Appreciative Inquiry

The "Appreciative Inquiry" construct was developed almost 20 years ago at Case Western University's Weatherhead School of Management. It is basically a positive approach to change that is constructed on an organization's strengths and strongest characteristics rather than on an attempt to correct perceived weaknesses or inadequacies. To help you learn more about this concept we have gathered some articles and books that will clarify for you the ideas behind "Appreciative Inquiry". In addition to these resources, see also the web site of The Appreciative Inquiry Commons

Update: April 2010
The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change ( HD30.3.W52 2010)

Update: January 2010

Appreciative inquiry handbook : for leaders of change [electronic resource]

Update: May 2008

Appreciative Inquiry For Change Management: Using AI to Facilitate Organizational Development (HD58.8.L494 2008)

Update: December 2006
Reframing Evaluation Through Appreciative Inquiry is the first book to introduce the application of Appreciative Inquiry (AI), an approach for organizational development and change, to the practice of evaluation. Authors Hallie Preskill and Tessie Tzavaras Catsambas lay out the theoretical foundation of AI and build a bridge between the theory and practice of applying AI to evaluation.
Key Features:
· Provides a step-by-step guide: Written in a clear, accessible style, the text explains the way this particular approach has been used to frame, design, and conduct evaluations in various sectors worldwide.
· Reflects specific real-world applications of AI to evaluation practice: Numerous U.S.-based and international case examples enhance readers’ ability to see the nuances of applying AI to evaluation in a wide variety of international and multicultural, organizational, community, and population contexts.
· Offers a whole-systems approach: This text provides a whole systems approach which enables evaluation to deal with complex and dynamically changing programs.

Update: September 2006 - Among the many new articles about this subject, here are four we thought would be of particular interest.

Darlene Lewis, et al. Appreciative Leadership: Defining Effective Leadership Methods.Organization Development Journal. Spring 2006. Vol. 24, Iss. 1, p. 87-100 (14 pp.)

Salopek, Jennifer. Appreciative Inquiry at 20: Questioning David Cooperrider. T + D. Aug 2006. Vol. 60, Iss. 8, p. 21-22 (2 pp.)

Head, Thomas. Appreciative Inquiry In The Graduate Classroom: Making Group Dynamics A Practical Topic To Address. Organization Development Journal. Summer 2006. Vol. 24, Iss. 2, p. 83-88 (6 pp.)

Bright, David et al. Appreciative Inquiry in the Office of Research and Development: Improving the Collaborative Capacity of Organization. Public Performance & Management Review. Mar 2006. Vol. 29, Iss. 3, p. 285-306

Update: July 2005 - Positive Organizational Scholarship
For an account of how appreciative inquiry relates to positive organizational scholarship see this chapter by Cooperrider & Sekerka: "Toward a Theory of Positive Organizational Change", Chapter 15 in Positive Organizational Scholarship: Foundations of a New Discipline

Selected Articles
(see also the bibliography in the Fry book noted below)

Johnson,Gail, William Leavitt
"Building on Success: Transforming Organizations Through an Appreciative Inquiry"
Public Personnel Management, Spring 2001. Vol. 30, Iss. 1; pg. 129.
"A Closer Look at Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative Inquiry is an approach that is uniquely suited to organizations that seek to be collaborative, inclusive, and genuinely caring for both the people within the organization and those they serve. For those engaged in public service, finding ways to express these values has never been more important. Using an Appreciative Inquiry approach, organizations can discover, understand, and learn from success, while creating new images for the future. The approach provides an opportunity to celebrate what is done well, as organizations strive to move closer to their vision of the future. The focus is on success, rather than failure. Thomas White, President of GTE, asks, "In the long run, what is more likely to be useful: Demoralizing a successful workforce by concentrating on their failures or helping them over their last few hurdles by building a bridge with their successes?"
Appreciative Inquiry is premised on three basic assumptions. The first critical assumption is that organizations are responsive to positive thought and positive knowledge. Simply put, like sunflowers that will always turn to face the sun, an organization will turn toward a positive image of itself. It is this positive image that gives the energy the organization needs. A second key assumption is that it is both the image of the future, and the process for creating that image that create the energy to drive change throughout the organization.6 By engaging employees in a dialogue about what works well based on their own experiences, employees notice that there is a lot that works reasonably well already Change is possible, because it feels better to start from a point where you are pretty good already and would like to be better. Lastly, Appreciative Inquiry is based on a belief in the power of affirmations; if we can envision what we want, there is a better chance of it happening."

Bushe, Gervase R
"Advances in Appreciative Inquiry as an Organization Development Intervention" Organization Development Journal, Summer 1999. Vol. 17, Iss. 2; pg. 61.
"Since Cooperrider & Srivastva s (1987) original article on appreciative inquiry there has been a lot of excitement and experimentation with this new form of action research. The technology of appreciative inquiry as a social research method and as an organization development (O.D.) intervention are evolving differently. Here I will mainly focus on it as an O.D. intervention. Currently there is no universally accepted method for doing an appreciative inquiry and it is premature to offer a "recipe" for how to do it. There is, however; a fairly well accepted set of parameters for distinguishing between what is and is not a legitimate appreciative inquiry. In this paper I will describe the basics of this technique and report on some innovations I and colleagues have experienced with to extend the appreciative approach. First, however; an introduction to the theory behind the technique."

Bushe, Gervase R
"Appreciative Inquiry With Teams," Organization Development Journal,Fall 1998. Vol. 16, Iss. 3; pg. 41.
"This article describes the author's thoughts and experiences in trying to help people have conversations that generate new, affirming and generative images. A simple process for running an appreciative inquiry with a team is described. Differences in using appreciative inquiry with new teams and ongoing teams are discussed. Four different ways to use appreciative inquiry in teambuilding events run by an external facilitator are described. The author goes on to discuss the role of the consultant as wordsmith in an appreciative process with teams."

Goldberg.Robert A.
"Implementing a Professional Development System Through Appreciative Inquiry," Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 2001. Vol. 22, Iss. 2; pg.56.
"For many practitioners, appreciative inquiry (AI) is becoming an attractive philosophy of organization change and development. AI methodology has been primarily focused on the development of teams. This article provides case study evidence that AI has broader practical application than most people perceive by describing how the philosophy and methodology of AI has been utilized to establish and implement a strategy to accelerate the professional development of the salesforce of a large, mature consumer products firm."

"Let's Change the Subject and Change our Organization: An Appreciative Inquiry Approach to Organization Change,"
Diana Whitney, Career Development International, 1998. Vol. 3, Iss. 7; pg. 314
"A social constructionist approach view of organizational change is taken, focusing on how to engage the multitude of internal and external stakeholders. It is argued that current models of change often leave people feeling demoralized and appreciative inquiry is presented as an approach to organizational development that deliberately focuses attention of learning and dialogue about what gives life to an organization."

Murrel, Kenneth L.
"International and Intellectual Roots of Appreciative Inquiry," Organization Development Journal, Fall 1999. Vol. 17, Iss. 3; pg. 49.
"The following paper presents a background study of the emergence of`the concept known in the U.S. as Appreciative Inquiry. Special attention is given to historical roots as experienced by this author in both the intellectual contributions of Sir Geoffrey Vickers and in the application of a parallel process to AI practiced by development professionals in the Middle-east and Africa over 20 years ago. Their approach, developed by the Cover-dale group of the UK, was based on finding successful practices and documenting those interventions, which worked in assisting rural development projects and particularly small village development. Also discussed will be the set of core assumptions implicit in this emerging theory of AI and a sampling of cases where the theory is being tested and developed. The author concludes by presenting his perspective on the nature of the philosophy inherent in AI and a plea to keep the spirit of dialogue open to many different views as more people begin to experiment and enjoy learning how to effectively build more successful practices with AI."

Selected Books

Cooperrider, David L, et. al.
Appreciative Inquiry : An Emerging Direction for Organization Development

Cooperrider, David L.
Appreciative Inquiry Handbook

Cooperrider, David L.
Appreciative Inquiry

Cooperrider, David L.
Appreciative Inquiry : Rethinking Human Organization Toward a Positive Theory of Change

Curnow, Barry, et al
International Guide to Management Consultancy : the Evolution, Practice and Structure of Management Consultancy Worldwide, See:
3.7 "Appreciative Inquiry: Building on Strengths in your organisation", Anne Radford , p.202

Fry, Ronald, ed.
Appreciative Inquiry and Organizational Transformation : Reports from the Field
"Appreciative Inquiry and Organizational Transformation: Reports from the Field is organized into four subsections, with a good overview and summary of each in the introductory chapter. If one was to approach this book as a consulting resource, which is highly recommended, the introduction offers enough information to choose which particular case is most useful in your present circumstances. Furthermore, all the cases in the book are well written, engaging, and many include reflections of the practitioners using AI, an invaluable resource for others wishing to use it." From a review by Gloria Miller in Personnel Psychology, Winter 2002. Vol. 55, Iss. 4; pg. 1022.

Gergen, Mary
See Chapter 26, "Appreciative Inquiry" David L. Cooperrider, Diana Whitney, p.173

Golembiewski, Robert T.
Handbook of Organizational Behavior
See Chapter 24, "A Positive Revolution in Change: Appreciative Inquiry", David L. Cooperrider, Diana Whitney, p 611

Hosking, Dian-Marie, et al.
Management and Organization : Relational Alternatives to Individualism
See Chapter 9, "Social Construction and Appreciative Inquiry: a Journey in Organizational Theory," David Cooperrider, Frank Barrett, Suresh Srivastva, p.157

Ludema, James D.
The Appreciative Inquiry Summit : A Practioner's Guide for Leading Large-Group change

Watkins, Jane Magruder &
Appreciative Inquiry : Change at the Speed of Imagination
For a review see, the Organization Development Journal, Fall 2001. Vol. 19, Iss. 3; pg. 92
" Appreciative Inquiry--a book in The Practicing Organization Development Series--is for leaders and organizational consultants who are ready to abandon the familiar tyranny of complex change programs. Recognizing that human systems are constructions of the human imagination and therefore capable of change at the speed of imagination, the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) process frees organizations from the restrictive orthodoxy of "deficit based change" and allows them the freedom to mobilize strategic change and focus on the visible and tacit strengths of an organization. AI is capable of engaging whole systems at amazing scales--easily engaging hundreds or sometimes thousands of people, often in a matter of weeks or days, to leverage the positive core of the organization.
Tap into the rich and inspiring "high point" accounts of personal or collective capacity and link this "positive core" to any change agenda. Once you have have determined what is really working, transformations never thought possible are rapidly and democratically mobilized.

"This is a book about the future of organization development. It is a practical guide to appreciative inquiry for organization leaders and organization development professionals and it is a comprehensive explanation at the speed of imagination." --Peter Sorensen, professor and director of the Ph.D. program in organization development and master of science program in management and organization behavior, Benedictine University

Whitney, et al.
The Power of Appreciative Inquiry : A Practical Guide to Positive Change
"Funny, it turns out I've been teaching AI for years in my management courses: work with strengths, stop focusing on weaknesses, or, to borrow from Kenneth Blanchard, "Catch them doing something right." At its heart that's what AI is: looking at the things that are working and building on them.Whitney and Trosten-Bloom, who have published extensively on the topic, know their stuff and present it well. They're more honest than many authors, too. They wisely warn that not all organizations are ready for this, and offer ideas on paving the way for a successful initiative". From a review by: Bozarth, Jane. Training, Oct 2003. Vol. 40, Iss. 9; pg. 56.