Positive Design and Appreciative Construction: From Sustainable Development to Sustainable Value: Volume 3

Appreciative Inquiry is about the search for the best in people, their organizations, and the strengths-enriched world around them. In its broadest focus, “AI” involves systematic discovery of everything that gives “life” to a living system when it is most alive, effective and flourishing, and most capable in economic, ecological, and human terms. AI involves, in a very central way, the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen a system's capacity to apprehend, anticipate, and heighten positive potential. It centrally involves the mobilization of whole system appreciation through the crafting of the “unconditional positive question” often-involving hundreds or sometimes thousands of people.

In this volume of Advances in Appreciative Inquiry, leading scholars from the fields of management, organization development, information technology, and education come together to chart new directions in Appreciative Inquiry theory and research as well as new intervention practices and opportunities for design in organizations. While diverse in topic and discipline, each of the following original chapters treats the reader to a view of Appreciative Inquiry's revolutionary way of approaching familiar questions of management, organization design, and sustainability.

We provide seven steps to integrating sustainability into strategy and operations. The process is designed to enable business leaders to reframe sustainability as a source of value creation using a life cycle collaborative approach to innovation instead of piecemeal change led by small groups of experts. Furthermore, the approach builds on the strengths of whole business systems rather than attempting to fix the weaknesses of individual actors as is typical of many strategy execution efforts. The chapter begins with a survey of perceptions about the meaning of sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The survey shows both significant confusion about the concepts themselves, and an opportunity for first movers to differentiate themselves by adopting an approach to sustainability based on innovation and business value. The seven steps are then presented using a strength-based whole system approach to compress the time and resources required to achieve the desired results.

Corporate branding has broadened its reach to include delivering the brand's promise to the full range of organizational stakeholders both inside and outside the firm. In turn, new approaches to corporate social responsibility (CSR), involving employee, community, and stakeholder engagement, dovetail neatly with this idea of enterprise branding. This chapter will look, first, at the connections between corporate branding and CSR, and then at how design thinking and processes can be applied to join the two. Next it examines, from our firsthand experience, how several global companies linked the two to (1) rebrand their relationship to society or (2) repurpose their CSR efforts. All the firms have taken what seem to be serious brand-driven moves to create sustainable value for their businesses and society. The chapter concludes with a look at how corporate branding and CSR can be applied to organization design, product innovation, and the transformation of an organization.

This chapter considers problems and opportunities for design and management to contribute to creating a sustainable world. We consider the epistemology of two discourses bridging design and management, design management and design thinking, and that of appreciative inquiry, which we suggest has much in common with design thinking. We discuss problems with combining discourses from different paradigms, and highlight opportunities when paradigms are similar. We illustrate these opportunities with examples of three projects lead by designers, and comment on ways these discourses contribute to the concept of sustainability and ways in which practitioners create sustainable value.

From Michael Porter (Porter & Kramer, 2006) to Glamour magazine (Sole-Smith, 2009), many are advocating alignment of social benefit and competitive advantage. As natural resources continue to decline and social expectations of business continue to grow, it is no surprise that many companies are jumping on the bandwagon on its way to a promising destination of mutual benefits for business and society. Yet, most businesses fail to capitalize on this opportunity for a simple reason: it is easy to get excited, but it is hard to make it work.

The chapter builds on the practices of companies throughout the world that have figured out how to harvest profits at the intersection of business and society, thus creating a whole new value for shareholders and a broad range of stakeholders. Specific practices are described as essential for the creation of this win–win for shareholders and stakeholders, including understanding the value shift emerging throughout economies and continents; discovering and designing opportunities to achieve existing business goals with new socially and ecologically sound strategies; and engaging passions, values, and appreciative capacities of the whole organization for higher returns.

Sustainable innovation is not only about the design of radical “green” technologies, it is also about generating social and institutional support that complement and reinforce the adoption and diffusion of these technologies at large. Hence, treating the ecologically hazardous nature of the prevalent technologies alone is insufficient without complementary social change. Building on a longitudinal study of sustainable innovation in the car industry, we argue that the prevailing discourse that is centered on the creation of business value is unlikely to facilitate the widespread adoption of sustainable technologies. Furthermore, taking into consideration the sociomateriality of sustainable innovation, we rather suggest that a focus on creating social value is indispensable for triggering the desired change toward sustainable value. Following the analysis of sustainable innovation in the car industry, we generate two relevant insights for sustainable value. First, our results demonstrate the path-dependent nature of sustainable innovation, which is constrained and sustained by the materiality, social structures, and institutional frameworks that comprise the overall sociotechnical system in which innovation takes place. Second, our findings show that a successful diffusion of radical sustainable innovation requires both technological innovation and complementary social changes that together can disrupt the existing evolutionary path of technology and construct more sustainable alternatives. All in all, we argue that reframing the discourse around social value in lieu of monetary value can be leveraged by organizations for shaping alternative courses of action, creating innovative technologies, and developing novel practices that create sustainable value for all stakeholders in society.

Systems theory and open systems principles trace their origins to the life sciences. Our observations of living systems also inform the design and management of sustainable communities and organizations. Grounded in the patterns of living systems and social ecologies, the stewardship design principles (SDP) – balance, interdependence, regeneration, diversity, and succession (BIRDS) – can increase the agility of sustainable design practitioners in ramping up from small-scale experiments to large-scale systems change. The urgency of addressing global challenges such as climate change calls upon social change practitioners – be they business leaders, social entrepreneurs, or both – to create and/or adapt tools to increase the velocity and range of positive social change. Case vignettes in the design of small-scale experiments illustrate how the application of stewardship design principles can help expedite larger systemic change at the regional, statewide, and national levels.

In order for an information system (IS) to be sustainable, it must create value for its shareholders and for the society at large. We believe it is both possible and recommended that systems designers approach the design of systems thoughtfully, using a positive lens, to develop systems that not only increase profit but also add to the well-being of all. We have also observed that a systems designer can approach an organization with an open mind, accept the organization's set of values, adopt a positive design attitude, and still develop a system that is not sustainable. In this study, we looked to see whether there was an additional factor, one based in the environment created by governments that influenced the sustainability of systems. Since previous research shows that observing the predominant metaphors found in organizations can help explain the success or failure of different types of ISs, we attempted to do the same for societal metaphors. We identify the orientation, attitudes, and limits of various forms of government and demonstrate their similarities to the primary organizational metaphors. We then propose that the type of government may influence the sustainability of ISs and further argue that systems designers need to be aware of how forms of government affect the design of ISs and their sustainability.

An expanded perspective on information system design paradigms reveals that information systems (IS) have a generative capacity that enables reframing and recasting reality based upon alternative values. By synthesizing research in sustainable value, generative capacity, and community-based geographic information systems (GIS), we propose that IS can empower communities to create community sustainable value as they face increasing environmental and growth challenges. This surfaces the opportunity for the design and implementation of GIS to reduce information asymmetry, empower communities, and provide a history of decision-making, thereby enabling monitoring of the components of community sustainable value. Community members may incorporate local data, present alternative development/conservation scenarios, and gain a voice in the planning process. As Web-enabled GIS and low-cost analytic systems become accessible, the system design process itself represents an opportunity for situated social action in the formation of community sustainable values. Synthesizing these perspectives, we put forward the view that GIS development and use at a community level is a potentially constructive social process of value formation that can enable communities to envision their own futures.

The ability to imagine our world being arranged along different lines is the first step to achieving sustainability. This skill comes particularly easily to artists and designers, who have been trained to appreciate the unexpected connections among facts, ideas, and images. It also comes more naturally to young people. As designers and teachers, how can we help others take that first step? I argue that museums offer the right settings and tools for opening eyes to seeing new possibilities. Students' personal accounts of their experiences in an art museum demonstrate that private, focused encounters with artifacts from other periods and cultures can trigger the process of seeing the world from new angles. Providing opportunities for business leaders to replicate such experiences of wonder may offer a path to stimulating the innovative thinking so critical for a sustainable future. This chapter argues that cultivating both the imagination and moral artistry are vital to moving from sustainability to achieving sustainable value.

Because it involves the interests of multiple stakeholders, sustainable value is a “wicked problem” that evades definitive formulation and clear solutions. Traditional approaches to problem-solving emphasize formulation of the problem followed by analysis and solution development. However, these approaches are inadequate for solving such problems because of they are so difficult to define. Two ways of approaching wicked problems are discussed: positive design and integrative thinking. Both are more appropriate than linear “formulate-then-solve” approaches, because they emphasize careful reflection and framing, focus on understanding the system as a whole and the needs of its users, and learning. In design, the focus is on deeply understanding users and attempting trial solutions as a means of framing the problem; in integrative thinking, the focus is on exploring the problem by inquiring into the mental models of stakeholders. Tata Motors’ decision to locate its plant in West Bengal was a wicked problem that involved the interests of many stakeholders, and is presented to illustrate the two methods. The failure of this plant location project was extremely costly to Tata and to West Bengal, and it is argued that the decision process would have benefited from either positive design or integrative thinking.

This case is based on 30 interviews with participants in a seven-year sustainability project at a leading North American manufacturer. The project enhanced financial value and positively impacted the natural and organizational environments. The case draws attention to innovative methods to increase non-executive employee engagement in technical innovation for sustainability. In particular, many interviewees noted how eco-action learning had motivated them to persevere. However, their intense commitment also exacted a cost, most significantly in time away from family. The process by which these results were achieved is discussed as an example of “appreciative intelligence” to suggest how leaders and employees can reframe business, connect elevated personal purpose to day-to-day business tasks, and consequently create a more sustainable future.

For decades, the Altiplano farmers of Bolivia had been marginalized by the remoteness of their home and exploitation by the private sector and injustices inflicted by the government. The notion that this impoverished region could sustain economic development might correctly have been described as hopeless. The Altiplano farmers’ inability to develop a sustainable source of income threatened their very cultural identity. The only manner in which the farmers’ culture might be sustained was through charitable donations from international NGOs. But it is exactly in this situation, when obstacles are stacked against success, where appreciative intelligence can provide an avenue to overcome despair. After years of working with NGOs, Javier Hurtado was able to identify a source of value that could provide hope and a path to sustainable development for the Altiplano farmers. This is the story of the impact that one individual's application of appreciative intelligence can have on a community. The Irupana story illustrates how our destinies are shaped by our ability to discover that which is best within ourselves and the communities in which we live. This is the story of Javier Hurtado and Martha Cordero, founders of Irupana Organic Foods located in the Bolivian Altiplano, as they discover the unique potential in the harsh Bolivian landscape and the impoverished peasant farmers that inhabit this setting. Through the framework of appreciative intelligence, the researchers observed the entrepreneurs reframe their circumstances around the positive potential that is within the Altiplano-farming community and its unique natural resources, and create a successful organic foods company.

“Business as usual” has come under heavy scrutiny. The financial crisis has caused many to question the basic premises of the current business system. In the following chapter, I will examine how organizations can cope with the current crisis by creating sustainable value. I propose that businesses learn from a newly emerging field called social entrepreneurship. The concept of social entrepreneurship is discussed and examined for its potential to support for sustainable value creation. A detailed case study of bracNet provides an example of shared-value creation. bracNet is a for-profit enterprise in Bangladesh aiming to close the digital divide globally and regionally. New business models and cross-sectoral partnerships allow bracNet to implement a social and financial value creation strategy. Key for success seems to be the shared ownership of bracNet, by BRAC, a nonprofit organization, and various for-profit entities (including VCs, industrial conglomerates, and hedge funds).

Microfinance is an effective tool for poverty alleviation. The sustainability of microfinance institutions is essential to create desired social impact. The chapter provides insight into how microfinance organizations create sustainable value, using a case study of ACCION San Diego (ACCION SD). The evolution of and progress of ACCION SD is studied through the lens of Appreciative Intelligence framework. A conceptual framework of the appreciative approach to sustainable microfinance is developed and applied to ACCION SD, describing sustaining cycles of success. ACCION SD emerges as an organization with a vision of possibilities, continuously reframing and expanding what is successful. The Appreciative Intelligence of its leadership and innovative programs has led to competitive advantage and sustainable value. The Appreciative Intelligence of its clients reinforces ACCION SD's sustainability. The case study shows that building upon positive possibilities and ability to reframe are important success factors for both clients and microfinance organizations.

Enterprise development and its contribution to societal and economic outcomes are well known. However, limited research into microenterprises and the practices of microfinance and microcredit in developing countries has been carried out. This chapter presents the findings of research based on six years of engagement with the microentrepreneurs of Beira in Mozambique and suggests a model for responsible and sustainable support for enterprise development in developing economies. Building on semistructured interviews, observation, and participatory action research, this research project articulates a new approach supportive of enterprise development, as a process of cocreation with local people and based on sustainability principles. These findings are part of a longitudinal study of the successes and failures of small enterprises and their impact on social and economic activity.

Research indicates that many innovations and social change initiatives fail to achieve their goals. One of the reasons they fail is because leaders lack an effective methodology that effectively engages support, addresses resistance, and integrates and aligns the innovation and change with the existing culture and social structure of the organization. Actor-network theory (ANT) provides a methodology for helping leaders understand and execute their role in leading innovations and social change as well as the role of networks in changing culture and social structure to support innovation and change. This chapter examines ANT as a leadership strategy for creating macro actors (powerful networks) to foster innovation and social change and describes a case study at a major research university of how ANT was used, in conjunction with the scientific method and appreciative inquiry, to enhance sustainable development.