Practicing Organization Development, 5th Edition

CHAPTER FIVEAppreciative Inquiry: The Design of Net-Positive Organizations

Lindsey N. Godwin Jacqueline M. Stavros and David L. Cooperrider

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a theory and practice of inquiry-and-change that is an adaptable organization development (OD) method that demonstrates that the act of asking generative questions has profound impact in an organizational system. Since 1987, AI has offered an alternative change imperative by suggesting that we be aware of the negativity bias that pervades our investigations into organizational life and shift our focus to the good, the better, and the possibilities that often go under noticed in our systems. As Cooperrider and Godwin (2012) summarize, “AI posits that human systems move in the direction of the questions they most frequently and authentically ask; knowledge and organizational destiny are intimately interwoven; what we know and how we study it has a direct impact on where we end up” (740).

AI invites change agents to explore their organizations with “appreciative eyes”—co-inquiring with the system for things for which to be grateful, seeking out what is next and what is possible, and focusing on valuing those things of value worth valuing. AI theorists posit that such a shift in our approach to organizational change is needed if we are to inspire our imaginative capacities to their fullest potential.

At its heart, AI is about the search for the best in people, their organizations, and the strengths-filled, opportunity-rich ...