The Affirmative Basis of Organizing

Author: David L Cooperrider

Appreciative Inquiry: Rethinking Human Organization Toward a Positive Theory of Change
Date: 01/01/2000   I am reminded of the title: Locating the Energy for Change (JL comment)

Pages: 29 – 53

Annotation: This chapter orginally appeared in the 1990 edition of Appreciative Management and Leadership book edited by Srivastva and Cooperrider. This groundbreaking chapter is one of the classic articles discussing the theories around positive change in organizations.

It discusses the power of positive imagery, the placebo effect in medicine,the pygmalion effect in education and human development, the relationship between positive-negative discourse in health, the balance of internal dialogue to emotional health, the effects of positive images on culture and the implications for management creating a theory of the affirmative organization.

It is now published in several books again. The link below will take to you a website that contains the article in its entirety. This is part of a book called Appreciative Inquiry: Rethinking Human Organization Toward a Positive Theory of Change edited by Cooperrider, Sorensen, Whitney and Yaeger, and published by Stipes Publishing.

Some people have asked about the “bowling study” which appears in this paper.

The reference for the study is:

Kirschenbaum, D. “Self Regulation & Sport Psychology: Nurturing an Emerging Symbiosis.” Journal of Sport Psychology, 1984, 8, 26-34.

Online Resources:
Stipes Publishing
Positive Image, Positive Action: chapter 2