ABSTRACT

This chapter describes evaluative inquiry and seeks to investigate how evaluation approaches that focus on success, which the authors group under the label of "positive thinking" approaches, can contribute to organizational learning. The positive thinking approaches are able to recognize methodological failures, but in the opposite direction. The Appreciative Inquiry learning orientation emerges in opposition to the traditional approaches' orientation toward failure. Approaches dealing with organizations include a methodology for a participatory discovery of success that empowers people and motivates them for future action. The Success Case Method is an approach utilized to evaluate the performance of organizations. The Most Significant Change approach has been devised for the evaluation of development programs. The Positive Deviance approach has been utilized in development programs, especially those concerned with health and nutrition. The evaluation of innovation takes a systems approach. Developmental Evaluation is applied in innovative programs, helping those engaged in innovation to examine the effects of their actions.