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Positive Psychology Coaching and Industrial-Organisational Psychology: Blending the Science of Human Flourishing to Build Sustainable Enterprise for an Unpredictable Future
Abstract
Industrial-Organisational Psychology is a specialised discipline within Psychology that was pioneered in the United States of America in the early 1900s by Psychologists Hugo Münsterberg and Walter Dill Scott. Broadly speaking, organisational psychology is a field of research, study and practice that applies the scientific methods and principles of psychology to organisations. Simply, Organisational Psychology concerns itself with how we perceive and experience organisations and how we think, feel, behave and interact within them. As Positive Psychology Coaching (PPC) is an intervention that elicits improvements in well-being, goal attainment and sustainable performance, it is invaluable to contemporary Organisational Psychology practice. This chapter examines the importance of PPC in supporting the growth, development and sustainable contribution of individuals and the organisations that they create. In addition, it explores this process as it relates to enterprise leadership and culture and their role in nurturing productive and flourishing organisations for the future. It will explore historical approaches and practices and how these have helped and/or hindered individual well-being and performance and propose a series of evidence-based considerations for optimising well-being and performance within a radically transformed social, commercial and industrial landscape following the 2020 global COVID-19 pandemic.
... Comparatively, most behavioral health coaches are professionally trained and committed to increasing clients' introspection on their needs and goals after accounting for their background factors (eg, specific vulnerabilities, working habits, communication styles, and content of stressors) [46]. Even for flourishing clients with minimal needs, behavioral health coaches could leverage their character strengths and encourage positive habit formation to maintain wellness [82,83]. Although it is beyond the scope of this study, future comparative research may consider delineating the mechanisms that derive higher preventive effectiveness in BHC as compared with self-help interventions. ...
Background
Researchers have recently proposed that behavioral health coaching (BHC) is effective in promoting proactive care among employees. However, to qualify as a preventive workplace intervention, more research is needed to evaluate whether BHC can further elevate well-being among moderately mentally healthy employees.
Objective
Using real-world data, this study evaluates the preliminary effectiveness of app-based BHC against a nonrandomized control group with open access to self-help tools in improving well-being (ie, mood levels and perceived stress). The study also explores the active ingredients of BHC and dose-response associations between the number of BHC sessions and well-being improvements.
Methods
Employees residing across Asia-Pacific countries (N=1025; mean age 30.85, SD 6.97 y) who reported moderately positive mood and medium levels of perceived stress in their first week of using the mental health app Intellect were included in this study. Users who were given access by their organizations to Intellect’s BHC services were assigned to the “Coaching” condition (512/1025, 49.95%; mean age 31.09, SD 6.87 y), whereas other employees remained as “Control” participants (513/1025, 50.05%; mean age 30.61, SD 7.06 y). To evaluate effectiveness, monthly scores from the validated mood and stress sliders were aggregated into a composite well-being score and further examined using repeated-measure conditional growth models. Postcoaching items on “Perceived Usefulness of the BHC session” and “Working Alliance with my Coach” were examined as active ingredients of BHC using 1-1-1 multilevel mediation models. Finally, 2-way repeated-measure mixed ANOVA models were conducted to examine dose-response effects on well-being improvements between groups (coaching and control) across time.
Results
Growth curve analyses revealed significant time by group interaction effects for composite well-being, where “Coaching” users reported significantly greater improvements in well-being than “Control” participants across time (composite well-being: F1,391=6.12; ηp2=0.02; P=.01). Among “Coaching” participants, dependent-sample 2-tailed t tests revealed significant improvements in composite well-being from baseline to 11 months (t512=1.98; Cohen d=0.17; P=.049). Improvements in “Usefulness of the BHC session” (β=.078, 95% Cl .043-.118; P<.001) and “Working Alliance” (β=.070, 95% Cl .037-.107; P<.001) fully mediated within-level well-being enhancements over time. Comparing against baseline or first month scores, significant time by group interactions were observed between the second and sixth months, with the largest effect size observed at the fifth month mark (first month vs fifth month: F1,282=15.0; P<.001; ηp2=0.051).
Conclusions
We found preliminary evidence that BHC is an effective preventive workplace intervention. Mobile-based coaching may be a convenient, cost-effective, and scalable means for organizations and governments to boost public mental health.
The study of heuristics and biases in judgment has been criticized in several publications by G. Gigerenzer, who argues that “biases are not biases” and “heuristics are meant to explain what does not exist” (1991, p. 102). This article responds to Gigerenzer's critique and shows that it misrepresents the authors' theoretical position and ignores critical evidence. Contrary to Gigerenzer's central empirical claim, judgments of frequency—not only subjective probabilities—are susceptible to large and systematic biases. A postscript responds to Gigerenzer's (1996) reply.
An integrative model of change was applied to the study of 872 Ss (mean age 40 yrs) who were changing their smoking habits on their own. Ss represented the following 5 stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, action, maintenance, and relapse. 10 processes of change were expected to receive differential emphases during particular stages of change. Results indicate that Ss (a) used the fewest processes of change during precontemplation; (b) emphasized consciousness raising during the contemplation stage; (c) emphasized self-reevaluation in both contemplation and action stages; (d) emphasized self-liberation, a helping relationship, and reinforcement management during the action stage; and (e) used counterconditioning and stimulus control the most in both action and maintenance stages. Relapsers responded as a combination of contemplaters and people in action would. Results are discussed in terms of developing a model of self-change of smoking and enhancing a more integrative general model of change. (14 ref)
This study validated a 10-item COVID-19 Burnout Scale (COVID-19-BS) to measure burnout associated with COVID-19. Participants were 402 Turkish adults (76.4% female; Meanage = 27.37 ± 8.90). Factor analytic approach yielded a one-factor solution, with high internal consistency reliability. Mediation analysis showed that COVID-19 stress predicted resilience and COVID-19 burnout. Resilience predicted COVID-19 burnout. The relationship between COVID-19 burnout and COVID-19 stress was partially mediated by resilience. Findings suggest that the COVID-19-BS is a psychometrically sound scale to measure burnout related to COVID-19. Findings also elucidate our understanding of the role of resilience in the relationship between stress and burnout related to COVID-19.
The development of academic fields is often described through the metaphor of ‘waves.’ Following the instantiation of positive psychology (the first wave), scholarship emerged looking critically at the notions of positive and negative, becoming known as its second wave. More recently, we discern an equally significant shift, namely scholarship that in various ways goes beyond the individual and embraces greater complexity. This includes going beyond the individual person as the primary focus of enquiry to look more deeply at the groups and systems in which people are embedded. It also involves becoming more interdisciplinary and multicultural, and embracing a wider range of methodologies. We submit that these interrelated ripples constitute a form of epistemological ‘broadening’ that merit the label of an incoming ‘third wave.’ This paper identifies the key dynamics of this wave, allowing appreciation not only of the field’s leading edge, but also its developmental potential into the future.
As positive psychologists learn more about what makes people feel happier, more productive, and more connected, it is natural to wonder how these lessons can be applied to our younger citizens. In this paper, we use data from a series of intervention studies to highlight several challenges of testing positive interventions in educational contexts, such as validity threats related to school events. Strategies for addressing these issues include having a control group, measuring proximal outcomes, and measuring or manipulating contextual factors. This work could help researchers more effectively test methods of promoting well-being among youth.
A moral conundrum for philosophy of coaching is the noticeable parallel between the growth of the coaching industry and the unprecedented growth of mental health issues in western societies. Even if wellbeing of employees is not the only purpose of coaching interventions, they should at least not in any way be responsible for its undermining. Unfortunately, a number of 'beautiful ideas' which have become thematic in the coaching industry may be playing a detrimental role at both the personal level and for wellbeing of society as a whole. In this paper we focus on three: 'Positive Psychology', 'Mindfulness', and 'Transformational Coaching'. On the face of it these 'beautiful ideas' appear to be unquestionably beneficial. However, they have been largely accepted into the mainstream thinking of coaches without too much critical consideration. The aim of this paper is to explore the shadow side of these beautiful ideas for the wellbeing of people in organisations and the role of coaching in relation to them. Our intention is to start a challenging conversation about a paradoxical situation in which that which is meant to scaffold our wellbeing initiatives may be making significant contributions to a lack of wellbeing.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is currently a global health threat attributed to negatively affecting the mental health and well-being of people globally. The purpose of the present study is to examine the mediating role of optimism-pessimism and psychological inflexibility in the relationship of coronavirus stress with psychological problems among Turkish adults. The sample of the study included 451 adults (55% women). Participants mainly consisted of young adults with a mean age of 23.30 years, ranging from 18 to 65 years (SD= 6.97). A mediation model indicated that coronavirus stress had a significant predictive effect on optimism-pessimism, psychological inflexibility, and psychological problems. Further, optimism-pessimism and psychological inflexibility mediated the effect of coronavirus stress on psychological problems in adults. Lastly, optimism-pessimism predicted the psychological problems of adults through psychological inflexibility. These results elucidate our understanding of the role of mediators in coronavirus stress and psychological health problems. The findings are useful in terms of providing evidence for tailoring interventions and implementing preventative approaches to mitigate the psychopathological consequences of COVID-19. Based on the present findings, the potential utility of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is discussed within the context of COVID-19.
Despite the popularity of the term Positive Psychological Coaching within the literature, there is no consensus as to how it should be defined (framed) or what the components of a positive coaching “model” should include. The aim of this systematic review was to define positive psychological coaching and to construct a clear demarcated positive psychological coaching model based on the literature. A systematic literature review led to the extraction of 2,252 records. All records were screened using specific inclusion/exclusion criteria, which resulted in the exclusion of records based on duplicates (n = 1,232), titles (n = 895), abstracts (n = 78), and criteria violations (n = 23). Twenty-four academic, peer-reviewed publications on positive psychological coaching were included. Data relating to conceptual definitions and coaching models/phases/frameworks were extracted and processed through thematic content analysis. Our results indicate that positive psychological coaching can be defined as a short to medium term professional, collaborative relationship between a client and coach, aimed at the identification, utilization, optimization, and development of personal strengths and resources in order to enhance positive states, traits and behaviors. Utilizing Socratic goal setting and positive psychological evidence-based approaches to facilitate personal growth, optimal functioning, enhanced wellbeing, and the actualization of people's potential. Further, eight critical components of a positive psychological coaching model were identified and discussed. The definition and coaching process identified in this study will provide coaches with a fundamental positive psychological framework for optimizing people's potential.
This is a preview PDF to book including foreword, preface, Chapter 1 and references.
Positive Psychology Coaching in Practice provides a comprehensive overview of positive psychology coaching, bringing together the best of science and practice, highlighting current research, and emphasising the applicability of each element to coaching. With an international range of contributors, this book is a unique resource for those seeking to integrate positive psychology into their evidence-based coaching practice. Beginning with an overview of positive psychology coaching, the book includes an assessment of theories of wellbeing, an examination of mindfulness research, a guide to relevant neuroscience, and a review of a strengths-based approach. It also contains chapters that explore the application of ACT, the role of positive psychology in wellness and resilience coaching, positive leadership theory, and developmental psychological theories as they relate to coaching through significant life transitions. In each chapter, theory and research is thoroughly explored and applied directly to coaching practice and is supported with a list of relevant resources and a case study. The book concludes with the editors' views on the future directions of positive psychology coaching. Positive Psychology Coaching in Practice will be essential reading for professional coaches in practice and in training seeking to enhance their evidence-based practice; coaching psychologists; practitioners of positive psychology; and academics and students of coaching, coaching psychology, and positive psychology. Suzy Green is a clinical and coaching psychologist based in Australia. She is a leader in the fields of coaching psychology and positive psychology and is the founder of Sydney-based The Positivity Institute, dedicated to the research and application of positive psychology.
This article deals with the contribution of positive psychology to coaching psychology in the organizational contexts. First, the current situation of coaching in the world of work is outlined. Many are the “savage” applications of so-called “coaching” in the organizations: The chaos that reigns in this field is stigmatized. It is therefore necessary to identify the “psychological” coaching to define in a serious way the scientific–professional field. Positive psychology could offer to coaching psychology an interesting perspective, but at the same time, we have to avoid trivializing. Seeing only the “positive” aspects of organizational situations of the people at work—as if there were no hardships, sufferings, and serious problems in their organizational life—could drastically reduce the effectiveness of coaching; pros and cons of positive psychology applied to coaching are then outlined.
Objectives
To synthesise the available evidence on interventions designed to improve individual resilience.
Design
A systematic review and meta-analysis
Methods
The following electronic databases were searched: Ovid Medline, Ovid EMBASE, PsycINFO, Ovid Cochrane and WHO Clinical Trials Registry in order to identify any controlled trials or randomised controlled trials (RCTs) examining the efficacy of interventions aimed at improving psychological resilience. Pooled effects sizes were calculated using the random-effects model of meta-analysis.
Outcome measures
Valid and reliable measures of psychological resilience.
Results
Overall, 437 citations were retrieved and 111 peer-reviewed articles were examined in full. Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria and were subject to a quality assessment, with 11 RCTs being included in the final meta-analysis. Programmes were stratified into one of three categories (1) cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)-based interventions, (2) mindfulness-based interventions or (3) mixed Interventions, those combining CBT and Mindfulness training. A meta-analysis found a moderate positive effect of resilience interventions (0.44 (95% CI 0.23 to 0.64) with subgroup analysis suggesting CBT-based, mindfulness and mixed interventions were effective.
Conclusions
Resilience interventions based on a combination of CBT and mindfulness techniques appear to have a positive impact on individual resilience.
Almost 20 years after McKinsey introduced the idea of a war for talent, technology is disrupting the talent identification industry. From smartphone profiling apps to workplace big data, the digital revolution has produced a wide range of new tools for making quick and cheap inferences about human potential and predicting future work performance. However, academic industrial–organizational (I-O) psychologists appear to be mostly spectators. Indeed, there is little scientific research on innovative assessment methods, leaving human resources (HR) practitioners with no credible evidence to evaluate the utility of such tools. To this end, this article provides an overview of new talent identification tools, using traditional workplace assessment methods as the organizing framework for classifying and evaluating new tools, which are largely technologically enhanced versions of traditional methods. We highlight some opportunities and challenges for I-O psychology practitioners interested in exploring and improving these innovations.
Positive psychology has tended to be defined in terms of a concern with ‘positive’ psychological qualities and states. However, critics of the field have highlighted various problems inherent in classifying phenomena as either ‘positive’ or ‘negative.’ For instance, ostensibly positive qualities (e.g., optimism) can sometimes be detrimental to wellbeing, whereas apparently negative processes (like anxiety) may at times be conducive to it. As such, over recent years, a more nuanced ‘second wave’ of positive psychology has been germinating, which explores the philosophical and conceptual complexities of the very idea of the ‘positive.’ The current paper introduces this emergent second wave by examining the ways in which the field is developing a more subtle understanding of the ‘dialectical’ nature of flourishing (i.e., involving a complex and dynamic interplay of positive and negative experiences). The paper does so by problematizing the notions of positive and negative through seven case studies, including five salient dichotomies (such as optimism versus pessimism) and two complex processes (posttraumatic growth and love). These case studies serve to highlight the type of critical, dialectical thinking that characterises this second wave, thereby outlining the contours of the evolving field.
Orientation: Organisations will not be able to maintain a competitive advantage by merely focusing on the development of their employees' weaknesses. Employees should also be provided with sufficient job resources and opportunities to develop and use their strengths, as this could lead to work engagement. Research purpose: To test a structural model of job resources, perceived organisational support for strengths use, proactive behaviour towards strengths use and work engagement amongst South African employees. Motivation for the study: To gain more knowledge and a better understanding of the outcomes of following an organisational and individual strength-based approach focused on the use of strengths within the South African context. Research approach, design and method: A quantitative approach with cross-sectional research design was used. An availability sample (N = 401) of employees from various occupational groups in South Africa was used. Structural equation modelling was used to test the model. Main findings: The results indicated that perceived organisational support for strengths use and employees' proactive behaviour towards strengths use were strongly and positively associated with work engagement in the structural model. Practical/managerial implications: Knowledge of using strengths from an organisational and individual perspective could assist organisations in gaining a better understanding of the relationship with work engagement. Contribution/value-add: This study adds to the limited research on using strengths from both an organisational and individual perspective and possible outcomes within the South African context. © 2014. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS OpenJournals. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
This chapter presents a conceptual refiguration of action-research based on a "sociorationalist" view of science. The position that is developed can be summarized as follows: For action-research to reach its potential as a vehicle for social innovation it needs to begin advancing theoretical knowledge of consequence; that good theory may be one of the best means human beings have for affecting change in a postindustrial world; that the discipline's steadfast commitment to a problem-solving view of the world acts as a primary constraint on its imagination and contribution to knowledge; that appreciative inquiry represents a viable complement to conventional forms of action-research; and finally, that through our assumptions and choice of method we largely create the world we later discover.
Flexible work schedules such as flextime, telework, or compressed work weeks, are examples of increasing variation in the timing and duration of work hours, and the location of work. While standard work schedules have traditionally been the norm in organizations; growing numbers of employers are experimenting with a wide range of flexible work schedules at the same time as they are transforming employment systems and work processes across time zones and cultures. The increasing proliferation of flexible and more varied work schedules for organizational members is not only a U.S., but a global employment phenomenon (Jacobs, Gerson, & Gornick, 2004).
Leadership training and development is big business; in the United States alone, it has doubled over the past 15 years to become a $14 billion industry. Consulting psychologists have benefited greatly from this explosive growth. Nonetheless, citizens around the world lack confidence in public and private sector leaders, and organizations are worried that they do not have enough good leaders. We discuss two fundamental problems contributing to the apparent failure of the leadership industry and explain how the field of consulting psychology is positioned to address them. There is a significant opportunity for consulting psychologists to steer the leadership industry in a more constructive direction—if they have the courage to do so. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
Orientation: This theoretical opinion-based paper represents a critical reflection on the relevance of industrial psychology.
Research purpose: Against a historical-developmental background of the discipline, the inquiry questions its goodness of fit, that is its contribution to organisation and society.
Motivation for the study: Regular introspection in the discipline ensures that it remains relevant in both science and practice. As such, such introspection calls for a meta-theoretical imperative, to ensure that industrial psychology is fully aware of how the theoretical models applied in the discipline influence people and the society that they form part of.
Research design, approach and method: The question of industrial psychology’s potential fit for goodness that is broader than what is merely good for the organisation and its employees is explored with a view to enhancing its relevance. The exploration is conducted through the utilisation of theoretical argumentation in which industrial psychology is analysed in terms of contextual considerations that require the discipline to evaluate its real versus its potential contribution to society.
Main findings: It is found that the fit is limited to its relevance for inwardly focused organisational behaviour due to its endorsement of the instrumental (strategic) motives of organisations that subscribe to an owner and/or shareholder agenda.
Practical/managerial implications: In light of the main finding, industrial psychology’s potential fit for goodness is explored with a view to enhancing its relevance in an era of goodness. The creation of a scientific and practical interface between industrial psychology and business ethics is suggested to facilitate movement away from a descriptive approach.
Contribution/value-add: The heuristics of reflection, reform, research and resources are suggested to facilitate movement towards a normative (multiple stakeholder) paradigm aimed at broad based goodness and sustainability.
The current work replicated a landmark study conducted by Seligman and colleagues (2005) that demonstrated the long-term benefits of positive psychology exercises (PPEs). In the original study, two exercises administered over 1 week ("Three Good Things" and "Using your Signature Strengths in a New Way") were found to have long-lasting effects on depression and happiness (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005).
These exercises were tested here using the same methodology except for improvements to the control condition, and the addition of a second "positive placebo" to isolate the common factor of accessing positive, self-relevant constructs. This component control design was meant to assess the effect of expectancies for success (expectancy control), as well the cognitive access of positive information about the self (positive placebo).
Repeated measures analyses showed that the PPEs led to lasting increases in happiness, as did the positive placebo. The PPEs did not exceed the control condition in producing changes in depression over time.
Brief, positive psychology interventions may boost happiness through a common factor involving the activation of positive, self-relevant information rather than through other specific mechanisms. Finally, the effects of PPEs on depression may be more modest than previously assumed.
Positive education is defined as education for both traditional skills and for happiness. The high prevalence worldwide of depression among young people, the small rise in life satisfaction, and the synergy between learning and positive emotion all argue that the skills for happiness should be taught in school. There is substantial evidence from well controlled studies that skills that increase resilience, positive emotion, engagement and meaning can be taught to schoolchildren. We present the story of teaching these skills to an entire school—Geelong Grammar School—in Australia, and we speculate that positive education will form the basis of a ‘new prosperity’, a politics that values both wealth and well‐being.
This article explores three ways in which the positive psychology movement’s construction and presentation of itself are negative. First, the negative side is construed as the negative side effects of positive psychology’s dominant, separatist message. Second, the negative side is construed as the negativity that can be found within the positive psychology movement. Here the author elaborates on the negative or dismissive reactions of some spokespersons for the movement to ideas or views that run counter to the movement’s dominant message: (a) negativity about negativity itself, which is explored by way of research in health psychology and coping styles; and (b) negativity about the wrong kind of positivity, namely, allegedly unscientific positivity, especially that which Seligman purports to find within humanistic psychology. This constitutes an epistemological position that contributes to “reality problems” for positive psychologists. The author concludes with the implications of positive psychology’s “Declaration of Independence” for psychology’s much discussed fragmentation woes. She appeals to the wisdom of William James for guidance in finding a third, more positive meaning of positive psychology’s negative side. This third meaning can be gleaned from a not-yet-dominant but more integrative message emerging within the movement, one compatible with the reactions of some humanistic psychologists to positive psychology.
This review traces the development of survey research methods within the organizational culture tradition and focuses specifically on those instruments that measure the aspects of culture that are related to organizational effectiveness. Our review suggests that the reliability and validity of most instruments in this category is quite limited. This review outlines the recommended logic for the development and validation of culture effectiveness surveys and identifies three key challenges for future culture researchers to address: (1) the confirmatory testing of nested models, (2) the guidelines for aggregating data to the organizational level, and (3) the establishing of criterion-related validity. Using data from the Denison Organizational Culture Survey, we present an empirical illustration of the three challenges identified above and conclude by considering limitations and opportunities for future research.
Two studies were conducted to validate the so-called HEalthy and Resilient Organization (HERO) Model. Results from Study 1 provided validity and psychometric support for a new measure designed to assess HEROs composed by semistructured interviews with the CEOs of 14 companies as well as questionnaires for their stakeholders (710 employees, 84 work-units, their immediate supervisors, and 860 customers). In Study 2, SEM (using data aggregated at the work-unit level, which consisted of 303 teams and their supervisors from 43 companies) showed that healthy employees fully mediated the positive relationship between healthy organizational resources and practices, and healthy organizational outcomes (assessed by supervisors). Moreover, regression analyses (at the organizational level, with 2,098 customers) showed that employees’ excellent performance positively predicts customer loyalty and satisfaction with the company.
Executive coaching has exploded in popularity over the past decade and has many passionate advocates, including coaches, participants who have personally benefited from coaching, and their organizational sponsors who have seen the transformational power of coaching firsthand. Yet there is still considerable debate about such fundamental issues as the definition and effectiveness of coaching, the competencies and qualifications of effective coaches, and how to match coaches and participants. This chapter examines these and other issues important to coaches, researchers, users of coaching services, and those who train coaches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The positive psychology movement seems to have stimulated new research and applications well beyond the discipline of traditional psychology. Among various areas of inquiry, research and scholarship about positive organizations has received considerable attention from both researchers and practitioners. The current review examined the scholarly literature published between 2001-2009 on positive organizational psychology to provide a detailed picture of the current state of the field. This review sought to discover the overall growth rate, trends, and prevalent topics in the literature. It also aspired to provide an understanding of the empirical evidence for each topic through in-depth reviews. The findings suggest there is a growing body of scholarly literature and an emerging empirical evidence base on topics related to positive organizations. Strengths, limitations, and implications of building a practical knowledge base for making significant improvements in the quality of working life and organizational effectiveness are discussed.
This review argues for the development of a Positive Clinical Psychology, which has an integrated and equally weighted focus on both positive and negative functioning in all areas of research and practice. Positive characteristics (such as gratitude, flexibility, and positive emotions) can uniquely predict disorder beyond the predictive power of the presence of negative characteristics, and buffer the impact of negative life events, potentially preventing the development of disorder. Increased study of these characteristics can rapidly expand the knowledge base of clinical psychology and utilize the promising new interventions to treat disorder through promoting the positive. Further, positive and negative characteristics cannot logically be studied or changed in isolation as (a) they interact to predict clinical outcomes, (b) characteristics are neither "positive" or "negative", with outcomes depending on specific situation and concomitant goals and motivations, and (c) positive and negative well-being often exist on the same continuum. Responding to criticisms of the Positive Psychology movement, we do not suggest the study of positive functioning as a separate field of clinical psychology, but rather that clinical psychology itself changes to become a more integrative discipline. An agenda for research and practice is proposed including reconceptualizing well-being, forming stronger collaborations with allied disciplines, rigorously evaluating the new positive interventions, and considering a role for clinical psychologists in promoting well-being as well as treating distress.
Strategic Management Concepts & Cases
Coaching facilitates the learning, growth, and performance of clients. This process is a natural fit for positive psychology intervention because of a shared emphasis on positive topics such as optimism, strengths, and motivation. Over the past 15 years in the field, the author’s opinions about positive psychology coaching have evolved. This paper outlines his current thinking, highlights how this thinking differs from earlier thoughts and offers practitioners specific issues for consideration. These include (A) creating conditions that will enhance the success of positive psychology interventions in coaching, (B) avoiding prescriptiveness, (C) accessing a wide range of positive psychological science to inform practice, and D) taking an ethical approach to intervention.
Discover proven strategies for applying positive psychology within your coaching practice. Written by Robert Biswas-Diener, a respected researcher, psychologist, life and organizational coach, and expert in positive psychology, Practicing Positive Psychology Coaching presents a wide range of practical interventions and tools you can put to use right away in your coaching practice. Each intervention is clearly outlined and, where appropriate, illustrated by case studies from organizational and life coaching. Providing unique assessments that can be used to evaluate client resources and goals, this practical guide introduces tools unique to this book that every professional can use in their practice, including: Findings from new research on goal commitment strategies, motivation, growth-mindset theory, and goal revision. A decision tree for working specifically with Snyder's Hope Theory in the coaching context. An easy-to-use assessment of "positive diagnosis," which measures client strengths, values, positive orientation toward the future, and satisfaction. Measures of self-esteem, optimism, happiness, personal strengths, motivation, and creativity. Guidance for leading clients through organizational and common life transitions including layoffs, leadership changes, university graduation, middle age, and retirement.
Positive Psychology at Work brings the fields of positive psychology and appreciative inquiry together for the first time to provide leaders and change agents with a powerful new approach to achieving organizational excellence. Draws together positive psychology and appreciative inquiry in the context of leadership organizational challenges for the first time. Presents academically rigorous and referenced material in a jargon-free, accessible manner. Arranged with chapters focused on specific organizational challenges to allow readers to quickly find ideas relevant to their unique situation. Features short contributions from experienced practitioners of positive psychology and Appreciative Inquiry, and includes case studies from the UK, Europe, Australia and the USAA.
Organizations have increasingly sought to adopt resilience‐building programmes to prevent absenteeism, counterproductive work behaviour, and other stress‐related issues. However, the effectiveness of these programmes remains unclear as a comprehensive review of existing primary evidence has not been undertaken. Using 42 independent samples across 37 studies, the present meta‐analysis sought to address this limitation in the literature by summarizing the effectiveness of resilience‐building programmes implemented in organizational contexts. Results demonstrated that the overall effect of such programmes was small ( d = 0.21) and that programme effects diminish over time ( d proximal = 0.26 vs. d distal = 0.07). Alternatively, moderator analyses revealed that programmes targeting individuals thought to be at greater risk of experiencing stress and lacking core protective factors showed the opposite effect over time. Programmes employing a one‐on‐one delivery format (e.g., coaching) were most effective, followed by the classroom‐based group delivery format. Programmes using train‐the‐trainer and computer‐based delivery formats were least effective. Finally, substantially stronger effects were observed among studies employing single‐group within‐participant designs, in comparison with studies utilizing between‐participant designs. Taken together, these findings provide important theoretical and practical implications for advancing the study and use of resilience‐building in the workplace.
Practitioner points
Resilience‐building programmes have had a modest effect in the workplace. The effect is weaker than that associated with secondary prevention techniques, but similar to those shown for other primary prevention techniques.
Across primary studies, programme effects diminished substantially from proximal (≤1 month post‐intervention) to distal time points (>1 month). However, among those at greater risk of experiencing stress or who lack protective resources, weak proximal effects became stronger when measured distally. To optimize the effectiveness of resilience‐building programmes, developers should carefully conduct needs assessments, identifying individuals at elevated risk.
Methodological decisions (i.e., the use of within‐ vs. between‐participant designs) may have a substantial impact on the conclusions researchers draw regarding the effectiveness of resilience‐building programmes. When evaluating the effectiveness of resilience‐building programmes, researchers and practitioners should compare observed effects to estimates of mean effects across studies using similar evaluative designs.
This article builds on the argument that research on the link between HRM and performance benefits from investigating how HR practices are envisioned by managers (in terms of underlying philosophies), and how they are perceived by employees (in terms of psychological climates). Our study focuses on the effects of a strengths-based HR philosophy assuming that employee performance can be maximized through leveraging individual strengths. This philosophy relates to a strengths-based psychological climate, that is, employee perceptions of the opportunities they get to identify, develop, and use their strengths. We hypothesized that a strengths-based psychological climate positively influences employees’ positive affect, which in turn enhances their in-role and extra-role performance. In our study, 442 respondents working in 39 departments of eight Dutch and Belgian organizations gave ratings on the strength-based psychological climate of their organization, and indicated their level of work-related positive affect, in-role performance, and extra-role performance. Results of multilevel hierarchical regression analyses supported our hypotheses by indicating that strengths-based psychological climate was positively linked to in-role and extra-role performance, and that this link was mediated by positive affect. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Arguments in the current debate between “positive psychology” and humanistic psychology are reviewed with particular emphasis on Martin Seligman’s comment that humanistic psychologists do not represent “positive psychology” because they have generated no research tradition, are narcissistic, and are antiscientific. Each one of these claims is dispelled with specific references to the larger humanistic tradition in American psychology, which includes the psychology of William James; the personality-social psychologists of the 1930s and 1940s, such as Allport, Murray, and Murphy; and the humanistic psychologists, per se, of the 1950s and 1960s. Additional examples of how mainstream cognitive-behaviorism has continued to preempt humanistic and transpersonal psychology are also given. The conclusion, however, is that Seligman may be rushing to exclude on a priori grounds the very tradition his own theory represents.
Connectivity, the control parameter in a nonlinear dynamics model of team performance is mathematically linked to the ratio of positivity to negativity (P/N) in team interaction. By knowing the P/N ratio it is possible to run the nonlinear dynamics model that will portray what types of dynamics are possible for a team. These dynamics are of three types: point attractor, limit cycle, and complexor (complex order, or “chaotic” in the mathematical sense). Low performance teams end up in point attractor dynamics, medium perfomance teams in limit cycle dynamics, and high performance teams in complexor dynamics.
Past perspectives on optimal functioning and experience are discussed to inform current epistemological debates in humanistic and positive psychology. It is suggested that William James, John Dewey, and Abraham Maslow initiated “experiential turns” in American psychology, or turns toward immediate subjective experience, to explore questions about what makes life fulfilling and meaningful. Furthermore, these turns toward subjectivity were grounded in philosophical initiatives that challenged traditional, positivistic methods in science. The argument presented here is that a deeper appreciation of the benefits and inherent challenges of adopting an experiential perspective may help build a more unified psychology of optimal human functioning and avoid misunderstandings concerning the role of scientific research in humanistic and positive psychology.
Attribution theory is concerned with the attempts of ordinary people to understand the causes and implications of the events they witness. It deals with the “naive psychology” of the “man in the street” as he interprets his own behaviors and the actions of others. For man—in the perspective of attribution theory—is an intuitive psychologist who seeks to explain behavior and draw inferences about actors and their environments. To better understand the perceptions and actions of this intuitive scientist, his methods must be explored. The sources of oversight, error, or bias in his assumptions and procedures may have serious consequences, both for the lay psychologist himself and for the society that he builds and perpetuates. These shortcomings, explored from the vantage point of contemporary attribution theory, are the focus of the chapter. The logical or rational schemata employed by intuitive psychologists and the sources of bias in their attempts at understanding, predicting, and controlling the events that unfold around them are considered. Attributional biases in the psychology of prediction, perseverance of social inferences and social theories, and the intuitive psychologist's illusions and insights are described.
Coaching is a practice without limits on its scope, lacking theoretical foundations and meaningful accreditation, one that has yet to develop a significant empirical base. The discipline of positive psychology can provide coaching with an evidence-based framework and a defined scope of practice. Further, positive psychology can provide a range of valid measures, evidence-based interventions and a reference point from which to develop meaningful training and accreditation processes that will help set the boundaries of responsible coaching practice.
This essay draws from the emerging positive psychology movement and the author's recent articles on the need for and meaning of a positive approach to organizational behavior. Specifically, the argument is made that at this time, the OB field needs a proactive, positive approach emphasizing strengths, rather than continuing in the downward spiral of negativity trying to fix weaknesses. However, to avoid the surface positivity represented by the non-sustainable best-sellers, the case is made for positive organizational behavior (POB) to take advantage of the OB field's strength of being theory and research driven. Additional criteria for this version of POB are to identify unique, state-like psychological capacities that can not only be validly measured, but also be open to development and performance management. Confidence, hope, and resiliency are offered as meeting such POB inclusion criteria. The overall intent of the essay is to generate some positive thinking and excitement for the OB field and ‘hopefully’ stimulate some new theory building, research, and effective application. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This paper argues that the new science of positive psychology is founded on a whole series of fallacious arguments; these involve circular reasoning, tautology, failure to clearly define or properly apply terms, the identification of causal relations where none exist, and unjustified generalisation. Instead of demonstrating that positive attitudes explain achievement, success, well-being and happiness, positive psychology merely associates mental health with a particular personality type: a cheerful, outgoing, goal-driven, status-seeking extravert.
"This book corresponds to a German book, which I published a few months ago, under the title Psychologie und wirtschaftsleben ... It is not a translation ... Yet the essential substance of the two books is identical."--Prefatory note.