Appreciative Inquiry

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Citizen participation (→ overviews )
Appreciative Inquiry
Goal / function Influence on the public and society
typical topics Development of long-term goals and measures
context organizational or internal issues
typical clients Companies, municipalities, authorities
Duration 1 day, possibly several years (usually)
Participants (number and selection) 10–2,000 people; varies, self-selection, random and targeted selection are possible
important actors, developers, rights holders Case Western Reserve University
geographical distribution v. a. USA , UK

Source: Nanz / Fritsche, 2012, pp. 86–87

Appreciative Inquiry , AI for short , is a value-oriented approach from team and organizational development that promotes an appreciative and affirmative attitude in teams, organizations or communities, in which the appreciative survey (or exploration) is a central element. It was developed in the 1980s by David Cooperrider of Case Western Reserve University in the United States.

Influences from organizational development

As a method of organizational development, Appreciative Inquiry has borrowed a lot from the strengths of other methods in the field of organizational development. With Harrison Owen with "Open Space Technology" the potential of self-organized processes became visible. From the pioneering work of Kathleen Dannemiller and her colleague Charles Tyson and their "Whole Scale Change" method, many design and accompanying elements for large group formats were adopted. Pete Senge - the creator of the learning organization - and his colleagues have emphasized the importance of dialogue for change processes and learning. Marvin Weisbord and Sandra Janoff, developers of the future conference, adapted the approach “Bring the whole system into one room and shape the future”.

The importance of appreciative inquiry (AI)

Appreciative can be translated as “appreciative”, “appreciative” and “appreciative”. Appreciative is about the appreciation of the best in people (as partners, colleagues, employees, etc.) or in the world around us. It is about affirming and confirming strengths, successes and potentials from the past and the present, as well as tracking down and understanding which stimulating factors give a system (team, organization, community or network) energy, excellence or vitality. These factors are anticipated and reinforced in the future.

Inquiry comes from to inquire , which can be translated as "explore" or "investigate". It's about asking specific questions in order to discover the jewels - what is already working well in the teams or the organization. It is also about being open to new things and ready to learn.

Basic idea of ​​AI

The basic idea is simple: people and systems move in the direction they are looking; and the questions we ask determine what we find. AI therefore focuses on the strengths, the positive, the potential of a system (e.g. company, organization, person) and does not put the negative points in the foreground. In contrast to traditional approaches, problems are not dealt with directly with AI, but reformulated into change requests.

Use of AI

The use of AI is appropriate where the capabilities, behavior or performance of an entire system are to be further developed or where the future of this system is to be designed and redesigned. The core element of AI is the "appreciative interview".

Possible fields of application

  • Corporate mergers
  • new strategic plans
  • the development of new business areas.

Phases of the AI ​​process

Four phases are passed through within the Appreciative Inquiry:

Discovery
Discovery phase, understanding. Recognize and understand the best through interviews .
Dream
Visions are designed; it is dreamed of what could be in the best case,
design
Future draft ; work on what should be, develop visions. Make decisions.
Destiny
Implementation phase; Determine what will happen. Realize new ideas.

AI processes can be used in different forms, also in combination:

  • as a comprehensive process
  • as part of a team development workshop
  • as part of a change project at an "AI Summit", a major event in which the four phases (as above) are passed through.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Patrizia Nanz , Miriam Fritsche: Handbook Citizen Participation: Procedures and Actors, Opportunities and Limits , bpb (vol. 1200), 2012 (PDF 1.37 MB) →  to order the printed edition at bpb.de.
  2. ↑ Managerseminare.de, accessed on October 6, 2014

literature

  • Bonsen, Matthias zur & Maleh, Carole (2001), Appreciative Inquiry (AI): The way to top performance, Weinheim and Basel: Beltz Verlag
  • Grieger, Gunnar (2001), Appreciative Inquiry, Paderborn: Junfermann; E-book edition

Web links