Free Essay About Critical Analysis Of The Utility Of Positive Psychology In Relation To Motivation At Work

Introduction

Positive psychology encompasses the extension of mental health practices and standards to include various elements of positive qualities that can help people to flourish. Positive psychology is a science of wellbeing and optimal functioning. Positive psychology seeks to look at the positive activities and actions that will get the human being to function properly as opposed to the use of negative trends like aggression, anger and violence to resolve issues and problems. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the utilization of positive psychology in enhancing and achieving motivation in the workplace. In order to achieve this end, the paper will review elements and aspects of motivation in the organizational setting and how the principles of positive psychology can be applied to it.

Motivation and the Workplace

Motivation in human resource management in the organisational setting is defined as what arouses and sustains interest in a given activity rather than other possible activities. This implies that motivation is what causes the human mind to focus on completing a given task at a given point in time. This is what gets people to be interested and desirous of achieving certain goals in a given organisation. Armstrong and Taylor define motivation as “ the strength and direction of behaviour and the factors that influence people to behave in certain ways”. This means that motivation is the main pointer that drives a person to a given action. It moves and pushes a person to achieve a certain goal.
In presenting a practical view of motivation in the context of the work environment, Shermon identifies that motivation is a linked to leadership. This is because leadership is about moving a person from one point to another, hence, there is the need for a manager to use leadership and skills in motivation to connect the psychology of a worker with the goals and objectives of the organisation in order to boost the motivation and interest the worker has in achieving the organisation’s goals.

Motivation, Leadership & Organisational Goals – Role of Positive Psychology

The correspondence of a worker’s motivation with the organisational goal is a fundamental aspect and essence of management in organisations. This requires a high degree of positive psychology in various areas and in various aspects. Some of these requirements are discussed below.

The Three Levels of Examining Motivation

In order to achieve the correspondence of individual motivation and organisational goals, there is the need for the identification and connection of a worker’s needs on three levels:

Subjective Level

Individual Level &
Group Level
At the subjective level, it can be identified that every individual has what makes him happy and what moves the individual from one point to the other. These are soft things that are not clearly obvious to a manager. In order to use this in industrial relations and industrial activities, there is the need to move to the individual level to deduce the main elements of motivation in the firm. Individually, there is the way a manager can identify these subjective and individual sentiments and processes. This can be done through the evaluation of the values and the kind of things that excites a person in an organisation. Therefore in order to carry out the proper motivation of a worker, there is the need for the worker’s values, actions and outward manifestation of subjective emotions can be deduced by a given manager or leader in an organisation. Finally, there is the need for a manager to understand the collective motivation and collective inducers that drive action in a given organisation, this is the group level of the application of the principles of positive psychology. This means that the leader of an organisation will have to identify the best way and the best means through which a given all the needs of the people can be made compatible with the goals of the organisational leader.

Transformational Leadership & McGregor’s Theory Y Leader

In the field of management and leadership, it appears that the best kinds of leaders are the transformational leaders (as opposed to transactional leaders) and Theory Y leaders (as opposed to McGregor’s Theory X leaders). Both of these classes of leaders seem to use elements of positive psychology to achieve their core and fundamental goals. In his groundbreaking research, Sligman identifies that individuals tend to have an internal sense of personal and self worth and if it is well harnessed, a person can bring out his or her best qualities and activities. This is because human beings have a sense of analysis and a conscience that tends to guide them on making the right choices.
Therefore, the best leaders of an organisation motivate their followers by helping them to get in touch with their own conscience and inner essence and become better people. This is done through the use of positive psychology and its features and elements of scientific methods and tools. Transformational leaders keep their subordinates and employees motivated by connecting their employees’ personal goals and desires with the organisation’s goals. Transformational Leadership is contrast with Transactional Leadership because under transactional leadership, the goals and the inner desires of the employee are not relevant nor important, the worker’s activities are seen as a factor of production – labour, which is exchanged for money. This means that the employee is motivated by not only a salary but the fact that his inner goals including career development, job security and relevant desires are met as s/he completes the tasks for the organisation. Motivation is limited under transactional leadership to the cash rewards only. This means that the motivation is not holistic but tied solely to money.
McGregor’s Theory X leaders are transactional leaders who simply view their employees in a negative light and tend to use them as a means to an end – making profits. In this process Theory X leaders believe that workers must be told what to do and they insist on forcing these workers to do what they expect of them. Theory Y leaders on the other hand view workers positively and they motivate them and encourage them as and when the need arises.

Positive Psychology as a Tool for Motivation amongst Good Leaders

Positive psychology uses the tools of psychiatric and mental illness treatment as a means of examining what is wrong with an individual’s mindset and views in order to apply it to achieve a better life for the person in question. In this situation, where a person fails to achieve a given goal or standard, there is the use of positive psychology to examine what is right with the individual and deduce the best way of consolidating these positive abilities and competencies to make the person a better individual. Therefore, instead of focusing on the problem and trying to find more issues and faults as a transactional leader or a Theory X manager might want to do, positive psychology encourages leaders to focus on the strengths and positive elements and build on it. Hence, a Theory Y leader and a transformational leader will concentrate on the positive actions and strengths of a person and build those positive competencies and abilities.

Strengths of Positive Psychology in the Workplace

Positive psychology does not focus on what is wrong in a person. Rather, it asserts that strength is as important as weakness. Therefore, the strengths must be deduced, identified and consolidated in order to make an individual a better person.
In the organisational setting, positive psychology can be employed by managers to help workers to achieve wellbeing which is closely related to happiness and self determination through optimism. This is done by improving and achieving better results through the following five pointers: Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Accomplishment.
This is present in a positive organisation where the achievement of positive and proper results is central. This is because positive psychology is about creating bonds and a strong organisational system and structure that builds trust and helps to create team cohesion and cooperation at the highest level. Flow is a process whereby there is a state of absorption in the work of a person and this includes a state where there is harmony and proper achievement of results. Flow leads to maximum concentration and mindfulness and a person is able to provide optimal level of inputs into a given project. This is where the highest levels of motivation can be achieved. Therefore, there is the need for managers to play a role of harnessing positive psychology and the achievement of the best results for workers through the process of creating flow and the optimal level and the optimal process through which individuals are able to create strong bonds in the organisational setting and also achieve the best of results in everything they do.

Limitation of Positive Psychology

Positive psychology is often misunderstood and misinterpreted by managers in the field of motivation. They tend to use some unrealistic and unscientific methods and approaches that end up becoming more or less, wish ful thinking, manipulation and superficial engagement. This makes it a complicated theory and concept to use. Secondly, positive psychology requires a lot of effort and continuous improvement. This is something that does not come easily. This is because some managers and authorities are not patient enough to carry it through to the end.

Conclusion

Positive psychology is a very strong tool that relates to the achievement of motivation in the organisational setting. It can be done through the use of transformational leadership and positive leadership techniques to open the doors to the creation of a motivational framework whereby the strengths of the employees or subordinates are deduced and they are consolidated. In this process, a leader in an organisation is able to get workers to build a strong personal emotional experience and engagement to build meaningful relationships that enables them to achieve flow – the optimal point at which people can operate and carry out their activities and processes. This leads to inclusion without the focus on negative things like aggression and dwelling on the past errors and mistakes of any worker or employee. This rather focuses on what competencies and activities are most beneficial and building on them in order to optimise performance in an organisation.

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