Positive Psychology in Organization

Definition

Positive psychology is about scientifically informed perspectives on what makes the life worth living. It focuses on aspects of the human conditions that lead to happiness, fulfillment and flourishing (The Journal of Positive Psychology, 2006)

Aim of Positive Psychology

The aim of positive psychology is to use scientific methodology to discover and promote the factors that allow individuals, groups, organizations, and communities to thrive. It is concerned with optimal human functioning instead of pathological human functioning.

Historical Perspective • 1954 - The term “positive psychology” first appeared in

Abraham Maslow’s book “Motivation and Personality”• Seligman is widely viewed as “ the father of positive

psychology “• 1988 – Seligman was elected President of the American

Psychological Association (APA). During this term positive psychology became the main theme.

• 1999 – First positive psychology summit was conducted.• 2002 – First international conference on positive psychology

was held.• 2006 – First dedicated Positive psychology journal appeared

( The Journal of Positive psychology)• 2009 – First world congress on Positive Psychology was held.

Implementing positive psychology at workplace

• Creating an environment that is relatively enjoyable and productive. • Creating a work schedule that does not lead to emotional and physical

distress.• Applying positive psychology at workplace is termed as positive

organizational behavior • POB, was coined and defined by Luthans as “the study and application

of positive oriented human resource strengths and psychological capacities that can be measured, developed, and effectively managed for performance improvement in today’s workplace”

• Only those concepts were included in POB which fulfilled the following operational criteria– Based on theory and research– Valid measures– State like– Managed for performance improvement

• Use of positive psychology has obvious implications not only for therapy, well-being, education, family life, social relations, and society at large, but, importantly, also for organizational life and behavior.

• Considerable research evidence depict a significant (almost .3 average correlations in meta-analysis of numerous studies) correlation (also some causal evidence) between health (both physical and mental), relationships (both intimate and social) and work (both performance and satisfaction) or what could be called simply H-R-W well-being.

The H-R-W model shown in Figure indicates that there is an interactive, reciprocal determination between one’s health, relationships, and work

According to Sonja Lyubomirsky one’s happiness (or level of positivity or H-R-W well-being) is determined as follows:

1. About half can be attributed to a genetic, dispositional “hard-wiring” (but not immutable) set point.

2. Only about 10 percent seems to be the result of life’s circumstances.

3. Remaining 40 percent of one’s happiness, positivity, or H-R-W well-being is determined by intentional activity.

POB

Psychological Capital or PsyCap is defined as an individual’s positive psychological state of development that is characterized by:

1. Having confidence (self-efficacy) to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks

2. Making a positive attribution (optimism) about succeeding now and in the future;

3. Persevering toward goals and, when necessary, redirecting paths to goals (hope) in order to succeed; and

4. When beset by problems and adversity, sustaining and bouncing back and even beyond (resiliency) to attain success.

Other positive constructs

Happiness or Subjective Well-Being (SWB)- Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi

• Subjective well-being is a more scientific-sounding term for what people usually mean by happiness.

• SWB is usually considered broader and is defined as people’s affective (moods and emotions) and cognitive evaluations of their lives.

SWB at work place• In particular, SWB has demonstrated a direct correlation to

job satisfaction. A meta-analysis of 34 studies found an average correlation of .44 between job satisfaction and life satisfaction. It was found that SWB was a significant predictor of job satisfaction. People who are satisfied with their lives tend to find more satisfaction in their work

• On average, happy workers make more money, receive more promotions and better supervisor ratings, and are better citizens at work

• Organizations such as Toyota, the American Red Cross, Sprint Nextel, and David’s Bridal have launched training programs for their employees based on happiness principles.

Emotional intelligence

• Emotional intelligence is a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action (Salovey & Mayer, 1990)

• EI can be defined as the array of skills and characteristics that drive leadership performance (Goleman 1995)

MODELS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCEEm

otion

al In

telli

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Ability Model

Competency Model

Trait Model

The Ability Model of Emotional Intelligence

Salovey and Mayer’s(1990) original model described emotional intelligence as “a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions”.

The four branch model of emotional intelligence describes four areas of capacities or skills which collectively describe many areas of emotional intelligence (Mayer & Salovey, 1997).

The Four Branches of Emotional Intelligence

• Perceiving Emotions: The ability to perceive emotions in oneself and others as well as in objects, art, stories, music and other stimuli.

• Facilitating Thought: The ability to generate, use, and feel emotion as necessary to communicate feelings or employ them in other cognitive processes.

• Understanding Emotions: The ability to understand emotional information, to understand how emotions combine and progress through relationship transitions and to appreciate such emotional meanings.

• Managing Emotions: The ability to be open to feelings and to modulate them in oneself and others so as to promote personal understanding and growth.

Competency Model of Emotional Intelligence

Accordingly to Goleman (1995) emotional intelligence consists of “abilities such as being able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustrations; to control impulse and delay gratification: to regulate one’s moods and keep distress from swamping the ability to think; to empathize, and to hope”.In 1998, Goleman defined emotional intelligence in terms of self awareness, self confidence, self control, commitment and integrity, and a person’s ability to communicate, influence, initiate change and accept change.Based on extensive research, Goleman (1995, 1998) has proposed five dimensions of emotional intelligence consisting of 25 competencies namely,

Competencies of EI according to Goleman

• Self awareness: a emotional self awareness, b. accurate self assessment, and c. self confidence.

• Self regulation: a self control, b. trustworthiness, c. conscientiousness, d. adaptability, and e. innovation.

• Self motivation: a achievement drive, b. commitment, c. initiative, and d. optimism.

• Empathy: a. understanding of others, b. developing others, c. service orientation, d. leveraging diversity and e. political awareness, and

• Social skills: a influence b. communication, c. conflict management, d. leadership, e. change catalyst, f. building bond, g. collaboration and cooperation, and h. team capabilities.

Trait Model of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional-social intelligence is a cross-section of interrelated emotional and social competencies, skills and facilitators that determine how effectively we understand and express ourselves, understand others and relate with them, and cope with daily demands (Bar-On 2004).

The emotional and social competencies, skills and facilitators referred in this conceptualization include the five key

components.(a) The ability to recognize, understand and express emotions

and feelings(b) The ability to understand how others feel and relate with

them(c) The ability to manage and control emotions(d) The ability to manage change, adapt and solve problems of

a personal and interpersonal nature(e) The ability to generate positive affect and be self-

motivated.

Emotional Intelligence and work related performance

• Competency research in over two hundred companies and organizations worldwide has suggested that about one-third of the difference in efficiency is due to technical skill and cognitive ability while two-thirds is due to emotional competence (Goleman, 1998).

• Emotional intelligence distinguished between star performers and average performers (Spencer,1997).

• Derman (1999) showed that emotional intelligence was highly and significantly related with business success.

Emotional Intelligence and Leadership

• Stone and Park (2005) found that above average leadership group scored higher on emotional intelligence, self awareness, self actualization, flexibility, impulse control and problem solving as compared to below average leadership group.

• 67% of success of a leader is determined by emotional social intelligence (Bar-On, 2005) and 80% of exceptional performance can be accounted on the basis of emotional intelligence (Goleman,1998).

• Punia (1994, 1995) found that the leaders with higher emotional intelligence see changes as opportunities, cherish ongoing development of individual workers and organization and create a climate in which information sharing, trust, health, risk-taking and learning flourish.

The Impact of EI on Organizational Effectiveness

• Employee recruitment and retention• Development of talent• Teamwork• Employee commitment, morale, and health• Innovation• Productivity• Efficiency• Sales• Revenues• Quality of service• Customer loyalty• Client or student outcomes

Work LIFE Balance

• “Work-life balance is the individual perception that work and non-work activities are compatible and promote growth in accordance with an individual’s current life priorities”. (Kalliath & Brough, 2008)

• The work-life balance strategy offers a variety of means to reduce stress levels and increase job satisfaction in the employee while enhancing business benefits for the employer.

Work-life balance is increasingly an issue, because:• More women and single parents go into work;• Many people have more than one job;• Workforce is growing older;• Businesses continue to compete globally to hire skilled

workers;• Technology changes the way we work e.g. mobile phones

and PCs disguise the distinction between work and personal time;

• Many people have to deal with time pressure and a shrinking workplace.

Work–life conflict

• Form of inter-role conflict in which work and family demands are mutually incompatible so that meeting demands in one domain makes it difficult to meet demands in the other (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000; Greenhaus & Beutell 1985).

• Work-to-family conflict occurs when experiences at work interfere with family life, like extensive, irregular, or inflexible work hours, work overload and other forms of job stress, interpersonal conflict at work, extensive travel, career transitions, unsupportive supervisor or organization. For example, an unexpected meeting late in the day may prevent a parent from picking up his or her child from school.

• Family-to-work conflict occurs when experiences in the family interfere with work life like presence of young children, primary responsibility for children, elder care responsibilities, interpersonal conflict within the family unit, unsupportive family members. For example, a parent may take time off from work in order to take care of a sick child.

TYPESThree types of work-family conflict have been identified. Each of these types can occur in both directions, family to work, and work to family.• Time-based occurs when the amount of time devoted to

fulfilling obligations in one domain reduces the amount of time available to perform roles in other domains.

• Strain-based occurs when psychological strain or fatigue is experienced in one role and therefore hinders performance or exploits resources which would be otherwise available for another role.

• Behavior-based refers to specific patterns of in-role behavior that may be incompatible with expectations regarding behavior in another role.

CONSEQUENCES

Allen, Herst, Bruck, and Sutton (2000) describe three categories of consequences related to WFC: • Work-related outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction or job

performance), • Non-work-related outcomes (e.g., life or family satisfaction),

and• Stress-related outcomes (e.g., depression or substance

abuse).

Benefits of employee work life balance

• Maximized available labor:;• Loyal and motivated workforce• Less stressful environment• A wider range of candidates will be attracted• Productivity increases• Reduced absenteeism• Teamwork and involvement

Current Practices

• Wellness programs or pay for their employees’ gym membership as part of a benefits package.

• Some companies invite fitness trainers or yoga instructors into the office to hold lunchtime sessions. 

• Undertake initiatives to improve employees’ healthy eating habits.

• Offer stress management programs which include stretching, yoga, counseling, as well as bringing in Registered Massage Therapists to work. 

• Flextime: Choose their daily starting and ending times within a given time called bandwidth. E.g. Hewlitt Packard, IBM

• Compressed workweek: compressing the workweek into fewer days

• Job sharing: splitting of a full time position between two people, in which each works part time

• Telecommuting: work from home or off-site, Hewlitt Packard• PepsiCo- concierge service (oil change, baby sitter etc.)• Eastman Kodak – Humor room• Ben & Jerry’s- Joy gang-plan parties etc.

Self

Factual description of how one perceives oneself

Self-esteem Self efficacy Self confidence

Self Esteem

Regard or respect that a person has for oneself. It is a general feelings of self-worth or

self-value

Responsibility, Goal Commitment,

Genuineness, Forgiving, Internal Values, Positivity, Self Improvement

Self Efficacy

Person's belief in their ability to accomplish some specific goal or

task. It generally corresponds to the

level of competence an individual feels.

Self confidence, Accurate self evaluation,

Willingness to take risks, Sense of

accomplishment

Self Confidence

Combination of self-esteem and general self-efficacy. Belief in

one's personal worth and likelihood

of succeeding

Self Assured, Ambitious, Sociable,

Competitive, Risk Taking, Hard

Working, Determined,

Accepting, Positive