Sarah Lewis 
Positive Psychology at Work 
How Positive Leadership and Appreciative Inquiry Create Inspiring Organizations

Positive Psychology at Work brings the fields of positive
psychology and appreciative inquiry together for the first time to
provide leaders and change agents with a powerful new approach to
achieving organizational excellence.

* Draws together positive psychology and appreciative inquiry in
the context of leadership organizational challenges for the first
time

* Presents academically rigorous and referenced material in a
jargon-free, accessible manner

* Arranged with chapters focused on specific organizational
challenges to allow readers to quickly find ideas relevant to their
unique situation

* Features short contributions from experienced practitioners of
positive psychology and Appreciative Inquiry, and includes case
studies from the UK, Europe, Australia and the USAÂ

Table of Content

About the Author xi

Book Contributors xiii

Preface xvii

Acknowledgements xxi

The Short Version of This Book xxiii

1 Introduction to Positive Psychology 1

Positive Psychology is Not Positive Thinking 2

How Positive Psychology Differs from Positive Thinking 3

The Ethical Bias of This Book 6

Key Themes of the Book 8

2 Positive Workplaces 11

Introduction 13

What is a Positive Workplace? 13

How Does Positive Organizational Behaviour Turn into Positive Organizational Performance? 20

Organizational Culture 23

The Organization as a Complex Adaptive System 26

Why is Culture so Hard to Change? 31

How to Create Positive Workplaces 34

Summary 37

Further Reading 38

3 Positive Engagement and Performance 39

Introduction 40

Active Engagement at Work 42

Strengths and Talents 42

Flow 51

Mindfulness 52

Management Influence on Engagement and Productivity at Work 53

Goal Seeking 54

Goal Setting 56

Goal Setting and Environment Contingencies 58

The Meaningfulness of Work 63

Strategies for Increasing the Meaningfulness of Work 64

Summary 67

Recommended Reading 69

4 Positive Communication and Decision-Making 71

Introduction 71

Communication 72

Connectivity 74

Dynamic Patterns of Communication 76

How to Build Positive Communication and Increase Performance 78

Leadership and Positive Communication 78

Best Self-Feedback 79

Decision-Making 83

Emotions in Decision-Making 86

Micro-Decision-Making 91

Other Factors that Enhance Decision-Making 92

Moving from Decision-Making to Sense-Making 96

Summary 99

Further Reading 100

5 Positive Leadership and Change 101

Introduction 101

Leadership 102

Psychopathic Leaders 107

Organizational Change 124

Approaches to Change 125

Leadership Change Behaviour 130

Effective Leadership Behaviour 131

Developing Strategy 134

Summary 136

Further Reading 137

6 Positive Sustainable Growth 139

Introduction 139

Psychological Capital 142

Appreciative Inquiry 158

Positive Profusion Theory of Growth of the Positive Organization 166

The Three-Circle Strengths Revolution 168

Summary 170

Further Reading 170

7 Positive Relationships at Work 171

Introduction 172

Positive Team Working 174

High Quality Working Relationships 184

Summary 192

Further Reading 193

8 Positive Transformation 195

Introduction 197

Key Processes of Flourishing and Inspiring Workplaces 197

Why Organizations Ignore the Transformative Collaboration Approach to Change 199

Transformative Collaboration 204

Patterns of Organizational Life 204

Transformative Collaboration Approaches 213

Summary 221

Further Reading 227

Other Things You Need to Know 229

How to Live a Happy and Meaningful Life 229

How to Have a Better Quality Old Age 229

References 231

Index 239

About the author

Sarah Lewis is an Associated Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Principal Member of the Association of Business Psychologists and the Managing Director of Appreciating Change, where she works as a facilitator and consultant. She is the lead author of Appreciative Inquiry for Change Management (2007).