The purpose of this master thesis has been to explore how Appreciative Inquiry can be used in chemical engineering. The aim has been to develop an appreciative process model for chemical product development.

A theoretical approach has been used to investigate four organizational subsystems; people, structure, task, and technology, for the potential of using Appreciative Inquiry in each of them, and to turn the obtained knowledge into suggestions on how to use Appreciative Inquiry in chemical engineering.

It has been discovered that Appreciative Inquiry is capable of creating a new approach to involve and develop people in organizations, to design organizational structures and processes, and to shape the purpose of organizations. It has also been found that the conventional process for chemical product development has a potential for improvement based on appreciative approach.

The conclusion was that Appreciative Inquiry can be applied in chemical product development; either by using appreciative methods within the conventional process or by using the appreciative process model which is developed in the report.