Appreciative inquiry as a foundation for quality development (English version)

The traditional concept of quality management has the odor of control. Therefore people experience quality management project as threatening and as least as an extra burden. It is often hard to motivate employees in an organization to participate voluntary in quality management projects. A paradigm shift in quality management is necessary. When we focus on the process dimension and continuous development of the organization, it is more appropriate to speak in terms of quality development. The appreciative inquiry approach can be the basis to foster that developmental dimension. The basic principles of AI can reorient as well the meaning of quality as the practices in a way that is motivating all employees in the organization. The real generative principle of AI is the development of relational practices. What really does matter is the way person, from different angles, work together to realize the soma goal: the continuous improvement of the quality of organizational processes and of the personal performance.Appreciative Inquiry; relational practice; quality development; generative principle