At the organizational level, models and approaches have been put forward with the intention of understanding how businesses work and what can make them successful or unsuccessful.

While traditionally both business people and organizational psychologists tried to find what was wrong with companies, starting from a more problem-focused perspective, others tried to focus on the positive.

Positive organizational psychology has tried to see what strengthens the organization , to see what makes it move forward and how to promote positive human values in it. Let’s see more in depth what this perspective is about.

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Positive Organizational Psychology What is it about?

Positive Organizational Psychology or POP is an approach whose origins lie in industrial psychology , which focuses on how to achieve optimal functioning in the organization.

Before this model was developed, psychology in organizations focused on what was wrong with a given company. Thus, it was intended to develop an action focused on correcting the imbalances and dysfunctions that the organization could be suffering.

Positive organizational psychology, unlike what had traditionally been done, takes the approach of enhancing the personal virtues of the company, with the intention of achieving maximum development and success of the organization.

The origins of this approach can be found in Martin Seligman and Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi. Starting from a scientific approach to organizations, the intention in developing this model was to find out what companies need and how they achieve the best human development in the most successful cases.

This perspective, when trying to understand the human resources and skills of those who are part of the organization, allows a better performance of the working life, besides promoting better health and social relations dynamics within the company . A positive environment fosters productive behaviours in employees, with a greater sense of responsibility and companionship.

Companies trying to implement this approach in their organization first need to answer the following questions:

  • What are the characteristics, both individual and collective, of those employees who work best?
  • What are the characteristics of the organization that bring it closer or further from a positive organization?

When these questions are answered, it is possible to develop a strategic plan that, if successfully implemented, will facilitate the promotion of a positive environment in the organization.

Positive and negative organizations

In order for the personnel of a company to work in the most adequate and functional way possible, it is necessary for the organization to facilitate optimal working conditions and environment .

Companies in which a good working environment is generated are characterized by having and offering good resources to their employees, in addition to promoting the human values that the staff presents. Social and proactive skills, good employee autonomy, realistic work demands and clear and affordable tasks contribute to a good environment in the office or any workplace.

In addition, managers must act as leaders, give feedback to their employees and know how the first line of command is doing. Good health habits should be promoted, places where employees can air out should be available and, if possible, group sports activities should be encouraged once a month. These types of measures promote social interactions between employees.

A very important point for the company to be seen as a good workplace is, of course, that it offers and respects a fair wage.

On the other hand, organizations that do not value their human resources and do not promote good workplace measures may suffer symptoms that will lead to their collapse. According to the model of positive organizational psychology, n negative organizations make mistakes such as lack of leadership, excessive bureaucracy and too many controls , which result in widespread paralysis of the company.

Also, focusing on meeting individual objectives and neglecting collective tasks seriously impairs the degree of creativity of the organization as a whole. All of this translates into a greater lack of motivation in the staff, as well as a higher degree of absenteeism, more sick leave and a clear lack of commitment.

Positive people and great workers

According to the positive organizational psychology approach, positive workers have values such as courage, humanity, a good sense of humor, companionship and responsibility towards the company. They are humble, prudent and exhibit self-control.

It is essential that, for a good work environment, there are employees who present positive emotions such as joy, pride in what they are doing , enjoyment and interest. These feelings generate ways of behaving that favour flexibility, creativity and efficiency, which are always very beneficial for the rest of the workers in the organisation.

Among the models that this approach has originated, it is worth mentioning the PERMA model, which includes characteristics such as positive emotions and relationships in order to give meaning to what is done in the workplace every day. Among the components of the model is the “engagement” or commitment in the workplace, based on feeling part of something important and that generates pride.

According to Csikszentmihalyi, people feel much happier if they are engaged in an activity that makes them flow, that absorbs them completely through enjoyment and feeling useful.

How to manage the improvement of the company?

From the perspective of positive organizational psychology, in order to improve and achieve optimal development in the organization it is necessary, first of all, to question the whole company. That is to say, to search among the different levels of the organization how the human variable manifests itself, whether it functions in an adequate way, to see to what extent it can be made the most of.

The company must review aspects such as the social environment, and look for the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities of the organization. It must also be clear what the vision, mission, values and, in essence, where the company is going. Knowing this, one will know what should be strengthened and develop alternatives and improvements .

Analyzing how culture occurs in the company is always a good measure, since it allows us to know how human interactions have been developing in the organization and, in case there has been any unforeseen event, to know how it has been dealt with. Observing how, collectively, creative, proactive and empathetic behaviours have emerged can be a good way to replicate them at other levels of the organisation and, thus, generalise success.

Understanding how the organization’s most talented people have not left their jobs can be a great help in focusing on showing the organization’s strengths to the job market. It should be understood how much autonomy the staff has and how they feel they are useful to the rest of the organisation.

Finally, it is necessary to understand the extent to which staff feel comfortable in the organization. Promoting employee well-being and satisfaction is crucial to maintaining good organizational health.

All this provides the ingredients for the organization to develop an action plan, improve what it considers necessary and promote its strengths . Besides this, it will be able to take care of the most important thing in the company, which are its employees, and through a positive work climate, achieve a higher degree of efficiency and productivity.

Bibliographic references:

  • Forbes-Álvarez, R. (2013). Positive organizational psychology and organizational improvement. Cegesti, 227, 1-3.
  • Salanova, M., Llorens, S. and Martínez, I. M. (2016). Contributions from positive organizational psychology to develop healthy and resilient organizations. Psychologist Papers, 37(3), 177-184.