Positive Organizational Behavior

People with confidence, hope and optimism make better employees as well as better leaders. In the past, organizational behavior has had a concentration on correcting what is wrong; in essence, working from the negative side. Positive Organizational Behavior has a concentration on accentuating what is positive, thereby alleviating much of the wrong before it even happens. In my opinion, this certainly satisfies the old saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” It is true that in the field of psychology, far more emphasis has been placed on correcting what is wrong rather than giving attention to the client’s strengths. Hope allows an individual to see goals through to the end whereas those without hope might easily give up before accomplishing. Hope can also be developed and managed. Optimism is a powerful attribute because it promotes high morale, high levels of aspiration, motivation to work harder, perseverance under setbacks, and more. Those with optimism view failures and setbacks as temporary which is powerful in the workplace. They pick up and keep going, looking for the solutions that they know are there; they just have to find them. Optimism training could help individuals identify self-defeating beliefs and replace them with more accurate beliefs. More people rate happiness more important than money. If we will listen, this says volumes. With the state of our world today, people are wanting someone to show them how to be happy. There are troubles all around and it is a proven fact that more money will only make you more of what you already are. People want to be happy, regardless of what they have. A key factor in this is not necessarily what someone’s reality is; it’s what they perceive their reality to be. This process is most definitely trainable and very advantageous to every aspect of life. People who are satisfied with their life are more satisfied with their work. It’s those who have troubles on every hand in life and can’t seem to find relief, that are more anxious and troubled at work.