Appreciating Appreciative Inquiry

Appreciative Inquiry vs Traditional Organizational Approaches

Appreciative Inquiry, a more positive technique of organizational behavior, is now being used by organizations. Historically, most businesses relied on traditional organizational approaches that primarily focused on gaps to be filled and problems to be solved, which depressed team members. Appreciative Inquiry, a novel method to Organizational Development, focuses on accomplishments rather than problems, and beneficial results have been seen in a variety of enterprises.

Traditional Organizational Development Approach vs Appreciative Inquiry

In this instance, traditional organizational development should be applied. This is because time is of the essence and using Appreciative Inquiry will use too much time, as this is one of the weaknesses of the AI system (Golembiewski, R.T, 1998). Use of a more traditional approach will be quite fast, since only the top level management will be involved. Problems regarding why borrowers are not repaying their loans in time will be discussed as this is the main issue facing the bank for now. The management also needs to focus on several reasons why borrowers are not repaying their debts on time, they need to figure out whether it is due to poor motivation of their loan officers or whether other factors are involved since AI deals with only a specific theme or factor, using traditional organizational development would be more appropriate (Zemke, 1999).

Implementing Appreciative Inquiry in the Future

After the traditional organizational development approach has been used and the problem has been identified although not solved, Appreciative Inquiry would be appropriate at this stage since the problem would have been identified and to ensure future loans are repaid the Company should then implement Appreciative Inquiry Development phase (Zemke, 1999)

Appreciative Inquiry for Team Revitalization

Case 2:

In this case, Appreciative Inquiry is mostly preferred. This is due to the fact that it tends to look at “what was”. In this scenario, the team members used to work together in unison until two years ago when they started drifting and therefore affecting their ratings in their show. Appreciative Inquiry will work best because it will focus more on the successes rather than the failures. By using Cooperrider’s method of appreciative interviews, the team members will be asked to state times in their career when they felt more alive rather than been asked to state problems facing the show (Cooperrider, David and Suresh Srivastva, ed, 1990). The five principles of Appreciative Inquiry will also help in recovering the good ratings of the show. Such principles will include the poetic principle where the organizations will be considered as social systems but not machines. The positive principle will also be used in the Appreciative Inquiry method where the organization looks at the past positive experiences and using this to build the future (Cooperrider, David and Suresh Srivastva, ed, 1990).

Appreciative Inquiry for Motivational Improvement

Case study 3

Appreciative Inquiry would be most appropriate for this scenario. Focusing on the positive rather than what went wrong or how did we get here, or who is to blame will not help. They should draw their solution from the success stories of the Company. This can include focusing on what makes them feel motivated, rather than what is making them feel there is a deficit in the company? Use of appreciative interviews would also be a solution to this company. The management needs to carry out an appreciative interview on all members of staff, and also carry out interviews from the customers they serve; these interviews, however, should focus on heartwarming and inspiring stories from members they have served on other social platforms and through these, the team members will be inspired and a positive change will be noted over time (Annis, 1998).

Appreciative Inquiry will also aim in uncovering the strengths and hopes of the Company, rather than trying to change the Company. The team members are highly motivated, instead of aiming to change this; appreciative inquiry will aim to improve on this strength while also focusing on hopes and dreams of the team members. It aims to change an organization from a deficit-based approach to a much more positive-based approach (Annis, 1998).

Assessing the 4-D’s of Appreciative Inquiry

Case 4:

The 4-D’s generally stand for Discovery, Dream, Design, and Destiny. In this scenario, it could be right to say that the Appreciative Inquiry Consultant did a good job in the Discovery and Dream phase of these 4-D’s, but when it came to Design and Destiny, something might have gone wrong. In the Discovery phase, the Appreciative Consultant might be assumed to have conducted the one-on-one interview with the members of the Company and that is where he or she focused on the best of the company and also focused on what was best during the past periods of the Company’s existence (David Cooperrider, Diana Whitney). This seemed to have gone well since the next phase of the 4-D’s was implemented, which is Dream. People in the company were allowed to share their hopes regarding the Company, and this is where visions that are big and bold are envisioned (David Cooperrider, Diana Whitney).

The Dream phases seem to have worked quite well since the members of the Company seem to have agreed that these visions and dreams once implemented should work well. I tend to think that the Design phase might have failed; the team members might have not selected the ideal design elements to help in moving the company forward. They might not have come up with a clear statement of how these dreams should be achieved. Failure of the Design phase automatically had an impact on the last of the 4-D’s, which is the Destiny phase, and this is why though members agreed that the Discovery and Dream phase worked well, the process was quite difficult to be made into a reality (David Cooperrider, Diana Whitney).

Works Cited

Annis, H. S. (1998). Thin Book Appreciative Inquiry.

Cooperrider, David and Suresh Srivastva, ed. (1990). Appreciative Management and Leadership. The Power of Positive Thought and action in Organization.

David Cooperrider, Diana Whitney. (n.d.). What is Appreciative Inquiry.

Golembiewski, R.T. (1998). Appreciating Appreciative Inquiry. Diagnosis and Perspectives on how to do better, 1-45.

Zemke, R. (1999, June). Don’t Fix that Company. Training, 26.