In this study, I applied an approach taken from organizational development circles named “appreciative inquiry” to enhance understanding of the organizational environment, management practices, and sociocognitive determinants that are associated with successful information systems projects. In a series of 31 interviews and seven focus groups, IT professionals from various ranks and organization...

Three of the groups (Race Relations 2020, Action Evaluation, and Appreciative Inquiry) bring a template to a new situation. For Race Relations 2020 this involves forming a group and taking them through a flexible curriculum that results in an action plan. In the case of Action Evaluation, the team reaches out to key stakeholder groups and invites them to complete a survey, which serves as the b...

One of the challenges in teaching information systems analysis and design is setting up experiential learning projects in which students can apply and reinforce the theories and techniques they acquired in the classroom. This article aims to shed light on this issue and offers Appreciative Inquiry as an alternative to the prevailing problem solving lens. The Accelerated Systems Analysis and Des...

Qualitative research methods are gaining popularity among Information System (IS) researchers (Myers, 1997). Among the various qualitative methods, action research (AR) is considered both effective and controversial. Action research as a methodology is becoming more common in the IS research field, although its validity is sometimes questioned (Baskerville & Wood-Harper, 1996; Myers, 1997). One...

Traditional systems development research largely adopts a negative view and focuses on failures. In contrast, this study adopts a positive approach to improve current practices. We report from an action research project at a small software firm, TelSoft, in which we applied appreciative inquiry to develop information technology (IT) project management skills. The inquiry process offers two cont...

The purpose of this paper is to provide an account the development Appreciative Inquiry Method (AIM) from its origins as a method for knowledge elicitation use organisational inquiry. In paper, I describe contributions that research and practice have made it evolved into soft Although clear Vickers notions appreciative systems methodology are major influences, there some important practical dif...