Leading whole-school change

Abstract

Drawing from the fields of positional organizational scholarship and educational administration, this study evaluated the effectiveness of an appreciative inquiry (AI) approach in creating change at a large private school, launched with a one-day AI summit. A sample, pre-test, immediate post-test and 4 month post-test design measured changes in positive affect and employee perceptions of the virtues within the organization. Staff reported statistically significant increases in positive affect and organizational virtues following the AI summit. Feelings of enthusiasm, inspiration, strength and attentiveness were significantly higher at the 4-month post-test than at pre-test. Quantitative methods assessed the immediate reactions of staff to the summit, together with focus groups conducted 18 months after. Quantitative analysis highlighted that staff valued the collaborative and positive nature of AI. An 18-month follow-up revealed 12 bottom-up organizational changes resulting from the summit and 3 top-down changes.