Making Room for Complexity in Group Collaborations: The Roles of Scaffolding and Facilitation
Abstract
This thesis has a dual objective: the theoretical aim is to analyse how developmental scaffolding influences the
way that group participants’ conceptions about societal issues of concern, appropriate goals and courses of action
change as their awareness of the interconnectedness between different issues, conditions, causes and consequences
increase. On a practical level, the thesis aims to contribute insights into the craft and role of facilitation for
facilitators, project leaders, dialogue designers and other practitioners whose engagement in group processes
involves scaffolding the understanding of issues that have a considerable degree of complexity. This thesis is based
on adult development theory and integrates the concept of ‘scaffolding’ – in the form of assisted learning – with a
developmental view on the hierarchical complexity of task performance. To date, there is little empirical research
that uses adult developmental perspectives on collaborative group-work, or on the role of developmental
scaffolding in group processes. The thesis contributes to the discourse on group facilitation and the use of
facilitated methods to assist groups’ collaborative efforts on complex societal issues.
The thesis is based on five papers. Paper I offers conclusions and reflections based on nine empirical studies
that were carried out over the course of seven years and provides a broader context for the studies reported in the
following papers. Paper I focuses on capacities for managing complex issues in terms of scaffolding group efforts
through structured methods and facilitation, as well as in terms of individual capacities.
Paper II reports on a multi-stakeholder facilitated process in the public sector. The study shows how the
conceptions of an issue and of strategies for managing it transformed by working on the issue in a structured and
stepwise manner. The process also functioned as an awareness-raising method for generalised learning about task
complexity, which was evident in follow-up interviews that were carried out three years later.
Paper III elucidates patterns in the relationships between hope, motivation, and awareness of task complexity.
The contribution of the paper is in drawing attention to the consideration that increased task complexity awareness
may affect the hope and motivation of participants in complex ways.
Paper IV examines a case-study conducted with a voluntary climate action group. The paper concludes that in
order to integrate complex knowledge, the facilitator and the group need to collaboratively determine adequate
discussion boundaries.
Paper V adopted a microdevelopmental perspective in order to examine how the participants, the facilitator
and the method coactively scaffolded the generation of new and more complex knowledge. The paper concludes
that knowledge development between stakeholders and within stakeholders prospers by moving through phases
where understanding can sometimes diverge and conflict. A facilitator can play a significant role by tracking the
dialectics of the process and encouraging ways to link the participants’ contributions of information.
The action research in this study involved testing a deliberative method for developmental scaffolding. The
overall conclusion is that there is great potential in methods that functions to facilitate the development and
integration of complex knowledge. The results from this thesis are an example of how facilitated group processes
supported the emergence of more complex action-logics, when adequate structured scaffolding is adopted. By
using a structured approach for critical reflection, the analysis also shows that the method supports the building of
a collective representation of groups’ issue-landscapes, but also that the individual group members develop their
own knowledge and perspectives within the shared frame. However, adopting an unfamiliar process style can elicit
momentary discomfort in the group, and therefore other kinds of scaffolding functions may need to be attended to
with equal, and sometimes even more thoroughness. The action research with the groups in this study concludes
that continuous reflections, integrations and re-evaluations over the course of the process is needed, in order to
enable new strategies, motives, and goals to emerge over time.
Parts of work
Jordan, T., Andersson, P. & Ringnér, H. (2013). The spectrum of responses to
complex societal issues: Reflections on seven years of empirical inquiry. Published
in Integral Review, 9(1), 34–70. Andersson, P. (2015). Scaffolding of task complexity awareness and its impact on
actions and learning. Published in Action Learning and Action Research Journal, 21(1),
124–147. Andersson, P. (2016). The dynamics of hope and motivations in groups working
on complex societal issues. Published in Integral Review, 12(1), 4–31. Andersson, P., Inglis, J. & Ringnér, H. (2018). Constructive scaffolding or a Procrustean
bed? Exploring the influence of a facilitated structured group process in
a climate action group. Published in Systemic Practice and Action Research, 31(3), 327–
345.::doi::10.1007/s11213-017-9428-5 Andersson, P. (submitted). Coactive scaffolding in a facilitated multi-stakeholder
group process.
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
University
Göteborgs universitet. Samhällsvetenskapliga fakulteten
University of Gothenburg. Faculty of Social Sciences
Institution
Department of Sociology and Work Science ; Institutionen för sociologi och arbetsvetenskap
Disputation
kl 13.15, Torgny Segerstedssalen, Vasaparken, Universitetsplatsen 1, Göteborg.
Date of defence
2018-12-01
Pia.Andersson@socav.gu.se
View/ Open
Date
2018-11-09Author
Andersson, Pia
Keywords
action research
adult development
awareness
coaction
collective efficacy
complexity
group facilitation
hope
metacognition
methods for complex issues
scaffolding
Publication type
Doctoral thesis
ISBN
978-91-87876-21-9
978-91-87876-24-0
Series/Report no.
Gothenburg Studies in Work Science
No 17
Language
eng