Building on Success: Transforming Organizations through an Appreciative Inquiry

In: Public personnel management, Volume 30, Issue 1, p. 129-136

Abstract

Appreciative Inquiry, developed by David Cooperrider and colleagues at Case Western Reserve University and The Taos Institute, is an organizational transformation tool that focuses on learning from success. Instead of focusing on deficits and problems, the Appreciative Inquiry focuses on discovering what works well, why it works well, and how success can be extended throughout the organization. It is both the vision, and the process for developing this vision, that create the energy to drive change throughout the organization. In 1998, the City of Hampton, Virginia, already nationally recognized as an innovative government, initiated an Appreciative Inquiry process to re-energize its workforce in bringing about their desired vision for the 21st century. 1 The Appreciative Inquiry process was successfully modified to meet the needs of the city government.