Positive Psychology:other Settings That Influence Individual,group And Organisation

1. Positive Psychology:other Settings
That Influence Individual,group And
Organisation
Presented by
Jinsiya p

2. • Positive psychology is a branch of psychology
that utilizes scientific understanding and effective
interventions to help people lead a more fulfilling
life.
• Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the
strengths and virtues that help individuals,
communities and organizations to flourish.
• Positive psychology aims to widen the focus of
psychology to study not just suffering and its
mitigation but human strengths as well as virtues.

3. • Positive Psychology tries to adopt the scientific method
to understand and solve problems of human behavior.
• psychology was mainly a science of healing and so it
focused exclusively on pathology and neglected the
strengths,
• Psychology focused on the dark side of human nature
• Positive psychology focuses on three levels –
I. subjective,
II. individual and
III. the group.

4. Subjective
• The subjective level involves the study of positive experiences
Individual
• At the individual level, positive psychology aims to identify personal
qualities, strengths and virtues.
• Character strengths are important components of positive living.
• Linley and Harrington (2006) define strength as a capacity for feeling,
thinking and behaving in a way that allows optimal functioning in the
pursuit of valued outcomes.
classification of strengths.
• three main classification systems have been developed
1. The Clifton Strengths Finder Themes
2. The VIA Classification of Virtues and Strengths
3. The Search Institute’s Developmental Assets

5.  The Clifton Strengths Finder Themes
• Clifton wanted to study what is right with people
• He believed that talents could be studied in various settings.
He stated that talents are natural.
• According to him, strengths are extensions of talent and it
combines talent with related knowledge and skills.
• He also believed that success is closely related to personal
talents, strengths and analytical intelligence.

6. • Clifton and his colleagues identified about three dozen themes of talents.
• Achiever – People strong in this theme have a constant drive for accomplishing tasks. They like
being busy and productive
• Activator - People strong in this theme act to start things in motion and turn thoughts into actions
• Adaptability - People strong in this theme easily accommodate to changes in plan. They prefer
to go with the flow
• Analytical - People strong in this theme require data to make sense of their circumstances.
• Arranger - People strong in this theme enjoy juggling many tasks and variables to a reach an
outcome
• Belief - People strong in this theme attempt to find meaning behind everything that they
undertake
• Command - People strong in this theme take up positions of leadership
• Communication - People strong in this theme use words to inspire action and are good
conversationalists
• Competition - People strong in this theme thrive on competition to be successful
• Connectedness - People strong in this theme seek to unite others
• Consistency - People strong in this theme believe in treating everyone the same
• Context - People strong in this theme use the past to make better decisions in the present
• Deliberative - People strong in this theme proceed with caution, and always seek to have a plan
• Developer - People strong in this theme recognize and enhance the hidden potential in others
• Discipline - People strong in this theme seek to make sense of the world by imposing order
• Empathy - People strong in this theme understand the emotions of others
• Focus - People strong in this theme require a clear sense of direction
• Futuristic - People strong in this theme have a keen sense of the future
• Harmony - People strong in this theme seek to avoid conflict through consensus
• Ideation - People strong in this theme are able at finding underlying concepts that unite ideas
• Includer - People strong in this theme instinctively work to include everyone
• Individualization - People strong in this theme tap the uniqueness of individuals
• Input - People strong in this theme constantly collect information for future use

7. The VIA Classification of Virtues and Strengths
• Peterson and Seligman
• Distinguishing Virtues, Character Strengths, and
Situational Themes
• Virtues are the core characteristics which are valued
such as wisdom, courage, humanity, justice,
temperance, and transcendence. These six categories of
virtue are considered to be universal. If a person
possesses these virtues at above-threshold values he is
considered to be of good character.
• Character strengths are the psychological processes that
display the virtues.
• Situational themes are habits by virtue of which people
manifest certain character strengths in given situations.

8.  The Search Institute’s Developmental Assets
• Benson et al., 1998
• he help in assessing the factors that help a child in dealing with life’s problems. These
assets are considered positive experiences and qualities.
• The assets are divided into two groups
1. internal assets: the internal assets are personal qualities that aid in positive
development.
2. external assets: The external assets are the positive experiences that develop through
interactions with others.
• At the individual level, positive psychology focuses on a study of positive individual
traits, or the more enduring and persistent behavior patterns seen in people over time.
This study might include individual traits such as courage, persistence, honesty, or
wisdom. That is, positive psychology includes the study of positive behaviors and
traits that historically have been used to define “character strengths” or virtues. It can
also include the ability to develop aesthetic sensibility or tap into creative potentials
and the drive to pursue excellence
• To conclude, it is very important to identify the character strengths in individuals.
Interventions can then be planned so as to enhance the strengths. These character
strengths are very important and have implications in life satisfaction, positive affect,
achievement, workplace, mental health, mindfulness, wellness etc.

9. The Group
• Finally, at the community level, the emphasis is on the
qualities which help the communities to flourish
• At the group or societal level, positive psychology
focuses on the development, creation, and maintenance of
positive institutions. In this area, positive psychology
addresses issues such as the development of civic virtues,
the creation of healthy families, the study of healthy work
environments, and positive communities.

10.  Organisation
• Positive psychology in the workplace is concerned with
focusing more attention on positive aspects like virtues
and strengths rather and not on negative aspects such as
work conflict and violence, stress, and burnout.
• Positive psychology can help in enhancing positive
thinking and affect in the employees.
• The role of positive psychology is important in
understanding and increasing helping behaviors, team
building exercises, and other positive behaviors at work
• The field of Positive Psychology helps in creatively
managing organizational behaviors and increasing
productivity in the workplace. This is accomplished by
applying positive organizational principles.

11. • The principles of positive psychology have been applied to various aspects in
the work domain
• Good Work: A company’s success depends greatly on the production of high-
quality products. This is possible only when employees have high efficacy,
organizational commitment etc which lead to high performance
• Personnel Selection: Choosing the right people is integral for the success of
the company. Several factors need to be considered, including personality,
individual strengths and talents, and fit with the company’s structure, strategy,
and goals. Organizations can utilize positive psychology principles and
research findings, with respect to strengths, job design etc. These elements can
help in minimizing turnover, which leads to financial costs and loss of
intellectual capital for the company.
• Performance, Engagement, and Burnout: One of the major causes of turnover
is burnout. Positive psychology researchers study a number of solutions,
particularly engagement, meaning, flow, and selfefficacy which affect job
satisfaction, reduced turnover and higher job performance.

12. • Mentoring: An important way of developing talent and providing on-the-
job-training is mentoring. Mentoring helps employees to capitalize on their
strengths to thrive within the company. It also helps in exposure employees
to senior staff, and providing them informal training. Mentoring also helps
to create a positive work environment and team building.
• Creativity and Innovation: Positive psychology research focuses on the
processes through which employees produce creative works. It also aims to
find out the characteristics of highly creative individuals.
• Work Redesign Work design is important as it affects the job satisfaction of
the employees. Work can be redesigned to improve the experience of work
and make it more interesting so that workers are actively engaged with their
tasks.

13. • Job Characteristics Model The job characteristics model (JCM) is one of the
most influential theories of work design (Hackman & Oldham, 1980). In the
JCM, five characteristics are identified:
 Skill variety,
 Task identity,
 Task significance,
 Task autonomy, and
 Task feedback
• It is argued that employees with a need for personal growth, as well as
knowledge and skill, display a range of positive personal and work outcomes,
including greater work motivation, performance, satisfaction with work, and
lower absenteeism and turnover as a result of job quality
• Demand/ Control Model :Researchers and practitioners also have used the
demand/ control model (Karasek, 1979) to design jobs that enhance
psychological and physical well-being of the employees. According to this
model, healthy work environments are those in which appropriate demands are
made of workers who are given suitable amounts of decision latitude. The
demands/ control model also recognizes the importance of social support in
promoting psychosocial health

14. • Job demands-resources The job demands-resources model (JD-R) is
an extension of the DCM. It states that high job demands and high job
resources produce employees with more positive work attitudes. The
JD-R emphasizes a broader view of resources.
• Teams and Work Groups Teamwork is becoming quite common in
today’s working world. Positive psychology researchers focus on flow
in teams as it leads to stronger team dynamics and produces more
creative results. Working in teams leads to well-being since working
with a group of people provides a social network and it fulfills our
individual need to belong. Carter and West (1999) found that higher
levels of team clarity and team commitment to group goals, and
positive processes such as task reflexivity and task orientation,
predicted better team-level well-being.
• Developing Proactive Role Orientations and Behaviors High-quality
job design, team-working, and transformational leadership provide the
potential for healthy work, which can only be realized when
employees take an active role in making these practices work.

15. • Safety Job resources lead to employee engagement and well-being which help in dealing with high
work pressure, and emotionally demanding situations. They also provide autonomy, support, and
safety which in turn provide support and resources that promote healthy employees.
• Fun Fun activities at the workplace help in creating a positive work environment that encourages
employee well-being. The activities encourage employees to be a team player and make employees
more engaged with their work and experience less stress. They also promote job satisfaction and
organizational commitment in the employees.
• Transformational Leadership Transformational leaders increase followers' awareness of the vision
toward which they are working. The elements of transformational leadership are idealized influence,
inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration (Avolio, 1999).
• The term Positive Organizational Behavior is a positive approach to developing and managing human
resources in today’s workplace. It aims to study and apply enhance human strengths for better
performance management

16. References