CWRU Faculty Authors

This book provides a concise introduction to and overview of the growing discipline and practice of Appreciative Inquiry (AI). If you are intrigued by the prospect of mobilizing rapid, positive change with multiple stakeholders in a human system that is important to you, this book is for you.

Transformative Cooperation (TC) presents new ways for individuals and organizations to partner to create a more sustainable future and take people to a higher stage of moral development. This handbook invites readers to consider how businesses can partner with organizations in other sectors of society, including governments and nonprofits, to address global concerns and improve the lives of all. It documents the need for and early examples of cooperative efforts that have transformed the relationships between corporations and the communities in which their employees live and work. The editors begin by issuing a call for TC, explaining the economic and social reasons for working across traditional organization, national, and international boundaries. The book then goes on to explain the dynamics of transformative cooperation, exploring the leadership characteristics that facilitate the transformation and its social benefits. Throughout this handbook, the editors present some of the best designs in transformative cooperation, and conclude by explaining transformative cooperation as a generative possibility. Overall, the editors and contributors argue that TC is about the search for the best in people, their organizations, and the world around them.

Appreciative Team Building: Positive Questions to Bring Out the Best of Your Team provides your team with everything it needs to discover the keys to past successes and future possibilities. Learn how to enhance your team's performance by igniting engaging conversations. Providing 48 positive questions, sample interview guides, and a step-by-step process for self-managed inquiry, Appreciative Team Building breaks new ground in the development of high performance teams. Choose positive questions on any one of eight topics that are pivotal to high performance and team development: Clear and shared goals Clear and shared roles and responsibilities Supportive and empowering relationships Clear and shared procedures Nurturing and challenging leadership Evolving energy and spirit Productivity and performance Complete, purposeful and uplifting communication Then follow a step-by-step self-managed appreciative inquiry process that guides your team-your unique collection of relationships-towards its highest potential. Hear what people are saying about Appreciative Team Building: "This book is full of provocative and positive questions that will develop and enhance your team's performance, yielding faster and better results." -Julie Meiresonne Director, Customer Relations Hunter Douglas Window Fashions Division, Broomfield, CO "Take time to savor every page of this book. The questions are free and intentionally different. They draw you in, transforming how you and others work together on a day-to-day basis. It is a meaningful contribution to the field. Grab it." -Jane Galloway Seiling Senior Editor, Focus Book Series, The Taos Institute Consultant and Author, The Membership Organization and The Meaning and Role of Organizational Advocacy