Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of Imagination [Paperback]

Jane Magruder Watkins (Author), Bernard J. Mohr (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 078795179X | ISBN-13: 978-0787951795 | Publication Date: February 7, 2001 | Edition: 1

Appreciative Inquiry--a book in The Practicing Organization Development Series--is for leaders and organizational consultants who are ready to abandon the familiar tyranny of complex change programs. Recognizing that human systems are constructions of the human imagination and therefore capable of change at the speed of imagination, the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) process frees organizations from the restrictive orthodoxy of "deficit based change" and allows them the freedom to mobilize strategic change and focus on the visible and tacit strengths of an organization. AI is capable of engaging whole systems at amazing scales--easily engaging hundreds or sometimes thousands of people, often in a matter of weeks or days, to leverage the positive core of the organization.

Tap into the rich and inspiring "high point" accounts of personal or collective capacity and link this "positive core" to any change agenda. Once you have have determined what is really working, transformations never thought possible are rapidly and democratically mobilized.

"This is a book about the future of organization development. It is a practical guide to appreciative inquiry for organization leaders and organization development professionals and it is a comprehensive explanation at the speed of imagination." --Peter Sorensen, professor and director of the Ph.D. program in organization development and master of science program in management and organization behavior, Benedictine University

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a book about the future of organization development. It is a practical guide to Appreciative Inquiry for organization leaders and organization development professionals and it is a comprehensive explanation at the speed of imagination." --Peter Sorenson, professor and director of the Ph.D. program in organization development and master of science program in management and organization behavior, Benedictine University

"This book is a gift to organization development practitioners. It takes us forward both professionally and personally. It challenges us to shift our perspectives, and deepens our understanding of organizations as organic systems. The book provides practical guidance--and encouragement--to creating sustainable change in large complex systems. Jane Watkins and Bernard Mohr are generous in sharing their wisdom and experience. In doing so they place on us tremendous responsibility for the fate of change efforts through our choice of approach to inquiry."--Cynthia Haddock, senior change advisor, The World Bank Group

From the Inside Flap

Appreciative Inquiry-a book in the Practicing OD Series-is for leaders and organizational consultants who are ready to abandon the familiar tyranny of complex change programs. Recognizing that human systems are constructions of the human imagination and therefore capable of change at the speed of imagination, the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) process frees organizations from the restrictive orthodoxy of "deficit based change" and allows them the freedom to mobilize strategic change and focus on the visible and tacit strengths of an organization. AI is capable of engaging whole systems at amazing scales? easily engaging hundreds or sometimes thousands of people, and often, in a matter of weeks or days, to leverage the positive core of the organization.

The authors reveal how using the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) process can help you discover and tap rich, inspiring "high point" accounts of personal or collective capacity and link this "positive core" to any change agenda. Once you have determined what is really working, transformations never thought possible are rapidly and democratically mobilized.

This innovative process can be an effective way to work with organizations as organic systems whose success depends on a holistic approach to the connected human, technical, and organizational functions that make up any organization. Readers learn about the shifting paradigm in which we work and the role AI can play in enabling organizations to embrace the new paradigm. And, with case studies from such organizations as McDonald's, NASA, British Airways, and others, they illustrate the emerging applications of AI in a wide range of environments.

"This is a book about the future of organization development. It is a practical guide to Appreciative Inquiry for organization leaders and organization development professionals and it is a comprehensive explanation at the speed of imagination."?Peter Sorensen, professor and director of the Ph.D. program in organization development and master of science program in management and organization behavior, Benedictine University

The Authors
Jane Magruder Watkins is a past chair of the board of the NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science and a founding member of Appreciative Inquiry Consulting. In her thirty-five years in the field of organization development she has worked with a wide range of private, public, and government organizations, including Avon, GTE, Detroit Edison, SmithKline Beecham, ScottishPower, and more than 200 international organizations in nearly 50 countries.

Bernard J. Mohr is president of The Synapse Group, Inc., and co-founder of Appreciative Inquiry Consulting as well as co-creator of Whole System Design (WSD), an approach integrating changes to culture, work processes and systems. His clients have included AT&T, British Airways, BP, Coca Cola USA, Exxon, L. L. Bean, the Internal Revenue Service and the Episcopal Church. Editorial Board includes David Bradford, W. Warner Burke, Edith W. Seashore, Robert Tannenbaum, Christopher A. Worley, and Shaolin Zhang

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Pfeiffer; 1 edition (February 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078795179X
• ISBN-13: 978-0787951795
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #932,850 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Appreciative Inquiry an Orientation Toward Life and Work, October 8, 2001

By 

Jacqueline Sherman (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of Imagination (Paperback)

Appreciative Inquiry is a way of seeing and being in the world. ... Appreciative Inquiry applied, whether as a planning process or an evaluative process, becomes empowering and life-affirming in any human system. (page 191) The key to sustaining the momentum is to build an "appreciative eye" into all the organization's systems, procedures, and ways of working. (page 152) AI is not simply a tool ... it is a total way of being/working.

As an organization consultant I am interested in three things when learning about and considering adopting an approach or methodology: what are it's theoretical basis, fundamental assumptions and beliefs, basic process, and application to different types of organizational situations. Watkins and Mohr have written a book that offers all three. The opening two chapters ground Appreciative Inquiry in the history of the OD theory and method and clearly explain the core principles and generic processes of AI. The subsequent chapters each focus on one of the five generic processes plus evaluation. Each chapter explains one process in detail, illustrating it with two case examples. The combination of grounded theory and practice facilitates understanding, imagining, and applying. The examples are drawn from different consultants, types of organizations, and focuses of interventions, all of which support a rich understanding of the potential of this approach.

My one wish is that chapter 8, "Finding Innovative Ways to Create the Preferred Future" be expanded. I wanted to read more about an appreciative approach to the Destiny Phase, the most complex part of any change process.

Watkins and Mohr are generous with their knowledge and experience, offering the experienced practitioner enough to begin working from an AI perspective.

This book plus the more academic, Appreciative Inquiry: Rethinking Human Organization Toward a Positive Theory of Change, edited by David L. Cooperrider, Jr. Sorensen Peter F., Diana Whitney, and Therese F.Yaeger, are an excellent package for understanding Appreciative Inquiry: how it developed, its current practice, and directions for future development.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Practictioner's Guide, April 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of Imagination (Paperback)

From my experience in the field, I believe this to be the first comprehensive guide to the application of appreciative inquiry. If you are interested in approaching change in your organization or community, leaving the old deficit-based models behind, then this book will be very useful to you. It contains case studies and practical instructions along with a history of the development of the approach and its underlying theories. It's only drawback is that I wish it was a little more descriptive in some of its application guidance, but this keeps it more focused.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Concrete Guide to an Abstract Concept, May 1, 2001

By 

Sharon L Brownfield (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of Imagination (Paperback)

As the first book in a series describing lead-edge concepts and approaches to change for human resource practitioners, it has set the standard. This book provides a much needed guide to understanding the theory as well as the practice of Appreciative Inquiry (AI). The authors are both seasoned practitioners who teach and actively use the approach in their consulting work. They present several frameworks and walk through each step of a typical engagement giving samples of meeting agendas, conversation scripts, and questionnaire designs. While there is no one standard approach to using AI, the authors have shared the core principles that enable the competent professional to modify and adapt the approach to fit his/her circumstance. They, also, include numerous case studies with contact names and details of those conducting the work to enable follow-up by those interested. The one weakness I found was the discussion of chaos theory and its link to AI. Having done some reading on the subject, I found the treatment of the topic a little brief and the connection with AI unclear. In addition, I really wanted the references grouped by topic, i.e. social constructionism so that I could pursue the various topics more in-depth. Yet, despite these two minor points, I feel they have made a major contribution in meeting the "challenge of making this thinking accessible to many without either trivializing it or overcomplicating it."