Dr. Maria Jakubik is an active visiting scholar (UK, USA, Italy, France, Spain, Austria, Lithuania, Hungary) and conference participant (EURAM–UK, Estonia, Poland; EDiNEB-The Netherlands, Spain; EIASM–Cyprus; MIC–Croatia, Italy; WMSCI-USA; and Finland). Her research interests focus on Knowledge Management, Employee Engagement, Action Research, Appreciative Inquiry, and Organization Development. Her research papers have been published in the Journal of Knowledge Management, International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, Journal of The Learning Organization, Review of Innovation and Competitiveness - A Journal of Economic and Social Research. Maria has two PhDs (1984 Hungary; 2011 Finland) and an MBA (Finland and USA).

Organizations are living open systems created and developed by people. Appreciative inquiry (AI) changes the attention from problem solving to developing organizations based on their strengths. The life-giving forces (LGFs) of 29 organizations in Finland were determined during a four-year period of research. Data were collected and analysed qualitatively by groups of Master’s students. Altogether 319 interviews were conducted by asking ‘unconditional positive questions’. Discovering what provides joy and happiness for people in work serves as a strong basis for them to dream, design and achieve their own and their organization’s destiny in the future.