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=                        Appreciative_inquiry                        =
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                            Introduction
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Appreciative inquiry (AI) is a model that seeks to engage stakeholders
in self-determined change. According to Gervase Bushe, professor of
leadership and organization development at the Beedie School of
Business and a researcher on the topic, "AI revolutionized the field
of organization development and was a precursor to the rise of
positive organization studies and the strengths based movement in
American management." It was developed at Case Western Reserve
University's department of organizational behavior, starting with a
1987 article by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva.  They felt
that the overuse of problem solving hampered any kind of social
improvement, and what was needed were new methods of inquiry that
would help generate new ideas and models for how to organize.


                              History
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Cooperrider and Srivastva took a social constructionist approach,
arguing that organizations are created, maintained and changed by
conversations, and claiming that methods of organizing were only
limited by people's imaginations and the agreements among them.

In 2001, Cooperrider and Diana Whitney published an article outlining
the five principles of AI.

In 1996, Cooperrider, Whitney and several of their colleagues became
centrally involved using AI to mid-wife the creation of the United
Religions Initiative, a global organization dedicated to promoting
grassroots interfaith cooperation for peace, justice and healing. This
early partnership between URI and AI is chronicled in 'Birth of a
Global Community: Appreciative Inquiry in Action' by Charles Gibbs and
Sally Mahé.  AI was also used in the first (1999) and subsequent
meetings of business leaders that created the UN Global Compact. In
another of the early applications, Cooperrider and Whitney taught AI
to employees of GTE (now part of Verizon) resulting in improvements in
employees' support for GTE's business direction and as a part of
continuous process improvement generated both improvements in revenue
collection and cost savings earning GTE an Association for Talent
Development award for the best organizational change program in the US
in 1997.

On May 8, 2010, Suresh Srivastva died.

Bushe published a 2011 review of the model, including its processes,
critiques, and evidence. He also published a history of the model in
2012.


                        Basis and principles
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According to Bushe, AI "advocates collective inquiry into the best of
what is, in order to imagine what could be, followed by collective
design of a desired future state that is compelling and thus, does not
require the use of incentives, coercion or persuasion for planned
change to occur."

The model is based on the assumption that the questions we ask will
tend to focus our attention in a particular direction, that
organizations evolve in the direction of the questions they most
persistently and passionately ask. In the mid-1980s most methods of
assessing and evaluating a situation and then proposing solutions were
based on a 'deficiency' model, predominantly asking questions such as
"What are the problems?", "What's wrong?" or "What needs to be
fixed?".  Instead of asking "What's the problem?", others couched the
question in terms of "challenges", which still focused on deficiency,
on what needs to be fixed or solved.  Appreciative inquiry was the
first serious managerial method to refocus attention on what works,
the positive core, and on what people really care about.  Today, these
ways of approaching organizational change are common.

The five principles of AI are:
# The 'constructionist principle' proposes that what we believe to be
true determines what we do, and thought and action emerge from
relationships.  Through the language and discourse of day to day
interactions, people co-construct the organizations they inhabit.  The
purpose of inquiry is to stimulate new ideas, stories and images that
generate new possibilities for action.
# The 'principle of simultaneity' proposes that as we inquire into
human systems we change them and the seeds of change, the things
people think and talk about, what they discover and learn, are
implicit in the very first questions asked.  Questions are never
neutral, they are fateful, and social systems move in the direction of
the questions they most persistently and passionately discuss.
# The 'poetic principle' proposes that organizational life is
expressed in the stories people tell each other every day, and the
story of the organization is constantly being co-authored.  The words
and topics chosen for inquiry have an impact far beyond just the words
themselves.  They invoke sentiments, understandings, and worlds of
meaning. In all phases of the inquiry effort is put into using words
that point to, enliven and inspire the best in people.
# The 'anticipatory principle' posits that what we do today is guided
by our image of the future.  Human systems are forever projecting
ahead of themselves a horizon of expectation that brings the future
powerfully into the present as a mobilizing agent. Appreciative
inquiry uses artful creation of positive imagery on a collective basis
to refashion anticipatory reality.
# The 'positive principle' proposes that momentum and sustainable
change requires positive affect and social bonding.  Sentiments like
hope, excitement, inspiration, camaraderie and joy increase
creativity, openness to new ideas and people, and cognitive
flexibility.  They also promote the strong connections and
relationships between people, particularly between groups in conflict,
required for collective inquiry and change.

Some researchers believe that excessive focus on dysfunctions can
actually cause them to become worse or fail to become better. By
contrast, AI argues, when all members of an organization are motivated
to understand and value the most favorable features of its culture, it
can make rapid improvements.

Strength-based methods are used in the creation of organizational
development strategy and implementation of organizational
effectiveness tactics. The 'appreciative' mode of inquiry often relies
on interviews to qualitatively understand the organization's potential
strengths by looking at an organization's experience and its
potential; the objective is to elucidate the assets and personal
motivations that are its strengths.

Bushe has argued that mainstream proponents of AI focus too much
attention on "the positive" and not enough on the transformation that
AI can bring about through generating new ideas and the will to act on
them.  In a 2010 comparative study in a school district he found that
even in cases where no change occurred participants were highly
positive during the AI process.  What distinguished those sites that
experienced transformational changes was the creation of new ideas
that gave people new ways to address old problems.  He argues that for
transformational change to occur, AI must address problems that
concern people enough to want to change.  However, AI addresses them
not through problem-solving, but through generative images. Some of
this is covered in a 90-minute discussion about AI, positivity and
generativity by Bushe and Dr. Ron Fry of Case Western, at the 2012
World Appreciative Inquiry Conference.


                      Distinguishing features
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The following table comes from Cooperrider and Srivastva's (1987)
original article and is used to describe some of the distinctions
between AI and traditional approaches to organizational development:

Problem Solving !! Appreciative inquiry
1.   "Felt Need," identification of Problem      1.   Appreciating &
Valuing the Best of "What Is"
2.   Analysis of Causes          2.   Envisioning "What Might Be"
3.   Analysis & Possible Solutions   3.   Dialoguing "What Should
Be"
4.   Action Planning (Treatment)         4. Designing "What Will Be"
| **Basic Assumption:** An Organization is a Problem to be Solved ||
**Basic Assumption:** An Organization is a Mystery to be Embraced

Appreciative inquiry attempts to use ways of asking questions and
envisioning the future in order to foster positive relationships and
build on the present potential of a given person, organization, or
situation.  The most common model, called the 4D model describes a
sequence of four processes. Many have pointed out, however, that there
is an initial process of DEFINE, identifying what sponsors of the
inquiry want more of - what they are trying to improve or bring into
existence.  From that point, Appreciative Inquiry emphasizes bringing
as many stakeholders, particularly those who will need to change for
any change to happen, into 2-4 day meetings that follow this sequence:
#'DISCOVER:' Exploring the personal story each participant has of the
desired outcome as its best/most meaningful/most inspiring (e.g.,
exceptional customer service). Learnings from those stories are
shared.
#'DREAM:' Voicing the deepest, most meaningful aspirations each person
holds and weaving them loosely together. Often using play and art to
engage the less rational, more personal parts of people.
#'DESIGN:' Small groups self-organize around problems, outcomes, or
solutions they want to work on.  Prototyping is common. Time to work
with feedback from others is common.
#'DESTINY' (or 'DEPLOY'): There are two ways this is managed.  In the
hi-engagement approach, proposals are given to leaders to manage. Some
time may be spent at the Summit giving leaders advice on how to
proceed.  In the generative approach, people are encouraged to take
action on their ideas without waiting for permission.  The generative
approach is far more transformational.

The aim of most AI practitioners is to create aligned, committed
action in organizations and communities by identifying what we
collectively want and planning how to get it. AI originally described
this approach as the opposite of problem-solving. Later thinking
identified "generativity" as the differentiator. Generativity is the
creation of new ideas that people want to act on, and appreciative
inquiry creates more generative conversations. People use appreciative
inquiry to solve problems, but they do it through generativity, not
problem-solving.


                          Implementing AI
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There are a variety of approaches to implementing appreciative
inquiry, including mass-mobilised interviews and a large, diverse
gathering called an Appreciative Inquiry Summit.  These approaches
involve bringing large, diverse groups of people together to study and
build upon the 'best' in an organization or community.


                                Uses
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In Vancouver, AI is being used by the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and
Education. The center, which was founded by the Dalai Lama and Victor
Chan, is using AI to facilitate compassionate communities.


                              See also
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*Geoffrey Vickers introduced concept of 'Appreciative Systems' (1968)
*Kenneth J. Gergen instrumental in social constructionism and the
concept of generativity
*David Cooperrider originated the theory of appreciative inquiry in
his 1986 doctoral dissertation.
* Organization development
* Social constructionism
* Complexity theory and organizations
* Appreciative inquiry in education


                          Further reading
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* Barrett, F.J. & Fry, R.E. (2005) 'Appreciative Inquiry: A
Positive Approach to Building Cooperative Capacity'.  Chagrin Falls,
OH: Taos Institute
* Cooperrider, D.L., Whitney, D. & Stavros, J.M. (2008)
'Appreciative Inquiry Handbook (2nd ed.)'  Brunswick, OH: Crown Custom
Publishing.
* Gibbs, C., Mahé, s. (2004) "Birth of a Global Community:
Appreciative Inquiry in Action". Bedford Heights, OH: Lakeshore
Publishers.
* Lewis, S., Passmore, J. & Cantore, S. (2008) 'The Appreciative
Inquiry Approach to Change Management'.  London, UK: Kogan Paul.
* Ludema, J.D. Whitney, D., Mohr, B.J. & Griffen, T.J. (2003) 'The
Appreciative Inquiry Summit'.  San Francisco: Berret-Koehler.
* Whitney, D. & Trosten-Bloom, A. (2010) 'The Power of
Appreciative Inquiry (2nd Ed.)'.  San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.


                           External links
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* [https://appreciativeinquiry.champlain.edu/ Appreciative Inquiry
Commons] by The David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry
* [https://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/the-art-of-appreciative-inquiry
Appreciative inquiry] at Harvard Business School
*
[https://www.scribd.com/document/56010589/Appreciative-Inquiry-An-Overview
Appreciative Inquiry: An Overview], scribd.
* [http://www.gervasebushe.ca/appinq.htm Bushe's papers on AI]


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