Another example of AI is its use during a reorganization. A municipality is faced with a tough decision: put up municipal taxes anywhere from 12-16% or reorganize staff. The mayor and council know that if they put taxes up that high, they will never get through the next election. So they undertake a massive reorganization. Not in the traditional sense, where managers are told to slash budgets, but using Appreciative Inquiry. This was a slightly longer method, but the benefits to the organization were enormous. People were excited about being involved in a project that actually not just meant that they would still be employed; they actually got to make some very important choices.

Using an AI process meant that:

• The city consciously reviewed processes and practices to discover what they were already doing well.
• They proposed different ideas (the dream stage) that included how the organization could be structured in the future.
• They designed a process that included aligning different departments and sections together in different ways to save money, improve results, and save jobs. This included allowing people access to short career-planning programs so that if they were already qualified or nearly qualified to try out new jobs, they could move into new areas.
• They implemented the changes over a gradual period to allow the least amount of disruption to customers and to allow for a suitable transition for staff.