Section B – Case Studies
Answer all THREE questions in this part. Each question carries 30
marks.
Review the following case of Peter.
(a) Define the THREE components of attitude in CAB Model.
(b) Using the components of CAB Model, what is Peter’s attitude
towards his current job?
Justify your answer with examples.
(c) Using Big Five Factors of Personality, identify THREE types of
Peter’s personalities.
Justify your answer with examples
Peter is an outgoing salesperson in PC Computer Retail. He is talkative and easy-going, so he builds up a good relationship with his clients. Peter has received a notice from the Human Resources Department that his working hours have just been reduced from 40 hours a week to 33 due to the economic downturn. He is upset about the reduction in time and pays, but he still shows up at work on time, as usual, every morning. He does not want to change his job because he dislikes changes. He is willing to wait patiently until the economic situation improves so that he can go back to working full time. Although he has family burdens, he is calmed as usual and continues building up a good relationship with his clients.
In: Operations Management
select a country Canada and explain the given below (use different example other than ham burgers)
Supply & Demand
Pick a major product (ie. Hamburgers or any other) in your assigned county and describe how supply & demand relates to that product. Now consider the following: If the price of a substitute product (ie. Hotdogs) increases and the price of a complement product (ie. Hamburger buns) increases, can you tell for sure what will happen to the demand for your original product? Why or why not?
Labour & Financial Market -
Suppose your economy began to grow more rapidly than other countries in the world. What would be the likely impact on your financial markets as part of the global economy? How would these impacts affect your country and all other countries?
GDP & Economic Growth
Why do you think that GDP does not grow at a steady rate, but rather speeds up and slows down? Education seems to be important for human capital deepening. As people become better educated and more knowledgeable, are there limits to how much additional benefit more education can provide? Why or why not?
Employment & Unemployment
Using the definition of the unemployment rate, is an increase in the unemployment rate necessarily a good/bad thing for your nation? Explain.
Is a decrease in the unemployment rate necessarily a good/bad thing for a nation? Explain.
In: Economics
Imagine that you work for a global automobile manufacturer as a lead training and development associate. The head of human resources (HR) has had meetings with various departments, and a training need was identified by the sales department. Sales have dropped considerably in the last quarter, and through a training needs analysis, it was shown that sales associates lack the proper knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) to effectively sell automobiles to various car dealerships in the United States and abroad.
The head of HR has asked that you give him or her a presentation on which major training theory you would recommend to apply to this scenario to equip the sales associates with the necessary skills to increase sales.
Select one training theory. This can be any of the four discussed in this unit or a training theory of your choice that interests you. Then, in your PowerPoint presentation, include the elements listed below.
In: Operations Management
I am currently doing an unknown salts project where I am given 2 vials. Vial A contains 2 salts, and vial B contains the two salts found + another salt.
Here are all the possible salts that can be mine:
NaI MgCl2 K2SO4 NaCl
KI Na2SO4 CaCO3 Al2(SO4)3
CaCl2 KCl Na2CO3 MgSO4
Al2O3 MgCO3 CaSO4 K2CO3
All Equipment that was provided are:
• Each student will be provided with two small numbered vials, one
containing powder sample (A) and the other (B). Be sure to record
your unknown number!
Additional samples of your unknown may be requested at a cost of 5
points deduction per vial of additional sample requested.
• The following chemicals are available:
Solid samples of each of the sixteen chemicals listed in the
investigation report in labeled bottles. phenolphthalein and
aluminon indicators (small dropper bottles).
250-mL bottles of 6 M and 1 M acids HCl(aq), H2SO4(aq), and
CH3COOH(aq).
250-mL bottles of 6 M and 1 M bases NaOH(aq) and NH3(aq).
250-mL bottles of 1 M solutions of AgNO3(aq) and BaCl2(aq).
250-mL bottle of 0.5 M solution of Na2SO4(aq).
250-mL bottle of 0.1 M solution of Na3Co(NO2)6(aq).
250-mL bottle of saturated CaO(aq).
250-mL bottle of ethanol, CH3CH2OH(l).
• The following extra equipment will also be available for your
use:
one conductivity meter (light bulb test apparatus, see your
instructor before using) two pH meters
Filter paper
Centrifuges (please see your instructor for safety instructions
before use)
CRC Handbook and Merck Index
I first tested solubility with DI water, it was insoluble which left me to only 4 choices on that possible salts list. I then added drops of HCL to the test tube of my unknown + water, no dissolving occurred nor did it bubble, so I figured that it was no CO3 in solution. That is what I have so far, we are limited to only a few days to figure out all salts, please let me know steps I can to successfully achieve this!!!
In: Chemistry
JUST ANSWERS. NO EXPLANATION
Unless fertilization occurs, meiosis does not complete in females.
Question 31 options:
| True | |
| False |
Question 32 (2 points)
Nitric oxide (NO) is a neurotransmitter that facilitates penile erection by...
Question 32 options:
|
Sending an impulse to the spinal cord for release of acetylcholine. |
|
|
Causing smooth muscle relaxation. |
|
|
Sending an impulse to the spinal cord for release of norepinephrine. |
|
|
Causing smooth muscle contraction. |
Question 33 (2 points)
Enzymes are...
Question 33 options:
|
Proteins that give blood its osmotic pressure. |
|
|
Protein catalysts. |
|
|
Polysaccharides that store energy. |
|
|
Nucleic acids use to make DNA. |
Question 34 (2 points)
Which of the following molecule types would you expect to attach to a protein carrier in order to enter a cell?
Question 34 options:
|
Large, polar (such as glucose) |
|
|
All of the former are correct. |
|
|
Large, non-polar (such as cholesterol) |
|
|
Small, non-polar (such as oxygen gas, O2) |
Question 35 (2 points)
Fluid that is squeezed out of the glomerulus directly enters the...
Question 35 options:
|
Proximal convoluted tubule. |
|
|
Loop of Henle. |
|
|
Efferent arteriole. |
|
|
Glomerular (Bowman's) capsule. |
Question 36 (2 points)
Which organic molecule contains nitrogen?
Question 36 options:
|
Carbohydrate |
|
|
Lipid |
|
|
Protein |
Question 37 (2 points)
Which of the following is an example of innate immunity?
Question 37 options:
|
Stomach acid destroying swallowed bacteria |
|
|
Formation of plasma cells |
|
|
A baby receiving antibodies through its mother's milk |
|
|
All of the former are correct. |
Question 38 (2 points)
Which of the following is comprised of all the air in the lungs except that which cannot be forcibly exhaled?
Question 38 options:
|
Expiratory reserve volume |
|
|
Vital capacity |
|
|
Residual volume |
|
|
Tidal volume |
Question 39 (2 points)
The Krebs Cycle...
Question 39 options:
|
Occurs on the inner membrane of the mitochondrion. |
|
|
Runs once for every original glucose molecule. |
|
|
Does not generate any NADH and FADH2, but makes many ATP directly. |
|
|
Regenerates its original substrate at the end. |
|
|
All of the former are correct. |
Question 40 (2 points)
If a substance has a renal plasma clearance that is higher than the glomerular filtration rate, then that substance must be...
Question 40 options:
|
Filtered only. |
|
|
Filtered and then reabsorbed. |
|
|
Filtered and then secreted. |
In: Anatomy and Physiology
A Positive Revolution in Change: Appreciative Inquiry
David L. Cooperrider Case Western Reserve University and Diana
Whitney The Taos Institute
After reading the journal article assigned for the week, write and post a 1-pg review (350 words) include a link that was of interest
Appreciative Inquiry (AI) begins an adventure. The urge and call
to adventure has been sounded by many people and many
organizations, and it will take many more to fully explore the vast
vistas that are now appearing on the horizon. But even in the first
steps, what is being sensed is an exciting direction in our
language and theories of change—an invitation, as some have
declared, to “a positive revolution”.
The words just quoted are strong and, unfortunately, they are not
ours. But the more we replay, for example, the high-wire moments of
our several years of work at GTE, the more we find ourselves asking
the very same kinds of questions the people of GTE asked their
senior executives: “Are you really ready for the momentum that is
being generated? This is igniting a grassroots movement…it is
creating an organization in full voice, a center stage for the
positive revolutionaries!”
Tom White, President of what was then called GTE Telops (making up
80% of GTE’s 67,000 employees) replies back, with no hesitation:
“Yes, and what I see in this meeting are zealots, people with a
mission and passion for creating the new GTE. Count me in, I’m your
number one recruit, number one zealot”. People cheer.
Enthusiasms continue, and they echo over subsequent months as lots
of hard work pays off. Fourteen months later --based on significant
and measurable changes in stock prices, morale survey measures,
quality/customer relations, union-management relations, etc.--
GTE’s whole system change initiative is given professional
recognition by the American Society for Training and Development.
It wins the 1997 ASTD award for best organization change program in
the country. Appreciative inquiry is cited as the “backbone”.
How Did They Do It?
This paper provides a broad update and overview of AI. The GTE
story mentioned at the outset is, in many ways, just beginning but
it is scarcely alone. In the ten years since the
1with its emphasis on metaphor and narrative, relational ways of
knowing, on language, and on its potential as a source of
generative theory (Gergen, 1994); as the most important advance in
action research in the past decade (Bushe, 1995); as offspring and
“heir” to Maslow’s vision of a positive social science (Chin, 1998;
Curran, 1991); as a powerful second generation OD practice (French
and Bell, 1995; Porras, 1991; Mirvis, 1988/89); as model of a much
needed participatory science, a “new yoga of inquiry” (Harman,
1990); as a radically affirmative approach to change which
completely lets go of problem-based management and in so doing
vitally transforms strategic planning, survey methods, culture
change, merger integration methods, approaches to TQM, measurement
systems, sociotechnical systems, etc. (White, 1996); and lastly, as
OD’s philosopher’s stone (Head & Sorenson, et. al 1996). Indeed
it is difficult to sum up the whole of AI—as a philosophy of
knowing, a normative stance, a methodology for managing change, and
as an approach to leadership and human development. However, for
purposes here, it might be most useful to begin with a
practice-oriented definition of AI, one that is more descriptive
than theoretical and one that provides a compass for the examples
to follow:
Appreciative Inquiry is about the co-evolutionary search for the
best in people, their organizations, and the relevant world around
them. In its broadest focus, it involves systematic discovery of
what gives “life” to a living system when it is most alive, most
effective, and most constructively capable in economic, ecological,
and human terms. AI involves, in a central way, the art and
practice of asking questions that strengthen a system’s capacity to
apprehend, anticipate, and heighten positive potential. It
centrally involves the mobilization of inquiry through the crafting
of the “unconditional positive question” often-involving hundreds
or sometimes thousands of people. In AI, the arduous task of
intervention gives way to the speed of imagination and innovation;
instead of negation, criticism, and spiraling diagnosis, there is
discovery, dream, and design. AI seeks, fundamentally, to build a
constructive union between a whole people and the massive entirety
of what people talk about as past and present capacities:
achievements, assets, unexplored potentials, innovations,
strengths, elevated thoughts, opportunities, benchmarks, high point
moments, lived values, traditions, strategic competencies, stories,
expressions of wisdom, insights into the deeper corporate spirit or
soul, and visions of valued and possible futures. Taking all of
these together as a gestalt, AI deliberately, in everything it
does, seeks to work from accounts of this “positive change
core”—and it assumes that every living system has many untapped and
rich and inspiring accounts of the positive. Link the energy of
this core directly to any change agenda and changes never thought
possible are suddenly and democratically mobilized.
The positive core of organizational life, we submit, is one of the
greatest and largely unrecognized resources in the field of change
management today. As said earlier, we are clearly in our infancy
when it comes to tools for working with it, talking about it, and
designing our systems in synergistic alignment with it. But one
thing is evident and clear as we reflect on the most important
things we have learned with AI: human systems grow in the direction
of what they persistently ask questions about and this propensity
is strongest and most sustainable when the means and ends of
inquiry are positively
3correlated. The single most prolific thing a group can do if its
aims are to liberate the human spirit and consciously construct a
better future is to make the positive change core the common and
explicit property of all.
Let’s Illustrate:
The Appreciative Inquiry “4-D” Cycle
(insert 4-D cycle here—see page 28)
You have just received the following unsettling phone call:
My name is Rita Simmel; I am President of a New York consulting
partnership. Our firm specializes in dealing with difficult
conflict in organizations: labor-management issues, gender
conflict, issues of diversity. We have been retained by a fortune
500 corporation for the past several years. The contract is around
sexual harassment, an issue that is deeper and more severe than
virtually any corporation realizes. The issues are about power, the
glass ceiling, and many things. As you know, millions of dollars
are being expended on the issues. Our firm has specialized in this
area for some years and now I’m beginning to ask myself the
Hippocratic oath. Are we really helping? Here is the bottom line
with our client. We have been working on the issues for two years,
and by every measure-- numbers of complaints, lawsuits, evaluations
from sexual harassment training programs, word of mouth—the problem
continues in its growth. Furthermore people are now voting with
their feet. They are not coming to the workshops. Those that do
seem to leave with doubts: our post-workshop interviews show people
feel less able to communicate with those of the opposite gender,
they report feeling more distance and less trust, and the glass
ceiling remains. So here is my question. How would you take an
appreciative inquiry approach to sexual harassment?
This was a tough one. We requested time to think about it, asking
if we could talk again in a day or two. We can do the same for you
right now (give you a bit of time) as we invite you to think about
things you might seriously propose in the callback.
So before going further with the story lets pause and look at a
typical flow for AI, a cycle that can be as rapid and informal as
in a conversation with a friend or colleague, or as formal as an
organization-wide analysis involving every stakeholder, including
customers, suppliers, partners, and the like.
4Figure one shows (page 28), on the outside, four key stages in AI:
Discovery—mobilizing a whole system inquiry into the positive
change core; Dream—creating a clear results-oriented vision in
relation to discovered potential and in relation to questions of
higher purpose, i.e., “What is the world calling us to become?”
Design—creating possibility propositions of the ideal organization,
an organization design which people feel is capable of magnifying
or eclipsing the positive core and realizing the articulated new
dream; and Destiny—strengthening the affirmative capability of the
whole system enabling it to build hope and momentum around a deep
purpose and creating processes for learning, adjustment, and
improvisation, like a jazz group over time (see the excellent
article by Barrett, 1998).
At the core of the cycle, is Affirmative Topic Choice. It is the
most important part of any AI. If, in fact, knowledge and
organizational destiny are as intricately interwoven as we think,
then isn’t it possible that the seeds of change are implicit in the
very first questions we ask? AI theory says yes and takes the idea
quite seriously: it says that the way we know people, groups, and
organizations is fateful. It further asserts the time is overdue to
recognize that symbols and conversations, emerging from all our
analytic modes, are among the world’s paramount resources.
Topic Choice
So back to our phone call. If inquiry and change are a simultaneous
moment; if the questions we ask set the stage for what we “find”;
and if what we “discover” (the data) creates the material out of
which the future is conceived, conversed about, and
constructed—then how shall we proceed with an appreciative approach
to sexual harassment? Here is an excerpt from the response:
D.C.: Hello Rita. Before we get into our proposal we have an
important question. What is it that you want to learn about and
achieve with this whole intervention, and by when?
Rita: We want to dramatically cut the incidence of sexual
harassment. We want to solve this huge problem, or at least make a
significant dent in it.
D.C.: O.K. Rita… But is that all?
Rita: You mean what do I really want to see? (Long pauses…then she
blurts out). What we really want to see is the development of the
new century organization—a model of high quality cross-gender
relationships in the workplace!
DC: Great topic. What would happen if we put an invitation out in
the company newsletter, asking people in pairs to step forward to
nominate themselves as candidates to study and share their stories
of what it means to create and sustain high quality cross-gender
relationships in the workplace? It might be interesting to do a
large conference, and really put a magnifying lens to the stages of
development, contextual factors, toughquestions of adult
attraction, breakthroughs in terms of power relations, and so on.
What do you think?
To move fastforward, a relatively small pilot project was created
which surpassed everyone’s expectations. Hundreds, not dozens, of
pairs nominated themselves. That was surprise number one. Then
other organizations got word of the pilot and a truly major effort,
moving through the 4-D framework, was conceptualized by another
consulting firm, Marge Schiller and Associates. The pioneering
organization she worked with, which now can happily be named, was
the Avon Corporation in Mexico. Again there were similar
issues—including the glass ceiling at senior management levels—but
again there was interest in framing the whole thing in terms of an
inquiry.
To begin, a hundred people were trained in the basics of AI
interviewing. They in turn went out into every part of the
organization and over the next several weeks completed many more
interviews, about 300 in all. At the end of each interview, the
interviewers asked the person interviewed if they too could help do
some interviewing. A waterfall was experienced. Stories poured
in—stories of achievement, trust building, authentic joint
leadership, practices of effective conflict management, ways of
dealing with sex stereotypes, stages of development and methods of
career advancement.
The second two “Ds”-- articulating the new century dream and
creating designs for an organization that maximally supported the
development of high quality cross-gender relationships-- came next.
These were combined in a large group format much like a future
search. Using stories from the interviews as a basis for imagining
the future, expansive and practical propositions were created, for
example, “Every task force or committee at Avon, whenever possible,
is co-chaired by a cross-gender pairing”. The significance of even
this simple proposal proved to be big. Likewise, propositions in
other areas of organization design were also carefully crafted.
Soon, literally everything in the organization was opened to
discussion: corporate structures, systems, work processes,
communications, career opportunities, governance, compensation
practices, leadership patterns, learning opportunities, customer
connections, and more.
In the end, some 30 visionary propositions were created. Subsequent
changes in system structures and behaviors were reported to be
dramatic (Schiller, 1998). As it turns out, the story, like GTE’s,
gets even better. Avon Mexico was just recently singled out,
several years later, by the Catalyst organization. They were given
the 1997 Catalyst Award for best place in the country for women to
work.
It is a classic example of the power of topic choice. Affirmative
topics, always homegrown, can be on anything the people of an
organization feel gives life to the system. As a rule of thumb most
projects have between 3-5 topics. Words like empowerment,
innovation, sense of ownership, commitment, integrity, ecological
consciousness, and pride are often articulated as worthy of study.
Topics can be on anything an organization feels to be strategically
and humanly important. AI topics can be on technical processes,
financial efficiencies, human issues, market opportunities, social
responsibilities, or anything else. In each case of topic choice,
the same premise isfirmly posited: human systems grow in the
direction of their deepest and most frequent inquiries.
The Phase of Discovery
The inquiry we are talking about is anything but wishful. If we
were to underline one of the two words-- appreciative or
inquiry—our pen would immediately move to the latter. In Vital
Speeches of the Day (1996), Tom White, President of what was then
called GTE Telephone Operations, puts his interpretation of AI in
executive language, months before GTE’s change effort was
recognized by ASTD:
Appreciative Inquiry can get you much better results than seeking
out and solving problems. That’s an interesting concept for me—and
I imagine most of you—because telephone companies are among the
best problem solvers in the world. We troubleshoot everything. We
concentrate enormous resources on correcting problems that have
relatively minor impact on our overall service and performance (and
which)…when used continually and over a long period of time, this
approach can lead to a negative culture. If you combine a negative
culture with all the challenges we face today, it could be easy to
convince ourselves that we have too many problem to overcome—to
slip into a paralyzing sense of hopelessness….Don’t get me wrong.
I’m not advocating mindless happy talk. Appreciative Inquiry is a
complex science designed to make things better. We can’t ignore
problems—we just need to approach them from the other side”.
What Tom White calls “the other side”, we are describing as the
positive change core. AI, most simply, is a tool for connecting to
the transformational power of this core. Willis Harman (1990) talks
about AI as a participatory science, a yoga of inquiry, where the
term yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yug which means link or
bond. In that sense if we remember something or someone, it can be
said that there is a form of yoga happening. AI helps make the
memory link by concentrating systematic inquiry into all aspects of
the appreciable world, into an organization’s infinite and surplus
capacity—past, present and future. By concentrating on the atom,
human beings have unleashed its power. AI says we can do the same
in every living system once we open this ever emergent positive
core—every strength, innovation, achievement, resource, living
value, imaginative story, benchmark, hope, positive tradition,
passion, high point experience, internal genius, dream-- to
systematic inquiry.
The core task of the discovery phase is to discover and disclose
positive capacity, at least until an organization’s understanding
of this “surplus” is exhausted (which has never happened once in
our experience). AI provides a practical way to ignite this “spirit
of inquiry” on an organization-wide basis. Consider this
example:
At Leadshare in Canada, AI was used to help this big eight
accounting firm make the tough transition in the executive
succession of a “legendary” managing partner. The managing partner
seized the moment as an incredible leadership development
opportunity for all 400 partners. Everyone was interviewed with AI.
An extensive interview protocol was designed (it ended up taking
about 2 hours per interview)focusing on affirmative topics like
innovation, equality, partnership, speed to market, and valuing
diversity (in Canada between francophone and anglophone). And not
one outside consultant did the interviews. All were done
internally, by 30 junior partners as part of a leadership
development program. A powerful and instant intergenerational
connection was made, and organizational history came alive in
face-to-face stories. Instead of amnesia, or a
problem-to-be-solved, people began to relate to their history in a
whole new way. Like a good piece of poetry filled with endless
interpretive meaning, people at Leadshare ascended into their
history as a reservoir of positive possibility. At the next annual
partners meeting, with over 400 people in the conference hall, the
material was showcased and coupled to the future, as the strategic
planning became one of the “best” the partners could ever remember
(Rainey, 1996)
Perhaps it is obvious, but the process of doing the interviews is
as important as the data collected. When managers ask us how many
people should be interviewed or, who should do the interviews, we
increasingly find ourselves saying “everyone”. It is not uncommon
in AI work to talk about doing thousands of interviews. A hospital
in Seattle recently did three thousand interviews in preparation
for an organization-wide Appreciative Inquiry Summit (Whitney and
Cooperrider, 1998). People themselves, not consultants, generate
the system-wide organization analysis using questions like this: “
Obviously you have had ups and downs in your career here at XYZ.
But for the moment I would like you to focus on a high point, a
time in your work experience here where you felt most alive, most
engaged, or most successful. Can you tell me the story? How did it
unfold? What was it organizationally that made it stand out? What
was it about you that made it a high point? What key insights do
you have for all of us at XYZ?”
In Chicago, in one of the most exciting AI’s we have seen, there is
talk of over a million interviews. And guess whose interviews have
produced the best data—the most inspiring, vision-generating
stories? It is the children. It is happening through
inter-generational inquiry where the elders are valued and share
hopes in settings with the young. One of our favorite papers is
about the Imagine Chicago story and the leadership of Bliss Browne.
It is titled “The Child as the Agent of Inquiry” (Cooperrider,
1996). It argues that the spirit of inquiry is something all of us
in change work need to reclaim and aspire to: openness,
availability, epistemological humility, the ability to admire, to
be surprised, to be inspired, to inquire into our valued and
possible worlds.
What distinguishes AI, especially in this phase of work, is that
every carefully crafted question is positive. Knowing and changing
are a simultaneous moment. The thrill of discovery becomes the
thrill of creating. As people throughout a system connect in
serious study into qualities, examples, and analysis of the
positive core --each appreciating and everyone being appreciated--
hope grows and community expands.
From Discovery to Dream
When an artist sits in front of a landscape the imagination is
kindled not by searching for “what is wrong with this landscape”,
but by a special ability to be inspired by those things of value
worth valuing. Appreciation, it appears, draws our eye toward life,
but stirs our feelings, sets in motion our curiosity, and provides
inspiration to the envisioning
8mind. In his analysis of esthetics and the origins of creative
images, Nietzsche once asked of the power of appreciation: “ Does
it not praise? Does it not glorify? Does it not select? Does it not
bring {that which is appreciated} to prominence?” (In Rader, 1973,
p. 12). Then in the same passage he takes a next step, linking
valuing (discovery) and imagination (dream). He elaborates: “
valuing is creating: hear it, ye creating ones! Valuation is itself
the treasure and jewel of valued things”.
During the dream phase, the interview stories and insights get put
to constructive use. As people are brought together to listen
carefully to the innovations and moments of organizational “life”,
sometimes in storytelling modes, sometimes in interpretive and
analytic modes, a convergence zone is created where the future
begins to be discerned in the form of visible patterns interwoven
into the texture of the actual. The amplified interaction among
innovators and innovations makes something important happen: very
rapidly we start seeing outlines of the New World. Some
organizations turn the data into a special commemorative report
celebrating the successes and exceptional moment in the life of the
organization (Liebler, 1997). Others have created a thematic
analysis—careful to document rich stories and not succumb to
“narrative thin” one line quotes (Ludema, 1996). In all cases the
data onto the positive change core serves as an essential resource
for the visioning stages of the appreciative inquiry 4-D
model.
Before their strategic planning session in 1997, Nutrimental Foods
of Brazil closed down the plant for a full day to bring all 700
employees together for a day of Discovery into the factors and
forces that have given life to the system when it had been most
effective, most alive, and most successful as a producer of high
quality health foods. With cheers and good wishes a “smaller” group
of 150 stakeholders—employees from all levels, suppliers,
distributors, community leaders, financiers, and customers—then
went into a four day strategy session to articulate a new and bold
corporate dream. The stories from the day before were used just as
an artist uses a palette of colors—before painting a picture the
artist assembles the red paints, blue, green, yellow and so on.
With these “materials” in hand people were asked to dream: “What is
the world calling us to become? What are those things about us that
no matter how much we change, we want to continue into our new and
different future? Lets assume that tonight while we were all asleep
a miracle occurred where Nutrimental became exactly as we would
like it to be—all of its best qualities are magnified, extended,
multiplied the way we would like to see…in fact we wake up and it
is now 2005…as you come into Nutrimental today what do you see that
is different, and how do you know?”After four days of appreciative
analysis, planning, and articulation of three new strategic
business directions, the organization launches into the future with
focus, solidarity, and confidence. Six months later, record bottom
line figures of millions of dollars are recorded—profits are up
300%. The co-CEOs Rodrigo Loures and Arthur Lemme Netto attribute
the dramatic results to two things: bringing the whole system into
the planning process, and realizing that organizations are in fact
“centers of human relatedness”(Loures and Lemme Netto, 1998) which
thrive when there is an appreciative eye—when people see the best
in one another, when they can dialogue their dreams and ultimate
concerns in affirming ways, and when they are connected in full
voice to create not just new worlds but better worlds.
9Design
Once the strategic focus or dream is articulated (usually
consisting of three things in our model-- a vision of a better
world, a powerful purpose, and a compelling statement of strategic
intent) attention turns to the creation of the ideal organization,
the social architecture or actual design of the system in relation
to the world of which it is part. What we have found is that the
sequencing is crucial, moving first through in-depth work on Dream
before Design, followed with back and forth iterations. In Zimbabwe
we recently worked with a partner organization of Save the
Children. It was fascinating to observe how easy it was to
re-design the organization in terms of structures and systems once
broad agreement was reached on a powerful Dream. The articulation
of the image of the future was simple: “Every person in Zimbabwe
shall have access to clean water within five years”. The critical
design shift, demanded by the large dream, was to a new form of
organization based on a network of alliances or partnerships, not
bureaucracy’s self-sufficient hierarchy.
One aspect that differentiates Appreciative Inquiry from other
visioning or planning methodologies is that images of the future
emerge out of grounded examples from an organization’s positive
past. Sometimes this “data” is complimented with benchmark studies
of other organizations creating a “generative metaphor” for
circumventing common resistances to change (Barrett and
Cooperrider, 1990). In both cases, the good news stories are used
to craft possibility propositions that bridge the best of “what is”
with collective speculation or aspiration of “what might be”. In
the working of the material people are invited to challenge the
status quo as well as common assumptions underlying the design of
the organization. People are encouraged to “wander beyond” the data
with the essential question being: “What would our organization
look like if it were designed in every way possible to maximize the
qualities of the positive core and enable the accelerated
realization of our dreams?”
When inspired by a great dream we have yet to find an organization
that did not feel compelled to design something very new and very
necessary. Here is an example of a possibility proposition, one of
about twenty organization design visions that were created at DIA
Corporation, a rapidly growing distributor of consumer products.
Today this proposition is modus operandi at the corporation:
DIA has become a learning organization that fosters the cross
fertilization of ideas, minimizes the building of empires,
harnesses the synergy of group cooperation, and cultivates the
pride of being a valued member of one outstanding corporation. DIA
accelerates its learning through an annual strategic planning
conference that involves all five hundred people in the firm as
well as key partners and stakeholders. As a setting for “strategic
learning”, teams present their benchmarking studies of the best
five other organizations, deemed leaders in their class. Other
teams present an annual appreciative analysis of DIA, and together
these data-bases of success stories (internal and external) help
set the stage for DIA’s strategic, future search planning.
Recently we have had the opportunity to team up with Dee Hock, one
of the greatest visionary CEOs we have ever worked with. Dee was
the founder of VISA, abreakthrough organization that has over
20,000 offices, and since 1970 has grown something like 10,000%;
this year annual sales expected to pass $1 trillion. The whole Visa
system, from Calcutta to Chicago, in over 200 countries is
completely unmanageable from the perspective of using centralized,
command-and-control design principles.
If General Motors once defined the shape of the old model, perhaps
Dee’s “chaordic organization” –combining chaos and order in ways
which interweave (like nature’s designs) infinite variety and
self-organizing order—is a foreshadowing of an emerging prototype.
What we have learned by working with Dee is how to move
pragmatically and substantively from appreciative Discovery and
Dream to truly post-bureaucratic Design that distributes power and
liberates human energy in a way we have never seen. Most recently
we have collaborated on a re-constitution of the United Way of
America as well as an initiative to design something akin to a
United Nations among the world’s great religions and spiritual
traditions (it is called United Religions). In each case helping
people agree on a set of design principles is crucial. That is
“principles” as in “We hold these truths to be self evident: that
all people are created equal…” Again, this is not a set of
platitudes but a manifesto, what people believe in and care about
in their gut.
Destiny
Of all the creatures of earth, said William James in 1902, only
human beings can change their pattern. “Man alone is the architect
of his destiny”.
In our early years of AI work we called the 4th “D” Delivery. We
emphasized planning for continuous learning, adjustment, and
improvisation in the service of shared ideals. It was a time for
action planning, developing implementation strategies, and dealing
with conventional challenges of sustainability. But the word
delivery simply did not go far enough. It did not convey the sense
of liberation we were seeing, like the well documented hotel case,
where the system tranformed itself from a one-star to four-star
hotel by using AI and literally putting a moratorium on all the
traditional problem solving efforts that it had going (Barret and
Cooperrider, 1990).
Executives like Jane Watkins (former Chair of the Board at NTL) and
Jane Pratt (executive at the World Bank and now CEO of the Mountain
Institute) argued that AI engenders a repatterning of our
relationships not only with each other but also our relationship to
reality itself. Reminiscent of Paulo Friere’s concept of pedagogy
of the oppressed—where people move in their relationship to reality
from “submergence” to “reflexive awareness” to
“co-participation”—these leaders insisted that AI’s gift is at the
paradigmatic level. AI is not so much about new knowledge but new
knowing. Indeed people frequently talk, as they move through the
pedagogy of life-giving Discovery, Dream, and Design, that
something suddenly hits home: that interpretation matters—that the
manner in which they/we read the world filters to the level of our
imaginations, our relationships, and ultimately to the direction
and meaning of our action. We create the organizational worlds in
which we live.
What we discovered quite honestly was that momentum for change
and long-term sustainability increased the more we abandoned
“delivery” ideas of action planning, monitoring progress, and
building implementation strategies. What was done instead, in
several of the most exciting cases, was to focus only on giving AI
away, to everyone, and then stepping back. The GTE story, still
unfolding but already attracting national recognition, is
suggestive. It is a story that says organizational change needs to
look a lot more like an inspired movement than a neatly packaged or
engineered product. Dan Young, the head of OD at GTE, and his
colleagues Maureen Garrison and Jean Moore, call it “organizing for
change from the grassroots to the frontline”. Call it the path of
positive protest, or a strategy for positive subversion—whatever it
is called it is virtually unstoppable once “it” is up and running.
Its structure is called the Positive Change Network (PCN). One
especially dramatic moment gives the sense:
The headline article in GTE Together described what was spreading
as a grassroots movement to build the new GTE. Initiated as a pilot
training to see what would happen if the tools and theories of
appreciative inquiry were made available to frontline employees,
things started taking off. All of a sudden, without any permission,
frontline employees are launching interview studies into positive
topics like innovation, inspired leadership, revolutionary customer
responsiveness, labor-management partnerships, and “fun”. Fresh out
of a training session on AI, one employee, for example, did 200
interviews into the positive core of a major call center. Who is
going say “no” to a complementary request like—“would you help me
out…I’m really trying to find out more about the best innovations
developing in your area and I see you as someone who could really
give me new insight into creating settings where innovation can
happen… It is part of my leadership development. Do you have time
for an interview…I would be glad to share my learning’s with you
later!” Soon the topics are finding their way into meetings,
corridor conversations, and senior planning sessions—in other words
the questions, enthusiastically received, are changing corporate
attention, language, agendas, and learnings. Many start
brainstorming applications for AI. Lists are endless. Have we ever
done focus groups with the 100% satisfied customer? How about
changing call center measures? What would happen if we replaced the
entire deficit measures with equally powerful measures of the
positive? How can we revitalize the TQM groups, demoralized by one
fishbone analysis after another? What would happen if we augmented
variance analysis with depth studies that help people to dream and
define the very visions of quality standards? How about a star
stories program to generate a narrative rich environment—where
customers are asked to share stories of encounters with exceptional
employees? How about a gathering with senior executives so we can
celebrate our learning’s with them, share with them how seeing the
positive has changed our work and family lives, and even recruit
them to join the PCN?
The pilot now had a momentum all its own. The immediate response—an
avalanche of requests for participation—confirmed that there were
large numbers at GTE ready to be called to the task of positive
change. To grow the network by the 100s, even thousands, it was
decided to do a ten region training session, all linked and
downloaded by satellite conferencing. A successful pilot of three
sites—Seattle, Indianapolis, and Dallas—confirmed the same kind of
energy and response could happen through distancetechnologies.
Quite suddenly the power of a 1000 person network caught people’s
attention. Just imagine the 1000 “students” of organization life
coming together in a year at an AI Summit to share learning from
10,000 innovations discovered at GTE. Very rapidly, by connecting
and consistently noticing breakthroughs, new patterns of organizing
would become commonplace knowledge. Changes would happen not by
organized confrontation, diagnosis, burning platforms, or piecemeal
reform but through irresistibly vibrant and real visions. And when
everyone’s awareness grows at the same time—that basic change is
taking place in this area and that area, it is easier to coalesce a
new consensus that fundamental change is possible. PCN was becoming
a lightning rod for energy and enthusiasm we all greatly
underestimated. Then the unions raised questions. There were
serious concerns, including the fact that they were not consulted
in the early stages. We were told the initiative was over. There
was to be a meeting of the unions and GTE at the Federal Mediation
Offices in Washington D.C. to put the whole thing to rest.
But at the meeting with the IBEW and the CWA, leaders from both
groups said they saw something fresh and unique about AI. They
agreed to bring 200 union leaders together for a 2-day
introduction. Their purpose: “to evaluate AI…to see if it should
have any place in the future at GTE”. A month later, the session
takes place. It looks like it is going pretty well and then the
moment of decision. Tables of eight were instructed to evaluate the
ideas and cast a vote as a group: “yes, we endorse moving forward
with AI” or “No, we withhold endorsement”. For thirty minutes the
30 groups deliberated. Dan Young calls the vote. Tensions are felt.
“Table one, how do you vote?” The response was ready: “we vote 100%
for moving forward with AI and feel this is an historic opportunity
for the whole system”. Then the next table: “We vote 100% with a
caveat—that every person at GTE have the opportunity to get the AI
training, and that all projects going forward be done in
partnership, the unions and the company”. On and on the vote goes.
30 tables speak. 30 tables vote. Every single one votes to move
forward. It was stunning. Eight months later AI is combined with
the “conflictive partnership” model of John Calhoun Wells of the
Federal Mediation Services at the kickoff session and announcement
of a new era of partnership. The historic statement of Partnership
states: “The company and the Unions realize that traditional
adversarial labor-management relations must change in order to
adapt to the new global telecommunications marketplace. It is
difficult to move to cooperation in one quantum leap. However the
company and the Unions have agreed to move in a new direction. This
new direction emphasizes partnership…”
AI accelerates the nonlinear interaction of organization
breakthroughs, putting them together with historic, positive
traditions and strengths to create a “convergence zone”
facilitating the collective repatterning of human systems. At some
point, apparently minor positive discoveries connect in
accelerating manner and quantum change, a jump from one state to
the next that cannot be achieved through incremental change alone,
becomes possible. What is needed, as the Destiny Phase of AI
suggests, are the network-like structures that liberate not only
the daily search into qualities and elements of an organization’s
positive core but the establishment of a convergence zone for
people to empower one another—to connect, cooperate, and co-create.
Changes never thoughtpossible are suddenly and democratically
mobilized when people constructively appropriate the power of the
positive core and simply… let go of accounts of the negative.
But then the question is always voiced: “What do we do with the
real problems?”
Basic Principles of Appreciative Inquiry
To address this question in anything other than Pollyannaish terms
we need to at least comment on the generative-theoretical work that
has inspired and given strength too much of AI in practice. Here
are five principles and scholarly streams we consider as central to
AI’s theory-base of change.
The Constructionist Principle: Simply stated— human knowledge and
organizational destiny are interwoven. To be effective as
executives, leaders, change agents, etc., we must be adept in the
art of understanding, reading, and analyzing organizations as
living, human constructions. Knowing (organizations) stands at the
center of any and virtually every attempt at change. Thus, the way
we know is fateful.
At first blush this statement appears simple and obvious enough. We
are, as leaders and change agents, constantly involved in
knowing/inquiring/reading the people and world around us—doing
strategic planning analysis, environmental scans, needs analysis,
assessments and audits, surveys, focus groups, performance
appraisals, and so on. Certainly success hinges on such modes of
knowing. And this is precisely where things get more interesting
because throughout the academy a revolution is afoot, alive with
tremendous ferment and implication, in regards to modernist views
of knowledge. In particular, what is confronted is the Western
conception of objective, individualistic, historic knowledge—“a
conception that has insinuated itself into virtually all aspects of
modern institutional life” (Gergen, 1985, P. 272). At stake are
questions that pertain to the deepest dimensions of our being and
humanity: how we know what we know, whose voices and
interpretations matter, whether the world is governed by external
laws independent of human choices and consciousness, and where is
knowledge to be located (in the individual “mind”, or out there
“externally” in nature or impersonal structures)? At stake are
issues that are profoundly fundamental, not just for the future of
social science but for the trajectory of all our lives.
In our view, the finest work in this area, indeed a huge extension
of the most radical ideas in Lewinian thought, can be found in Ken
Gergen’s Toward Transformation in Social Knowledge (1982) and
Realities and Relationships: Soundings In Social Construction
(1994). What Gergen does, in both of these, is synthesize the
essential whole of the post modern ferment and crucially takes it
beyond disenchantment with the old and offers alternative
conceptions of knowledge, fresh discourses on human functioning,
new vistas for human science, and exciting directions for
approaching change. Constuctionism is an approach to human science
and practice which replaces the individual with the relationship as
the locus of knowledge, and thus is built around a keen
appreciation of thepower of language and discourse of all types
(from words to metaphors to narrative forms, etc.) to create our
sense of reality—our sense of the true, the good, the
possible.
Philosophically it involves a decisive shift in western
intellectual tradition from cogito ergo sum, to communicamus ergo
sum and in practice constructionism replaces absolutist claims or
the final word with the never ending collaborative quest to
understand and construct options for better living. The purpose of
inquiry, which is talked about as totally inseparable and
intertwined with action, is the creation of “generative theory”,
not so much mappings or explanations of yesterday’s world but
anticipatory articulations of tomorrow’s possibilities.
Constructionism, because of its emphasis on the communal basis of
knowledge and its radical questioning of everything that is
taken-for-granted as “objective” or seemingly immutable, invites us
to find ways to increase the generative capacity of knowledge.
However there are warnings: “Few are prepared”, says Gergen (1985,
p. 271) “for such a wrenching, conceptual dislocation. However, for
the innovative, adventurous and resilient, the horizons are
exciting indeed.” This is precisely the call AI has responded to.
Principle number two takes it deeper.
The Principle of Simultaneity: Here it is recognized that inquiry
and change are not truly separate moments, but are simultaneous.
Inquiry is intervention. The seeds of change—that is, the things
people think and talk about, the things people discover and learn,
and the things that inform dialogue and inspire images of the
future—are implicit in the very first questions we ask. The
questions we ask set the stage for what we “find”, and what we
“discover” (the data) becomes the linguistic material, the stories,
out of which the future is conceived, conversed about, and
constructed.
One of the most impactful things a change agent or practitioner
does is to articulate questions. Instinctively, intuitively and
tacitly we all know that research of any kind can, in a flash,
profoundly alters the way we see ourselves, view reality, and
conduct our lives. Consider the economic poll, or the questions
that led to the discovery of the atom bomb, or the surveys that,
once leaked, created a riot at a unionized automobile plant in
London (see Cooperrider and Srivastva, 1987). If we accept the
proposition that patterns of social-organizational action are not
fixed by nature in any direct biological or physical way, that
human systems are made and imagined in relational settings by human
beings (socially constructed), then attention turns to the source
of our ideas, our discourses, our researches—that is our questions.
Alterations in linguistic practices—including the linguistic
practice of crafting questions—hold profound implications for
changes in social practice.
One great myth that continues to dampen the potential here is the
understanding that first we do an analysis, and then we decide on
change. Not so says the constructionist view. Even the most
innocent question evokes change—even if reactions are simply
changes in awareness, dialogue, feelings of boredom, or even
laughter. When we consider the possibilities in these terms, that
inquiry and change are a simultaneous moment, we begin reflecting
anew. It is not so much “Is my question leading to right or wrong
answers?” but rather “What impact is my question having on our
lives together…is it helping togenerate conversations about the
good, the better, the possible… is it strengthening our
relationships?”
The Poetic Principle: A metaphor here is that human organizations
are a lot more like an open book than, say, a machine. An
organization’s story is constantly being co-authored. Moreover,
pasts, presents, or futures are endless sources of learning,
inspiration, or interpretation—precisely like, for example, the
endless interpretive possibilities in a good piece of poetry or a
biblical text. The important implication is that we can study
virtually any topic related to human experience in any human system
or organization. We can inquire into the nature of alienation or
joy, enthusiasm or low morale, efficiency or excess, in any human
organization. There is not a single topic related to organizational
life that we could not study in any organization.
What constuctionism does is remind us that it is not the “world out
there” dictating or driving our topics of inquiry but again the
topics are themselves social artifacts, products of social
processes (cultural habits, typifying discourses, rhetoric,
professional ways, power relations). It is in this vein that AI
says let us make sure we are not just reproducing the same worlds
over and over again because of the simple and boring repetition of
our questions (not “one more” morale survey which everybody can
predict the results ahead of time). AI also says, with a sense of
excitement and potential, that there can be great gains made in a
better linking of the means and ends of inquiry. Options now begin
to multiply. For example, informally, in many talks with great
leaders in the NGO world (Save the Children, World Vision), we have
begun to appreciate the profound joy that CEO’s feel as “servant
leaders”-- and the role this positive affect potentially plays in
creating healthy organizations. But then one questions: is there a
book on the Harvard Business book-list, or anywhere for that
matter, on Executive Joy ? And even if there isn’t… does this mean
that joy has nothing to do with good leadership, or healthy human
systems? Why aren’t we including this topic in our change efforts?
What might happen if we did?
What the poetic principle invites is re-consideration of aims and
focus of any inquiry in the domain of change management. For it is
becoming clearer that our topics, like windsocks, continue to blow
steadily onward in the direction of our conventional gaze. As we
shall soon explore, seeing the world as a problem has become “very
much a way of organizational life”.
The Anticipatory Principle: The infinite human resource we have for
generating constructive organizational change is our collective
imagination and discourse about the future. One of the basic
theorems of the anticipatory view of organizational life is that it
is the image of the future, which in fact guides what might be
called the current behavior of any organism or organization. Much
like a movie projector on a screen, human systems are forever
projecting ahead of themselves a horizon of expectation (in their
talk in the hallways, in the metaphors and language they use) that
brings the future powerfully into the present as a mobilizing
agent. To inquire in ways that serves to refashion anticipatory
reality—especially the artful creation of positive imagery on
acollective basis--may be the most prolific thing any inquiry can
do.Our positive images of the future lead our positive actions—this
is the increasingly energizing basis and presupposition of
Appreciative Inquiry.
Whether we are talking about placebo studies in medicine (Ornstein
and Sobel, 1987); reviews of a myriad of studies of the Pygmalion
dynamic in the classroom (Jussim, 1986); studies of the rise and
fall of cultures (Boulding,1966; Polak, 1973); research into the
relationships between optimism and health (Seligman, 1990 );
studies of positive self-monitoring and ways for accelerating
learning (Kirschenbaum, 1984 ); analysis of the importance of
imbalanced, positive inner dialogue to personal and relational
well-being (Schwartz, 1986 ); research on positive mood states and
effective decision making (Isen, 1983); studies from the domain of
“conscious evolution" (Hubbard, 1998 ); or theories on how positive
noticing of even “small wins” can reverberate throughout a system
and change the world (Weick, 1984 )—the conclusions are converging
on something Aristotle said many years ago. “A vivid imagination”,
he said “ compels the whole body to obey it”. In the context of
more popular writing, Dan Goleman (1987), in a well-written New
York Times headline-article declares “Research Affirms the Power of
Positive Thinking”.
The Positive Principle. This last principle is not so abstract. It
grows out of years of experience with appreciative inquiry. Put
most simply, it has been our experience that building and
sustaining momentum for change requires large amounts of positive
affect and social bonding—things like hope, excitement,
inspiration, caring, camaraderie, sense of urgent purpose, and
sheer joy in creating something meaningful together. What we have
found is that the more positive the question we ask in our work the
more long lasting and successful the change effort. It does not
help, we have found, to begin our inquiries from the standpoint of
the world as a problem to be solved. We are more effective the
longer we can retain the spirit of inquiry of the everlasting
beginner. The major thing we do that makes the difference is to
craft and seed, in better and more catalytic ways, the
unconditional positive question.
Although the positive has not been paraded as a central concept in
most approaches to organization analysis and change, it is clear we
need no longer be shy about bringing this language more carefully
and prominently into our work. And personally speaking, it is so
much healthier. We love letting go of “fixing” the world. We love
doing interviews, hundreds of them, into moments of organizational
“life”. And we are, quite frankly, more effective the more we are
able to learn, to admire, to be surprised, to be inspired alongside
the people with whom we are working. Perhaps it is not just
organizations—we too become what we study. So suggested, over and
over again, is the life-promoting impact of inquiry into the good,
the better, and the possible. A theory of affirmative basis of
human action and organizing is emerging from many quarters—social
contructionism, image theory, conscious evolution and the like. And
the whole thing is beginning, we believe, to make a number of our
change-management traditions look obsolete.
Appreciative Inquiry and Power in Organizations
We could have easily called this section “Eulogy for Problem
Solving”. In our view, the problem solving paradigm, while once
perhaps quite effective, is simply out of sync with the realities
of today’s virtual worlds (Cooperrider, 1996). Problem solving
approaches to change are painfully slow (always asking people to
look backward to yesterday’s causes); they rarely result in new
vision (by definition we can describe something as a problem
because we already, perhaps implicitly, assume an ideal, so we are
not searching to expansive new knowledge of better ideals but
searching how to close “gaps”); and in human terms problem
approaches are notorious for generating defensiveness (it is not my
problem but yours). But our real concern, from a social
constructionist perspective, has to do with relations of power and
control. It is the most speculative part of this chapter; and
hopefully, it better illuminates the potentials advocated by AI. In
particular is the more conscious linking of language, including the
language of our own profession, to change. Words do create
worlds—even in unintended ways.
It was an unforgettable moment in a conference on AI for inner city
change agents, mostly community mobilizers from the Saul Alinsky
school of thought (Rules for Radicals), in Chicago. After two days
a participant challenges: “This is naïve…have you ever worked in
the depths of the inner city, like the Cabrini Green public housing
projects? You’re asking me to go in and ‘appreciate’ it…just
yesterday I’m there and the impoverished children are playing
soccer, not with a ball, no money for that, but with a dead rat.
Tell me about appreciative inquiry in the housing projects!”
It was a powerful question. It was one that made us go deeper
theoretically. At one level we were arguing typical approaches to
problem diagnosis, including the Alinsky confrontation methods,
would work, but at about half the speed of AI. But then as we
explored the subject of the cultural consequences of deficit
discourse we began seeing a disconcerting relationship between the
society-wide escalation of deficit-based change methods and the
erosion of people power. The analysis, from here, could proceed
from virtually any “professional” discipline—the diagnostic
vocabularies of social work, medicine, organization development,
management, law, accounting, community development, editing—but
lets begin with psychology and the social sciences (ample linkage
will be made to our own field). Ken Gergen’s (1994) work, again, is
at the forefront for anyone wanting something more than a
suggestive summary.
Consider the following characterizations of the self: impulsive
personality, narcissism, anti-social personality, reactive
depressive, codependent, self-alienated, type-A, paranoid,
stressed, repressed, authoritarian, midlife crisis. These are all
terms commonly used by the mental-health professions and are now
common among people in the culture itself. But importantly, these
terms, and several thousand others (Gergen 1994), have come into
conventional usage only within the present century, many in only
the last decade. But something else is noteworthy: the
terminology’s discredit, draw attention to problems, shortcomings,
and incapacity’s. Interestingly, the trajectory of the
“professional” development of vocabularies of human deficit is
rising at geometric rates, correlated as might be expected with the
sheer growth in numbers of the profession. In1892 when the American
Psychological association was founded there were 31 members. By
1906 there were 181. The next thirty-one years witnessed an
expansion of almost a hundredfold, to over 3000. In the next
twenty-two years the figure grew again by twenty times, over
63,000. Add to this similar growth figures in social work,
psychiatry, community development, and organization development and
one realizes that the spiraling production of languages of deficit
have become quite a growth industry. By 1980 mental illness was the
third most expensive category of health disorder in the United
States at more than $20 billion annually. By 1983, the costs for
mental illness, exclusive of alcoholism and drug abuse, were
estimated to be almost $73 billion. We have no figures for the
consulting industry, but we can guess. While intentions are good,
argues Gergen, some of the unintended consequences may not
be.
From a constructionist perspective one realizes that words do not
so much innocently “mirror” a world out there as they become
vehicles for coordinating our actions with one another. Words in
any profession function a bit like tools of the trade. When I used
to give my son Matt a hammer, inevitably everything in the house
soon became a nail. What happens when the “scientifically”
legitimated vocabularies of human deficit become the common and
explicit tool kit of all? Gergen suggests not everything about it
is healthy. Such deficit discourse, when chronically used,
“generates a network of increasing entanglements for the culture at
large. Such entanglements are not only self serving for the
professions, they also add exponentially to the sense of human
misery” (1994 p. 142).
In particular, deficit based change approaches have an unfortunate
propensity to reinforce hierarchy, wherein “less than ideal”
individuals, who learn to accept what sometimes becomes a lifelong
label, are encouraged to enter “treatment programs” under expert
supervision; to erode community, wherein the mental health
professions appropriate the process of interpersonal realignment
that might otherwise (in other eras) have happened in a
nonprofessional contexts like the family or community; to instill a
sense of self-enfeeblement,wherein deficit terms essentialize the
person and like a birthmark or fingerprint, the deficit is expected
to inevitably manifest itself into many aspects of their lives (it
is a “thing”); to stimulate endless vocabulary expansion wherein
people increasingly construct their problems in the professional
languages (diagnosing each other) and seek more help which in turn
increased the numbers in the profession who are rewarded when they
expand the vocabulary—“to explore a new disorder within the mental
health sciences is not unlike discovering a new star in astronomy
(Gergen p.159)”. Gergen sums up: “As I am proposing, when the
culture is furnished with a professionally rationalized language of
mental deficit and people are increasingly understood according to
this language, the population of “patients” expands. This
population, in turn, forces the profession to extend its
vocabulary, and thus the array of mental deficit terms available
for cultural use (Gergen p.161). Is there no exit from such
progressive infirmity?
After talking this over with the people in the inner city Chicago
conference—and tracing the vocabularies of human deficit not only
to the rise of the professions but also to the rise of bureaucracy,
skeptical science, original sin theological accounts, the cynical
media—the Alinsky trained activist sat down in a gasp. He said: “in
the name of entertainment my people are being fed negative views of
human violence—and they aresurrounded by endless description of
their negative “needs” their “problem lives”. Even in my methods,
the same. And what do I see? I see people asleep in front of their
TVs. Unable to move, like sleeping dogs. Yes they have voice in the
housing project assessments. But it is a certain kind of voice…it
is visionless voice. They get to confirm the deficit analysis; all
the reports are the same. “Yes” they say, “The reports are true”.
What is hitting me right now is how radical the AI message might
be. Marx could have said it better: perhaps the vocabularies of
human deficit are the opiates of the masses. People have voice in
the analyses—this involvement is what we fought for. But people are
not mobilized by it anymore. No, they are asleep. Visionless voice
is probably worse than no voice.
Elsewhere we have cautioned, in our own discipline, that it is not
so much the problem solving methodologies per se that are of
central concern, but the growing sense that we all, throughout the
culture, have taken the tools a step further. It is not so much
that organizations have problems, they are problems (see figure two
on page 28). Somewhere a shift of this kind has taken place. Once
accepted as fundamental truth about organizations, virtually
everything in change-management becomes infused with a deficit
consciousness. For example, as French and Bell (1995) define it,
“Action-research is both an approach to problem solving—a model or
paradigm, and a problem solving process—a series of activities and
events” (p. 88). Levinson, in the classic on Organizational
Diagnosis (1972) likens it to therapy—“like a therapeutic or
teaching relationship it should be an alliance of both parties to
discover and resolve these problems…looking for experiences which
appear stressful to people. What kinds of occurrences disrupt or
disorganize people? (p. 37). Chris Argyris, again in another
classic, asserts: One condition that seems so basic as to be
defined as axiomatic is the generation of valid information…Valid
information is that which describes the factors, plus their
interrelationships, that create the problem (1970, pp.16-17).
Tough questions remain about power and deficit discourse. And of
course there are an array of new innovations in the field, many in
this volume, that are signaling significant departures. So at this
point all we want to do is make a call for reflection and caution,
taking a lesson from the wisdom of anthropology—beware of the solid
truths of one’s own culture.
Conclusion
To be sure, Appreciative Inquiry (AI) begins an adventure. The urge
and call to adventure has been sounded by many people and many
organizations, and it will take many more to fully explore the vast
vistas that are now appearing on the horizon.
As said at the outset, we believe we are infants when it comes to
our understanding of appreciative processes of knowing and social
construction. Yet we are increasingly clear the world is ready to
leap beyond methodologies of deficit based changes and enter a
domain that is life-centric. Organizations, says AI theory, are
centers of human relatedness, first and foremost, and relationships
thrive where there is an appreciative eye—when people see the best
in one another, when they share their dreams and ultimateconcerns
in affirming ways, and when they are connected in full voice to
create not just new worlds but better worlds. The velocity and
largely informal spread of the appreciative learnings suggests, we
believe, a growing sense of disenchantment with exhausted theories
of change, especially those wedded to vocabularies of human
deficit, and a corresponding urge to work with people, groups, and
organizations in more constructive, positive, life-affirming, even
spiritual ways. AI, we hope it is being said, is more than a simple
4-D cycle of discovery, dream, design, and destiny; what is being
introduced is something deeper at the core.Perhaps our inquiry must
become the positive revolution we want to see in the world. Albert
Einstein’s words clearly compel: “There are only two ways to live
your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as
though everything is a miracle”.
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14
13
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In: Operations Management
Experiment 2: Tracking Chromosomal DNA Movement through Mitosis
Although mitosis and meiosis share similarities, they are different processes and create very different results. In this experiment, you will follow the movement of chromosomes through mitosis to create somatic daughter cells.
Materials 2 Sets of Different Colored Pop-it® Beads (32 of each - these
may be any color) |
Procedure?
Genetic content is replicated during interphase. DNA exists as loose molecular strands called chromatin; it has not condensed to form chromosomes yet.
Sister chromatids begin coiling into chromosomes during prophase. Begin your experiment here:
1. Build a pair of replicated, homologous chromosomes. 10 beads should be used to create each individual sister chromatid (20 beads per chromosome pair). Two five-holed beads represent each centromere. To do this...
Figure 5: Bead set-up. The blue beads represent one pair of sister chromatids and the black beads represent a second pair of sister chromatids. The black and blue pair are homologous. |
a. Start with 20 beads of one color to create your first sister chromatid pair. Five beads must be snapped together for each of the four different strands. Two strands create the first chromatid, and two strands create the second chromatid.
b. Place one five-holed bead flat on a work surface with the node positioned up. Then, two of the four strands into the bead to create an “I” shaped sister chromatid. Repeat this step with the other two strands and another five-holed bead.
c. Once both sister chromatids are constructed, connect them by their five-holed beads creating an “X” shape.
d. Repeat this process using 20 new beads (of a different color) to create the second sister chromatid pair. See Figure 5 for reference.
2. Assemble a second pair of replicated sister chromatids; this time using 12 beads per pair (six beads per each complete sister chromatid strand).
Figure 6: Second set of replicated chromosomes. |
3. Repeat this process using 12 new beads (of a different color) to create the second set of sister chromatids. See Figure 6 for reference.
4. Configure the chromosomes as they would appear in each of the stages of the cell cycle (prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase, and cytokinesis). On the following page diagram the images for each stage in the section titled “Cell Cycle Division: Mitosis Beads Diagram”. Be sure to indicate the number of chromosomes present in each cell during each phase.
Cell Cycle Division: Mitosis Beads Diagram:
Prophase
Metaphase
Anaphase
Telophase
Cytokinesis
Post-Lab Questions
A.How many chromosomes did each of your daughter cells contain?
B. Why is it important for each daughter cell to contain information identical to the parent cell?
C. How often do human skin cells divide? Why might that be? Compare this rate to how frequently human neurons divide. What do you notice?
D.Hypothesize what would happen if the sister chromatids did not split equally during anaphase of mitosis.
In: Biology
What Is Science?
For your discussion posting choose one of the topics below and explain (at least 3 paragraphs) why or why not it meets our definition of science. Please use the standard essay format. You may also choose your own topic but you must first e-mail your instructor for approval. As soon as you choose a topic please post it in the "Topic Selections" discussion thread. If you don't see a "topic selections" discussion thread, start one!
Vaccinations cause autism
Honey bee colony collapse is due to pesticides
BPA is detrimental to human health
Alzheimer's is caused by aluminum consumption
HIV was transmitted from animals to humans
The Bubonic Plague was caused by evil spirits
Cracking knuckles leads to arthritis
The loss of wetlands negatively impacts human water usage
Taking testosterone increases muscle mass in men
Legalization of marijuana will lead to increased use by teens
Global warming doesn't exist
Eating vegan decreases your risk of cancer
Anti-bacterial soaps and cleaning agents improve the health of your household
Vaporizers are safer than cigarettes
Air Bnb is a significant contributor to low vacancy rates (pick a city - more than 1 person can do this topic with different cities - max 2 people total)
Opiates prescription medications are generally safe for the population with the exception of a few vulnerable individuals.
Organic foods result in lower concentrations of pesticides in the people who eat them
Controlled, selective hunting of wild animals improves their populations
Chemicals kept under the sink cause a significant number of fatalities in children 0-3
Burning sage in a new home is important to improve the energy flow.
The majority of homeopathic medications contain the exact ingredients listed on the label and the effects are scientifically reviewed
Diesel engines, including bio-diesel, don't contribute significantly more atmospheric pollution as compared to unleaded fueled vehicles.
Your mini-essay should show understanding of at least 3 of the principles which define science as mentioned in the link above. You should clearly articulate which three you are focusing on in your post.
Focuses on the natural world
Aims to explain the natural world
Uses testable ideas
Relies on evidence
Involves the scientific community
Leads to ongoing research
Benefits from scientific behavior
The reader should understand why the evidence you found meets those 3 principles. The point of this paper is not to 'prove' the topic in one way or the other. The 'answer'' does not matter. What does matter is that the manner in which you prove the topic is done SCIENTIFICALLY!
You should use at least 2 sources of information (properly cited) to support your claim as well. You may use Wikipedia as background information for your benefit ONLY. You must find two additional independent sources of information to include in your discussion post. Please refer to the "citations" page under "course information" in the content link for specific instructions on how to cite a source. You will be graded on your demonstrated understanding of the topic, your comprehension of the information contained in your sources, and evaluation of the topic based on at least 3 of the scientific principles. Please comment on 2 posts as well.
In: Chemistry
Lab’s goal
To investigate the electrostatic interaction between various objects.
Theory
When objects are rubbed against each other they acquire electric charge. Objects of the same electric charge repel and objects of opposite charges attract.
Different materials have different “desire” for electrons; this is called electronegativity. Some materials will always steal electrons from things they come in contact with; others are more willing to give up electrons.
Procedure
Activity 1: Determine how different objects interact through the electrostatic force.Top of Form
Determine the interaction between the various scotch tapes, and various objects.
1) Pull the two "X" pieces off the top of the table. Bring them
close to each other.
Do they repel or attract each other? __They repel each
other_____________________________________
Does it matter which side faces which side? ___The
side is irrelevant______________________
2) Pull the "T" and "B" pieces off the table together. Using
both hands, separate the tapes abruptly. Bring them close to each
other.
Do they repel or attract each other? ____They attract each
other___________________________________
Does it matter which side faces which side? __The side is
irrelevant______________________________
3) Stick the "T" and the "B" tape to a surface, so that about 9 cm of the tapes are hanging freely in the air. Make sure the tapes are sufficiently far so that they do not interfere with each other. At any time if you notice the tapes are beginning to lose their charge, you can recharge them by repeating the preliminary set-up.
4) For each of the following objects, determine whether they are repelled or attracted by tape "B" and tape "T". Record your data in your data table.
Record your data in the following table. Write down "attract" or "repel" according to your observations.
|
Object |
“T” tape |
“B” tape |
|
"T" tape |
repel |
attract |
|
"B" tape |
attract |
repel |
|
"X" tape |
attract |
repel |
|
plastic rubbed with wool |
repel |
attract |
|
plastic rubbed with cotton |
repel |
attract |
|
wool rubbed onto plastic |
repel |
attract |
|
wood rubbed with wool |
attract |
repel |
|
glass rubbed with silk |
repel |
attract |
|
metal sphere |
attract |
repel |
|
paper sheet |
repel |
attract |
|
human hand |
attract |
repel |
Results.
Arrange the objects in two categories according to their charge.
|
"T" charge |
"B" charge |
||
What is the charge of the metal sphere? ____________________________________
What is the charge of your hand? __________________________________________
In: Physics
Frontier’s challenge was to deploy flexible, branded, high-performance Wi-Fi and networking services to commercial subscribers across more than 30 states— rapidly. To this end, reliable, fast Internet connectivity has become a universal expectation. People assume they can be online at small businesses, public buildings, outdoor spaces and venues ranging from airports to arenas, hotels to branch offices, churches to RV parks, and hundreds of other places. Providing seamless connectivity across the full spectrum of work/play/live applications is a major revenue-generating opportunity for Communication Services Providers and Broadband Operators, but only if they can make complexity disappear and shrink time-to-market exponentially. In order to eliminate the complexity of building its own managed networking and wireless offerings from the ground up, Frontier Business turned to CommScope for a hosted, white label, comprehensive carrier-grade solution. The CommScope Solution: a world-class solution of ready-to-deploy technology and services CommScope was the best way for Frontier to “deliver more, faster.” Its comprehensive, ready-to-go solution includesindustry-leading technology like powerful Ruckus access points, wireless access controllers, ICX switches firewalls and the CommScope Virtual Managed Edge. CommScope helped simplify the entire process, from design, such as developing heat maps for optimal AP locations and switches, through installation and integration. CommScope also managed the on-boarding process, which involved incorporating hardware gear onto the hosted core, and setting up customized user portals and admin dashboards for advanced analytics and reporting. To eliminate the burden of dealing with different vendors for each component, CommScope manages and monitors the networking platform. Proactive NOC-to-NOC support ensures optimal uptime. In fact, problems are often resolved before the subscriber is even aware of them. CommScope leveraged its unparalleled track record of enabling service provider success, aligning itself to support Frontier’s business objectives. The result was the creation of an expertly coordinated package of service components and software and hardware, tailored to meet Frontier’s specific service performance and budget requirements. Frontier is in the process of deploying CommScope managed Wi-Fi and managed networking offerings to new and existing commercial customers in multiple market segments across a footprint spanning 28 states. One important goal for the Telecom Provider is to move beyond business relationships that are based on one-time fees, and focus on “stickier” services with monthly recurring revenue. Frontier now has managed Wi-Fi and networking solutions that bring world-class capabilities and competitive differentiation. With CommScope helping to deepen and expand the product portfolio, the door is now open for Frontier to provide new branded offerings, such as cybersecurity services, at a reduced time-to-market.
1. Discuss the significance of Human Centred (HC) design concept for the company, Frontier, in terms of complexity reduction and shrink time to market exponentially. [5 Marks]
2. Analyse in terms of HC design concept why Frontier approached CommScope for its WiFi and networking services over 30 states. [5 Marks]
3. How has Frontier benefitted from CommScope design? Illustrate in light of the human-centred design concept. [5 Marks]
In: Computer Science