... 38
Table 6. Schein's Active Inquiry Levels ....................................................................................... 40
Table 7. Ladder of Inference ......................................................................................................... 41
Table 8. Conversation using Torbert's Four Parts of Speech ........................................................ 44
Table 9. Application of the Seven Rules of Hypothesis Testing .................................................. 49
Table 10. Implementation Plan – Cycle 1..................................................................................... 55
Table 11. Activity Type Table – Cycle 1 ...................................................................................... 57
Table 12. Application of The Prosci ADKAR® Model in Change Management Strategy – Cycle 1
....................................................................................................................................................... 58
Table 13. Feedback generated from Cycle 1 Evaluation .............................................................. 64
Table 14. Ladder of Inference – Cycle 2 ...................................................................................... 71
Table 15. Left-Hand Column -Cycle 2 ......................................................................................... 73
Table 16. Implementation Plan - Cycle 2 ..................................................................................... 76
Table 17. Updated Activity Type Table with applicable billing category – Cycle 2 ................... 78
Table 18. Business Rules for Billing Information ........................................................................ 79
Table 19. Verification of company code guidelines using Schein's Active Inquiry – Cycle 2..... 80
Table 20. Feedback generated from Cycle 2 - Evaluation ............................................................ 84
Table 21. Summary of Outcomes ................................................................................................. 98
List of Figures
Figure 1. The Reinforcing Loop ..................................................................................................... 8
Figure 2.The Finance Digital Platform Team ............................................................................... 11
Figure 3.Dyché’ s Stakeholder Interaction Model ........................................................................ 13

Figure 4. The Landing Page of the FSS Workload Management Tool ........................................ 14
Figure 5. Workload Management Dashboard ............................................................................... 15
Figure 6. Spiral of action research cycles ..................................................................................... 18
Figure 7. The Realistic ORJI (source: Schein, 1999a).................................................................. 21
Figure 8. Ladder of inference (source: Coghlan, 2019) ................................................................ 22
Figure 9. Force Field Diagram (Source: www.valuebasedmanagement.net) ............................... 25
Figure 10. The Prosci ADKAR® Model ...................................................................................... 27
Figure 11. Kaizen Event Agenda for Cycle 1 ............................................................................... 28
Figure 12. Scrum Framework ....................................................................................................... 29
Figure 13. The Lasallian Reflection Framework .......................................................................... 32
Figure 14. Screenshot of company codes stored in the Workload Management Tool ................. 36
Figure 15. The Workload Management Report in PowerPoint Slide ........................................... 45
Figure 16. Old Process Flow – Workload Management Reporting Process................................. 46
Figure 17. Future State of Reporting Process ............................................................................... 50
Figure 18. Root Cause Analysis.................................................................................................... 51
Figure 19. Force Field Analysis – Cycle 1 ................................................................................... 52
Figure 20. Email instruction for tester – Cycle 1 .......................................................................... 57
Figure 21. Email communication- Deployment of Workload Management tool in Production .. 59
Figure 22. FSS Manila Workload Management Tool (WMT) User Guide .................................. 61
Figure 23. Billing Information after Cycle 1 ................................................................................ 69
Figure 24. Email Response from Accounts Payable Rush Desk Team ........................................ 70
Figure 25. Force Field Analysis – Cycle 2 ................................................................................... 75
Figure 26. Scrum Ceremonies – Cycle 2 ...................................................................................... 77
Figure 27. Email Response to Accounts Payable Rush Desk Team- Cycle 2 .............................. 80
Figure 28. Billing Information After Implementation of Cycle -2 ............................................... 81
Figure 29. A Sustainable Data Integrity Framework .................................................................... 97
Acknowledgment
This paper was prepared with utmost gratitude to Almighty God, who guided me in my MBA
journey since day 1. God is so good to keep me well to complete this paper.
This work could not have been completed without the support and guidance from my advisor, Dr.
Benito L. Teehankee. He has been so generous on sharing his wisdom and experiences with his
class, which we enjoyed a lot. He made it easy for us to understand this course through practical
application, analogy, and productive virtual class discussions.
Special thanks to my MBA Buddies Ms. Analyn “Achie” Caindoy and Ms. Rachel Anne Solano.
My mentor, PRC Board member, Hon. Cyd Aguilera, whose expertise, invaluable insights, and
feedback, shape this paper.
To my collaborators, whose active participation in this action research made this paper possible.
Lastly, I would like to thank my very supportive family: My parents and siblings who took care of
my sons while I’m attending my classes on weekends; My husband who supported me throughout
this journey. His words of encouragement and love keep me going.
Abstract
This action research focused on leveraging business intelligence for Finance Shared
Services Workload Management Improvements. The main objective is to sustain the data integrity
of workload management reports for accurate workload distribution and billing statements sent to
business units. Furthermore, this paper aims to create a culture of accountability in the workplace
by enabling employees to manage their workload to ensure the quality of work and personal safety.
Lean, Scrum Framework and the Prosci ADKAR model were used as frameworks to lead the
transformations in Finance Shared Services effectively.
The first cycle involves the development workload management dashboard. The workload
management dashboard replaced the manual preparation of reports performed by the Finance
Business Planning Team. The dashboard has a feature that proactively detects all invalid company
codes that should not be part of the billing information. The first cycle intends to make the data
discrepancies visible to the leadership team, who is responsible for reinforcing quality work in the
shared services.
The second cycle activities focused on the enhancement of the Workload Management Tool.
The collaborators worked on the feedback and suggestions from the evaluation of the first cycle
that includes the creation new set of controls or what we called "mistake-proofing" features to
ensure data integrity and accurate billing information. The importance of quality input emphasized
to create a sense of ownership in each member of the organization.

The completion of the two cycles, exceedingly met the objectives of this action research,
which led to a powerful shift of perception in Finance Shared Services and created a culture of
accountability in the workplace.
Chapter 1 - Rationale and Purpose
Issue/Problem/Opportunity
During the Annual Finance Business Planning for the year 2020 held last October 1, 2019,
business planners cited that only 96% of the computed full-time equivalent (FTE) billed to
customers. The two contributing factors were presented to the Finance Leadership team: (1) The
limitations of the current business tool used in the reporting process and (2) The lack of
communication and transparency in the reporting process.
The action research team was selected and began to work on these two factors. The scope of
this action research is to improve the data quality of workload management reports, which includes
correct billing information and accurate workload distribution.
Based on our collective insights, employees are not aware of the impact of the incorrect
information they provide in the Workload Management Tool. These data discrepancies were not
visible to employees and left unresolved.
If information (hours spent, company codes, activity type) is correct, it means high data quality
(%) of the workload management report, high probability of accurate billing ($) information, which
means a high likelihood of proper resource allocation (N) during business planning.
On the other hand, if wrong and incomplete information are present in the system, the virtuous
cycle becomes a vicious cycle: low data quality report leads to having a low probability of accurate
billing ($) information, low likelihood of proper resource allocation (N), and low data quality,
which leads to still a low probability of accurate billing information and low data quality (%).
A "vicious cycle" is formed as described by Senge (1990) in which things start badly and grow
worse (p.66), as illustrated using a Reinforcing loop in Figure 1.
Figure 1. The Data Quality Reinforcing Loop

Source: Senge (1990, p.66)
Data discrepancies on workload management reports lead to unbalance workload
distribution and questionable billing statements. According to Skinner and Pocock (2008),
"Effective management of work overload, with its potential to contribute to emotional
strain/exhaustion and long work hours, should be considered as a keystone strategy to support a
healthy work-life relationship. The lack of visibility on the distribution of work has caused
tremendous risk on personal safety and inequalities on workload”(p.303).

Significance of Action Research
Since 2019, efforts to build a digital culture and accelerate digital transformation across
service centers are progressing. One of our leadership imperatives is to leverage business
intelligence to improve the quality of work and help employees to work smarter.
When the Finance Shared Service (FSS) came to Software Engineering Services (SES) with
their business challenges, we put this project as a top priority, given that the business drivers are
personal safety and operational excellence. There were attempts from the past to develop a
workload management report, but the lack of resources had to put these projects on hold. If these
business challenges continue, people and process safety are at risk.
The resolution of the business problem will open a lot of opportunities, not just for SES and
FSS, but also across the enterprise. Business Intelligence optimized business processes and fostered
effective collaboration in the organization, especially during this trying time that most companies
need to operate remotely. Indeed, this action research became a business model on how to lead
change in the organization regardless of location and time zone.
For my personal development (both technical and interpersonal), I tend to listen more and
talk less. Practicing self-reflection through ORJI and Ladder of Inference has helped me improve
my communication skills to effectively manage conflicts, especially if we are introducing change
in the organization. By taking time to think and not to rush over, things could gain a clear
understanding of my intentions to construct the right questions better. As for my collaborators, this
action research made us realize that listening to others is equally important to listen to yourself.
While the theories from the different principles of management had played into action when applied
correctly in our organization.

Chapter 2 - Background and Context

External Context
About Regional Headquarters in the Philippines
Under RA 8756, any multinational company may establish an RHQ or ROHQ if they exist
under laws other than the Philippines, with branches, affiliates, and subsidiaries in the Asia
Pacific Region and other foreign markets (Philippine Board of Investments, 2018).
A Regional Headquarters (RHQ) can only be set up by a foreign corporation like CXV company
that has subsidiaries and business partners in the Asia Pacific Region. Its primary purpose is to
coordinate its subsidiaries, branches, and affiliates in the APAC region (Kittleson-Carpo
Consulting, n.d.).
Internal Context
The CXV Company and The Manila Business Center
As part of our compliance agreement with our Corporate Affairs, we cannot disclose the name
of the company. The name "CXV Company" refers to the parent company of the Regional
Headquarter named the Manila Business Center (MBC) that provides office support for various
CXV divisions around the world. Areas of support include finance and accounting, human
resources, information technology, customer relations, and procurement. The MBC provides
services to CXV entities in Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, Europe, and North America.
MBC was established in 1998 and has grown to become a leading example of a regional
headquarter in the Philippines. MBC started as a concept of centralized technical services that
performs transactional, processing, and consulting activities (in areas such as finance, human
resources, procurement, marketing, and information technology) to CXV offices in Asia Pacific,
Africa, and the Middle East.
MBC remained consistent in their objective, “to minimize operational costs of CXV and take
advantage of a huge, cost-effective labor pool and attractive tax incentives from an emerging
market like the Philippines” (Kittleson-Carpo Consulting, n.d.).
Organizational Framework of CXV Company
Figure 2.The Finance Digital Platform Team

CXV’s digital platforms exist to enable the business. They provide a springboard of
technologies that ensure we capitalize on our scale and focus efforts on what sets us apart from the
competition. The partnership between business segments and IT functions has been key to
progressing digital platforms. That work will continue to be critical as we do the heavy lifting
required to truly modernize our technology landscape, reduce costs, and support innovation at
scale.
The Digital Platforms are created by the functions in close partnership with the business build
priority capabilities. The IT delivery workforce (Technical Lead, Solution Architect, Scrum Master,
Product Developers) is part of a functional (Finance, HR, Marketing, Procurement) digital platform
team that will get work directions to the Digital Platform Manager to deliver a product or service.
Table 1 details the responsibility of the Finance Digital Platform Team:
Table 1. The Digital Platform Team’s Agile Role and Responsibilities

The new organizational framework in CVX Company is based on Dyché’s (2015) Stakeholder
Interaction Model (see Figure 3) that emphasized the importance of collaboration of business units
with IT function when it comes to building priority capabilities. The new organizational framework
has flexibility, bidirectional communications, and multiple players for different types of decisions.
It’s not an organizational chart. Instead, it’s a means of establishing decision levels based on
authority and function. It encourages multiple players with different responsibilities and
perspectives.
Figure 3. Technology Portfolio Planning: Stakeholder Interaction Model

Source: Dyché (2015)
The Workload Management Tool
This tool functions to collect data on the individual workload of FSS Manila employees to
facilitate workload management, FTE planning, benchmarking, and customer billing.
Figure 4. The Landing Page of the FSS Workload Management Tool

It replaces the InfoPath-based form hosted in SharePoint. Now in its Minimum Viable Product
(MVP) state, this business application allows users to create and edit own data, change ownership
of desks and view organized data through Workload Management Dashboard (see Figure 5).
Figure 5. Workload Management Dashboard

Position of the Researcher
I performed multiple roles in this action research, a scrum master and developer, as shown
in Table 1. I facilitated the Scrum ceremonies to promote Agile Mindset in FSS. As part of my
professional developmental goal, I also joined the development team to build my data modeling
and data visualization skills as a data engineer in Finance Digital Platform Team. I was nominated
as a scrum master based on my project management skills, business analytics skills, and enterprise-
wide experience of leading process improvement projects. Although I have dual roles, my work
direction solely comes from our Digital Platform Technical Lead. Adopting a critical realist
approach in facilitating an action research initiative allowed me to become a better change agent
that has manifested in my thinking process in both cycles of this action research.
Academic Context
The completion of the cycles of this action research arrived just in time when our
organization decided to shift to the remote work model due to the pandemic crisis. Before the
outbreak, our leaders were already working on the possibility to increase work from home schedule
from once a week to 2-3 times a week to minimize our rental expenses and be open to open floor
workplace. However, some leaders are hesitant to give their approval because they find that it will
affect their team productivity. They pointed out that the organization is not yet ready for the remote
work model due to our current IT infrastructure in the Philippines. While their point is valid, the
pandemic crisis has challenged this belief, and leaders are now satisfied to see that their team
productivity is much better than being present at work. Unforeseen events like the pandemic
allowed us to see the power of technology as an enabler to improve collaboration and accelerate
innovation. While reflecting on this context, it led me to my Information Management class when
we had a class debate: Working from Home – Is it sustainable for the Philippines? I went to the
“Yes, we can” group not because I’m an IT Professional but as a Filipino who believed in our
capabilities and creativeness. We always find ways; we make things work. Filipinos are naturally
“madiskarte.” Especially in our situation today, the decline of our physical infrastructure has forced
us to work remotely (Offstein & Morwick, 2009).
Crowley (2016) points out that the 21st-century workplace has learned the basics —how to
send an email, how to schedule a meeting. But few of them go on to utilize these powerful tools in
a holistic way to organize their time, priorities, and information. He added that we need to be
flexible because the tools we are using to organize ourselves have changed.
The outcomes of this action research are very relatable to Lawson’s (2017, para. 2)
statement that the world appears to us in specific ways that are shaped by the tools we use. In this
case, our goals are also transformed by the tools we use as they present us with possibilities or
opportunities that would not otherwise come about. Technology has played an essential role in this
action research, not just improving the process (Coghlan, 2019). We go beyond what is visible to
us through collaborative exploration and to become responsible action researcher in using the
appropriate technology to make virtually present better than being there

Chapter 3 – Methodology and Methods of Inquiry
The Action Research Cycle
The Action Research Cycle became our core framework on how we explore an issue on which
at first is not clear to us until we identified the cause, act on it, and evaluate our action. We made
sure that the authenticity of our collaborative effort and reflection delivers valuable outputs and
enriching experiences in both cycles. Coghlan (2019) emphasize to keep this in perspective because
it prevents the action researcher from getting too preoccupied with the mechanics of the cycle at
the expense of quality participation.
Figure 6. Spiral of action research cycles

Source: Coghlan and Brannick (2014, p.11)
Coghlan and Brannick (2014) presented the action research cycles as a continuing spiral of
steps of constructing, planning, taking action, and evaluating action (see Figure 6).
• Constructing involves engaging the stakeholders in a collaborative identifying of the
issue and its causes.

• Planning action requires a collaborative effort of planning on how the action research
team implements the change.
• Taking action is where we collaboratively implemented the planned action
• Evaluating action, the examination of the intended and unintended outcomes of our
actions with collaboration and critical reflection.
Methods of Data Collection
Coghlan and Brannick (2014) stated that data comes through engagement with others in the
action research cycles, it’s not merely data collection but an intervention of generating learning
data for me as a researcher but also to the individual concern.
Journaling has taught me to become a better critic of my thinking. It was made more
accessible through Journey, a cross-platform journal app where I can log my observations and
experiences in my action research journey whenever a situation or event called my attention to
write down what exactly I observed or experience. Recordings of virtual working sessions, online
meetings community of practice, and chat history made data generation faster and more accessible
through a secure business application and learning platforms provided by the company. The
organization and academic institutions provide eBooks and online learning resources as an
alternative for physical libraries during the outbreak. Furthermore, I got helpful references from
DLSU MBA Alumni, Lasallian MBA Communities, and learning groups in Social Media as part
of my second- and third-person inquiry.
First-person inquiry
The first-person inquiry was used in this action research to understand our own thinking
first, before any intervention of engaging other’s own thinking that eventually became part of our
thought process. It is characterized as a form of inquiry and practice that one does on one’s own,
enabling an individual to develop his inquiry skill to act out of awareness and purposefully (Coghlan
and Brannick,2014).
Through critical reflection, we developed an awareness of the two systems of our brain, and
when we purposefully used it in this action research. Kahneman (2011) introduced the two systems
of our brain in his book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, where System 1(fast) as effortlessly originating
impressions and feelings that are the primary sources of the explicit beliefs and deliberate choices
of System 2(slow). Being aware of the pitfalls and power of these two systems helped us find more
rational solutions to issue that we collaboratively identified in this action research. Additionally, it
helped to understand more how we think about making personal decisions.
Realistic ORJI
Schein (1999a) developed a simplified model of processing our thoughts through Realistic
ORJI to become aware of our own feelings, biases, perceptual distortions, and impulses. He
explained that we observe(O); we react emotionally to what we observed (R), we analyze, process,
and make judgments based on observations and feelings(J). We behave overtly to make something
happen – we intervene (I). He presented a more realistic model (see Figure 7) that allows us to
reflect on what happens inside our mind, be aware of the possible traps we might fall during our
thinking process critically, and how our observations, experiences, judgments can affect the quality
of our interventions. It also helped me to practice structured journaling in this action research.
Figure 7. A more realistic depiction of the ORJI Cycle

Source: Schein (1999a, p.93)
Ladder of inference
Argyris et al. (1985) formulated a conceptual device to help action researchers deal with the
essential and threatening issue. A schematic representation of the steps in Figure 8 begins at the
lowest rung of the ladder. It can be a relatively clear data-for example, a sentence from an email
response. This kind of data could be checked through an email inquiry highlighting the response
for further verification. The second rung of the ladder of inference is the cultural meaning of the
email response. Its meaning would be understood by anyone who a member of the relevant language
community; the third rung of the ladder of inference is the meaning imposed by the recipient of the
email. For example, someone might conclude that the email source’s statements were "strong" or
"insensitive." The ladder of inference helped me to retrace my steps from what I have observed and
the conclusions I drew from a challenging experience or situation in both cycles (Coghlan, 2019).
Figure 8. The ladder of inference

Source: Coghlan (2019, p. 39)
Left-hand Column
Ross and Kleiner (1994) explicitly explained this first-person inquiry technique in four basic
steps of (1) choosing a problem or difficult situation you had (2) then write the actual conversation
at the right-side column of what has been said (3) followed by the documenting what you were
thinking, feeling, but not saying at the left-hand column (4) lastly, to reflect on the statements at the
left-hand column then used this reflection as a resource to further improve interventions. This
technique has helped improve my journaling to account for what I felt, what should have been said
to become an effective communicator and facilitator.

Meta-learning
According to Mezirow (1990), If the reflection is understood as an assessment of how or
why we have perceived, thought, felt, or acted, it must be differentiated from an assessment of how
best to perform these functions when each phase of action is guided by what we have learned before.
He added that a thoughtful action of the three forms of reflection: content, process, premise is
critical in action research. Content reflection covers where I think is happening; Process reflection
where I think about the strategies and framework used, and how things are being done; Premise
reflection is where I critique the underlying assumptions and perspectives.
Second-person inquiry
“The quality of second-person inquiry and action is paramount” (Coghlan, 2019) in this
action research. Through this kind of practice, we developed our listening skills to engage our
audience in a meaningful and sensible conversation on how we see things while constructing the
issue, planning what action to take, implementing, and lastly, evaluating our actions after each
cycle. This could be done in our case, both physical, face-to-face (during the early stage of cycle
1), and virtual (online meetings, instant messaging, video calls).
Forms of inquiry
Schein (1999b) told us that we could use active inquiry as a trick “to be actively in charge
of this process while maintaining, a supportive, listening posture”(p. 43). He summarized these
several kinds of inquiry into three types:
▪ A Pure inquiry is where we “prompts elicitation of the story of what is taking place, and
listen carefully and neutrally” (Coghlan, 2019).
▪ A diagnostic inquiry is a type of inquiry “in which we begin to elicit their understanding
and judgments by exploring reasoning and action” (Coghlan, 2019).

▪ A Confrontive inquiry is where “sharing of our own ideas, we challenge the other to
think from a new perspective” (Coghlan, 2019).
Four Parts of Speech
Torbert and Associates (2004) crafted a disciplined practice of recognizing and generating
four parts of speech as an Action Inquiry Model:
▪ Framing is putting your perspective as well as your understanding of the others’
perspectives out onto the table for examination.
▪ Advocating refers to explicitly asserting an option, perception, feeling, or strategy for
action in relatively abstract terms.
▪ Illustrating, which involves telling a bit of a real story that puts meat on the bones of the
advocacy and thereby orients and motivates others more clearly.
▪ Inquiring involves questioning others to learn something from them.
Hypothesis testing
These are seven rules for hypothesis testing “to help practitioners become aware of the
rules they now use and teach an alternative set so that practitioners might skillfully enact them on
their own” (Argyris et al., 1985, p.258-261):
1. Combine advocacy with inquiry.
2. Illustrate your inferences with relatively directly observable data.
3. Make your reasoning explicit and publicly test for agreement at each inferential
step.
4. Actively seek disconfirming data and alternative explanations.
5. Affirm the making of mistakes in the service of learning.
6. Design ongoing experiments to test competing views.

Force field analysis based on critical realism
A tool developed by Kurt Lewin for assessing and constructing interventions concerning
organizational, political forces (Coghlan, 2019). “This realist theme about knowledge of the social
world is also familiar from the "causal mechanisms" approach to social explanation, where
theorists argue that there are real (though often unobservable) social causal mechanisms that
constitute the motive force of social change” (Understanding Society, 2013). These forces can be
“persons, habits, customs, attitudes – both drive and restrain change” (Value Based Management,
n.d.), as shown in Figure 9. Mumford & Anjum (2010) also added that this could translate to “a
set of causes, even though they may succeed in producing an effect, cannot necessitate it since
some additional power could have counteracted the effect. This would require a separation of our
concepts of causal production and causal necessitation” (p.143).
Figure 9. Force Field Diagram

Source: Value Based Management (2020)
Systems thinking
Systems thinking allows us to see the big picture in our organization (Coghlan, 2019).
Senge (1990) emphasized that “Without a systemic orientation, there is no motivation to look at
how the disciplines interrelate” (p. 13). This holistic approach was used in the construction stage
to helped us analyzed where we are in the current situation and why the current situation seems
not the way we expected it to be.
Third-person inquiry
In every deliberate first- and second-person practice, we followed a third-person practice to
enrich experiences and insight sought from others who indirectly involved in this action research.
It is done “through dissemination by reporting, publishing, and extrapolating from concrete to the
general” (Coghlan, 2019). The related literature came from my MBA core courses, eBooks from
our organization learning sites and De La Salle University online database about information
technology, business and data analytics, business intelligence, digital transformation, workload
management, resource allocation, and creating a culture of accountability, transparency, and
integrity,
Change Management Strategy
The Prosci ADKAR® Model
The Prosci ADKAR® Model is a goal-oriented change management model (see Figure 10) that
guides individual and organizational change. Created by Prosci founder Jeff Hiatt, ADKAR is an
acronym that represents the five tangible and concrete outcomes that people need to achieve for
lasting change: awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement. We used this framework
in developing the change management strategy for implementing a planned change.
Figure 10. The ADKAR States of Change

Source: Malhotra (2019)
Lean, Kaizen and DMAIC Framework
Figure 11. Kaizen Event Agenda for Cycle 1

We integrated the rigor and discipline of DMAIC in Kaizen Events in Cycle 1. It effectively put
all the important elements needed to kick-off fast action research. It helped us facilitate an engaging
discussion with key stakeholders in a 5-day event that covers the four basic steps of the action
research cycle. It also gave a structure to align the objectives and deliverables expected in every
step of action research cycle 1. One of the benefits of applying Kaizen is the establishment of an
effective collaborating team, which is very important in doing an action research initiative.
Agile and Scrum Framework
The Scrum Framework was used in the actual development of the Workload Management
Dashboard from the design of the prototype until the deployment of the business application in
production. The development team became familiar with the action research cycle steps because
of its similar concept we have in the Scrum Framework. Like the Action Research Cycle’s four
basic steps, it also started with constructing, followed by planning, implementing (taking action),
and evaluating, as shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12. Scrum Framework

Source: Visual Paradigm (2020)
Addressing role duality, organizational politics, and ethical concerns
Role duality
The term “duality” is an expression used by Coghlan (2019) to explain a duality between my
role as the principal researcher and the multiple roles I hold in the organization (scrum master,
developer, mentor, friend, etc.). He emphasized our awareness of our thinking process as these
multiple roles engaged with our role as researchers. I remained true to whatever role I performed
in this action research by ensuring the clarity of these roles before I started the action research
journey. My leaders and mentors played an important role in guiding me to manage my time and
deliverables by keeping open communication. Leaders need to be virtually present as our physical
infrastructure is declining because of the pandemic crisis. They failed to eliminate the barriers along
the way and kept a seamless implementation of plans. They also helped mobilize the right people
and the right tools if we need help. Additionally, Coghlan (2019) outlined the essential task and
skills required to work with the challenges of role duality:
Table 2. Role duality in first-, second-, and third-person practice

Source: Coghlan (2019, p. 84)
Organizational politics
Dealing with organizational politics is inevitable. My adherence to the RVR COB Code of
Ethics keep me grounded to perform my roles in the organization. As the principal researcher, I let
my collaborators remain focused and true to their thinking process and engagements. This action
research project enabled us to develop conflict resolution skills. Because of my vast experience in
leading process improvement projects, I used to deal with different levels in the organization and
practice the different engagement styles and when to apply it in the right situation. I always believe
in perfect timing; I never insist on an engagement if my audience is not ready for it. I respect their
time, especially in our situation today, when we need to balance our professional and personal time.
Ethical considerations
We made sure that we deliver the desired outcomes of this action research with integrity,
respect, trust, inclusiveness, and transparency through the four ethical principles articulated by
Gellerman and Associates (Gellerman et al., 1990, as cited by Coghlan, 2019):
1. Serve the good of the whole
2. Treat others as we would like them to treat us.
3. Always treat people as ends, never only as means; respect their being, and never use them
for their ability to do; treat people as persons and never as subjects.
4. Act so we do not increase power by more powerful stakeholders over the less powerful
(p.94)
As the principal researcher, I need to see the holistic wellness of my collaborators and
stakeholders throughout our journey. Being considerate of all aspects especially physical and
mental health, is this very depressing time. Dr. Ben L. Teehankee (2018) mentioned in his article,
“You’ll need to get people engaged and feeling like valued partners in the work.” So, I balanced
our activities to incorporate diversity and fun in our meetings. I also kept an honest feedback culture
and recognized the quality and creative way of collaboration. That way, we somehow forgot the
negative effect of this pandemic. The RVR COB Code of Ethics has guided me since Day 1 of this
action research. Consistent adherence to the code of ethics kept my feet on the ground and engaged
myself in a humble inquiry. I recognized my role as a business leader who:
• lead people and manage resources to promote human development and the common good
and to create value that no single individual can create alone.
• Care for the well-being of individuals inside and outside my enterprise, today and tomorrow.
Ensuring quality / trustworthiness of action research
Figure 13. The Lasallian Reflection Framework

Source : De La Salle University (2020)
Coghlan (2019) emphasized that “Quality of the action research process itself-this is
grounded in a dual focus on both the inquiry process and the implementation process as it unfolds
and is managed in the present tense during the project” (p.5). My adoption of the Lasallian
Reflection Framework(see Figure 13) played an important in my collaborations, engagements, and
self-reflection. Atty. Frances Jeanne L. Sarmiento (2017) shared in her article in the Business world
about the art of reflecting ethical conduct:
A business leader is responsible for maintaining a balance between reflecting on their
purpose and acting to achieve that purpose because reflection is instrumental in creating
sound goals and plans. When these are combined with equally sound implementation, they
form the foundation of great strategy.
As a future Lasallian Business Leader, I worked hard to earn the trust and inspire others to do
the same. To influence selfless leadership is imperative in this trying time. Our people need us to
help them keep a positive outlook in life by being consistent with our words and actions.
Chapter 4 – Stories and Outcomes (First Cycle)

Constructing
Before constructing events, the selection of this action research project has reached the
consensus of the collaborators based on the criteria stated by Coghlan and Brannick (2014) as
useful, particularly to management, achievable in research timeframe and manageable for the
researcher (p.65). The constructing of this action research project began last January 17, 2020, a
week after evaluation of the action taken when the FSS Migrated their Workload Management Tool
in a Microsoft Power Platform from an Excel File that resides in a central repository (SharePoint)
during the last quarter of 2019. The stakeholders' willingness to use the recommended business
platforms to reduce operational costs and simplify their processes triggered this action research
project. The events outside of this action research are documented in Table 1 to understand the
background of the issue.
Our development team met the Finance Business planning team to frame the business problem
as the basis of the design prototype of the Workload Management Tool. I asked the Senior Business
Planner's approval to work on this issue for my action research. Upon her permission, I informed
my supervisor to align this project to my developmental assignment and MBA program.
Date Event
(Oct 2019) Project Team Selection. A week after our initial meeting, the project team
was formed and started to look at the factors contributing to the issue - data
discrepancies on workload management report.
(Oct 2019) Sprint Planning: We planned to adapt the Scrum framework and conduct
our first sprint planning for this project. We planned to design the prototype
of the Workload Management Tool.
(Oct-Dec 2019) Daily Scrum and Backlog Refinement
• Design of the Workload Management Tool
• Development of the Workload Management Tool
• Testing of Workload Management Tool
• Product demo for stakeholders
Jan 7, 2020 Sprint Retrospective. We gathered to reflect on our actions and discussed
feedback from users on how we can improve the Workload Management
Tool. It turned out that the development of the Workload Management Tool
did not resolve the issue. Data discrepancies remained in workload
management reports such as unaccounted billable full-time equivalent
(FTE). When asked, what will we do differently, I recommended having a
5-day Kaizen Event so we can engage the stakeholders to construct the
issue collaboratively.
Table 3. Timeline of Workload Management Tool Development

Pre-work – Kaizen Event. As previous interviews and presented data were inadequate to
address the issue, we work at keeping the inquiry active (Coghlan & Brannick, 2014). We were
curious to know the reason behind the data discrepancies in the workload management report. We
agreed to look at the company codes in the Workload Management Tool. I wrote down my thoughts
in my Journey App using the Realistic ORJI in Table 4.
Figure 14. Screenshot of company codes stored in the Workload Management Tool
Observation I saw a unique format of company code in the system such as BD, CCNs,
Various, various (as shown in Figure 2)
Reaction I am curious about the process of entering the company codes in the Workload
Management Tool.
Judgment I perceived that some employees are not aware of the format of a valid
company code but somehow driven me to construct the right question to ask; I
might miss something else.

Intervention I took a screenshot of the company codes I saw in the system for verification on
the Kaizen Event. I also prepared questions that will give clarity to the
company codes.
Table 4. The Realistic ORJI – Cycle 1

Reflecting on my judgment based on what I observed, I think I almost fell on Schein's (1999)
Trap 3. Analysis and judgment based on incorrect data or faulty logic. Knowing that I am not in the
position to ask if FSS employees are not aware of the format, I believe there is a better way of
asking through active inquiry. It was a relief that I am aware of possible traps and not to aggressively
intervene based on what I observed. I felt that it is better to present findings to all stakeholders and
collaboratively articulate the business problem rather than imposing that there is an issue.
The Pre-work allowed us to reflect on our observations during the implementation of the
new Workload Management Tool. I collected all observations of the current situation for our Day
1-Define Phase. I engaged the business planner to help conduct a stakeholder analysis (see Table
5) in preparation for our Kaizen event.

Table 5. Stakeholder Analysis Matrix
Day 1- Define Phase. The first day of our Kaizen Event was well-attended by stakeholders
to ensure there is a representative on each process. The business planning team presented the
elements of billing calculation. These are hours spent on activities, activity type, and company
codes. I initiated the inquiry to understand the company code, one of the elements that caught my
attention during our pre-work. Table 6 shows the detailed conversation about company code.
My Inquiry Their responses

Pure Inquiry Lyn: Company code is used as a reference
What is the format of a company code? number on where we can charge our business
partners on the services they avail in FSS. Most
of our company codes are a four-digit number.
Few codes have letters after the 4th digit to
indicate a specific unit/department of our
business partners.
Diagnostic Inquiry Ces: I believe this is unintentional. But there may
Why do you think there are company codes be multiple company codes in a single activity.
like "Ltd.," "various codes," "multiple Lyn: But it is expected from our employees to
CCNs"? indicate the exact company codes in the
Workload Management Tool. After all, it is
designed to hold multiple company codes. It
should not be "multiple CCNs" otherwise, we
cannot distribute the time spent on each company
code, and our billing statement to our business
partners will be affected.
Diagnostic Inquiry Lyn: Ces and I made those corrections before we
What did you do if you encounter invalid presented the reports to the leadership team
company codes while preparing the
workload management report?
Confrontive Inquiry: Lyn: We have not done that yet.

Have you considered communicating Ces: Since the error is corrected during the
invalid company codes to supervisors? preparation of the reports, we do not
communicate the invalid company codes
anymore to supervisors.
Table 6. Schein's Active Inquiry Levels
The last statement from Ces made me think that this can be one of the factors of recurring data
discrepancies in workload management reports. But I need to know if they also think that way.
The ladder of inference in Table 7 details how I took this situation:
Steps in the Ladder of Description of my thought process for each step
Inference
Take ACTIONS based I asked the stakeholders' opinions about the invalid codes. As the
on my beliefs facilitator, I would like to hear from them and ensure that everyone
in the Kaizen event is immersed and understand the current
situation.
Adopt BELIEFS about I believe that if we do not practice accountability and giving
the person and feedback in the workplace, mistakes will keep on recurring because
situation people will have no opportunity to know what went wrong and
correct it.
Draw CONCLUSIONS Correcting someone's mistake temporarily address the issue

Make ASSUMPTIONS I assumed that the business planners are too busy doing the
based on meanings workload management report and have no time to call the attention
added of the employee who entered invalid codes in the Workload
Management Tool.
Add MEANINGS Correcting invalid codes entered by an employee means avoiding
(cultural and personal) conflicts and easy to do than have these invalid codes communicate
to the responsible employee for correction
Select DATA from what Information gathered:
I observe • The business planner made corrections on the invalid codes
committed by employees
• The practice of correcting someone's mistakes made me
worried
OBSERVE data and I'm worried to hear from the business planners that they are the ones
experiences who made corrections of the invalid codes.
Table 7. Ladder of Inference – Cycle 1

The Ladder of Inference has served as a guide to run effective and productive meetings. This
model helped me, and my project team members make our thinking processes more visible, thus
improving everyone's communication skills. Before I only consider facts presented to me, but
when I learned about the Ladder of Inference in Management Action Research course, I also
consider "what is not being said." This made me realized "that silence does not imply
agreement—or that a person has nothing to say. My goal as the facilitator is to understand what's
happening in people's heads and surface ideas that have not been articulated" (Levene, 2019).
My inquiry is followed by a deeper and more interesting discussion about invalid company
codes entered into the system. I applied Torbert's Four Parts of Speech
Four Parts of How have I applied Four parts of Speech?
Speech
Framing Me: We heard from the business planners that they correct invalid company
codes while preparing the workload management report to come-up with
accurate billing information for our customers. However, I believe that If
we correct this without communicating its recurrence, the responsible
person will continue to enter these invalid company codes in the system.
Me: Is there a specific group or team who keeps on using invalid company
codes?
Lyn: Yes, there is. Some of them are from the newly created group in
Finance after the reorganization last year, who used many company codes
based on their transactions.
Advocating Me: Data discrepancy such as invalid company code affects billing
information. We've got to get rid of these data discrepancies on our reports
and make our billing information accurate all the time.
Nery: I agree with you, Ched. We would like to know other data
discrepancies found in our system of records. However, these errors just

showed up while preparing reports, and we do not have time left to call their
attention to correct it.
Illustrating Me: We need to make this error visible to justify the data discrepancies in
our reports(advocacy). Currently, we can catch invalid company codes like
“various CCNs” (illustration), but how about the other incorrect
information?
Ces: Other incorrect information like questionable activity hours and wrong
activity type should be highlighted as well.
Inquiring Me: How about you, Lyn? Why do we need to capture other incorrect
information?
Lyn: I think Ces is right (Our inquiry is confirmed). It will be easier for
us to get leadership support if we have data to justify the data discrepancies
in our reports. Nery could help us frame the business problem and bring this
to other leaders for concurrence.
Nery: Yes, Lyn. I think we are all enlightened on the challenges we are
facing in our reporting process. I saw many opportunities from our session
today. This project will gain attention from leaders. I’m excited to see the
outcome of our Kaizen Event.
Me: Great! Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I'm glad that we ended on
time to wrap-up Day 1. I would like to acknowledge your willingness to
drive change for better outcomes. To summarize, the recurring data

discrepancies in our report affect the billing information being sent to the
business and resource allocation during business planning. Our next step is
to understand our current situation and articulate our desired outcome.
These are the objectives of Kaizen Event -Day 2.
Table 8. Conversation with my collaborators using Torbert's Four Parts of Speech
We have met the objectives of Day 1 by ensuring all stakeholders understand the issue we
identified collaboratively.
Day 2 – Measure Phase. The business planner presented some slides, as shown in Figure, it
tells us how big the variance of computed and actual values. They admitted that there were
activities/efforts not counted. Therefore, only 96% of the billable FTE was billed to the business
(see Figure 15). The variances were only captured during report preparation. The stakeholders are
seeking an appropriate business solution to simplify the report preparation performed by the
business planners. The business planning team would like to catch the incorrect information before
they prepare the reports

Figure 15. The Workload Management Report in PowerPoint Slide
On Day 2, we mapped what is currently happening in the reporting process. Figure 16 shows
that we identified the Value Adding and Non-Value Adding activities; we called this activity "Chase
Waste." Using Chase Waste, we understand the current situation of the reporting process, the
constraints, and responsible persons (Skhmot, 2017).
According to Dyché (2015, para. 5), “leaders must take a deliberate and honest look at where
they’re going to induce change. Before you can know where you’re going, you need to know where
you are and what’s driving the need for change”.

Figure 16. Old Process Flow – Workload Management Reporting Process
Seven Rules for How have I applied Analysis of the effects on me and
Hypothesis Testing hypothesis testing? my collaborators as we apply the
rules
1. Combine advocacy Me: I’m glad that we worked We felt that half of the problem
with inquiry together to map in detail the had been solved. The activity
current state of this reporting helped us to become more open-
process. What do you think minded and express our thoughts
about this? out loud without offending
others. My collaborators became
Lyn: Compare to the previous more engaged after they knew
high-level process flow, I that some of the issues are within
think this map explicitly their sphere of influence.
describes what we’ve been
going through all these years!
What about you, Ces?
Ces: Right, it’s not that bad as

I think. I already have quick
wins in my mind. Some
concerns could be addressed
quickly if only we made this

map visible to our manager
before.
2. Illustrate your Me: I like the idea of Ces We are aware that we cannot
inferences with when she said, “involve solve this alone, we realized that
direct observable someone outside Finance to we need to reach out to others to
Advocating
share their best practices on learn. We humbly admit that we
data gathering process.” This need others to help us.
is a true demonstration of
working collaboratively.
3. Make your Me: We work as a team, but it Our meetings became a place
reasoning explicit does not mean we are limited where everyone is encouraged to
to work with others, especially speak up, be more comfortable in
if they already worked on it, expressing their thoughts, and a
or they are the subject matter more inclusive environment for
experts in that area. Am I thought processes. We also
making sense? practiced timely feedback from
each other. We also have “agree
Jan: Yup! I believe that our to disagree” moments, but we
experiences in our past project know how to manage it
are useful resources. We can positively. We invited everyone
bring them to this project. to express their thoughts even we
Right, Jay? are in a very uncomfortable
Jay: I agree. It could be easier situation.
to just replicate instead of
doing it from scratch. We all
know that in I.T... It saves
time and accelerates the
implementation of the project.
4. Actively seek Me: Based on the map, I We tend to filter information. We

disconfirming data assumed that there are are used to presenting only
and alternative unspoken rules on data “good” reports. This debriefing
explanations
gathering and validating. Do I helped us to be comfortable
hear it correctly? discussing “not-so-good- news”
to our superiors. We need to
Ces: Yes, I noticed it too. highlight the bottleneck and
Me: What can we do barriers in the process so it can

differently? be addressed promptly.
Lyn: Perhaps, we can invite

our manager next meeting to
share her thoughts. Most of
those unspoken rules pertain
to leadership accountability.
We can help our manager
bring this issue to their next
leadership meeting.
Me: That’s a good idea, Lyn. I

agree with you. Your manager
can socialize these ideas to her
peers before we formally
present the business case.
5. Affirm the making Me: I missed to ask Lyn on I used to think that admitting my
of mistakes in the her views about the validation mistakes will affect my
service of learning steps. Since Ces used to be the credibility. I did not see that
one who does the follow-ups, hypothesis testing is a technique
it is equally important to know to create a safe environment to
how Lyn executed the test your understanding at the
validation if Ces is not around. same time; learn from it. I always
The variation could also help ensure that my collaborators feel
us think, why they do this there is no wrong opinions or
differently? stupid ideas
6. Actively inquire Me: Now that we have a Practicing active inquiry in my

into your own detailed current process flow, role had saved me from a lot of
impact I’d like to know if we are on conflicts and helped me build
the same page? As the effective project teams. Lately, I
facilitator, I want to know that saw my collaborators using this
we are working together based systemic question, and this
on the same set of facts. technique helped them gather
better and faster information.
Jan: It made me understand
the whole situation, now it is
easier to design the I.T. infra
and select the appropriate

tools and apps.
Lyn: Same with Jan, even I’m

doing this for a long time, I
still have ‘AHA” moments
Ces: I’m relieved as well that

all of you can visualize the
process.
7. Design ongoing Me: I’m happy that all of you During the general assembly of
experiments to test appreciate this activity as advisees, Dr. Ben said,
competing views much as I did. I’m wondering “Subjective is bad if you do not
if we can have this approach test it.” So, I’m not afraid to ask
to our regular meetings and allow others to join me in my
moving forward. Lyn and Ces, thought process. As a facilitator,
you can also share with the the purpose should be clearly
team your discussion on what explained to get quality results.
could be the impact of
different execution in the
validation step. Let us know
why Lyn do this while you
have your own way. Either
way, you told us that you still
end with the same results.
What do you think about this?
Lyn: I’m ok with that.
Ces: Me too.
Table 9. Application of the Seven Rules of Hypothesis Testing
We agreed that there is an opportunity to simplify the report preparation by leveraging business
intelligence. With guidance from our solution architect, stakeholders, and the development team,
we were able to design the future state in Figure 4.

Figure 17. Future State of Reporting Process
The Future State map is the outcome of Day 2, a critical input for Day 3-Analyze Phase. We
reflected on the possible impact of the change to be implemented. In preparation for our Force Field
Analysis on Day 3, I advised the project team to reflect on the possible root causes of the issue. We
need to know the causes of the issue before we implement the change. We agreed that what is
visible to us is just the tip of the iceberg.
Day 3 - Analyze Phase. After we concluded the issue of this action research project, we proceed
with the identification of the causes of the issue. “This method to evaluate events is used to evaluate
any undesirable event. This is particularly true if the event involves "human error." However, the
method may also be used for equipment problems. This can be work-related or any event. The real
question becomes economics. If the consequence is not significant, don't spend much effort trying
to fix the cause” (Ammerman, 1998).

Figure 18. Root Cause Analysis from our Kaizen Event Day 3 -Analyze Phase
Figure 19. The action research team in action on Day 4 of Kaizen Event.
Planning
Day 4- Improve Phase. After we identified the causes of the recurring data discrepancies in
the report, I introduced Lewin's Force Field Analysis (FFA) to know both driving and restraining
forces involved in this issue. With FFA, we determined who the key players (actors) that could
influence the change are. Furthermore, FFA helped us understand the drivers of some behaviors of
the actors to challenge the status quo.
Figure 20. Force Field Analysis – Cycle 1
The Force Field Analysis detailed our collective reflection on what is currently happening in
the reporting process. It shows how actors play an essential role in influencing the outcome of an
intervention. For instance, the lack of communication and transparency in the reporting process has
a higher score than the limited capabilities of the business tool. According to Krivich (n.d.),
“transparency is so important is that it goes hand in hand with trust. You can’t have one without the
other. And without them, your workplace culture and relationships will suffer. Lies and secrets
break trust, while honesty and transparency build trust. And when trust is created, it leads to a
heightened sense of security and better employee performance”.
We all agreed that, if business planners continue to correct wrong information without
informing the responsible employee about their errors, data discrepancies in reports will recur. On
the other hand, the current business tool used by the business planner in reporting has no dynamic
features and not interactive that produce static and sometimes distorted graphs. The message of
these graphs is not readable and inaccurate. Furthermore, the report preparation and presentation
performed by a business planner is a very tedious task that will take ten days to complete.
Since the discrepancies are left unknown to employees and supervisors, the employees who are
unaware of the impact of the error keep on continue to incorrect information continues. No action
has been taken to correct mistakes. This realization is just the beginning; eventually, we began to
make our thinking visible. We added a driving force of creating a culture of accountability, and the
supervisor will reinforce quality workmanship to outweigh the restraining force on the right. It is
making leaders more accountable for the quality of their data in the system. The recent restructuring
in FSS made the organization work efficiently. The new structure enables fast decision making and
reduces communication problems. The organization became flat, allowing a culture of
accountability to take over the traditional, multiple-level organization. With our new structure based
on Stakeholder Interaction Model where business and IT functions work together. “It connotes
fluid, bidirectional communications, and multiple players for different types of decisions. It’s not
an organizational chart. Rather, it’s a means of establishing decision levels based on authority and
function. It encourages multiple players with different responsibilities and perspectives” (Dyché,
2015).
Another driving force is the willingness of FSS organizations to build their competencies in
data analytics and critical thinking skills. Working with a very flat organization structure, they must
not depend on other resources to work on their digital initiatives. Outsourcing is expensive, so we
agreed on growing capabilities inside FSS to sustain the data integrity of the reports. According to
Shutt & O’Neil (2013), it’s important that one cultivates good habits and that one remains open to
continuous learning. In overcoming the restraining forces, the driving force of utilizing available
and cost-efficient business applications is added on the left, making a resultant positive force to
justify that a change is feasible for FSS. “This puts IT teams in the business of providing analytics
to the organization in the form of reports and dashboards, and to aspire to provide "the right
information at the right time to the right people"(Saxena & Srinivasan, 2013).
I engaged my collaborators to develop an implementation plan. The fourth day of the Kaizen
Event is very crucial, especially to the decision-makers who are also stakeholders of the reporting
process.
Restraining Driving Forces Activities Target Responsible

forces (Solution) (Action Items) Completion Date person
(Root causes)
1.Limited Alignment of Development of March 1, 2020 Digital Platform
capabilities of organizational goal Workload (Go-Live) Team
the current by utilizing the Management
business tool available and cost- Dashboard in
efficient business Power BI
application
(Leveraging
business
intelligence)
Build competencies Formal mentoring May 31, 2020 Power BI
on data analytics of business consultant (Ched)
and critical planners on data
thinking skills analytics (with
participation in the
development of
the Workload
Management
dashboard in
Power BI)
2. Lack of Create a culture of Establishment of Jan. 30, 2020 FSS Business
transparency and transparency and business rules in Planners
communication accountability in Workload
in the reporting the workplace Management
process Report
Reinforce quality Creation of data Feb. 21, 2020 FSS Business
of work quality metrics for Planners
Workload
Management
Report
Table 10. Implementation Plan – Cycle 1
The organization is known to be data-driven when it comes to the decision-making process.
The Force Field Analysis and other diagrams from Day 1 and 2 were presented to the leadership
team together with our implementation plan and asked for their approval. We got their approval to
proceed with our planned change. The most important deliverable of Day 4 is a clear
implementation plan agreed by all stakeholders.
Taking Action
Development of the Workload Management Dashboard
Figure 21. Product Developers working on the integration of the business applications
As we prepared ourselves in the development stage, I played multiple roles, as the Scrum
Master to facilitate the scrum ceremonies and lead developer to guide the business planners in
developing the dashboard in Power BI. This action research has helped me strengthen my data
analytics skills and applied what I learned from MBA Core Courses, Agile, and Scrum Workshops.
We are also required by the project sponsors to adopt the Scrum Framework to increase awareness
on the Scrum Ceremonies and help FSS promote an Agile mindset. They gave us three weeks to
develop the dashboard and integrate it into the Workload Management tool to provide an end-to-
end experience for the users.
The development of the dashboard was timeboxed into three Sprints from Feb 10-28. We use a
Common Data Service (CDS) as our data source. Microsoft (2020) defined CDS:
Common Data Service lets you securely store and manage data that are used by business
applications. Data within Common Data Service is stored within a set of entities. An entity is
a set of records used to store data, like how a table stores data within a database. Common
Data Service includes a base set of standard entities that cover typical scenarios. Still, you
can also create custom entities specific to your organization and populate them with data
using Power Query. App makers can then use Power Apps to build rich applications using
this data.
The data transformation and visualization were done in Microsoft Power BI. We worked together
on the design of the desired visualization. We also sought help from Power Platform experts in
Software Engineering Services on how to translate the formulas in Excel to Power BI.
Our first week was the most critical part of the development. We initially categorized the
activities by defining what adds value to the customer, and the customer is willing to pay for it.
Activity Type Definition Examples
Core Processes related to Finance Invoice verification, audits, price
Operations Reconciliation,
Non-Core Coordination Roles, Process Knowledge sharing session, trainings,
Improvement Project Participation, organizing diversity events, updating of
developmental trainings documentations
Admin Administrative -related task, Team meetings (Daily, Weekly, Monthly),
standard data for all users Coffee break, bio break, Fit break
Table 11. Activity Type Table – Cycle 1
Figure 22. Email instruction for tester – Cycle 1

The Prosci ADKAR® Change Management Strategies
Model
Awareness Communicate the business drivers for change, the scope of change,
project timeline, and action required to prepare for the change
Desire Engage the leadership team to establish business rules, formulate data
quality metrics and governance in the reporting process
Knowledge Introduce new techniques and strategies on Resource Management;
Provide refresher on change management for leaders
Ability Build competencies on data analytics and Agile
Reinforcement Sustain change through the inclusion of data quality metrics in
functional key performance indicators.
Table 12. Application of The Prosci ADKAR® Model in Change Management Strategy – Cycle 1
We ensure that our implementation plan was aligned with the change management strategies in
Table 12.
Awareness
The team nominated the senior business planner as the implementing lead. One of her roles
is to provide communication about the change. Email communication was released on March 2,
2020, to informed the FSS about the new of the business applications in the reporting process, what
has been changed, what are the action required for those who will be impacted by the change, a
feedback mechanism to get users comments and suggestions and a contact list for questions and
training.
Figure 23. Email communication- Deployment of Workload Management tool in Production

Desire
We invited team leaders on an engagement to enable them to promote transparency and
accountability in their teams. They are also part of the testing team during the development of the
business application and key instruments in establishing business rules and governance in the
reporting process. The leadership team was very much involved in this phase. Through team leads,
we were able to gather concerns from employees aside from the feedback mechanism is placed. In
this approach, decisions made faster to address concerns and eliminate barriers.
Knowledge
The stakeholder’s involvement in this action research as members of the project team
enabled them to acquire change management skills. We also embraced the Growth Mindset to lead
the FSS employees in the change process. Creating a culture of transparency and accountability
does not happen overnight, so the leadership involvement and support were emphasized in this
phase.
Ability
The Finance business planning team was also part of the development team to build their
competencies in data analytics and critical thinking skills. Furthermore, they participated in an
informal mentoring so they can facilitate Knowledge Sharing Sessions on Data Analytics in FSS.
We also created a User’s Guide embedded in the tool to help employees use the tool, generate, and
analyze reports.
Figure 24. FSS Manila Workload Management Tool (WMT) User Guide
Reinforcement
As the implementation phase progressed, leaders are empowered to create a safe
environment for open communication and feedback for their employees to reinforce the quality of
work and sustain the data integrity of the workload management reports. Clear expectations were
disseminated with supporting data from the Workload Management Dashboard. The established
metrics were also part of performance reviews. Teams who contributed to increasing data quality
were given recognition in their monthly team meetings. Best Practices on data quality reporting,
data analytics are also part of the daily team huddles. Leaders encouraged their employees to initiate
process improvement projects based on their workload management analysis to streamline their
Admin and Non-Core activities and increase time spent on Core Activities. Leaders ensure that the
decision model is not misused; they need to be transparent and verifiable. “This is to assure the
business that the model will do what we expect it to do. We need to protect against modeling
mistakes by modelers, as well as from malicious intent” (Saxena & Srinivasan, 2013).
Evaluating Action
Day 5 – Control Phase. As the culminating activity of our Kaizen Event, we gathered to
evaluate our actions. The Stakeholders and the Action Research Team were asked to reflect on the
constructing, planning, and implementing of this action research to consider What went well? What
could have been improved?
What went well? • The collaborative work that has been done has shown partnership at
its best. The Kaizen Event was well-attended by stakeholders to
ensure commitment and faster decision making. (Nery)
• Completion of the stakeholder analysis in the constructing phase to
ensure relevant process owners well represent events. (Lyn)
• The application of Lean tools and Action Research Cycles
accelerates the constructing, planning, implementing, and
evaluating process. (Nery)
• Strong and committed leadership, supported by the Project Sponsor
and FSS Leadership Team. (Ched)

• The weekly schedule appointments keep everyone informed of the
development of the dashboard. (Ces)
• Shared change management strategies in place that everyone
understood and put into action. (Ramon, FSS Team Lead)
• Creating user guides and communications advice for early adopters
of the tool. (Henry, Accounting Staff)
• Participation of the business planners in the development of the
dashboard promotes “learning by doing” in FSS (Marc, SES Team
Lead)
• Recorded a working session as a good working strategy to
accelerate the development of the dashboard while working
remotely (Jun)
• Real-time reporting of activities with no billing company codes
allows the business planner to work on these types of activities
immediately (Nerit)
• The dashboard created a culture of accountability by enabling
employees to monitor the quality of information they logged in the
WMT
What could have • Business terminologies in the dashboard should be consistent
been improved? (example: SplitFTE vs. FTE) because it creates confusion and
misunderstanding (Imee, FSS Analyst)
• Tech jargon should be stopped during meetings to promote diversity
and inclusion (Hershey, FSS Business Planner)

• Accommodation for meetings is sometimes difficult due to poor
internet connection. (Jason, Power Platform Developer)
• Categorize the activities in workload management dashboard
properly (Ramon, FSS Team Lead)
• Put additional controls in the WMT Tool V2 to avoid entries of
invalid format and count of company codes. (Nery)
What will we do • Utilize Azure Kanban Board to monitor the progress of the
differently? development team.
• Follow the company branding guidelines for better data visualization
of the dashboard such as Font colors, size, graphic designs (Jan,
Solution Architect)
• It would be helpful if we will use Microsoft Teams and disconnect
from VPN to stabilize our internet connection.
• Maximize the features of Microsoft Teams as the central repository
of documentation related in this project (chat history, meetings, files)
Table 13. Feedback generated from Cycle 1 Evaluation

Chapter 5 – Meta-learning After First Cycle

Content Reflection
During the construction of the issue, I learned the importance of the right question. Keeping
the inquiry active can be challenging, especially if the collaborators and stakeholders already have
a solution in their mind. The events that happened in the construction stage enhanced my inquiry
skills. In the industry, we always need to think of what we are trying to accomplish first before we
think of how we do it. However, we should be working on something that adds value to the business;
otherwise, it is not worth working on that project.
Begin with an end in mind. The First habit from Stephen R. Covey’s (2005) the Seven
Habits of Highly Effective People is so relevant to the Action Research cycle of Constructing. I
learned that before we start thinking about any business solution or technology, I need to know
what the business problem is; otherwise, it’s just like a hammer looking for the nail.
Unlocking the business problem requires collaboration between the business (Finance
Shared Services) and the Software Engineering Team. Engaging all stakeholders in framing the
business problem allowed me to understand their thoughts and behaviors that affect their
intervention. I learned that identifying the stakeholders involved in the process and bringing them
together in one engagement accelerates the construction of the issue.
In the constructing of the issue, I realized that there were underlying causes that technology
alone cannot be addressed. It reveals that the unintentional intervention of the business planners in
correcting the wrong information as part of their report preparation is a powerful force that can
affect the desired state. "Correcting wrong information" is perceived as a task in report preparation.
As the digital transformation progressed in our organization, people became proactive in
developing their technical skills such as low code development, data modeling, and data
visualization. While these efforts accelerate our digital fluency, I believe that critical thinking skill
is equally important with technical skills.
As the facilitator, I let my collaborators focus on framing the business problem and avoid
discussing solutions until the business problem is defined. Setting a safe environment for inquiry
without blaming anyone in the room has helped to keep open communication and active
participation of my collaborators.
Process Reflection
I think the Action Research Cycle fits well in our scrum ceremonies. I never felt significant
adjustments on the methodology, but I always emphasize collaboration and reflection in everything
we do. “Valuing people more highly than processes” (Agile Alliance, 2020) is the first value in the
Agile Manifesto.
So, I began “establishing a collaborative relationship” (Coghlan, 2019) by introducing the
action research cycle to the team to ensure we speak the same language for a more enriching
discussion of thoughts and insights. According to Eby, (2016), if the process or the tools drive
development, the team is less responsive to change and less likely to meet customer needs.
Communication is an example of the difference between valuing individuals versus process.
I believe that my experience as a Lean Sigma Professional helped me navigate the right
tools, techniques, and methodologies for the right situation. My current role as Scrum Master and
Business Intelligence Analyst also influence how I mobilize people, bringing together the right
people to help us achieve our goal. Having a Growth Mindset enabled me to seek help from others,
and that success, alone cannot be made. During the evaluation of the development of the Workload
Management Tool that happened outside this research, I recommended having a 5-day Kaizen event
to formally kick-off the action research project’s construction stage for Cycle 1.
In the beginning, I felt that we need to have the same understanding of how the tools and
methodologies could help us implement the change. So, part of our Kaizen Pre-Work is to provide
an overview of the Three Audiences and Voices to help my collaborators become comfortable to
critic their own thinking, use active inquiry, and sought help from others. Our Scrum Ceremonies
became better when I applied the Critical Realist Approach to drive a sensible conversation with
assertiveness and precaution of not offending, blaming anyone. The first-person skills (ORJI,
Ladder of Inference, and Left-Hand Column) enabled me to become a better facilitator and improve
my communication skills, mainly Listening skills. Torbert’s Four Parts of Speech guided me during
the planning and taking action stage, which allows my collaborators to make their thinking visible
and actively engage during daily stand up meetings. According to Lopez (2020), the business
culture- technology relationship has intensified because of the crisis. We were in the middle of our
implementation of Cycle 1 when the government declared General Community Quarantine (GCQ)
in Metro Manila. Working-remotely strengthened our collaboration through recorded working
sessions, so if one team member cannot make it, he/she can still catch-up. I appreciated technology
even more, and it increased our productivity level as well.
Premise Reflections
This action research has challenged my beliefs in driving change. I used to work in
manufacturing, where business process problems are linear. Implementing change for almost 12
years of my career is just a piece of cake but lacks self-reflection. I was unconsciously doing 2nd
person and 3rd person, but the 1st person activities are new to me. Kahneman (2011) points out that
we are prone to overestimate how much we understand about the world and to underestimate the
role of chance in events (p.14). I used to believe that all human errors are a result of bad processes,
so I keep on driving efficiency in our organization, unaware of the human factor that might
contribute to inefficient processes.
After the first cycle, I realized that action research could be extremely valuable to turn
process improvement projects into an opportunity to increased the well-being of the project team
and stakeholders. The rich feedback culture during the evaluating stage is strong evidence that
people recognized that we also promote human development not just for stakeholders but also to
my collaborators who are directly involved in leading the organizational change. I intend to
sincerely and effectively connect to my audience. When I practice self-awareness during meetings
with senior leaders, it becomes natural for me to answer the “So what?” type of questions.
Chapter 6 – Stories and Outcomes – Second Cycle

Constructing
It is an advantage for us to launch the dashboard before the lockdown due to the pandemic
crisis. Compare to Cycle 1, the constructing phase in Cycle 2 is more data-driven. The dashboard
is equipped to detect the causes of discrepancies and who owns the incorrect information. So, even
all my collaborators and stakeholders are working remotely; we were effective in constructing the
issue and identifying the causes of the issue.
Since the dashboard outcomes are readily available, we began the Cycle 2 construction of
the issue immediately after Kaizen Event Day- 5. Looking at the baseline we have from March, we
got an unexpected result of “Infinity” in Figure 23.
Figure 25. Billing Information after Cycle 1

Although we saw that the dashboard helped eliminate the invalid codes, there are still
activities not billed to the customer because of too many company codes charged to small FTE
activities. Having too many CCNs with a small FTE as a dividend will render the allocation zero
(calculated numbers are rounded off to 4-decimal places), and it will end up not billing the entire
activity. Aside from this, the Billable FTE did not match and did not meet the acceptance criteria
of our stakeholders. We agreed to focus on these two items and identify what the causes behind
these results are. We verified with the concerned team, why they charged too many company codes
in a single, small FTE activity. Here's screenshot their email response
Figure 26. Email Response from Accounts Payable Rush Desk Team
Steps in the Ladder of Description of my thought process for each step
Inference
Take ACTIONS based on I remind the team that we should not discuss solutions while we
my beliefs are still verifying the causes of the issue—asked Tin if we can
meet the Accounts Payable Rush Desk Team to understand their
billing process.
Adopt BELIEFS about the I believe that I am not in the position to tagged what they were
person and situation currently doing is a "wrong" practice, especially if I don't know
their billing process.
Draw CONCLUSIONS Since this kind of discrepancy is not visible, no one is aware of
their processes unless someone asks.

Make ASSUMPTIONS I assumed that the Accounts Payable Rush Desk Team has been
based on meanings added doing this practice for the longest time.
Add MEANINGS For me, the words “that are allowed” translate to “numerous
(cultural and personal) company codes,” but I cannot tell exactly how many.
Select DATA from what I Accounts Payable Rush Desk Team indicated the company codes
observe that are allowed in Request Payment Website (G0 1627)
OBSERVE data and The response that I saw from Accounts Payable Rush Desk
experiences Team's email is very disturbing.
Table 14. Ladder of Inference – Cycle 2

We agreed to continue analyzing the codes and formulas we developed during Cycle 1. However,
I can't reach an agreement with Tin regarding the formula of total full time equivalent in Workload
Info Page and Process Info Page. As the implementing lead, I felt that she should enlighten us about
the business rules on activity type and billing information, or else there will be activities that will
not be considered in the billing for customers. Our actual conversation is documented in the right
column, while the left column reflects what I was thinking, feeling but not saying:
Ched What we said
I already blocked the possibilities that Tin: Ched, Workload Info, and Process Info should
her proposal is not possible. I should always tie-up.
not have said that. Process Info and Customer Info will not tie-up because
Customer Info is defaulted to filter out blanks and non-

billable. As a check, if blanks and non-billable are not
filtered out, Process Info and Customer Info should tie-
up.
Only Admin and Core are pure non-billable and
billable, respectively. Non-Core can be non-billable or
billable, depending on the nature of the activity.
Ched: Because of this rule: “Non-Core can be non-
billable or billable depending on the nature of the
activity.”
“Workload Info and Process Info should always tie-up.”
is not possible.
I should be more considerate to Lyn, Tin: Ched, try to use these filters:
who is still not familiar with the Workload Info – no page filter on Activity Type but add
business application (Power BI). But a slicer
I am also confused about the Process Info – no page filter on Activity Type but add a
definition of "Core Activity" As slicer.
previously defined by the Business Customer Info / Billing Info – put page filter on CORE
Planning Team, the Core activities are activity type only, no slicer
purely accounting and finance But can we still filter out the ADMIN process from the
services being paid by the customer. “What We Do” chart?

Thus, these activities should be Ched: Another suggestion, instead of Activity Type, you
declared with company codes of the may categorize your activities to Billable VS. Non-
customer Billable chart then “Workload Info and Process Info
should always tie-up.” It can be possible.
You can keep the Activity Types for strategic planning
activities then add the Billable and Non-Billable Type of
activities in your CCN Mapping.
I felt that I'm impatient to Lyn. I Tin: Ched, sorry, I just realized that we should not make
should have asked, "What is the the activity type as the basis for filtering. “Only Admin
business rule for activity type and is pure non-billable. Core and Non-Core can be non-
billing?" instead of "What is our new billable or billable depending on the nature of the
basis of filtering? activity.”
Ched: Ok, Lyn. What is our new basis for filtering? So
that, “Workload Info and Process Info should always tie-
up.”
Lyn: We can put no filters and add a slicer for activity
type.
Table 15. Left-Hand Column -Cycle 2

My reflections on the Left-Hand column made me realize that I cannot blame Tin. I felt that
my responses have contributed to the outcome of our conversation. I was not satisfied with her
responses, but I deserved it. I wanted to get my point across but started it wrong by blocking her
suggestion without understanding the relationship between the activity type and billing category.
We continued identifying the causes of the issue the following day after we acknowledged
that discrepancies were not addressed on our first cycle. Based on the evaluation results in cycle
one and a series of verification with the users, we agreed that unclear guidelines on using company
code is another restricting force that keeps us away from our desired outcome.
Planning
Our time-offs during Holy week helped us to reflect on what should be done to overpower
the unclear guidance on company codes. We revisited our Force Field Analysis from Cycle 1 and
plotted what the possible forces that can outweigh the new restricting force on the right are. Figure
_ shows the updated Force Field Analysis with two additional driving forces, (1) Integrate a
mistake-proofing feature in Workload Management Tool (2) Create business rules for Billing
Information Report. We explicitly communicate to our stakeholders that an additional driving force
cannot guarantee an accurate Workload Management Report because of unexpected restraining
forces that might come along the way.

Figure 27. Force Field Analysis – Cycle 2
Restraining Driving Activities Completion Responsible
forces Forces Date person
1.Unclear Create • Include company code Apr. 17, 2020 Business
guidelines on business rules guidelines and update the Planner
company for billing Activity Type Table to
code information reflect the appropriate
billing category in the
user guide.
• Create business rules for
billing information and
apply these rules in
updating codes and
formulas in Workload
Management Dashboard
Integrate a Create new codes to detect Apr. 2020 Development
mistake- invalid count of company Team
proofing codes
feature in
Workload
Management
Tool
Table 16. Implementation Plan - Cycle 2

Taking Action
We conducted a 2-week Sprint, as shown in figure_, to work on our planned activities. In
our first week, we concentrated on creating business rules for Billing information and updating the
user guide to incorporate the company code guidelines, as shown in Table _. The rules shown in
Table _ will be our reference in updating the codes and formulas in Workload Management Tool
Figure 28. Scrum Ceremonies – Cycle 2

Activity Definition Examples Billing Category
Type
Core Processes related to Invoice Verification, Audits, Billable and Non-
Finance Operations Price Reconciliation, Billable
Non-Core Coordination Roles, Knowledge Sharing Session, Billable and Non-
Process Improvement Training, Organizing Billable
Project Participation, Diversity events, Updating of
developmental training documentation
Admin The administrative - Team meetings (Daily, Non-Billable
related task, standard data Weekly, Monthly), Coffee
for all users break, bio break, Fit break
Table 17. Updated Activity Type Table with applicable billing category – Cycle 2
Business Rules Acceptance Criteria
Billable & Non-Billable • Admin Activities are all Non-Billable
Activities • Core Activities can be Billable and Non-Billable
• Non-Core Activities can be Billable and Non-Billable
FTE COMPUTATION • Workload Page (FTE) = Process Page (FTE) = WMT Database
(FTE)
• Customer Page (FTE) = Billing Page (FTE)

TBD BILLING CCN CCNs entered by the Analysts with no billing CCNs mapped yet,
(WMT ADMIN PAGE) i.e., either no service agreement or need to be mapped to a billing
CCN
TBD = "No Contracts"
BLANK BILLING CCN New CCN = "Blank" Billing CCN = Supporting CCN not yet
(WMT ADMIN PAGE) registered in CCN Mapping
Table 18. Business Rules for Billing Information
The second week of Sprint was spent on user engagements; we prioritized the Accounts Payable
Rush Desk, Team
Pure Inquiry Me: Tin, can you share with me your current company code guidelines?
Tin: I believe I included them in our User Guide. Pero, it is more about
how to populate the company code field in our WMT. Tignan mo, I even
included a link on how to locate our standard company codes.
Diagnostic Inquiry Me: What are you going to do to stop their current practice?
Tin: I will set a meeting with the Accounts Payable Rush Desk Team to
look for an appropriate solution to capture the correct list of their
customers.
Confrontive Inquiry Me: Have you consider generating the list of your frequent customers?
Tin: That's a good suggestion, some teams who handle general
accounting/finance related inquiries use our updated 2019 list of
customers instead of dissecting emails to get the specific company who
avail their consulting services.
Table 19. Verification of company code guidelines using Schein's Active Inquiry – Cycle 2
Our conversation has helped Tin provide the context in her response to Accounts Payable
Rush Desk Team's email, as shown in Figure_.
Figure 29. Email Response to Accounts Payable Rush Desk Team- Cycle 2
We remained consistent in applying the ADKAR Model in Cycle 2 implementation:
A- The implementing lead continues to create awareness through email communication. We also
strengthen our feedback mechanism and launch "Feedback Friday" to encourage employees to
provide feedback and suggestions.
D- To instill a desire for change, people need to know why it’s good for them. So, we create a one-
pager PowerPoint presentation for leaders to help us communicate the benefits of this change for
their employees. We asked them to include this presentation on their team meeting agenda for May
K-We rolled -out three User Guide refresher sessions to ensure on why we are doing this change
and how they can contribute to increasing the data quality ratings of the report. We sought help
from leaders to provide opening remarks on each session to highlight the
A- I also turned over the documentation of maintaining the reports in Power BI and the
Administration of Workspace that holds the datasets of our reports and Scheduled Refresh of data.
The “learning by doing” methodology enabled the business planning team to develop their data
modeling and data visualization skills.
R- The dashboard is a key instrument to reinforce a change and sustain excellent results. It is a form
of visual management to keep employees being accountable for their actions.
Evaluating Action
After Cycle 2 implementation, we got 97% of billable full-time equivalent(FTE). This
means we have 5 unbilled FTE out of 159 billed FTE from the Billing Information, as shown in
Figure 29. The 1% increase from 2019 manual reporting results of 96 % means that we will
achieve our desired outcome.
Figure 30. Billing Information After Implementation of Cycle -2

Pure Inquiry: • The fast response of the action research team in addressing the Cycle
What went well? 1 issues using Scrum ceremonies (Sprint Planning, Daily stand-up,
Sprint Review, and Retrospective)
• Involvement of the concerned team on focus group discussion to verify
the issue.
• Ched and Tin keep the meetings free of technical jargon by using
simple words to communicate accurately to their audience.
• The creation of OneNote to keep all stakeholders informed about the
enhancement of the tool.
• Continuous support of the FSS leadership team, who helped the action
research team eliminates the barriers during the enhancement of the
tool.
• Working with few resources during Cycle 2 with minimal supervision
of Power Platform consultant and IT solution architect is a good sign
that FSS has already set a strong foundation on data analytics skills
and critical thinking skills.
• With the new look and feel of the dashboard, employees can easily
perform activity analysis as the basis of process improvement
initiatives.
• I love the theme of the dashboard! The visualizations are better
compared to our reports presented in PowerPoint format.
• Everyone has access to real-time reporting that they can use during
team meetings.
• The dashboard helped FSS leaders to promote accountability and
quality of work in the workplace through regular discussion of the
dashboard outcome on their team meetings.
• The improved WMT Admin Page has helped the business planners
monitor activities without billing codes and take action on time.
• The mistake-proofing features in the WMT Tool educate the
employees on "quality inputs will bring quality outputs
Diagnostic Inquiry: • We can improve the quality of our scrum ceremonies while working
What could have remotely. We always experienced audio problems if all attendees are
been improved on a video call.
• Be mindful of the schedules of other collaborators. Sometimes, our
daily stand-up meetings exceeded 15 minutes.
• After the enhancements are done in the dashboard, 3% of the billable
activities (5 out of 159 billable FTE) logged in the tool have no service
agreements
Confrontive • In this uncertain time, face-to-face meetings are possible through
Inquiry: What will video calls. It would be helpful if we have a minute of a round table
we do differently?
with video to ensure the quality of the call and clear audio throughout
our meeting.
• Park all concerns and schedule a focus group discussion outside daily
stand-up meetings. You assigned someone in the call as timekeeper to
inform the Scrum Master about the time. Always come prepared to
discuss your plan in brief.
• Revisit the post-migration activities to understand the factors that
affect the establishment of service agreements between FSS and the
business units.
Table 20. Feedback generated from Cycle 2 – Evaluation

Figure 31. Final Project Update and Recognition Meeting
Figure 32. Recognition from Finance Shared Services

Chapter 7 - Meta-learning After Second Cycle

Content reflection
The action research theme that emerged and resonated for me was "Making the invisible,
visible." I realized that I need to bring what is happening (not what people think is happening) and
identify the root cause of the problem. I found an in-depth assessment of what is currently
happening has helped me and my collaborators named the right issue in both cycles. However, the
current state mapping was time-consuming and labor-intensive but is well worth the savings on the
back end. By going through the process mapping exercise, I gained an in-depth knowledge of their
processes, flow of information, time spent on specific tasks, and where bottlenecks are occurring.
Documenting the reality has taught me two things: (1) It helped the collaboration team and
stakeholders see the big picture of what is currently happening (2) It served as a good starting point
as "something visible" to us and checked our understanding in the current situation. I realized that
it is difficult to engage in a collaboration if we do not have a uniform subject that all of us can refer
to. Larrivee (2017), points out that process mapping helps communicate with the organization on
what is happening, how it can be resolved and serves to engage the user community, which, in turn,
helps with change management when the time comes to implement those changes.
In both cycles, l learned that It is not enough to know there is a problem; we must know the
cause of the problem. I saw myself as an action researcher who enabled her collaborators to
concentrate on understanding the causes of the issue without discussing solutions in mind during
the constructing stage. I believed that our data-driven collaborative analysis enabled us to reveal
that technology alone won't solve the business process problem. According to Kenney (2015),
technology should not drive how your business operates, and rather your business operations should
drive the technology that you implement and configure. With a good foundation of business
processes that work, technology can take you from good to great, but without it, you will only wind
up with an expensive headache.
Reflecting on the issue we collaboratively constructed in both cycles, the data discrepancies
are present in both manual and digitized form. It reminds me of Bill Gates' rules on automation,
“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient
operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient
operation will magnify the inefficiency.” This realization has taught my collaborators and me that
the role of technology in this action research as the enabler for us to see that something must
change. The dashboard provides pieces of evidence to get things done, to change the way we do
things, to change the way on how we see things.
Process reflection
"Seek first to understand, then to be understood." Covey (2005) defined this as the fifth habit
of Highly Effective People. The criticality of seeking understanding affirms the other person and
what they have to say. The fifth habit summarized how I applied the three voices and audiences
purposefully in this action research. As I reflect on my journals, it shows a pattern of my first-
person activities (ORJI, LOI, Left-Hand) followed by my second person activities (Inquiry, Four
Parts of Speech, Force Field Analysis) and lastly, my third person activities (Online database and
APA referencing).
It took a lot of hard work and persistent yet humble inquiry to make the imperceptible
apparent. As an action researcher, I always come prepared in our meetings by listing all my inquiries
and preparing pieces of evidence to support my inquiries ahead of time. Through virtual
collaboration, I had the opportunity to record our meetings and save our chat history. I believed that
technology served its purpose well in our current situation. Unlike actual face-to-face meetings, I
need to recall what happened then write my thoughts on my journal. Journaling became easier in
Cycle 2 because I can go back to our recorded meetings and working sessions to verify what has
been said and seek clarification of its meaning.
As the action research project progressed, this pattern became a habit of knowing what I
saw, heard, felt in a situation, then inquire if what I know is correct through engaging someone in
my thought process. Together we understood what it meant, shared our thoughts to others(who later
joined in our thought process) and then, sought further understanding of the work of
others(Company references and related journal articles). I believed that I had influenced my
collaborators to use the same approach, and the outcomes of this action research initiative could tell
that Action Research Cycles worked well with scrum ceremonies from constructing until evaluating
action.
I also learned to trust the process. A “technology-first” approach isn’t guaranteed to succeed.
A “problem-solving” approach is much more likely to succeed (Mint Studio, 2020). At the early
stage of this action research, I realized that I forgot why technology exists in the first place. I need
to organize my thoughts and tried not to bother with all these emerging technologies, which I found
incredibly exciting at first; I remained focused on applying the right framework, methodologies,
and tools to make sure we’re solving the real issue.
Collaboration in the time of Coronavirus. Don't get me wrong, this is not a sequel of Gabriel
Garcia Marquez's book, Love in the Time of Cholera, but the concept is pretty much the same on
how persistence overcome the barriers and frustrations in this uncertain time. Building an effective
action research team is a process. It takes time and effort, to begin with, but it will pay for itself in
future productivity. Our productive virtual collaboration did not happen overnight. It was also a
series of trial and error; hypothesis testing of what approach could work for us to sustain what we
have built before the outbreak. Also, I could not control that some of my collaborators need to go
to work on other projects. This pandemic has taught me to become more creative and inclusive in
our meeting to keep the momentum of the action research team.
Premise reflection
What changed in me?
As I wrote the final chapter of this action research paper, a lot of realizations came in on
how this action research project changed my life for the better. I learned to incorporate self-
reflection into my daily morning routine. Through self-reflection, I was reunited with my old diary
before I joined CXV Company in 2015. I continued journaling, which helped me express my
thoughts and improve my writing skills. Each day, I become a better critic of my thinking. I realized
that listening to yourself is equally important to listen to others. According to Kallet (2014), an
important part of the critical thinking process is listening to others explain their thinking—which
allows two things to occur.
First, acknowledging that we do not own all good ideas. They were allowing others to help us solve
our problem. Second, listening to others' thinking stimulates new thinking in me. As a result, I may
come up with ideas I would have never thought about had I not had that interaction. I felt that I
ignore my inner-self for the longest time because I think too much of what others would say about
me. As I learned the value of meditation, I gained better focus and concentration, especially when
we shifted to the remote work model. The power of meditation has contributed to my well-being,
especially on my mental health. Self-reflection keeps my sanity intact from my everyday life as a
wife, mom, employee, and student. It's like a vitamin for my mind, if I missed a meditation in the
morning, I’m lost, and it's difficult to start my day. So, I blocked my precious first 30 minutes on
my calendar since then.
Another breakthrough is my ability to develop a dashboard and mentor someone outside the
IT function. Compare gained a lot of experiences and valuable insights from my collaborator and
stakeholders, where most of them are in the company for 15-20 years. I earned respect from senior
leaders who embraced the Growth Mindset and an advocate of continuous learning. Not only I
developed my technical skills, but I also had the opportunity to enhance my interpersonal skills
through regular business engagements outside my team.
Furthermore, this action research has changed the way I see things, especially on driving
change in the organization. I used to be a “result-oriented” change agent who is passionate about
making things better. Turning a complex process into a simpler one motivates me as a change agent.
I realized that I am always after the results. I was able to improve sales, simplify a process, gain
savings, and make the life of the process owner easier. I was able to influence them to work smarter
but not as critical thinkers. I had high hopes that I could do both. But when I asked myself, did I
influence them to become critical thinkers? I believe I failed on this part. So, I asked myself again;
how can I do better? How can I become a “people-oriented” while being a “result-oriented” change
agent? These realizations led me to practice the techniques and frameworks I learned in this action
research in my process improvement projects.
Moreover, I will use my role in promoting an action research culture in the organization to
enhance employees’ collaboration skills, self-awareness, and critical thinking skills. It is something
that I could bring inside the organization from my MBA program. I believe that this action research
does not only care about the results. It tells a story of my reflections and realizations as a researcher
in my organization. It chronicles my collaboration with cross-functional teams, on how we worked
together to achieve results and influence other people to become a better version of themselves.
What changed in others?
As the action research project progressed, my collaborators were able to formulate quality
questions that enabled them to become better problem-solvers and critical thinkers. I saw the
advantages of active inquiry in them, and they realized the power of active inquiry on a hesitant
stakeholder who is slowly providing his ideas, assumptions, and insight in our meeting. My
collaborators’ ability to engage someone to reveal the essential facts we need to determine the issue
and identify its causes helped us to move quickly on the next level of action research steps.
Furthermore, they created a safe environment for sharing facts, insights, and feelings. I noticed my
collaborators became more patient in the process of problem-solving by understanding the problem
without clever solutions in mind. I also noticed that leaders trust their employees to get the job done
by giving them space and let the employees know that leaders empower them to find solutions to
problems on their own.
Another thing that I’m proud of is the immersion of critical thinkers in this action research
project. My collaborators were able to analyze a situation objectively, inviting others’ perspectives
to reach a logical conclusion. They began to acknowledge that everyone is vulnerable to irrational
emotions and personal biases. Being aware that they might fall on possible cognitive traps, they
evaluated facts thoroughly and sought help from others to achieve clarity. This behavioral change
of my collaborators allowed us to consider the short- and long-term consequences of implementing
solutions during the planning stage.

What changed in the organization?
After the completion of the two cycles, I noticed how our organization fosters creativity throughout
the workplace, not just in Finance but also in Manila Business Center. Just recently, there were
innovation day events that allow employees to improve their workflows and approaches, and most
importantly, it encourages people to build a happier workplace even we are not physically present.
Indeed, our virtual workplace has a lot of things to offer. Our action research project became the
model of collaboration while working remotely. The outcomes of this action research project are
evidence of the effective collaboration of different disciplines to deliver better business solutions
to the organization. Our success story was shared in the Business Intelligence Community of
Practice last quarter to inspire other business units, and other digital platforms to foster creativity,
innovation, and collaboration, especially in this uncertain time. Effective collaboration helps uplift
a positive virtual workplace.
Before, I thought that face-to-face meetings as necessary for high-stakes conversation, complex
topics, and for building relationships. “But now is the time to challenge that belief. If done well,
the virtual has some unique qualities that can make it better than being there” (Harmon & Cullinan,
2020). As a business leader, I took my action research team’s virtual collaboration game to the
next level with good working strategies. Make virtual even better than being there. The dialogue
gets richer, the time is used efficiently, relationships deepen, and it’s much easier to gauge the
progress and what should happen next accurately.

Creating a culture of accountability and transparency does not happen overnight. I noticed how our
organization explains the difference between accountability and ownership. Accountability refers
to being responsible for the outcomes, while Ownership is being proactive to take action. The
leadership imperative to align our individual goals to our organizational goals is one of the actions
to make people feel they are part of the solution. The Workload Management Dashboard helped
leaders better understand their core and non-core activities in their operations. They encourage
employees to provide critical insights leading to more effective resource management and business
performance.
This is an opportunity to “change the way they think” on reports. I believe that business insights
can be effectively shared not just by providing them information through numbers, charts, or graphs
but by telling them a story. This approach is a significant paradigm shift. I helped the organization
realized that this is not just about transferring the report on a business intelligence platform.
Through active listening, I started realizing that I could influence critical thinking, not only
improving the reporting process but also promoting human development by enabling everyone to
build the capabilities. The senior leader wants to know the purpose of implementing a change.
They are not just after the solutions but, more importantly, the purpose of driving change. I like the
quote by Stephen R. Covey(2015), “If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we
take just gets us to the wrong place faster”(p.171). I always remind my collaborators to think of the
business value to ensure our efforts are working towards the business problem.
Chapter 8 - Extrapolation to a Broader Context and Articulation of Usable Knowledge
This action research project allowed us to express our thoughts and feelings more logically. We
felt that it is a great opportunity to become part of this engaging and productive initiative where
everyone speaks up even, we have different personalities and perspectives. Indeed, "action research
reports tend to present knowledge in the form of narratives of personal experience, giving a voice
to those who are (relatively at least) culturally and politically silenced by the conventional structures
of social inquiry" (Winter & Munn-Giddings, 2001, p.255).
Using a critical realist approach, we were equipped to define and address real problems by
gaining real insights and knowledge from effective collaboration and logical interventions.
The action research was about addressing data discrepancies in the Workload Management
Report of Finance Shared Services (FSS). Data is one of the important assets in CXV Company.
Therefore, Data Integrity is one of our digital imperatives as our digital transformation progressed.
“Data integrity refers to the accuracy and consistency (validity) of data over its lifecycle.
Compromised data, after all, is of little use to enterprises, not to mention the dangers presented by
sensitive data loss. For this reason, maintaining data integrity is a core focus of many enterprise
security solutions” (Brook, 2019). Every employee is expected to ensure data integrity and
transparency on business reports such as performance, risk management, and safety reports.
When the constructing began, the Systems thinking helped us see the big picture. A reinforcing
loop shows that if wrong and incomplete information are present in the system, the virtuous cycle
becomes a vicious cycle: low data quality report leads to having a low probability of accurate
billing ($) information, low probability of accurate resource allocation (N), and low data quality,
which leads to still a low probability of accurate billing information and low data quality (%). We
conducted root cause analysis to determine the causes of the data discrepancies in workload
management reports. We found that limited capabilities of the current business tools and the lack
of transparency and communication are the root causes. We plotted these causes in our Force Field
Analysis as the two restricting forces that prevent us from our desired outcome- accurate billing
information in the workload management report. We planned on how to overcome these restricting
forces by leveraging business intelligence, build competencies inside FSS, drive transparency and
accountability, and reinforce the quality of work in FSS. As we progress to the implementing stage,
we ensure that our implementing plans are aligned with our change management strategies. We use
the ADKAR Model on how we will implement the planned change. When the Workload
Management Dashboard was completed, we integrated this dashboard in the Workload
Management Tool so that the users would have the feel of "one-stop-shop." It created an integrated
system of managing and analyzing workloads. We launched the Workload Management Tool in
Production last March 2, 2020. After a month, we gathered to do a retrospective as part of the
Evaluating stage.
Although the incorrect information was eliminated, we found an unexpected outcome in the
dashboard. It gave an infinity value that means there is an element that caused another discrepancy.
The constructing of cycle 2 began to determine the cause. After a collaborative deliberation, we
realized that technology could not address all your business problems. The cycle 2 revealed that
FSS has no clear company code guidelines that created confusion on where to source the right
company codes for general and bulk requests. Once, the Finance Team indicated too many company
codes in the system, resulting from having infinity result in the dashboard. Because of too many
company codes charge to small FTE activities, it can no longer account for the effort; thus, it was
left unaccounted and not billed to the customer. We immediately planned and worked on the
company code guidelines because this guideline served as the reference of the product developer in
how to apply codes and formulas in the dashboard. Simultaneously, we work on how to prevent
invalid counts of company codes in the system and put additional controls - a mistake-proofing
feature in the Workload Management Tool to notify the users about invalid entries. After a month,
we evaluated our actions in cycle 2. We are successful in eliminating valid entries, but there are
still activities left unbilled with a result of 97%, with a 1% increase from 2019 Report. The expected
result is 100% of the effort should be billed to the customers.
After the completion of two action research cycles, a sustainable data integrity framework was
developed based on the action researchers' experiences and learning during the whole action
research project. A Sustainable Data Integrity Framework is about the integration of technology,
transparency, accountability, and continuous learning.
A sustainable data integrity framework tells us that the integrity of reports can be achieved if
we leverage business intelligence through cost-efficient business applications to replace the manual
preparation of reports and remove the inefficiencies in the reporting process. The business
application has the power to automate the data transformation and data cleaning performed by the
business planners. It can present the data discrepancies through effective visual management to
show incorrect information in the database for correction by the responsible employee.
Furthermore, the element of continuous learning by building competencies in Finance Shared
Services also contributed to the integrity of the system. Moreover, formal mentoring and the
participation of the business planners in the development of the dashboard contributed to the
acceleration of the digital fluency in FSS. They minimized their operational cost by preventing
them from outsource these talents and build their capability in Finance Shared Services.
On the other hand, if leaders drive transparency and accountability through the establishment
of comprehensive business rules, it will create a culture of accountability through comprehensive

procedure and clarity on roles and responsibility, which will increase awareness of correct
information and reduce data discrepancies. The same effect will achieve if leaders will reinforce
the quality of work through the data quality metrics to measure success and ensure the sustainability
of high data quality ratings of the report. Over-all, all these driving forces were proven to be
effective in creating sustainable data integrity on FSS Workload Management Reports through the
outcomes presented in Table 21.
Figure 33. A Sustainable Data Integrity Framework
Objectives Interventions Expected Outcomes Actual Outcome

To sustain the data (1) Creation of (1) Accurate billing After cycle 1:
integrity of workload Mapping tables of information in the (1) There are invalid
management reports by company codes uses in Workload counts of company
(1) eliminating the FSS. (2) Introduction of Management Report. codes in the system,
incorrect information Activity Types: Core, (2) Automation of data resulting from having
(2) categorizing the Non-Core, Admin. (3) transformation and data an infinite result in the
activities based on their Development of the cleaning to reduce the dashboard.
appropriate billing Workload Management time spent in data (2) average data
category (3) reducing Dashboard (4) preparation from 10 preparation and
the time spent on Integration of the days to 2-3 days. reporting time were cut
preparing of reports (4) Workload Management (3) Readily available down from 10 days to 1
improving the data Dashboard in Workload reports for team day.
visualization Management Tool. meetings and activity
analysis After cycle 2:
(4) user-friendly (1) invalid counts of
Workload Management company codes = 0;
Dashboard incorrect
information =0;
% activities billed to
customer = 97% (1%
increase from 2019)
(2) Better user
experience on
generating and
analyzing of report
To create a culture of (1) Clear company (1) Employees are After Cycle 2:
transparency and codes guideline (2) responsible for the (1) Employees can also
accountability Creation of User Guide quality of input they analyze the workloads
(3) Build competencies enter in the system (2) and initiated process
on data analytics Leaders are empowered improvements to
through mentoring and to create a culture of improve their processes
participation in the transparency and (reduce cycle time,
development of the accountability in the eliminate
dashboard (3) workplace inefficiencies)
reinforcement of (2) Increase in-house (2) Leaders influenced
quality work (4) talents on business their employees to
Inclusion of data analytics and low -code think strategically in
quality metrics in FSS development skills terms of improving
Functional Key business performance
Performance Indicator and customer service
(3) Three (3) business
planners are recognized
as SME in Microsoft
Power Platforms
(Power BI and Power
Apps)
Table 21. Summary of Outcomes
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Appendices
Appendix 1. Signed De La Salle University- General Research Ethics Checklist

Appendix 2. Signed De La Salle University- Research Ethics Checklist for Investigations

involving Human Participants (Checklist A)
Appendix 3. Signed De La Salle University- Research Ethics Checklist for Investigators

conducting Action Research (Checklist F)
Appendix 4. Informed Consent of Participants


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An Integrative Action Research on

Leveraging Business Intelligence to Sustain Data Integrity in Workload Management

Report and to Create a Culture of Transparency and Accountability in the Workplace

TAN, MA. MERCEDES D.

Dr. Benito L. Teehankee

August 11, 2020

Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ 1

Force field analysis based on critical realism ...................................................................... 25

Figure 3.Dyché’ s Stakeholder Interaction Model ........................................................................ 13

transformations in Finance Shared Services effectively.

to create a sense of ownership in each member of the organization.

accountability in the workplace.

Chapter 1 - Rationale and Purpose

communication and transparency in the reporting process.

correct billing information and accurate workload distribution.

visible to employees and left unresolved.

worse (p.66), as illustrated using a Reinforcing loop in Figure 1.

Figure 1. The Data Quality Reinforcing Loop

"Effective management of work overload, with its potential to contribute to emotional

tremendous risk on personal safety and inequalities on workload”(p.303).

Significance of Action Research

business challenges continue, people and process safety are at risk.

change in the organization regardless of location and time zone.

my communication skills to effectively manage conflicts, especially if we are introducing change

correctly in our organization.

Chapter 2 - Background and Context

About Regional Headquarters in the Philippines

The CXV Company and The Manila Business Center

Africa, and the Middle East.

market like the Philippines” (Kittleson-Carpo Consulting, n.d.).

Organizational Framework of CXV Company

Figure 2.The Finance Digital Platform Team

Table 1 details the responsibility of the Finance Digital Platform Team:

Table 1. The Digital Platform Team’s Agile Role and Responsibilities

Figure 3. Technology Portfolio Planning: Stakeholder Interaction Model

The Workload Management Tool

facilitate workload management, FTE planning, benchmarking, and customer billing.

Figure 4. The Landing Page of the FSS Workload Management Tool

Figure 5. Workload Management Dashboard

us to work remotely (Offstein & Morwick, 2009).

appropriate technology to make virtually present better than being there

Chapter 3 – Methodology and Methods of Inquiry

The Action Research Cycle

the expense of quality participation.

Figure 6. Spiral of action research cycles

• Constructing involves engaging the stakeholders in a collaborative identifying of the

issue and its causes.

team implements the change.

• Taking action is where we collaboratively implemented the planned action

actions with collaboration and critical reflection.

Methods of Data Collection

data for me as a researcher but also to the individual concern.

experiences in my action research journey whenever a situation or event called my attention to

of my second- and third-person inquiry.

helped to understand more how we think about making personal decisions.

Figure 7. A more realistic depiction of the ORJI Cycle

Figure 8. The ladder of inference

to become an effective communicator and facilitator.

According to Mezirow (1990), If the reflection is understood as an assessment of how or

reflection is where I critique the underlying assumptions and perspectives.

1), and virtual (online meetings, instant messaging, video calls).

several kinds of inquiry into three types:

listen carefully and neutrally” (Coghlan, 2019).

and judgments by exploring reasoning and action” (Coghlan, 2019).