Appreciative Inquiry: A Transformative Approach for Initiating Shared Leadership and Organizational Learning (original) (raw)
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Revista De Cercetare Si Interventie Sociala, 2012
Auraria Library leaders at the University of Colorado Denver, USA employed Appreciative Inquiry (AI) principles, processes, and practices to inclusively redesign organizational structure, social relationships, knowledge systems, and workplace aspirations. Throughout the four year period, from 2008 through 2012, intervention activities employed life generating properties which were appreciative, applicable, provocative, and collaborative. Iterative application of the 4-Cycle intervention model (discovery, dream, design, and destiny) and associated AI principles advanced shared leadership and organizational learning capacities within a revitalized workplace culture. Iterative processes of reflection, reframing, and reinterpretation now sustain ongoing and inclusive inquiry that is appreciative, applicable, provocative, and collaborative.
Appreciative Inquiry: A Tool for Organizational, Programmatic, and Project-Focused Change
Journal of Leadership Education, 2013
This practice paper describes how leadership education faculty and students at Virginia Tech have facilitated change through the use of appreciative inquiry (Ai) at the departmental level, program level, and project level. Appreciative inquiry has been found to be a useful tool for leadership educators, as its foundation in social constructionist philosophy aligns with contemporary leadership and learning theories. This paper outlines (a) the philosophy of Ai as it applies to organizational development (b) illustrates Ai practices associated with a fivestage model, and (c) highlights three examples that can be used as models for leading change in a variety of organizational situations. The authors suggest that leadership educators are uniquely positioned to serve academic communities as facilitators of change by bridging theory and practice in pursuit of new ways of knowing and working together.
Five Theories of Change Embedded in Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative Inquiry: An Emerging Direction for Organization Development , 1999
Bushe describes five different ways of thinking about how an appreciative inquiry can create change in social systems. These are the social construction of reality, heliotropic hypothesis, the organizational inner dialogue, paradoxical dilemmas and appreciative process theories of change. Each directs us to different ways of thinking about and implementing an appreciative inquiry when our purpose is developmental change. The key data collection innovation of appreciative inquiry is the collection of people's stories of something at its best. If we are interested in team development, we collect stories of people's best team experiences. If we are interested in the development of an organization we ask about their peak experience in that organization. If enhanced leadership is our goal, we collect stories of leadership at its best. We need to embrace different ways of inquiring appreciatively but to do so, we need theory that tells us what ways will work-how and why. In this paper, Bushe offers a way to begin thinking about these questions.
Journal of Leadership Education, 2013
This practice paper describes how leadership education faculty and students at Virginia Tech have facilitated change through the use of appreciative inquiry (Ai) at the departmental level, program level, and project level. Appreciative inquiry has been found to be a useful tool for leadership educators, as its foundation in social constructionist philosophy aligns with contemporary leadership and learning theories. This paper outlines (a) the philosophy of Ai as it applies to organizational development (b) illustrates Ai practices associated with a fivestage model, and (c) highlights three examples that can be used as models for leading change in a variety of organizational situations. The authors suggest that leadership educators are uniquely positioned to serve academic communities as
Appreciative inquiry: An approach for learning and change based on our own best practices
ILAC Brief, 2005
So begins a typical process of appreciative inquiry, a way of thinking and working with groups, organizations and communities that assumes all human systems have at least some positive features, i.e. something is working well. By fostering reflection on the system's strengths and best practices and sharing stories of highpoints, organizations can shift perceptions of the situation from being problem-ridden to being resourcerich. It is then possible to envision a future in which the conditions that existed during the highpoint become the norm. Since members have experienced a peak performance moment, they know it is possible. They also know what conditions are required to maintain this level of achievement and, motivated by their aspirations, pride and excitement, they can begin to change the system.
Eight different sites in a large, Canadian urban school district engaged in an appreciative inquiry into “what do we know about learning”. Data collected over the following year indicate that four of the sites experienced transformational changes, two sites had incremental changes and two showed little or no change. This paper describes the AI intervention in detail and then explores differences in each site that may explain differences in level of change. The level of positive affect and ratings of success of the AI Summits at each site showed no meaningful relationship to change outcomes. Level of change did appear to be related to how generative the inquiries were, how well the Discovery phase was managed and the quality of Design statements that came out of the summits. Other factors exogenous to the design of the AI also appeared to play a role. These included relations between teachers and principals, credibility of local change agents, passionate and engaged leadership, and linkage to pre-existing, shared concerns. Recommendations for AI practice are given.
Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change
Appreciative Inquiry (AI) begins an adventure. Even in the first steps, one senses an exciting new direction in our language and theories of change -an invitation, as some have declared, to "a positive revolution." The words just quoted are strong and, unfortunately, they are not ours. But the more we replay the high-wire moments of our five years of work at GTE/Verizon, 1 the more we find ourselves asking the same kinds of questions the people of GTE asked their senior executives: "Are you ready for the momentum that is being generated? This is igniting a grassroots movement…it is creating an organization in full voice, a center stage for positive revolutionaries!" Tom White, president of what was then called GTE, Telops (with 80% of GTE's 67,000 employees) replied with no hesitation: "Yes, and what I see in this meeting are zealots, people with a mission and passion for creating the new GTE. Count me in, I'm your number one zealot." People cheered.
A Contemporary Commentary on Appreciative Inquiry in Organizational Life
Organizational Generativity: The Appreciative Inquiry Summit and a Scholarship of Transformation, 2013
This chapter presents a conceptual refiguration of action-research based on a "sociorationalist" view of science. The position that is developed can be summarized as follows: For action-research to reach its potential as a vehicle for social innovation it needs to begin advancing theoretical knowledge of consequence; that good theory may be one of the best means human beings have for affecting change in a postindustrial world; that the discipline's steadfast commitment to a problem-solving view of the world acts as a primary constraint on its imagination and contribution to knowledge; that appreciative inquiry represents a viable complement to conventional forms of action-research; and finally, that through our assumptions and choice of method we largely create the world we later discover.