The promise of appreciative inquiry in library organizations.

ABSTRACT

APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY IS A DIFFERENT APPROACH to organizational development, one that calls/or the deliberate search for what contributes to organizational effectiveness and excellence. Appreciative Inquiry is a practical philosophy that assumes the organization is a "mystery" and a "marvel" to be embraced, not a problem to be solved (Cooperrider & Srivastava, 1987, p. 131). The author's experience with this different approach to organizational development reveals its power to unleash the creative energy within library organizations. This article describes the principles, process, and some of the practices of Appreciative Inquiry.

INTRODUCTION

Library organizations, like so many other types of organizations today, face the need for significant transformation in the way they are organized, the work they do, the ways in which they perform this work, and in how they meet the challenges of staying relevant and meeting the needs and expectations of their various constituent groups. Leaders of all types of libraries and the staff who work with them continually face new and more complex problems. Libraries have a long history of tackling these challenges and problems with such organizational development efforts as strategic planning, restructuring, redesigning work, and project management. Traditionally such planned change efforts have operated from the premise that the place to begin is with what is wrong, what is not working well, or what needs to change. This approach has been described by some as a "deficit-based" approach, one that focuses on the negative. Some characteristics of this deficit-based thinking are an emphasis on problems; attention to the people who are perceived to be causing these problems; a tendency to be critical of ideas, accomplishments, and the people involved; and a focus on resources that are limited or lacking.

Appreciative Inquiry offers a compelling alternative--the quest for the best possible situation. In this quest the focus is on possibilities, not problems; meaningful involvement of people to enable them to contribute their best thinking; attention to learning and generative thinking; collaboration and building trusting relationships; and a focus on existing resources and how to make the best use of them.

APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY DEFINED

Appreciative Inquiry is an approach to planned change that begins with careful attention to and the identification of what has worked in the past and what works in the present. Appreciative Inquiry is a

 
   collaborative and highly participative, system-wide approach to 
   seeking, identifying, and enhancing the "life-giving forces" that 
   are present when a system is performing optimally in human, 
   economic, and organizational terms. It is a journey during which 
   profound knowledge of a human system at its moments of wonder is 
   uncovered and used to co-construct the best and highest future of 
   that system. (Watkins & Mohr, 2001, pp. 14-15) 

Appreciative Inquiry is the "study and exploration of what gives life to human systems when they function at their best. This approach to personal change and organization change is based on the assumption that questions and dialogue about strengths, successes, values, hopes, and dreams are themselves transformational" (Whitney & Trosten-Bloom, 2003, p. 1).

Appreciative Inquiry is an approach to the development of human systems that views those systems as life-giving and enhancing; ones that contain positive forces to be understood and embraced. Those life-giving forces emerge from our conversations as a result of our assumptions, values, beliefs, and images. Those conversations govern our choice of actions. If the conversations are energizing and life affirming then the "whole" system can be involved in co-constructing the desired future.

Appreciative Inquiry is a strategy for change that begins with the identification of the "best of what is" to enable stakeholders to pursue their dreams and visions of "what could be." It is a process of collaborative inquiry to clarify the strengths, positive experiences, "good news," achievements, and best qualities of a group, an organization, a situation, a relationship, or an individual. It is a means to create change based upon the premise that we can effectively move forward if we know what has worked in the past. It is an approach to organizational development that quickly engages people in an exploration of what they value most about their work. It brings forth peak experiences and examples of excellence to enable the…