In an feature article in the November issue of Training Journal, Liz Mellish guides readers through the Appreciative Inquiry approach, which can result in participants influencing and determining their own preferred futures.
 
"As organisations have evolved from the centralised functional hierarchies of the 1970s, through decentralised business units of the 1980s, to matrix structures of the early 1990s to increasingly networked and ‘starburst’ arrangements for the new millennium, participants have experienced unprecedented turbulence and turmoil. The triggers for these changes aren’t hard to identify: increased competition, global operating environments, technology enablers and emphases on core competence, partnerships and customer service.

The context for the application of OD approaches has changed to a more turbulent and impermanent environment. While there is still reliance on OD basics, considerable attention is being given to new concepts, interventions and areas of application. This second generation OD includes interest in organisational transformation, organisational culture, the learning organisation, teams and their various configurations, total quality management, visioning, and ‘getting the whole system on the room’.