Appreciative inquiry is a model for change management developed by David L. Cooperrider, Ph.D., a professor at Case Western University. The name combines two definitions:
Appreciate
To look for the best in something, and to increase something in value.
Inquiry
Means to seek understanding using a process based on provocative questions.
Based on the meanings of the two words, AI theorizes that organizations are not problems to be solved. Rather, each organization has been created as a solution, designed in its own time, to meet a challenge, or to satisfy a need within society.
A guiding principle in appreciative inquiry is the concept of the positive core, or what gives life to an organization. Below is a list of elements that make up a positive core.
Achievements, strategic opportunities, cooperative moments, technical assets, innovations, elevated thoughts, community assets, positive emotions, financial assets, community wisdom, core competencies, visions of possibility, vital traditions and values, positive macro trends, social capital, and embedded knowledge.