The Appreciative Inquiry as a Way of Enhancing Organization Performance (original) (raw)
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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.
Research in Organizational Change and Development, 2017
It's been thirty years since the original articulation of "Appreciative Inquiry in Organizational Life" was written in collaboration with my remarkable mentor Suresh Srivastva (Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987). That article À first published in Research in Organization Development and Change À generated more experimentation in the field, more academic excitement, and more innovation than anything we had ever written. As the passage of time has enabled me to look more closely at what was written, I feel both a deep satisfaction with the seed vision and scholarly logic offered for Appreciative Inquiry, as well as well as the enormous impact and continuing reverberation. Following the tradition of authors such as Carl Rogers who have reissued their favorite works but have also added brief reflections on key points of emphasis, clarification, or editorial commentary I am presenting the article by David Cooperrider (myself) and the late Suresh Srivastva in its entirety, but also with new horizon insights. In particular I write with excitement and anticipation of a new OD À what my colleagues and I are calling the next "IPOD" that is, innovation-inspired positive OD that brings AI's gift of new eyes together in common cause with several other movements in the human sciences: the strengths revolution in management; the positive pscyhology and positive organizational scholarship movements; the design thinking
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.
Transylvanian review of administrative sciences, 2012
This study explored the innovative use of appreciative inquiry (AI) in the organizational environment for changing the perception concerning the satisfaction of its members’ needs. The experiment started from the assumption that organizations are social constructions generated by the interpretations social actors have about this entity and about themselves, being the result of human interactions. The experiment used the appreciative inquiry as form of intervention, run in the four stages of the 4-D cycle. The results of the intervention show that, although appreciative inquiry was directed chiefly towards changing the perceptions concerning the satisfaction of the need for security, the interpretations given by organization members changed with regard to the satisfaction of all needs (security, basic needs, belonging, esteem and self-actualization). The study shows that motivation can be changed through an appreciative approach of events, through their reinterpretation within a proc...
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.
Transformation Of Corporations: Towards Appreciative
Corporations are playing a major role in the current societal change. They are an integralpart of societies in which they operate and they directly and indirectly are part of the livesand wellbeing individuals. Social responsibility is a popular term in current businessmanagement, but how to create environment that enhances and values a sense ofresponsibility and appreciation both in societal and individual levels? Economic structures are changing. Intensive cooperation, collaboration and competitionare creating global ...
Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Appreciative Stories for Organisation Development Practice
International Journal of Appreciative Inquiry, 2024
The synthesis of quantitative and qualitative data as part of an Appreciative Inquiry analysis can offer depth and rigour to the practice of organisation development. What factors would serve the flourishing of our client organisations and ecosystems? We draw on three case studies to illustrate how data analysis highlights the nuances of these factors.
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.