Contents -- About the authors -- About the contributors -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- PART ONE Understanding conversational approaches to change -- 01 Organizations as machines, workers as cogs and management as a control process -- Introduction -- Organization as a group social skill -- Taylorism and Scientific Management -- Belief in the power of problem solving to change organizations -- Belief in the power of naming problems to produce change -- Belief in the power of instruction to achieve change -- The belief that emotions are problematic -- Belief in the power of criticism and fear to motivate change -- Belief in the head and body organizational split -- Belief in the power of separating elements to enhance clarity and so the ability to act efficiently -- Belief in a 'right answer' to the problem of design -- Summary -- 02 An alternative approach: organizations as living human systems -- Introduction -- The organization as living -- Organizations as human -- Organizations as systems -- Belief in the power of appreciation to promote growth -- Belief in the power of inquiry -- The power of talk to change things -- The power of imagination to produce change -- The power of positive emotional energy to achieve change -- The belief that language is creative -- Belief in the place and power of stories in organizational life -- Summary -- 03 The development of conversational approaches to organizational change -- Where does the story begin? -- What is the history of Appreciative Inquiry? -- Why is Appreciative Inquiry becoming popular? -- Postmodernism -- Appreciative Inquiry and the information revolution -- Appreciative Inquiry and globalization -- Appreciative Inquiry and the human search for hope -- Appreciative Inquiry meets a need for connection in organizations -- Summary -- 04 Appreciative Inquiry: how do you do it?.

Introduction -- Preparing for change -- Define -- Discovery -- Dream -- Design -- Destiny -- Summary -- PART TWO Advanced ideas and practice -- 05 The power of the question -- Introduction -- Not locks and keys -- Looking at questions -- Summary -- 06 The power of conversation -- Introduction -- What is conversation? -- The power of conversation to transform -- The fear of conversation -- Understanding the fears and ambivalence towards conversation -- Some issues for the conversational practitioner to consider -- The ambivalence of organizations towards conversation -- How can a conversational practitioner support powerful conversations within organizations? -- The inner life of the conversational practitioner -- What will we as conversational practitioners bring to our work with organizations? -- Summary -- 07 Extending practice: working with story in organizations -- Introduction -- The common ground with the conversation-based approach to organizational change -- Using story -- Working with story -- Sense making: creating temporary moments of clarity in an unclear world -- Summary -- 08 Developing your conversational practice -- Introduction -- Common themes -- The World Café -- Open Space -- Future Search -- The Circle -- A real-life example of using conversational processes to achieve organizational rebirth -- Bringing them all together -- Summary -- 09 Becoming an appreciative conversational practitioner -- Introduction -- Purpose -- Working spirit-fully -- Appreciative practice skills -- Summary -- PART THREE Using conversational approaches in the organization -- 10 How to introduce Appreciative Inquiry and related approaches to your organization -- Introduction -- Guidance in getting started: commissioning conversations -- Moving to the 4D cycle: common blocks and how to overcome them -- Summary.

11 Case study: Using Appreciative Inquiry at BP Castrol Marine -- Introduction -- The organization -- The organization challenge -- Selecting the approach -- Appreciative leadership -- Mix of AI and other methodologies -- Objectives for the change process -- Description -- Introduction of appreciative leadership: managers and regional sales teams -- The Easy Business vision -- Outcomes -- Reflections and lessons learnt -- 12 Case study: Revitalizing corporate values in Nokia -- Introduction -- The organization -- The organization challenge -- Selecting the approach -- Description of the project experience -- Outcomes so far -- Reflections and learning -- Summary -- 13 Case study: World Café -- Introduction -- The organization -- The organization challenge -- Selecting the approach -- Aims for the change -- Description -- Outcomes -- Reflections -- 14 Case study: Applying Appreciative Inquiry to deliver strategic change: Orbseal Technology Center -- Introduction -- The organization -- The organization challenge -- The role of decision making -- Selecting the approach (why AI and SOAR framework) -- Description of the project experience -- The outcomes -- Reflections and learning -- Appendix: Resource list -- References -- Index.