Chapter 20: Appreciative Inquiry

1. Appreciative inquiry seeks to:

accentuate what isn’t working highlight the positive rather than eliminate the negative examine weaknesses in leadership demonstrate the ways in which teams fail

2. Social constructionists assert that our perceptions of reality are the product of:

observation of an objective reality dialogue and negotiation empirical evidence none of the above

3. A widely held belief is that organizational life is problematic. True or false?

True False

4. Advocates of appreciative inquiry argue that a deficiency perspective promotes:

double-loop learning triple-loop learning organizational failure single-loop learning

5. According to Elliot’s (1999) report, in which he asked a group of 45 managers to write down 20 adjectives that accurately caught the flavour of their organization, how many of the words they used were critical?

29% 17% 72% 1%

6. Organizational memory is based on ________________________.

how well organizational members remember the past the information stored in an organization’s archives how those who do the remembering interpret what happened none of the above

7. The Pygmalion effect refers to __________________________.

the power of others’ perceptions to shape an individual’s performance the power of positive thinking the power of impeccable speech the limitations of positive thinking

8. According to heliotropic hypothesis, social systems gravitate towards an imagined future that amplifies __________________________.

weak experiences the most positive images held by members both the positive and negative aspects of the present mistakes

9. Which of the following is NOT one of three parts that appreciative inquiry consists of, according to Bushe (1999)?

Discovering the best of … Understanding what creates the best of … Amplifying the people or processes that exemplify the best of … Evaluating why some people and processes impede the best of

10. In the early 1990s, appreciative inquiry was often viewed as a _______________ intervention.

macro-organizational placebo focused micro-organizational

11. Bushe (1999) suggests that when there are lots of stories to review, organizing the data according to ______________ can help to focus attention on themes relating to the purpose of the inquiry.

an ‘inquiry matrix’ a ‘feedback canoe’ a ‘feedback matrix’ a high performance management system

12. When designing an appreciative interview schedule, it can be helpful if, alongside each question, interviewers are provided with guidelines. Which of the following is NOT something that guidelines would be used for?

To help keep interviewees focused on the positives To help distract interviewees from the negatives To help them avoid asking inappropriate questions To prevent the interview becoming mere social banter

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