Commentary on “Appreciative Inquiry as a Shadow Process”

Abstract

Fitzgerald, Oliver & Hoaxey’s paper, in my opinion, is the finest critique yet written on appreciate inquiry. They help us to think deeply and avoid simplistic notions of “positive” and “negative”, reminding us that holding too tightly to decontextualized assertions of what is positive can get in the way of the very things AI aspires to do. I comment on how AI’s original intent of studying the “life giving properties” of social systems got translated into studying “the positive”. The paper also offers a new contingency for understanding why AI succeeds or fails: the extent to which dreams, aspirations and expression of positive affect are censored by the organization. I question whether all transformational change processes are inherently counter cultural and if so, would AI be useful in a positively deviant organization. Finally, the paper reminds us that superb scholarship on organizational change is most likely to come from those fully engaged in the practice of it.