"While the "appreciative" part of AI is important, "the 'inquiry' is the key." (Cooperrider, David. Whitney, Diana. (2001).
The 4-D model is one of the many applications of AI - "a cycle of activities that guide members of an organization, group, or community through four stages" (Liebler, Claudia. J. (2001). In the first stage of the 4-D model, the discovery stage, people discuss with one another the times when the organization worked at its best. Core values and best practises are extracted from the stories and used to build on the desired future. The dream stage tends to work best in a large group involving as much as the organization as possible. The data collected from the previous "discovery" stage is used to create a vision of the future organization as if the peak moments discovered were the norm rather than the exception. In the design stage, a smaller team is then empowered to design ways to create the ideal organization with important elements such as structure, systems and the learning process being discussed. The delivery stage is the final phase used to create a strategy to implement the new changes in the immediate future.
There are a number of both strengths and weaknesses to the modern approach of AI. The main strength is the central idea of AI, which is the idea of focusing solely on positive aspects in an organization, therefore creating a very positive working environment for members of the organisation. It examines what gives life to human systems when it is working at its greatest potential. By paying attention to the strengths and positive aspects in an organization, the happiness of members in the organizations is reflected. Members will find themselves much happier in their work, by having their confidence built and feeling more included and important in their working environment, from cutting out criticism completely. "Instead of negation, criticism, and spiraling diagnosis, there is discovery, dream, and design" (Cooperrider, David.
