Synergic Inquiry: A Collaborative Action Methodology

This book introduces a new, collaborative action methodology—called synergic inquiry (SI)—for both investigating and effecting transformative change among our individual and collective lives. It is inspired to work within the four levels of our lives—the mental, the social, the political, and the spiritual. In this text, editors Yongming Tang and Charles Joiner stress a strong theory/practice mix.

"The publication of Synergic Inquiry is both timely and important. It is a refreshing attempt to forge behavioral theory and praxis to expand human capacities for problem-solving."
--Tomoko Hamada, College of William & Mary

This book introduces synergic inquiry, which is a particular take on action research. Synergic inquiry is distinguished from other collaborative methodologies in its process orientation, which seeks first to differentiate and only then to integrate. This way, issues which are considered to be impediments to understanding cultural differences, examples of hierarchical thinking, etc. are treated as an organic part of the solution. In this text, the authors stress a strong theory/practice mix.

Yongming Tang, a pioneer of the SI methodology, is the founder of the Global Synergy Network, an organization working toward global transformation.  Dr. Tang is also the founder and director of the California Institute of Integral Studies Synergy Project, which conducts synergy action research in a number of countries.  Dr. Tang teaches courses on transformative learning at the California Institute of Integral Studies.

Charles W. Joiner, Jr. has extensive experience in the commercial, organizational world, in which he has served as President and General Manager of major divisions of large enterprizes.  Seeking to move beyond the limits of the current organizational and economic paradigm, he is pursuing a Ph.D. in Transformational Learning at the California Institute of Integral Studies.  He has participated in or been a co-leader of four cultural synergy projects.  His current interests involve discovering how to live synergistically and how to support the development of a new form of organization called social business.  He has published two books and a number of articles.