Appreciative Inquiry for Change Management

About the authors xii
About the contributors xiii
Acknowledgements xvi

Introduction 1

Part one: Understanding conversational approaches to change 7
1. Organizations as machines, workers as cogs and management as a control process 9
Introduction 9
Organization as a group social skill 10
Taylorism and Scientific Management 11
Belief in the power of problem solving to change organizations 14
Belief in the power of naming problems to produce change 16
Belief in the power of instruction to achieve change 17
The belief that emotions are problematic 18
Belief in the power of criticism and fear to motivate change 19
Belief in the head and body organizational split 20
Belief in the power of separating elements to enhance clarity and so the ability to act efficiently 21
Belief in a ‘right answer’ to the problem of design 22
Summary 22

2. An alternative approach: organizations as living human systems 23
Introduction 23
The organization as living 24
Organizations as human 24
Organizations as systems 25
Belief in the power of appreciation to promote growth 26
Belief in the power of inquiry 27
The power of talk to change things 28
The power of imagination to produce change 29
The power of positive emotional energy to achieve change 29
The belief that language is creative 31
Belief in the place and power of stories in organizational life 31
Summary 32

3. The development of conversational approaches to organizational change 33
Where does the story begin? 33
What is the history of Appreciative Inquiry? 33
Why is Appreciative Inquiry becoming popular? 35
Postmodernism 36
Appreciative Inquiry and the information revolution 39
Appreciative Inquiry and globalization 40
Appreciative Inquiry and the human search for hope 40
Appreciative Inquiry meets a need for connection in organizations 41
Summary 42

4. Appreciative Inquiry: how do you do it? 44
Introduction 44
Preparing for change 44
Define 47
Discovery 49
Dream 54
Design 57
Destiny 59
Summary 61

Part two: Advanced ideas and practice 63
5. The power of the question 65
Introduction 65
Not locks and keys 65
Looking at questions 66
Summary 77

6. The power of conversation 78
Introduction 78
What is conversation? 78
The power of conversation to transform 80
The fear of conversation 82
Understanding the fears and ambivalence towards conversation 83
Some issues for the conversational practitioner to consider 84
The ambivalence of organizations towards conversation 85
How can a conversational practitioner support powerful conversations within organizations? 86
The inner life of the conversational practitioner 89
What will we as conversational practitioners bring to our work with organizations? 91
Summary 92

7. Extending practice: working with story in organizations 93
Introduction 93
The common ground with the conversation-based approach to organizational change 93
Using story 94
Working with story 98
Sense making: creating temporary moments of clarity in an unclear world 109
Summary 111

8. Extending practice: Working with appreciative coaching 113
Introduction 113
The nature of coaching 114
The common ground between conversational change and coaching 116
Using appreciative coaching 118
Strengths coaching with clients 121
The impact of AI approaches 124
Summary 124

9. How Positive Psychology Enhances Appreciative Inquiry 125
Introduction 125
What is Positive Psychology? 125
The relationship between Positive Psychology and Appreciative Inquiry 126
How Positive Psychology research informs Appreciative Inquiry and change management practice 127
Positive emotions 127
Elevation 130
Character strengths 131
Flourishing 132
Positive deviance 132
Growing tip development 136
Transcendental deviance 136
Using Positive Psychology to enhance Appreciative Inquiry practice 137
Summary 141

10. Developing your conversational practice 142
Introduction 142
Common themes 143
The World Café 145
Open Space 147
Future Search 149
The Circle 150
A real-life example of using conversational processes to achieve organizational rebirth 152
Bringing them all together 155
Summary 156

11. Becoming an appreciative conversational practitioner 157
Introduction 157
Purpose 158
Working spirit-fully 158
Appreciative practice skills 164
Summary 169

Part three: Using conversational approaches in the organization 171
12. How to introduce Appreciative Inquiry and related approaches to your organization 173
Introduction 173
Guidance in getting started: commissioning conversations 174
Moving to the 4D cycle: common blocks and how to overcome them 180
Summary 189

13. Case study: Using Appreciative Inquiry at BP Castrol Marine 190
David Gilmour and Anne Radford
Introduction 190
The organization 190
The organization challenge 191
Selecting the approach 191
Appreciative leadership 192
Mix of AI and other methodologies 192
Objectives for the change process 193
Description 193
Introduction of appreciative leadership: managers and regional sales teams 193
The Easy Business vision 195
Outcomes 201
Reflections and lessons learned 201

14. Case study: Revitalizing corporate values in Nokia 206
Caryn Vanstone and Bruno Dalbiez
Introduction 206
The organization 206
The organization challenge 207
Selecting the approach 207
Description of the project experience 209
Outcomes so far 212
Reflections and learning 214
Summary 217

15. Case study: World Café enabling strategic change at the American Society for Quality 218
Arian Ward, Paul E Borawski and Juanita Brown
Introduction 218
The organization 218
The organization challenge 219
Selecting the approach 221
Aims for the change 223
Description 225
Outcomes 227
Reflections 229

16. Case study: Rapidly transforming conflict into co-action at a South African coal mine 232
Johann Roux and Elonya Niehaus
Introduction 232
The organization 233
The organization challenge 234
Selecting the approach 235
Aims for the change 237
The process 237
Me in the relationship: the positive difference I make 239
We can make a difference 241
Outcomes 243
Reflections and learning 248

17. Case study: Applying Appreciative Inquiry to deliver strategic change at Orbseal Technology Center 249
Jacqueline M Stavros and Joe R Sprangel Jr
Introduction 249
The organization 250
The organization challenge 251
The role of decision making 252
Selecting the approach (why AI and SOAR framework) 252
Description of the project experience 255

About the contributors xi
The outcomes 261
Reflections and learning 262

Appendix: Resource list 265
References and further reading 269
Index 279