Applications of appreciative inquiry in facilitating culture change in the UK NHS

This paper aims to combine and compare the experiences of appreciative inquiry (AI) using AI methods for data creation, collection and analysis to describe a set of “rules of thumb” for the occasions when AI can add value in managing operational and cultural changes in healthcare organisations.

The team that began to introduce AI to King's College Hospital met twice, each time using AI methods to collect and process narrative of their experiences of AI in their work. The eight members recalled as many of the AI‐related experiences and applications in their professional lives as possible, big and small. The data were collected as key points and quotable quotes, and shared for reflection, and a second time to identify and record common features of success and those aspects which seemed to be responsible for that success.

The paper identified ten groups of applications where AI offered solutions superior to others used, or where the currently applied methodology reached an impasse that was resolved by AI. It proposes that these applications are added to the growing list of uses of AI in change management and managing organisational behaviour.

While there are many published descriptions of successful use of AI in organisational development projects, the paper is unable to identify a compendium of practical descriptions of the use of AI. The paper is therefore valuable for anyone in a management or change‐management role with interest and some experience in AI in deciding how to use this methodology from day to day.