App reciativ e Inqu iry: theor y and cr itique

Abstract

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) was one of the first post-Lewinian organization development (OD) methods and probably catalysed the subsequent proliferation of dialogic ODmethods (Bushe and Marshak, 2009) that operate outside the Lewinian paradigm. Firmly grounded in social constructionist theory (Gergen, 1978; 2009), AI emerged out of the Department of Organizational Behavior (OB) at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and many academic writers on AI received their doctorates there (e.g. Barrett, Bright, Bushe, Carter, Cooperrider, Johnson, Ludema, Powley, Sekerka, Stavros, Thatchenkery). Eschewing “diagnosis” as a necessary or even useful step in organizational change, and incorporating post-modern perspectives on narrative and discourse (Barrett, Thomas and Hocevar, 1995), the original, seminal article on AI (Cooperrider and Srivastva, 1987) was a revolutionary statement and a precursor to later developments in “positive organizational studies” (Cameron et al., 2003) and the “strengths based” movement (Buckingham and Clifton, 2001; Cameron and Lavine, 2006) in American management. This review begins with a brief description of the AI method followed by the underlyingtheories of change that support AI practice and the rather scanty evidence that exists supporting them. This review will also consider moderators of AI practice and important critiques of AI, and conclude with some of the more pressing research questions that require addressing for a deeper understanding of how and when AI transforms organizations.

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