Positive Psychology at Work: Mutual Gains for Individuals and Organizations

Abstract

Today, workplace is constantly changing. Organizations are confronted with multiple chal- lenges, brought by continuous change. Facing this situation, organizations have opted for two different types of strategies, either the traditional deficit or problem-solving approach or positive-abundance approach which considers that the goal of the organization is to embrace and enable the highest potential of the organization and its employees. Aliterature review of the latest advances in positive organizational research was conducted in order to shed light onto two main questions: Are mutual gains for the organiza- tion and employees possible? And, what does the evidence shows about the development of theory, research and application of positive approaches? Several keywords and descriptors from positive approaches were used. Finally, 154 articles were reviewed. The results point in favor of the mutual gains but also indicate a lack of theoretical development and the need for further research. Other matters are like- wise discussed.