September 26, 2019

1:00-2:00 p.m.


Please note: This event is for invited researchers only.

Title:
Appreciative organizing: A construct for understanding positive organization development and change

Talk description:
Within the business world, there is a growing interest in the processes and/or dynamics of positive organizational change. The field of positive organization development (POD)—greatly influenced by the theory and practice of Appreciative Inquiry (AI)—has significantly contributed to this matter. However, most research has been exploratory and qualitative in nature, and there is an absence of measures necessary for theory to evolve from nascent to mature models of POD. Moving from nascent to mature theory requires developing constructs that adequately capture the phenomena under study. This tends to be more difficult in a field that is focused on understanding processes that are dynamic in nature, such as POD. The purpose of this talk is to present an initial version of a scale that measures a construct named appreciative organizing, which has been described as a central process of POD and positive organizational change.

Biography:
Assistant Professor, School of Business and Economics, Universidad del Desarrollo (Chile). I obtained a PhD in Organizational Behavior at Case Western Reserve University in 2017. I am interested in understanding how business organizations can become “positive institutions” through methodologies of organizational development change that can spark innovation for the societal good.

My research interests revolve around the business side of sustainability, positive institutions, organizational culture, organizational change, team development, group dynamics, positive organizational scholarship, and flourishing at work. In 2019, I received the Best Paper Award of the AOM’s Organization Development and Change Division (Boston), and in 2017 I received the Best Paper Award Based on a Dissertation of the AOM’s Organization Development and Change Division (Atlanta).

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ignacio-pavez


Research is the heart of Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS), and we want to make sure that we support each other in developing high quality research. To that end, we created the Adderley Positive Research Incubator for sharing and encouraging POS-related research ideas that are at various stages of development.

Learn more about the Adderley Positive Research Incubator here and direct questions about individual sessions to Amy Young at baldwin@umich.edu.