[Ailist] Is Appreciate Inquiry like "applying leeches"?

[Roger Davies]

I read the article and realize that the extract can easily be read out of
context but it does serve as a vehicle to highlight a point.

In trying to apply Ai in a for profit business we somehow have to cross a
barrier. That barrier is that for many years many business expect one to be
able to establish the expected return on an investment before making the
investment. Obviously this is done in numerical, measurable terms. With Ai
it's different....'nobody reliably can say why they're effective, when
they're effective, and where they're effective'...all we do know is that
it's good medicine and there's supporting evidence that it does work. Maybe
it's a little like acupuncture or reflexology. For those who try it and it
works no doubts remain but if you don't have that experience you are very
likely to be skeptical about it.

Unfortunately the 'trust me on this' approach generally doesn't cut it in
business. Neither does producing evidence of someone else's success if it
can't be tied back to either hard evidence or the fact that your situation
is very similar to that of a case study.

My conclusion is that it's necessary to get people to experience Ai and then
spread the word about the benefits. I don't believe it is possible to
accurately predict the outcome. Anyone have any other thoughts?

>From another perspective....will we see companies that embrace Ai start to
overtake those that don't and continue to focus more on measured returns on
investments? Obviously there's a balance to be struck as some financial
control needs to be applied. I would note, to paraphrase the excerpt, that
strict financial discipline is also not a unifying element of management.

Roger

-----Original Message-----
From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu
[mailto:ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Stephanie West
Allen
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 11:15 AM
To: AI list
Subject: [Ailist] Is Appreciate Inquiry like "applying leeches"?


Excerpt from "The Future of Leadership":

I'm fond of Elliot Jacques' statement that "management today is where  
medicine was before the discovery of circulation of the blood." I  
think many s+b readers see much of what's going on in management  
change as an example of "applying leeches" without really being sure  
that it is going to make a difference. This year it might be  
coaching, two years ago it was organizational design, and two years  
before that it was appreciative inquiry. All these different methods  
have varying degrees of applicability and validity, but nobody  
reliably can say why they're effective, when they're effective, and  
where they're effective. There's no unifying field theory of  
management. This has led to a healthy amount of skepticism.

Rest here:

http://www.shambhalainstitute.org/Fieldnotes/issue-14-stacey

Stephanie_______________________________________________
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