Building Public Health Capacity through Workplace Forgiveness: An Appreciative Inquiry Approach

With increased emphasis on accreditation, many public health agencies are continuously looking to identify processes for improvement and build organizational capacity. Understanding an organization’s current position and strategic priorities for the future not only meets certain standards set by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAP), but also is fundamental to effective management and organizational success. An assessment of organizational culture provides an understanding of external and internal contexts that shape organizational values and its capacity to function effectively. Research has shown that a climate of forgiveness provides a strategic advantage, acting as both a prosocial and profit force for organizations. Using an Appreciative Inquiry approach, this study explores the concept of forgiveness climate potential and organizational change through questions that strengthen a system’s capacity to apprehend, anticipate, and heighten positive potential. In response to a call from the Illinois Department of Public Health on February 24, 2014 encouraging all local health departments (LHDs) to consider voluntary accreditation, one Illinois LHD served as the measurement target for this study. Using the Workplace Forgiveness Model as a strategic approach to climate research, this study focused on core cultural values, leader attributes and organizational practices that reflect the organization’s goals and provide a basis for forgiveness climate emergence and its sustainability over time. Using an Appreciative Inquiry approach to guide data collection, individual interviews and focus groups were held.  The data was then analyzed to understand the qualities of the organization through which a forgiveness climate could emerge.