APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY: Change at the Speed of Imagination, SECOND EDITION

Thinking About Problems Using the New Paradigm

So what about all those problems caused by this changing rate of change? Does AI just ignore those? Are we engaging in denial? Doesn’t organization development as a method promote the identification and resolution of problems? Indeed, the practice of OD has traditionally highlighted deficits in the belief that the organization can be returned to a healthy state. Appreciative Inquiry suggests that, by focusing on the deficit, we simply create more images of deficit and potentially overwhelm the system with images of what is “wrong.” All too often, the process of assessing deficits includes a search for who is to blame. This leads to people being resistant to the change effort and to a large amount ...