Using Appreciative Inquiry to Change Perceptions Concerning the Satisfaction of Organization Members' Needs (original) (raw)
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The Appreciative Inquiry as a Way of Enhancing Organization Performance
Yearbook University "Gh. Zane" IASI, 2014
The organizational management, organizational performance and other topics related to the concept of the organization are areas of interest for researchers, whereas our world is concerned with the way in which organizations function (as holistic systems), in order to study their behavior according to certain variables. A new research method has emerged within organizational sociology – the appreciative inquiry - which aims to pursue the 4 D phases: the discovery, the dream, the design and the destiny. The appreciative inquiry aims to co-transform the positive parts of individuals and organizations into the main features and vectors of evolution. In this paper we aim to focus on the appreciative inquiry as a way of researching organizational behavior in order to enhance performance, in the benefit of both employees (individuals) and organizations (institutions, entities)
2005
Scholars and practitioners typically view organizational development and change from two very different starting points. A diagnostic intervention begins with an examination of problems t o assess and correct dysfunction. This process has a h istory of success, with decades of theory and practice to support its use. However, an alternative has emerged with popularity. Appreciative Inquiry targets the organization's strengths and draws upon them as a resource for change. An experiment was conducted to compare the first phase of each approach to understand how initial experiences in each process impacts employees. Results show Appreciative Inquiry leads to positive emotion, favorable views of self, and desired perceptions , but the diagnostic approach also leads to desired perceptions. Gender moderates effects in unexpected ways.
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.
Expanding the Application of Appreciative Inquiry Based on Its Principles of Human Systems
2013
This review serves to examine The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change by Diana Whitney and Amanda Trosten-Bloom (2010). It will introduce the topic of Appreciative Inquiry, giving supporting information from the book, and discuss its adaptability. The authors discuss Appreciative Inquiry as a positive approach to change, introduces the 4D cycle associated with it, and uses it to explain how Appreciative Inquiry is carried out in many capacities at the organizational level. Furthermore, this review includes a look into the basic premise of Appreciative Inquiry and how this premise alone affords this Appreciative Inquiry process to be used outside of the business and organizational realm, particularly with families and individuals.
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.
Determining Impact of Appreciative Inquiry: A Case Study
Proquest, 2019
This qualitative study was an exploratory, single-case study from the perspectives of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) practitioners that explored how they determined the impact of an Inquiry. Through AI worldwide, the common call to action has been for empirical, critical analysis of the theory and practices of AI (Bushe, 1998; Bushe & Marshak, 2011, 2014, 2015; Clarke, n.d.; Conklin, 2009; Grant & Humphries, 2006; Hart, Conklin, & Allen, 2008; Kessler, 2013; Tartell & Vogel, 2017; Willoughby & Tosey, 2007). Bushe and Marshak (2013) stated a lack of unifying theory of change being offered and “a rather large gulf between academics who study change from narrative and interpretive premises and Organization Development (OD) practitioners who use dialogical methods” (p. 362). In response to the call, this study focused on AI field practices for determining impact and made a critical evaluation of whether those determinants were appropriate impacts for AI and whether they had theoretical support as a means of impact. Through iterative, ad hoc coding of the interviews and focus group discussions three key themes for impact determinants emerged from this study: cognitive change, paradigm change, and behavioral change. Within the data convergence, the concept of a Paradigm Fulcrum emerged as the possible pivotal point where thoughts become actions. The pivotal point concept may not only help identify the how of impact determination but also lend to the discussion of why it works. Further research will be needed to confirm or expand this initial concept.
Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a strategy for change based on the idea that focusing on what works within organisations, communities and individuals instead of what is not working, leads to a new and a better future. Its earliest theorists date back to the 1970s. The original theory has been further developed by David Cooperrider of Case Western Reserve University, Frank Barrett and Suresh Srivasta in the 1980s, to whom we owe much of the literature on the topic. Since then a centre for research and practice in social construction and AI has been set up in New Mexico, and a number of conferences have been devoted to this approach to organisational development. Although AI is practiced by a number of international organisations, it is still more widely used in the United Stated although it is spreading steadily this side of the Atlantic. I came across this theory a few years ago in an effort to make my training and coaching / mentoring practice more effective and I have been using it in many different situations and environments. This essay aims at evaluating this approach in the light of the extensive work conducted over the years by a number of organisational development practitioners and of my personal practice.
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.