1. Appreciative Inquiry
Division of Student Affairs
San José State University
2012 Professional Development Day
Presenter: Art King
March 9, 2012
2. Appreciative Inquiry
Title: Positive ways of thinking and acting on the job: An
Appreciative Inquiry Approach
Learning Outcomes:
o Learn how to turn negative statements into (Appreciative
Inquiry) positive ones
o Learn how to use neutral language to focus on issues
rather than on positions or problems
o Gain skills that help build team and appreciation for each
other’s contribution
o Learn to better appreciate how success on the job can
equate to student success and a helping and caring
environment
3. Appreciative Inquiry
o Cooperider and colleagues at Case
Western University developed the
theory in the 1970’s
o Further developed/expanded upon by
Cooperider and Srivastva in 1987
4. What is Appreciative Inquiry (AI)?
o A form of action research – tracking and fanning –
collection of people’s stories about something at its best.
It allows us to look at what we want MORE of
o A set of tools for catalyzing change –
- Inquiry is a way of asking questions that
focuses on what is possible, not what
is wrong.
- Metaphors help generate new ways of
thinking, acting, knowing
- Reframing allows us to turn negative
statements into AI
5. What is Appreciative Inquiry (AI)?
o An organizational development tool that focuses on
bringing out the best in people and organizations
o It focuses on what we want more of that is
good, rather than what we want less of that is bad
o It helps individuals in organizations honor the past
and manage change – positive change that helps to
reshape the future
6. Appreciative Inquiry
o AI is an organizational development
tool aimed at bringing out the best in
people and organizations, instead of
viewing them as problems that need to
be solved
7. Appreciative Inquiry
o AI is the cooperative search for the
best in human beings, their
organizations, and the world in which
they live
8. Appreciative Inquiry
o Replaces traditional problem solving –
which focuses on what is wrong so as
to fix the problem – seeks and finds
images of the possible, rather than
scenes of disaster and despair
9. Appreciative Inquiry
Traditional Approaches
o Define problems
o Fix what is broken
o Focus on decay
o How did we let this
happen?
Appreciative Process
o Find existing solutions
(what works)
o Amplify what works
o Focus on life-giving forces
o How can we work together
to get the results we want?
10. Appreciative Inquiry
…Operates under the assumptions that:
o In every org., “something” works and can be valued
o What we focus on becomes the reality we create
o The language we use creates our reality
o The act of asking a question begins the change
o People have more confidence about the future
when they focus on the best parts of the past
(UCSC Visioning Initiative)
11. The Four “D” Cycle of AI
o Discovery Stage
Appreciating what takes place in the company;
what gives life to the organization. Looks at the
best of what is
o Dream Stage
Imagining what should be within the
organization; forming ideas of what might be.
Envisioning impact of desired future
12. The Four “D” Cycle of AI
o Design Stage
What should be – the ideal. This involves
consensus building or co-constructing – finding
out what works and what should be
o Delivery Stage (Destiny)
Implementation and exploration of the changes
outlined in the other stages. How to empower
and adjust/improvise. Sustaining. Looking at
what will be
