Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of Imagination

by Jane Magruder Watkins and Bernard J. Mohr

Book Overview

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"...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 078795179X
• ISBN13: 9780787951795
• Release Date: February 2001
• Publisher: Pfeiffer
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.0" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

great guide to a great topic: Appreciative Inquiry

This step by step guide provides the essential information you need as an organization developer, facilitator, community leader, or person interested in effectively bringing people together to co-create enriching change in organizations and communities. I was familiar with the principles of appreciative inquiry before purchasing this book, but the text increased the depth of my understanding and grasp of how to implement the process. There is no substitute for learning from an experienced AI practitioner (I am fortunate to have an AI mentor too) but many people could get the essentials from this book.

Combining theory and practice with great art

With a growing literature that deals with Appreciative Inquiry (AI), a truly revolutionary way of moving our organization, in their book Magruder Watkins and Mohr have accomplished more to help organization development consultants and managers to understand the potential of AI than any other book currently in print.Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of Imagination covers the subject by alligning both the theoretical concepts to practical applications. It is very well written and presented with a great flow. To the novice to AI it gives all the key elements to get started, for the more seasoned consultant and manager in the field of AI, it gives new ideas and opens up possibilities for further exploration.It is not be the only book on Appreciative Inquiry but it is at the very top of my reading list on this dynamic subject. When I recommend readings to students of AI, Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the speed of imagination, is the only book they need to read. Congratulations to Jane Magruder Watkins and Bernard Mohr, they have produced the best book on AI that is available today.

Appreciative Inquiry an Orientation Toward Life and Work

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.

Practical guide to new change management approach

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a fundamentally different approach to problem solving and change management which is gaining worldwide popularity rapidly. While the traditional approach focuses on analysing problems and then fixing what is wrong, AI does just the opposite: it searches for and amplyfies solutions that already exist (in this it is highly comparable to solution focused brief therapy). Quite a lot of good books have been written on AI. The thing I like most about this book by Watkins and Mohr is how practical it is. The authors generously packed it with very useble examples and tools. This makes it very recommendable for AI practitioners.

A Concrete Guide to an Abstract Concept

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."