I will present an article entitled “Positive psychology at work”, written by Turner, Barling & Zacharatos (2002). This article was published in two thousand two, but his subject is still relevant because well-being at work is always an intended target. The researchers conducted a literature review on contributions of positive psychology in the workplace. The goal of this article is to examine the determinants of healthy work. Moreover, this article aims to show how employment practices and processes can lead to a positive and enjoyable work .
The authors hypothesized that high-quality work completes the benefits of team working and transformational leadership. They examine how these practices can help employees to cope with change with a greater resilience and optimism. Their first finding is that the nature of work changed : there are more competition, less flexibility (strict schedule), more employment insecurity, and a mentality of “do more with less”. To support their results, Turner and al., are based on two influential theories of work design to know how people perceive their work role: Job characteristics model (JCM) is the first theory. This motivation theory has been proposed by Hackman and Oldman in 1976, and it can be used to measure the quality of work life. There are five characteristics: skill variety, task identity, task significance, task autonomy, and feedback. These characteristics positively impact the psychological state and generate motivation, satisfaction and performance, while, absenteeism and turnover decrease. The second model is the Karasek‘s model (1979, 1990). This tool is certainly the most common to diagnose the state of occupational stress (”job strain”). It analyzes the relationship between “job demand”, and “job control”. Therefore, increase decision-making power or perceived control, reduces the effects of stress. Moreover, he adds another factor: the social support. This dimension modulates the link between “job demand” and “job control”. Thereby, based on these two theories, Turner and all notes four important factors to improve the quality of life at work: -the role clarity: employees must have enough information and predictability in their work, -the support of work team: a social network, companionship and emotional assistance, -transformational leadership: it is associated with highers levels of trust in management, group cohesion and commitment. Thus, for authors, the function of leadership is to produce more leaders not followers. Consequently, effective leadership enhances employees feelings of self-confidence and self-efficacy, -developing proactive role orientation and behaviors: there is a mutual obligation between employers and employees to make work more positive. When employees possess a higher level of self efficacy and feel a responsibility for bringing about change, they have an active role in the organization and they take more initiatives. To summarize, their aim was to provide a sense of how healthy work can contribute to the positive psychology ethic. To conclude, this result can encourage to adopt a similar positive psychology approach to the study of work and to the further our understanding of the many benefits that work can provide. Pauline Hamon Words I have learned : -finding (constat) - an intended target (un but à atteindre) -schedule(emploi du temps) -commitment(engagement) -to enhance/to improve(améliorer) References: Turner, N., Barling, J., & Zacharatos, A. (2002). Positive psychology at work. Handbook of positive psychology, 52, 715-728. Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. Organizational behavior and human performance, 16(2), 250-279. Karasek Jr, R. A. (1979). Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental strain: Implications for job redesign. Administrative science quarterly, 285-308.