Positive psychology in the workplace

Implementing positive psychology in the workplace means creating an environment that is relatively enjoyable and productive. This also means creating a work schedule that does not lead to emotional and physical distress.

According to information provided by The United States Department of Labor, “In 2009 employed persons worked an average of 7.5 hours on the days they worked, which were mostly weekdays. [In addition to that], 84 percent of employed persons did some or all of their work at their workplace.[1]” Therefore, this indicates that the majority of the population is spending their waking hours at work, outside their homes. Therefore, employers must do their best to create a low stress and inspiring work environment to yield greater productivity. Michelle T. Iaffaldano and Paul M. Muchinsky were one of the first people to reignite interest in the connection between job satisfaction and job performance. The meta-analytic research of these individuals impacted the way in which later research on the topic was conducted, especially regarding sample sizes.

Positive psychology in the workplace is about shifting attention away from negative aspects such as work violence, stress, burnout, and job insecurity. Positive psychology can help create a working environment goal of promoting positive affect in its employees. Fun should not be looked at as something that cannot be achieved during work but rather as a motivation factor for the staff. Along these same lines, it is important to examine the role of: helping behaviors, team building exercises, job resources, job security and work support. The new emerging field of Positive Psychology also helps to creatively manage organizational behaviors and to increase productivity in the workplace through applying positive organizational forces. In the broad sense traditional psychology has not specifically focused on the implementation of positive psychology methods in the workplace. The recent research on job satisfaction and employee retention has created a greater need to focus on implementing positive psychology in the workplace.

Martin E.P. Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi are noted as two individuals who mainstreamed the idea of positive psychology as an area of study. They state that “psychology has become a science largely about healing. Therefore its concentration on healing largely neglects the fulfilled individual and thriving community”. According to Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, “the aim of positive psychology is to begin to catalyze a change in the focus of psychology from preoccupation only with repairing the worst things in life to also building positive qualities.” Positive psychology hopes its necessity will diminish because it will eventually be incorporated to pre-existing areas of psychological study.

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Wikipedia