Study: Organisational Messy Middle (OMM) External Exploratory Research
Researcher: Magenta School of Magick
Version: 1.0
Effective date: September 2026
Contact: contact@magentaschoolofmagick.com
1. What is this research about?
This exploratory research examines what happens inside organisations while change is being implemented. It is interested in how people experience the period between the introduction of a change and the point at which new arrangements become established in day-to-day work.
The study is testing an emerging organisational change model called the Organisational Messy Middle (OMM). The model is not being treated as proven. The research is designed to identify where it fits people’s experiences, where it needs refinement, where it may have limits and where other explanations may fit better.
You will first be asked about your own experience without being shown the OMM model. The model is shown only at the end so that your earlier answers are not shaped by its language.
2. Why have I been invited?
You may take part if you are aged 18 or over and have personally experienced a significant organisational change within approximately the last five years, or are experiencing one now, and can describe it without disclosing confidential organisational information or identifying other individuals.
You are asked to answer from the part of the organisation you were personally able to observe. You are not expected to know what was happening across the whole organisation.
3. Is participation voluntary?
Yes. Taking part is voluntary. You can choose not to participate and you may stop before submitting your response.
Ethical consent to participate is separate from the legal basis used to process personal information. Magenta School of Magick relies on legitimate interests for the processing of personal information necessary for this independent research, subject to safeguards designed to protect participants’ privacy and rights.
4. What information will be collected?
The questionnaire is designed to avoid collecting direct identifiers. It may collect:
- broad sector, organisation-size and role information;
- the type, scope and status of the organisational change;
- your account of what happened during the change;
- your observations about clarity, uncertainty, overlapping arrangements, additional effort, ordinary work and other concurrent change;
- your assessment of when the change became established in practice;
- your views on what worked well or poorly; and
- your assessment and critique of the emerging OMM model.
You will be asked not to provide your name, employer name, colleagues’ names, client names or confidential, commercially sensitive or security-sensitive information.
If identifying information is inadvertently provided and is not necessary for the research, it will be removed, generalised or otherwise de-identified where reasonably practicable.
5. Will you collect special category personal data?
This study is not designed to collect special category personal data such as health information, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade-union membership, genetic or biometric data, or information about sex life or sexual orientation.
Please do not include this type of information unless it is genuinely necessary to explain the organisational-change experience. If special category information is volunteered incidentally and is not required for the research, it will wherever practicable be removed or generalised during data preparation.
6. What is the lawful basis?
For personal information processed as part of this independent research, Magenta School of Magick relies on the UK GDPR lawful basis of legitimate interests. The legitimate interest is conducting, analysing and developing responsible research into organisational change and testing whether the emerging OMM model adequately explains lived organisational experience.
A Legitimate Interests Assessment has been completed for this study. The study is designed to minimise personal information, avoid direct identifiers, separate model exposure from earlier experience questions, and report findings using aggregated, anonymised or appropriately de-identified material.
7. How will the information be used?
- to analyse how organisational change unfolds in practice;
- to compare patterns across different change episodes;
- to test, refine, limit or challenge propositions in the emerging OMM model;
- to identify experiences the model does not explain well;
- to support research papers, articles, presentations, teaching, model development or other professional outputs; and
- to maintain a research audit trail showing how conclusions were developed.
The research is not intended to evaluate your employer, assess your performance or make decisions about you.
8. Will my words be quoted?
De-identified quotations or short extracts may be used in research outputs where they help illustrate an analytical point. Before use, extracts will be reviewed for direct and indirect identification risk.
Where a quotation could identify a person or organisation through a combination of role, sector, event, chronology or unusual detail, information will be generalised, paraphrased or omitted while preserving the analytical meaning where possible.
9. How long will my information be kept?
Personal or pseudonymised research data will normally be retained for up to 5 years after completion of the project or publication of the final substantive research output, whichever is later, subject to periodic review.
Participant contact details are not intended to be collected in the questionnaire. If separate contact information is collected for administration or follow-up, it will be stored separately and normally deleted within 3 months after any stated withdrawal period has ended unless you separately agree to future research contact.
Research protocols, questionnaire versions, coding frameworks, methodology records and other material that contains no personal information may be retained permanently as part of the research record.
Effectively anonymised research information may also be retained for future research, teaching, verification and model development because it no longer identifies an individual.
Further detail is set out in the Magenta School of Magick Research Data Retention and Disposal Policy.
10. Where will information be stored?
Research information will be stored using password- or passkey-protected systems and secure cloud services used by Magenta School of Magick. Access will be restricted to the researcher and any authorised person who genuinely needs access for research, governance, legal or technical purposes.
Google Forms and Google Drive may be used for questionnaire collection and storage. Relevant service-provider and international-transfer arrangements are addressed through Magenta School of Magick’s general Privacy Notice and the provider’s applicable contractual safeguards.
11. Who will information be shared with?
Individual responses will not be routinely shared with employers or organisational clients.
Information may be processed by technology providers used to collect, store or analyse research data under appropriate service arrangements. It may also be disclosed where required by law, court order or a valid regulatory requirement.
Research outputs will normally contain only aggregated, anonymised or appropriately de-identified information.
12. Can I withdraw my response?
If the questionnaire is configured so that no direct identifier or response code is collected, it may not be possible to identify and remove an individual response after submission. The questionnaire and consent information should make this clear before participation.
If a study-specific participant code or other means of identifying a response is used, the withdrawal deadline and method will be stated clearly. Withdrawal may no longer be possible once the data has been effectively anonymised, irreversibly aggregated or incorporated into a published output.
You can still contact Magenta School of Magick if you have a concern about how your information has been handled.
13. What are my data-protection rights?
Depending on the circumstances, you may have rights to access, rectify, erase or restrict personal information, and to object to processing based on legitimate interests.
These rights are not absolute in every situation. Research-related provisions can affect the application of particular rights where legal conditions and safeguards are met. Magenta School of Magick will not rely on a research exemption automatically and will consider each request on its facts.
14. Are there any risks to taking part?
The research is low risk, but describing organisational change may involve recalling frustrating, difficult or sensitive experiences. You should not disclose information that would place you, another person or an organisation at unnecessary risk.
You may skip optional questions or stop before submission. The questionnaire does not ask for confidential organisational information and does not require you to identify your employer.
15. What are the benefits?
There may be no direct personal benefit. Your response may contribute to a better understanding of how organisational change works in practice, including where established or emerging explanations do not adequately account for lived experience.
16. Who is responsible for the research?
Magenta School of Magick is the data controller for this independent study.
Data controller: Ms Andie Brookes, trading as Magenta School of Magick
ICO registration reference: ZB728213
Contact: contact@magentaschoolofmagick.com
17. How can I complain?
If you have concerns about the research or the use of your personal information, contact Magenta School of Magick at contact@magentaschoolofmagick.com.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Current complaint routes and contact details are available at ico.org.uk.
18. Confirmation before taking part
Before starting the questionnaire, participants will be asked to confirm that they are aged 18 or over, have read the participant information, understand the purpose of the research, understand that participation is voluntary, will avoid identifying or confidential information, understand how information will be stored and used, understand that de-identified extracts may be used in outputs, and agree to participate.