The Appreciative Organization Revised Edition

In M. Avital, R.J. Boland, and D.L. Cooperrider (Eds.) Designing Information and Organizations with a Positive Lens: Advances in Appreciative Inquiry, Volume 2, 2007, Elsevier Science, Oxford.

The supremacy of the traditional way of thinking and decision making continue to make society to look for methods of searching for problems and their possible causes faced by individuals, groups, organizations and find ways of overcoming them and build the capacity of the human resources and consequently, the development of individuals, organizations and communities. The University for Development Studies implores the Committee System of Management; which also scouts for problems as in the traditional approach. It is in the light of this that the study seeks to explore the positive approach of Appreciative Inquiry and make recommendations to the University Management for consideration. In the context of the current management challenges facing the University, this approach will serve as a “Positive Revolution Model” which will allow staff to participate effectively in the management of the University and hence; create transformational change in the development of the University which will in turn lead to high productivity. Appreciating one’s worth of ideas is a very powerful tool to unearth his/her talents. Appreciative inquiry has been envisaged as a powerful approach that University Administrators and Managers can adopt, as its foundation is built on the social constructionist viewpoint to support contemporary management of higher educational institutions. The paper outlines the philosophy of AI as it applies to organizational development and transformational change; illustrates AI practices connected with a five- stage model; highlighted the differences between AI and the traditional approach; and substantiated reasons why AI is more successful in managing change. The author suggests that any approach by itself is not an end in itself unless a person internalizes it positively or follows through by “valuing it and acting on it”. Keywords: Appreciative inquiry, transformational change, higher education, dialogue

The purpose of this article is to highlight basic and applied research on SOAR that has taken SOAR beyond its original purpose of strategic thinking and planning applications. The eight empirical studies address, among other topics, how SOAR has been used: to build trust to increase supplier and customer performance; to build strategic capacity; in executive coaching; to build organizational collective motivation. These empirical studies exemplify researching the theory and practical efficacy of SOAR.

With the rapid and ever accelerating pace of global change, the traditional command and control organization becomes less effective. When we understand the organization not as a rationally constructed machine, but a sea of conversation, the door is opened to new and more effective forms of practice. No longer is individual identity based on one's role in the machine, but on one's participation in the conversation. Ideally this will enable the individual to give expression to the multiplicities he or she brings to the organization. Identity will not be circumscribed.

SAGE Open, 2013

There is a pervasive tendency in organizational studies to view acts of communication in terms of the individual agent. It is the individual who speaks, writes, gestures, and so on; it is the individual we credit for effective speaking, just as it is the individualís ineffective listening that invites discredit. This tendency to focus on individual acts of expression is indeed unfortunate because it suppresses perhaps the central feature of such actions, their function within relationships. Indeed, as we shall soon make clear, it is from the relational matrix that the very possibility of individual sense making comes into being, and without the existence of ongoing relationship communicative acts lose their status as communication. As the editors of this Handbook have made clear, organizational worlds are created and sustained through discourse. This chapter makes it equally clear that it is through relational process that discourse acquires its significance. More broadly stated, it is by virtue of relational processes that organizations live or die.

There is a pervasive tendency in organizational studies to view acts of communication in terms of the individual agent. It is the individual who speaks, writes, gestures, and so on; it is the individual we credit for effective speaking, just as it is the individualís ineffective listening that invites discredit. This tendency to focus on individual acts of expression is indeed unfortunate because it suppresses perhaps the central feature of such actions, their function within relationships. Indeed, as we shall soon make clear, it is from the relational matrix that the very possibility of individual sense making comes into being, and without the existence of ongoing relationship communicative acts lose their status as communication. As the editors of this Handbook have made clear, organizational worlds are created and sustained through discourse. This chapter makes it equally clear that it is through relational process that discourse acquires its significance. More broadly stated, it is by virtue of relational processes that organizations live or die. In this chapter we focus on the dialogic dimension of relational process in organizations. Although dialogue as a topic of study has been little mentioned in traditional handbooks of organizational study, its importance to organizational functioning has been subtly apparent since the inception of the science. Even the earliest research in organizational development attests to the importance of dialogue in organizational change. For example in Lewin's (195) groundbreaking research, the attempt was to enlist housewives in serving unfashionable meat products (e.g. beef hearts, kidneys) as a contribution to the war effort. Comparisons were made between groups exposed to persuasive information and groups that received the information and then discussed its implications. The results revealed that the discussion groups were far more likely to purchase the meats. In effect, "involved participation" in decision making was critical to change. Yet, while this study is often credited with spawning the field of action research, we actually know very little about the essential process of dialogue

Unpublished doctoral dissertation, …, 2004

Sage Open, 2013

The world faces rapid changes that call for new epistemologies and methodologies that can generate innovative forms of “being” and “doing” within organizations. This article investigates conceptual and practical resources from the social constructionist perspective that can be useful in realizing the transformation of organizations. Initially, a global context of the world in change is described, explaining the consequences for organizations; then social constructionism is introduced as a postmodern epistemology and offered as a potential approach to the organizational development field in supporting research and intervention. Some perspectives for action and knowledge production are offered in the context of an organization. Finally, some resources with examples will be articulated; these new frameworks for action can be effective for organizations coping in times of change.

Development Policy Review

This article presents the SOAR framework’s evolution from the fields of strategy, organization development and change, and Appreciative Inquiry (AI) to the discipline of positive organizational scholarship (POS). The ‘positive’ in POS asks scholars and practitioners to view the world through a lens where weaknesses and threats are reframed as strengths and opportunities, and ‘organizational’ refers to positive states of organizing. The premise of POS was both necessary and essential for creating the SOAR framework so that positivity could elevate and extend the capabilities of individuals to perform, change, and transform their teams and organizations....