Positive Psychology in the Workplace

I. Introduction

Case Study #5 deals with the question of what motivates employees to work hard and stay productive, in addition to what might serve to detract from this motivation. Ultimately, the case study approaches the question of how to motivate employees through employee satisfaction and thus increase overall efficiency and productivity. As stated in our class text, “Motivation is probably the most important aspect of performance, without which personal qualities (such as ability or personality traits) have no focus or application. How best to motivate employees is hence one of the most crucial issues to consider in the workplace” (Davey, 2011). Given this, positive psychology can emerge as one of the most crucial tools in ensuring employee satisfaction and thus bottom-line efficiency. Through applying a strong leadership style is also employing this brand of psychology, employee satisfaction is best achieved, for the benefit of the employee and the employer.

II. Case Study Review

Essentially, organizational culture is profoundly important in how it bears on employee wellness and how this bears on productivity or lack thereof. Understanding what motivates employees in the workplace is necessary in order to maintain and enhance performance. This is achieved through the cultivation of employee morale, demonstration of a commitment to retention, and a commitment to employee satisfaction. In order to best implement these considerations within an organizational culture, we must determine what each employee wants and needs in order to be satisfied enough to perform according to his or her abilities. Management’s leadership style is crucially important in gaining this understanding and acting upon it.

As such, leadership style has tremendous bearing on employee motivation, satisfaction and, ultimately, performance. Crucial to this endeavor is setting goals for both the business and the employee him or herself in such a way as allows the employee to see him or herself as part of a larger operation to which he or she is making a valuable contribution (Toure-Tillery & Fishback, 2011). In delegating tasks to qualified subordinates, a leader should always encourage an open relationship between himself or herself and those upon whom he or she relies to execute essential tasks; namely, employees. Of course, genuine leadership requires deferral to others at times, if only to demonstrate a willingness to take a secondary role to those who are best qualified for whatever the task at hand is. This kind of leadership motivates employees to not only perform tasks for their own benefit, but also for the benefit of the superiors for whom they work.

As applied to any business culture, a leader must allow employees to contribute if he is to expect them to consistently contribute. Through applying a kind of balanced leadership style, institutional growth is facilitated not only by increases in sales volume, for example, but also in the retention of talent that might otherwise be less useful if not motivated to the best of their abilities. This level of motivation requires trust that itself endears employees to a given employer or employers. To this end, leadership is not merely defined by directing employees in completing certain tasks, but also by an act of transforming them in a motivational capacity (Karlins & Hargis, 1988). Ultimately, when leaders in an employer’s capacity exude love, enthusiasm, and dedication, this attitude projects onto employees and imbues them with a sense of fulfillment that retains the fullest extent of their motivational impulses. Ultimately, a healthy respect for one’s employees increases the extent to which they will be willing to work (Covey, S. R. (2006). If provided with a sense of trust that demonstrates an employer’s reliance on their skills, employees are that much more willing to continue contributing to the best of their abilities.

III. Psychological Theory of Positive Psychology

By focusing on employee well-being in employing positive psychology, the organizational integrity of an enduring and genuine nature can be achieved. In this context, authenticity is essential to an organizational sense of dedication. Through approaching employees in an authentic fashion, overall resilience is increased, thus precluding the possibility of any given setback compromising employee morale (Seligamn & Csikzentmihalyi, 2000). Once employee morale is compromised, it becomes that much more difficult to achieve overall productivity. Even the slightest shift in morale can place any enterprise in a potentially crippling position in that without employees dedicated to performing their daily tasks, no business can survive for very long.

So much workplace tension is predicated upon employee dissatisfaction of some kind, whether with regard to compensation or otherwise. Recognizing talent is key to long-term success but retaining this talent without diminishing its morale in the process is essential to long-term success as well. This requires a willingness to engage employees on a personal level, in addition to ensuring their awareness of the fact that you are willing to listen to their concerns, and also act on them if necessary. As expressed by Tomczyk and Ross, there is always a crucial risk for leaders to guard against:

Winslow and Solomon (1987) found striking parallels between entrepreneurial and sociopathic behavior...They suggest that entrepreneurs are not normal individuals, with “normal” being defined as “the acceptance and conformity to accepted standards of behavior, as defined by the larger societal mores, taboos, traditions, and rituals.” Winslow and Solomon (1987) found that entrepreneurs do not feel constrained by these social forces, violating behaviors appropriate to their social class” (Tomczyk and Ross, 2011).

In other words, an employer or leader who has no capacity for empathy will be unable to do that which is ultimately necessary in order to facilitate growth: connect with employees authentically and demonstrate a vested interest in their well-being through positive reinforcement of the skills that they possess; the same skills that have allowed for growth and will be required if growth is to continue.

Though not strictly in the context of an entrepreneurial environment, Nelson Mandela’s sophisticated capacity for drawing in others by engaging them on a personally supportive level, whether regarding business, politics, socio-cultural matters or all of the above, resulted in his being elected to lead his country from the moment he was released from a prison cell. Despite having spent 27 years behind bars, wrongfully imprisoned, Mandela nevertheless found the ability to remain positive and transmit this positive energy to those whom he led. Indeed, Mandela’s employed positive psychology as means of transforming his people; on the brink of civil war with previously hated people of Afrikaans origins, Mandela’s constituent’s laid down their arms and hatred, releasing them in favor of increased industrial productivity, which could only be achieved through a unified base of collective morale.

IV. Plan of Action

As in the case of Mandela, any business leader with employees working in subordinate capacities must endeavor to motivate even according to the most mundane and ordinary settings. The leader's challenge is to imbue the routine task with some sense of vibrancy in order to generate in their employees a more fulfilling sense of achievement in the execution of their daily duties (Seligamn & Csikzentmihalyi, 2000). Part of this task is necessarily identifying talent, in addition to the particular nature of a given employee’s talent and understanding what is necessary for purposes of nurturing that talent. In order to achieve this, external consulting is not only often helpful, but sometimes necessary.

The introduction of a positive psychology approach is not necessarily a seamless one, as applied to an organizational culture entirely unfamiliar with it. Though the increases in employee motivation previously discussed are achievable via positive psychology, some training in how to apply these methods is often necessary when dealing with a delicately balanced organizational culture. While building a rapport with employees is essential to the implementation of positive psychology within the organizational culture, doing so is easier said than done. The same can be said for ending meetings with praise, as opposed to critique, even of the most innocuous kind. Fundamental optimism and uplifting energy do not come naturally do a great many people, though it can enhance employee morale. Part of this process is engendering a genuine sense of employees’ personal growth is directly linked to their growth in a professional context. This, however, requires a heightened awareness of employees' wants and needs, in addition to their ambitions. Once acquired, these qualities must be assessed relative to a business’ bottom line and furthered independently, as well as in association with that bottom line.

This approach was applied by pioneering entrepreneur Michael Lang, organizer of the Woodstock Music Festival. By delegating to subordinates and nurturing the respective and varied talents, Lang orchestrated the most stunning display of musical talent in modern history. After carefully building a workgroup dynamic of advertising experts, contract attorneys and musicians of the highest order, Lang pooled his group’s resources in renting a farm from Woodstock milk farmer Max Yasgur. Lang first ensured the site’s suitability and marketability, as assessed by his landscape architects, and then delegated to his attorneys the task of finalizing an unconventional lease agreement with Yasgur. The challenges along the way were almost crippling, but Lang’s legendary penchant for positive energy in cultivating the talent that he had already identified allowed the project to move forward seamlessly.

V. Ethical Considerations

Implementing change within a static organizational culture can be difficult, however, and not merely with regard to the complexity of culture-altering initiatives, but also with respect to the implementation of the initiative itself. In employing an approach predicated upon positive psychology, it is essential to shedding all notions of coercive tactics, whether intended or otherwise.

Relatively speaking, abusive or coercive infrastructures that demand too much of employees are unproductive, personally and professionally. Furthermore, even positive reinforcement can lead to a leader whose personality comes to the project as overbearing, thus leading to the appearance of micromanagement. In general, a leader cannot always demonstrate positivity and hope for it to rub off, as such an approach risks the appearance of some contrivance. Instead, leaders must simply lead by example, as opposed to simply announcing that positivity is key and then proceeding to conduct him or herself in a manner antithetical to this approach. Such methods result in the appearance of coercion and, of course, are anything but authentic in nature.

In employing positive psychology, it is necessary for an employer to remember that he or she is not merely responsible for simply employing their persuasive powers towards a new end. He or she must embody the positivity sought to be absorbed by employees or he or she will simply be seen as one seeking to coerce employees into a role that he or she is not actually interested in playing themselves. In other words, in order to create authenticity in the production levels of employees, a genuine leader must themselves embody these qualities. Such a leader must do in and of themselves that which he wishes to see in his employees. This is accomplished by focusing on his or her own strengths and further developing these strengths. For example, there is a careful balance between employing a culture of positive psychology and simply identifying in the act of implementation of this culture a challenge to be overcome. A leader seeking to prove something to themselves or their employees will be unable to authentically institute a regime of positive psychology, but rather will only be able to discourage it with so single-minded an approach.

VI. Conclusion

In sum, no factor is more key to the business success of either short-term or long-term significance than is employee motivation. Employee motivation, however, is a fleeting quality that must be actively pursued in order to be achieved. By focusing on employee satisfaction, business leaders and employers can enhance fundamental productivity, which is necessary to ensure the continued growth of the business. Only by engaging employees on an authentic and genuine level can an employer determine how to best ensure their satisfaction or determine whether they are dissatisfied in any way. Through positive psychology, a workplace culture of optimism and praise is created, though employers must be careful to avoid the appearance of attempting to contrive this atmosphere. The surest way of achieving this is embodying those qualities that an employer wishes to see in his employees, leading by example. Positive psychology can demonstrate for an employee how his personal growth and development is directly linked to the manner in which he engages in his daily duties. By trusting in the talent of employees, and thus nurturing it, employers can create an authentic link with their employees, which not only serve to encourage personal satisfaction but also productivity in a business context, on the part of the employee. If this is achieved, an enduring sense of personal satisfaction amidst an employee base can only further the commercial enterprise in which both employee and employer are engaged.

References

Covey, S. R. (2006). Servant leadership. Leadership Excellence, 23(12), 5-6. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/204610856?accountid=27965.

Davey, G. (Ed). (2011). Applied Psychology. West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.

Karlins, M. & Hargis, E. (1988). Beyond leadership: The human factor in leadership. Management Solutions, 33(8).

Koster, K. (2013). RECOGNITION: Mind over matter. Employee Benefit News, 27(03), 26.

Seligamn, M. & Csikzentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1), 5-14.

Tomczyk D. and Ross, L. (2011) Entrepreneurs as Social Deviants: Building a Framework. In: 56th Annual ICSB World Conference; 15 - 18 June 2011, Stockholm, Sweden.

Toure-Tillery, M. & Fishback, A. (2011). The course of motivation. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 21, 414-423. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1313660911?accountid=32521