Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) for transforming outcomes.
In my previous blog I discussed ‘Systems Thinking Tools for Organizational Development and Systemic Problem Solving’. In this blog I give an example of how Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) can be used for transforming outcomes.
CHAT models an ‘activity system’ which is centered around three concepts. Kirsten Foot explains these (1) humans act collectively, learn by doing and communicate via their actions, (2) humans make, use and adapt tools, and (3) community is central to their communication, learning and acting. Such a system is dynamic in that it is continuously learning and changing. (Cultural-Historical Activity Theory: Exploring a Theory to inform Practice and Research (Feb 2014)).
CHAT examines the relationships between the people, structure, and activities in a system of activity. It asks a series of questions: who is acting? (subject), what are they doing? (object), with what are they performing this function? (artefacts), what governs how they perform the function? (rules), who are they doing it with? (division of labor), and who are the stakeholders? (community). With this information an obstruction analysis is done looking at the relationships that exist between these aspects taking into account their historical context. The analysis is done in order to ‘transform’ the object to an improved ‘outcome’.
The example below comes from group work done during the EMBA14 (GSB, UCT). I would like to acknowledge Graham Mayer, Zaid Patel, Waleed Abrahams, Undere Deglon, Nils Wormbacher and Joey Pather who worked on it with me. This example is presented very briefly in order to explain CHAT.
Although South African schools are relatively well-resourced, the education system in South Africa has failed to meet the needs of the South African population. One of the challenges that arose in interviews with teachers is how time consuming the demands of the administrative functions are and how this impacts the value adding activity of teaching.
Using the CHAT model, our ‘subject’ the teacher, utilizes various resources, is engaged with several stakeholders and is governed by rules like the curriculum and assessment requirements of the Department of Education. Further, continuous assessment systems, engagement with parents and learners on social matters, and the lack of conceptual and physical resources all impact on the efficiency of the teacher to perform. The figure shows a more detailed understanding of the work activity system.
The obstruction analysis showed (at that time) the impact of the environment on the teacher’s ability to perform their core function as the:
· Unavailability of the correct tools/resources
· Lack of community involvement in learner education
· Lack of proper teacher training on the curriculum and WCED requirements
· Lack of parental guidance
· The extent of the administrative function
· Lack of leadership
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3yThank you Jill, this is great, however it will be nice to see whether this work in all area of our environment. For example can we use the CHAT theory in business ? I believe a theory for it to be relevant should work in any area or discipline, in case it doesn’t this should be an area to investigate and prove that the theory doesn’t work. It will also be good to mention who and when the theory were developed, or are you the one developing this theory?