Question

What is Appreciative Inquiry and how is it used in the OD process

Answer 1

Appreciative inquiry is a change management approach that focuses on:

• Identifying what is working well
• Analyzing why it is working well
• An organisation will grow in whichever direction that people in the organization focus their attention.

Appreciative inquiry in an organisational development process engages individuals within an organizational system in its renewal, change and focused performance.

Appreciative inquiry is based on the assumption that organisations change in the way they inquire into problems , but an organization that tries to appreciate what is best in itself will discover more of what is good.

Appreciative inquiry into organizational life should have the characteristics of : APPRECIATIVE, APPLICABLE, PROVOCATIVE, COLLABORATIVE.

Appreciative inquiry is a particular way of asking questions and builds on the basic goodness in a person, a situation or an organization. It enhances a systems capacity for collaboration and change.

Appreciative inquiry utilizes a cycle of 4 processes focusing on:

• DISCOVER: The identification of organizational processes that work well.
• DREAM: The envisioning of processes that would worl well in future
• DESUGN: Planning and prioritizing processes that would work well
• DESTINY: The implementation of the proposed design.