The introduction of organisational change presents a number of challenges for managers. These can include staff perception of the power of managers, the need to achieve measurable outcomes from the change process, and the tension between using outside experts and internal knowledge. Participatory evaluation methods are suitable for organisational change as they can be used at various stages of program development (Owen 2006, p. 234). They focus on questions such as: ‘What is this program trying to achieve? How could delivery be changed to make it more effective? How could this organisation be changed to make it more effective?’ (Owen 2006, p. 218). This article presents the key features of one participatory method, the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) approach, with particular emphasis on its positive approach to organisational change.
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