What Is Positive Psychology ?

Abstract : An economy in a downward spiral, rising unemployment, anxieties about future job loss, lack of access to affordable health care, a crisis in the financial industry, and declining consumer confidence are among some of the challenges creating significant stress in thelives of workers and their families. What impact are these stressors having on the day-to-day lives of people in the workplace? What role do concepts of positive psychology have in helping people to not only cope more effectively, but open their hearts and minds to move forward with new found confidence, resilience, determination, hope, and vision for a better future? How can workers and their organizations create a more positive and proactive work-place that bridges economic and human goals? The purpose of this article is to examine these questions through an integrative analysis of conceptual and empirical approaches to positive organizational behavior and outcomes. Theory and research covering such areas as self-determining behavior patterns, emotional intelligence, psycho-logic capital, innovation, and workplace change are described, analyzed, and applied to individuals, groups,and the overall organizational system. These themes come together through the concept of a virtuous organization.These organizations have cultures infused with a strongethical–moral foundation and leaders who bring out the best of their employees. Organizations of virtue strive to dowell by doing good and strive to do good by doing well.These organizations succeed by having multiple bottomlines, not just economic ones. As such, they bridge the goals of economic development with human development.

Positive Psychology and the Workplace: An Overview

The impact on the current economic recession on the US workforce has been devastating. Consider the following indicators: The unemployment rate is about 8%, and overthe last year, it has risen by 2.3% points. Nearly 4.5 million jobs have been lost since the recession began around Jan-uary 2008. Beyond job loss, the number of workers forced to work part-time, because they cannot find full-time work, has risen by 3.4 million thus fueling a rise in the under-employment rate to 13.5% in December of 2008 compared to 8.7% a year earlier (Romer and Bernstein 2009).

Behind these grim statistics are workers and their families. The challenges that families face noted earlier com-bine to paint a dark and unnerving picture of today’s realities for a growing percentage of the population.

Among the mental health consequences of unemployment is loss of self-esteem (Bartley 1994) and anxiety and depression that can interfere with a person’s ability toengage in constructive and adaptive behaviors (Linn et al.1985).While there are no quick fixes to these complex and challenging problems, positive psychology, with its for-ward-looking orientation, suggests that the potential for amore hopeful, productive, and satisfying future can emergefor people who are struggling to find their way throughthese tough times, as well as for many others who are some what more secure, but find themselves coasting along without much joy and meaning in their day-to-day work lives.

Hope is the starting point. ‘‘Hope is a good thing; may be the best of things.’’ So stated Andy Dufresne, the heroic fictional character in the Stephen King novel and moviebased on the novel, The Shawshank Redemption. But hope must evolve into action as it did for Andy, as he brilliantly mapped out a plan that led to his eventual escape from prison. And like Andy, many people today are finding themselves in prison, albeit a psychologic one, where people feel trapped and beaten; and like Andy, through nofault of their own.

What kinds of positive emotions can help people envision and create a more hopeful future?

• Positive Emotions
• Hope
• Joy and Gratitude
• Interest, Inspiration and Pride.

Positive Psychology: A Bridge to a Productive, Innovative, and Virtuous Workplace

The discussion to follow is organized around five conceptual themes: (1) strengths, virtues, and self-determination; (2) emotional intelligence (EI) in the workplace; (3)psychologic capital and positive organizational behavior;(4) organizational behavior, innovation, and change; and(5) the virtuous organization.Strengths, Virtues, and Self-Determination.

A good and productive life incorporates the concept of deep and engaging involvement in intrinsically satisfying and motivating activities; referred to as flow, a state in which time stops and self-consciousness is blocked (Csikszentmihalyi 1991; Seligman 2002). The capacity to experience flow can trigger self-determining attitudes and behaviors that can lead to positive work and organizational outcomes. They can also serve as protective mechanisms against many of the externally driven constraints and pressures that would otherwise impede our effectiveness.

This capacity for flow and related self-determining patterns can also be understood from the lens of virtue.

Virtue is about what is good, responsible, and uplifting. A sense of virtue informs and shapes our core values. In the workplace, for example, leaders of virtue make decisions in ways that take into account ethical and moral considerations (Cameron 2003). Whether in our jobs or elsewhere in life, when we are grounded by our core values and principles, we derive a sense of inner strength and confidence that enhances our effectiveness. While obtaining positive feedback, rewards, and recognition for our efforts are welcome sources of validation, we do not have to rely on them to move forward. We have built the capacity to sustain ourselves and move forward even in the absence of support and validation from others.

Conclution

A concept related to the earlier discussion is ‘‘hardiness’’, defined as ‘‘a combination of attitudes that provides the courage and motivation to do the hard, strategic work of turning stressful circumstances from potential disasters into growth opportunities’’ (Maddi 2006, p. 160). The link between hardiness and self-determining capacities is clearly suggested when considering, for example, the role that courage might play in our ability to sustain ourselves through difficult times, be it in the workplace or in other environments, particularly when support is lacking.

The purpose of this article was to identify meaningful connections between concepts of positive psychology and the workplace. In these times of economic upheaval, stress, and uncertainty, great importance was given to the idea that organizations need to develop cultures of virtue, cultures built around principles of integrity, ethics, trust, and respect. Organizations bring out the best in their members by focusing on such positive psychologic concepts as strengths, hope, optimism, self-confidence, self-motivation, resilience, joy, and gratitude. Organizations of virtue strive to do well by doing good, and strive to do good by doing well. They create conditions for their members to thrive and flourish in ways that bridge economic and human development.

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