Postgraduate & mid career Development Unit Faculty of Management & Finance University of Colombo

Chapter Seven

Positive Organizational Behavior

Programme Course Lecturer : MBA in Finance / MBA in HRM & MBA in Marketing (2011 - 2013) : MBA 531 Organizational Behavior : Mr. Traver Mendis

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning Objectives
Frame, in terms of the positive psychology movement. Discuss the theory, research, and application of self efficacy/confidence, optimism, hope and resiliency as best POB criteria-meeting capacities and when in combination represent psychological capital (PsyCap). Present the theory, research, and application of happiness/subjective well-being (SWB) as a potential POB capacity. Present the theory, research, and application of emotional intelligence (EI) as another potential POB capacity. Explain the specific roles that emotion and intelligence play in emotional intelligence.

Introduction
Definition; Positive organizational Behaviour (POB) can be defined as the study and application of positive oriented HR strengths and psychological capacities that can be measured, developed and effectively managed for performance improvement in todays workplace.

Positive Psychology
Positive psychology is concerned with optimal human functioning
Three levels of positive psychology are: Valued subjective experiences- well being and satisfaction (in the past), hope (future) and the flow & happiness ( present) Positive individual traits (qualities such as love, concern, courage, interpersonal skills, forgiveness, spirituality, wisdometc. Civic virtues and the institutions that move individuals toward better citizenship exp. Work ethics, moderation, tolerance, altruism ( unselfishness).

Self-Efficacy
What is self efficacy? Psychologist Albert Bandura has defined self-efficacy as our belief in our ability to succeed in specific situations. ... According to Albert Bandura, self-efficacy plays a critical role in how people think, feel, and behave (self determinationconfidence) specially in a situation like; Unexpected transfer, when not even achieved 60% of the target, when a difficult task is assigned Specific versus general self-efficacy
Specific/ task oriented: state like General: trait like

Self-efficacy differs from established organizational behavior concepts

Self-esteem vs self efficacy- esteem is a globally construct of ones evaluation & of overall worthiness, where as efficacy is task and context specific capabilities. Expectancy concepts- talks about EI & motivation Attribution/locus of control their ability and fate. (exp. My effort only makes a difference).

Self-Efficacy
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Process and impact Choice behavior (out of several- task, assignment, ..) Motivational effort this is more towards where efficacy level is more) Perseverance (when obstacles appear, people with high efficacy will bounce back people with low efficacy will give up) Facilitative thought patterns people with high efficacy will say, I think I can do it Vulnerability to stress people with low efficacy will tend to face stress, burn outs

Self-Efficacy
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Self-Efficacy
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Sources of self-efficacy

Implications in the workplace

(vicarious- experience indirectly)

Self-Efficacy
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Implications in the workplace (continued)

Selection of human resources
Based on magnitude and strength (assessment, promotions, area of responsibility, are some of the valuable info for the selection process.

Definition of Optimism Power of positive thinking along with emotional intelligence and hope.

Training and development

Banduras three categories: guided mastery, cognitive mastery (mental skills), and development of selfregulatory competencies coupled with efficacy, training & development workers can do wonders. Behavior modeling training

Other applications- stress management, time

management, team work

Optimism
Dimensions of optimism
Optimism as human nature Optimism as an individual difference
Explanatory style how an individual habitually attribute for failures, bad events Learned helplessness (uncontrollable punishing, aversive incidents (terribly hated) .. And then you behave in an helpless manner.

Hope
Willpower agency (directed towards goals, energy) Way power pathways (planning to meet goals) Hope can be defined as some expectations of the future. Most people think of positive hope. But there can be negative hope as well.

Resiliency
Bouncing back (capacity bounce back from adversity) to + situation. Enhance the assets
Manage risk factors Adaptation process

Psychological Capital (Psy Cap)

Confidence (self-efficacy) Positive attribution (optimism) Persevering toward goals (hope) Bouncing back and beyond (resiliency)

Other Potential POB Dimensions

Happiness or subjective well-being (SWB)
Background on SWB
Life satisfaction (global judgments of ones life) Satisfaction with important domains (work, family, education. Wealth mental happiness) Positive affect (experience of many pleasant emotions, moods & incidents) Low levels of negative affect (experience of few unpleasant incidents, moods..)

Temperament and personality dispositions (characteristics)- personality is one of the important ,

strongest & consistent predictors of subjective well-being (SWB). (happiness). People can change their SWB over a period of time .Exp. Some are happy or unhappy over a period of time.

Role of goals- aspirations to achieve goals. Setting goals

with too high or too low is bad for SWB. It should be reasonable. (SMART)

Adapting and coping- ability to get adjusted to different

situations and then either to continue or sometimes comes back to the previous situation. Exp. Kids have a higher level of adjustability than mature people. Older people have a lower level of adjustability.

Other Potential POB Dimensions

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Other Potential POB Dimensions

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Happiness or subjective well-being (SWB)

(continued) SWB across cultures exp. According to research (source; CNN) Happiest people live in Denmark SWB in work

Emotional intelligence (EI)

Role of emotion & intelligence Definition. Emotions are reactions to an object. Exp. You show your anger at some one or show your happiness Common emotions at work places are

 There are probably as many definitions of intelligence as there are experts who study it. Simply put, however, intelligence is the ability to learn about, learn from, understand, and interact with ones environment. This general ability consists of a number of specific abilities, which include these specific abilities: Adaptability to a new environment or to changes in the current environment Capacity for knowledge and the ability to acquire it Capacity for reason and abstract thought Ability to comprehend relationships Ability to evaluate and judge Capacity for original and productive thought

Other Potential POB Dimensions

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Emotional intelligence (EI) (continued)

Types of emotions

Other Potential POB Dimensions

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Other Potential POB Dimensions

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Emotional intelligence (EI) (continued)

Role of Intelligence Nature versus nurture intelligence (some say people get IQ by birth other say whatever the IQ level you bring in can be nurtured further. Recognition of multiple intelligences (MI) some are good in different levels of fields/ IQ. Intelligence as cognitive mental ability (illustrated) this recognized in OB & HRM. (though they ignore MI). Organizations recognize this as the ability To accomplish a task with cognitive abilities. But different views exit. Some organizations recognize MI as they conduct psycho- metric tests to identify their level intelligence.

Emotional intelligence (EI) (continued)

Recognition of multiple intelligences

Other Potential POB Dimensions

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Other Potential POB Dimensions

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Emotional Intelligence in workplace

Golemans approach to EI in workplace ( in orgns EI is more than IQ) Initial supporting evidence (IQ gets you the job but EI gets you the promotion). Conflict with selection research (IQ or EI?) Hunter found that higher IQ leads to better performance. Application to leadership (illustrated) Leaders with EI are better than leaders with IQ.

Meaning of Emotional Intelligence

The capacity for:
Recognizing our own feelings and those of others Motivating ourselves Managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships

Questions