Comparing Appreciative Inquiry to a Diagnostic Technique in Organizational Change: The Moderating Effects of Gender

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Authors
Sekerka, Leslie E.
Brumbaugh, Anne M.
Rosa, José Antonio
Cooperrider, David
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2006
Date
Winter 2006
Publisher
PrAcademics Press
Language
Abstract
Organizational development and change may be initiated from two different starting points. A diagnostic approach begins with an examination of problems to assess and correct dysfunction. In contrast, the Appreciative Inquiry approach begins by identifying an organization’s strengths as resources for change. An experimental study was conducted to compare the processes and outcomes that arise during the first phase of each approach. Results show that both approaches lead to different but favorable and complementary outcomes. Both participant gender and the gender construction of the dyads in which individuals participated moderate these effects in unexpected ways. The implications for understanding the processes by which both methods work, and the potential for combining them, are discussed.
Type
Article
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Business & Public Policy (GSBPP)
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Yellow-Roadway Corporation
Funder
Yellow-Roadway Corporation
Format
42 p.
Citation
Sekerka, Leslie E., et al. "Comparing appreciative inquiry to a diagnostic technique in organizational change: The moderating effects of gender." International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior 9.4 (2006): 449.
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.
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