Knowledge building and learning in the public sector through co-creation and 'withness-thinking'

This chapter discusses the potentials and possibilities of adopting a process perspective in action research for knowledge production, development, and change in the public sector. Often, we see that models from engineering and the business world are taken into use with the goal of implementing organizational change, often without involving organizational members and stakeholders in any kind of dialogic process. The authors wish to challenge these linear assumptions and practices and line out some perspectives for researchers within the field of organizational studies. The chapter builds on the following questions: What would happen if we put co-creation and process in the forefront of our inquiries? How can we, to a higher extent, incorporate co-creation and process-thinking in our research practices? And finally, how can we work from a "withness-thinking" approach, rather than the approach of "aboutness-thinking"? The chapter unfolds these ideas in relation to a specific action research project.