David L. Cooperrider and Diana Whitney, Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2005.
Referenced in: Strategies for Church Renewal – Whole Systems, Large Groups
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This is a brief introductory guide to a Appreciate Inquiry (AI), a Whole Systems approach to organizational renewal that has been useful in churches. Although not its purpose, it functions as an abridged version of the larger, encyclopedic Appreciative Inquiry Handbook by the same authors. See the Resource Guide for more information on AI and other Whole Systems approeaches.
From the Publisher
Written by the originators and leaders of the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) movement itself, this short, practical guide offers an approach to organizational change based on the possibility of a more desirable future, experience with the whole system, and activities that signal “something different is happening this time.” That difference systematically taps the potential of human beings to make themselves, their organizations, and their communities more adaptive and more effective. AI, a theory of collaborative change, erases the winner/loser paradigm in favor of coordinated actions and closer relationships that lead to solutions at once simpler and more effective.
The book is written in simple language and includes references on where to go for more in-depth study.
About the Authors
David L. Cooperrider, PhD, is professor and chair of the program on business as an agent of world benefit at Case Western University. Diana K. Whitney, PhD, is the author of five books on AI, including The Power of Appreciative Inquiry.
Diana Whitney is an American author, award-winning consultant and educator whose writings – 15 books and dozens of chapters and articles – have advanced the positive principles and practices of appreciative inquiry and social constructionist theory worldwide. Her work as a scholar practitioner has furthered both research and practice in the fields of appreciative leadership and positive organization development. She was awarded Vallarta Institute’s Annual 2 X 2 Recreate the World Award. She is President of the Corporation for Positive Change, a Fellow of the World Business Academy, and a Founder and Director Emeritus of the Taos Institute.
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