Action Inquiry

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FOURThe Opportunist and the Diplomat: Action-logics you probably resort to, but don’t want to be circumscribed by

So far in this book, in Chapters 1 and 2 we described examples of action inquiry that beginners may try in relation to particular incidents at particular moments of time (and we are all in some sense beginners in each new situation!). We illustrated with Steve Thompson’s and Anthony’s action inquiries. Then, in Chapter 3, we introduced a far more complex sense of action inquiry that embraces a highly nuanced sense of how time horizons and types of power may interweave to help persons, groups, and organizations transform. Obviously, there is a huge gap between the elementary action inquiry of asking a question at a useful moment, ...