Reflect on the theory and practice of appreciative inquiry v

Reflect on the theory and practice of appreciative inquiry, vs. the traditional problem or deficit based organizational perspective. Please write your understanding of appreciative inquiry, the benefits you see in incorporating this perspective into your organizational analysis/assessment, and application to your personal and professional life.

*Please don\'t write the same answers as others. Thanks!

Solution

The traditional problems based/ deficit-based approach in organizations is

We assume that things could better by correcting the problems. Here we

Problem with such an approach is it leads to a black hole of problems. There is lack of collective vision as to how the organization should be. It acts like a piecemeal approach to form a better organization. It does not create clarity on what we want and where we are moving to. It limits us to a set of problems rather looking at the whole picture and the future. It makes us trapped in the problems created in the past rather than letting us progress into the future.

Appreciative inquiry is based on perceived realities of employees in the organization. If we focus on the good, then this becomes the reality (perceived).

It has four phases

Advantages of this are it first helps us to develop clarity of what the organizations want to be based on perceived realities. It focuses on strengths which help the organization to focus on core competencies and helps to create differentiation. It builds trust and positive atmospheres which leads to a perceived reality of the positive present and positive future. The future is built based on strengths

Focusing on the positive and talents – the organization focuses on what is built into the DNA of the organization and what it does better than anyone else. This approach acts as an auto-regulatory mechanism and helps everything else to fall in line to reach the goal. It does not negate problems. It just helps us in addressing them form a different and positive perspective. It is deeply entwined with the sub-conscious.

In my professional experience, this has helped us to change the business model and the value proposition of a start-up worked for. We were working with the top management and trying to play with existing propositions and features of a healthcare (insurance like) product. Even with looking from the consumer perspective we found it difficult to match with that of competitors. We changed the way we thought about the product and service we offered. Instead of solving a problem for the consumer, we brainstormed the best situations/products for the consumer (positive approach) in an ideal state and tried to envision a future product that the consumer would want for. This helped us to find ways to modify the existing product that helped us in differentiating greatly from the competitors and something that was way ahead of its competitors in the region

In personal life, I have used this for taking certain important decisions. Appreciative inquiry is based on human psychology respecting

Many life coaches and business coaches use forms of appreciative inquiry for coaching clients. I used this for choosing my career decision based on my strengths and my interests. I used visualization – a technique to envision the ideal state I prefer to live my life and planned according to that

Previously I was focusing on weakness –

This was like running away from fear. This just helped me to run away from one till I found the next one. There was always a next one. With appreciative enquiry approach, I found better clarity on what I need and what I am capable of. This put me in a positive state/approach and my subconscious focused on the positive leading to better perceive reality.