Chapter- 5

Positive Organizational Behaviour

5.1. Concept of POB:
It is the application of positive psychology to the
workplace. It focus on strengths and building the
best in the workplace under the basic assumption.

It is goodness and excellence that can be analyzed and

achieved strengths in the workplace.

It looks what is right with people instead of concerning

on dysfunctions and what is wrong with the people.
It is the study of positive human resource
strengths and psychological capacities that can
be measured, developed and managed for
performance improvement in today's work
place.

It presents the effective application of

organizational behavour through positive
psychology and psychological resource
capacities for improve the individual
organizational performance.
According to Luthans (2011) The study and
application of positive oriented human resource
strengths and psychological capacities that can
be measured, developed and effectively managed
for performance improvement in today's
workplace in positive organizational beahviour.

In conclusion, POB is framed in the positive

psychology movement and then gives the
theoretical background, research and application
of optimism, hope, happiness and resiliency,
emotional intelligence and confidence. Major
components of POB are:
1) Optimism:
It is an important and primary component of positive
organizational behaviour. It refers to the hopefulness
and confidence about the future or the success of
something.

It is more than just the power of positive thinking.

It is a mental characteristic in terms expectation of

positive outcome and a positive impact.

It is associated with the trait of perseverance, achievement

and motivation leading to work and occupational
success.
The term optimism derives from the Latin word
optimum which means best. In the typical sense
of the word, It is expecting the best possible
outcome from any given situation.

According to Moorhead and Griffin- Optimism is

the extent to which a person sees life in
relatively positive or negative terms.

In conclusion, optimism can be a very useful tool

and applicable concept in improving employees
performance.
5.1.1. Dimension of Optimism:
i) Optimism as human nature:
According to human nature there are two types
of thoughts about optimism. Cognitive
psychologists expressed that the people tend
to have a more positive bias of themselves
than actual reality. Emotionally well people
have most of positive preference. This
positivity is inherited as a part of people's
basic human nature.
On the other side, few psychologists generally
have a negative opinion on optimism,
representing it is an illusion and that a more
precise (clear) perception of the hard facts of
reality was more favouralbe to healthy
psychological functioning.
ii) Optimism as an individual Difference:
According to this dimension, the people have different
degree of optimism- we are not alike (similar).

It focuses on cognitively determined expectations and

casual (informal) attribution.

Seligman said that it is important to know that how an

individual habitually attributes the causes of failure,
misfortune and bad events.

so, if the individuals expect to good happening to them

will be optimistic, however if they expect bad things to
happen they tend to be pessimistic.
5.1.2. Optimism in Workplace:
There is links between optimism and workplace.
It acts positively in workplace and lead to
meaningless outcomes. Therefore, this is
discussed into following aspects:

i) Perfection of Optimism in Workplace: It

has linked between the level of optimism of
employees and their work performance.
It leads to employees believe in probability
rather than idolizing problems. Probability
relates with curiosity to solve the problem
rather than still ideal and complaining.

Optimism could be a very positive force in the

workplace. It leads to high morale, motivation
and satisfaction, persistence higher level of
aspiration in employees.
Several researchers have shown optimism can
prevent depression, increase work
performance, strengthen social responsibility
and resilient in setback in workplace.

Therefore, optimism energizes, broadens

opportunities, uncovers solutions, vastly
improves work life balance and best of all.
ii) Shortcoming of Optimism in Workplace:
We know that there is not always positive impact
of the optimism in workplace. There are certain
jobs in which at least mild pessimism would be
desirable.

According to Peterson (2000), described optimistic

behaviour may be lead to meaningless searches,
unrealistic goals, a false optimism.
iii) Application of Optimism in Workplace:
According to this variable the managers who are
optimistic raise the aspirations of people to
achieve their individual goals.
Customer service representatives who are
optimistic are more likely to connect with the
customer and ensure a positive outcome to the
interaction.
Line staff who are optimistic will be able to find
the positive when the inevitable changes occur
in policies and procedures.
Sales persons who are optimistic will make more
sales.
Therefore, optimism can be applied to improve
the performance of the employees in their
respective work.
According to Luthans Positive Organizational
Behaviour study found optimism was related
to employee performance, job satisfaction and
work happiness.
2) Hope: It is another important dimension of
POB. It is the willpower that provides the
determination to achieve the goals and also
determines the path-way that promotes the
formation of paths.

It is directly related to profitability, retention of

employees, employees satisfaction and
commitment.
Snyder (1991) defined hope is not only persons'
determination that goal can be achieved. It
also includes the beliefs that successful plans
and strategies can be formulated.

In conclusion, Hope is an optimistic aptitude of

mind. It is based on an expectation of positive
outcomes related to events and circumstances
in one's life.
3) Happiness (Subjective Well Being):
It is an individual's experience of emotional
reactions and mental judgment.

It refers to how people experience the quality of

their lives and includes both emotional
reactions and cognitive judgments.

It reports of positive emotions and life

satisfaction and assess how people feel and
think about their quality of life.
According to Diener, Lucas and Oshi (2002)
"Subjective Well Being (SWB) is defined as a
person's cognitive and affective evaluation of
his/her life.
Above definition presents the cognitive
(knowledge) and affective (emotional)
elements ) of SWB.
The cognitive elements relates to individual
thinking about their life satisfaction in their
specific work relationship or whole life.
The affective elements refers to the individual's
emotions, moods and feelings.
4) Resiliency:
It is the capacity of survive potential adversity,
risk, systemic disturbance by adapting,
recovery. It is not a trait but involves
behaviour, actions particular to certain events.

According to Luthans (2011): Resiliency is the

developable capacity to 'bounce back' tfhfkgdf
kmls{g'' from adversity, conflict and failure.
This bouncing back capacity involves flexibility,
adjustment, adaptability and continuous
responsiveness to change and uncertainty.

So resilience involves behaviours, thoughts and

actions that can be learned and developed in
anyone. It is tremendously influenced by a
person's environment, which is dynamic and
ever changing.
5) Emotional Intelligence:
Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify
and manage one's own emotion and the
emotion of others.

It is the skill to recognize, understand and

influence others' emotion.

It is the combined and joint outcome of an

individual's emotion and intelligence at a work
place
Emotional intelligence is a new field in the
context of understanding intelligence with the
perspective of emotion.

It addresses the emotional, personal, social and

survival dimensions of intelligence.

According to D. Goleman "EI is the capacity for

recognizing our own feelings and those of
others for motivating ourselves and for
managing emotions well in ourselves and in our
relationship.
Emotional intelligence can be summarized in
four areas- identifying , using, understanding
and regulating the emotions.

It is a set of competencies associated with

emotional intelligence, self-awareness,
emotional management, empathy, relationship,
communication and personal style.
The main Them of EI are:
i) It makes us aware about the mistakes .
ii) It makes us aware about anger, fear, insecurity,
jealousy and failure to take responsibility for
an improper action.
iii) To know what emotions we and other have
iv) To know how strong they are and what cause
them
The concept of emotional intelligence is
discussed separately in subsequent sections as
emotion, intelligence and its applicability in
workplace.
5.1. Role of Emotion:
Emotion is the reaction to an object not a trait. It is
how a person feels about something and these
feeling directed at someone or something.

It is any conscious experience characterized by

intense mental activity and a certain degree of
pleasure or displeasure. 

It play a vital role in individuals' lives. The roles of

emotion in workplace are explained as below:
i) Interpersonal Behaviour : Emotion reflects
the influence how people keep interpersonal
behaviour with others. The interpersonal
interactions can be either positive or negative
based on emotion of a person.

ii) Decision Making: Emotion influences a

person's decision making process. It is linked
with choosing amongst the alternatives.
iii) Productivity: Emotional may be influence
productivity through increase in motivation,
organizational commitment and ultimately lead to
productivity.
Negative emotion may lead to distract from work
performance and positive emotion may lead to
positive organizational behaviour.

iv)General Influences: Emotion connect thoughts

and memories . It becomes the basis of many
attitudes, values and beliefs . It influences the
thinking process of individuals.
5.2. Meaning of Intelligence:
Intelligence is the capacity of a person to acquire
and apply knowledge .
It includes the capacity to advantage from past
experience, act proposefully, solve problem
and adapt to new situation.
It is general ability of a person including a range
of aptitudes, skills and talents.
Psychologists describe that intelligence involves
the ability to learn, recognize problems and
solve problems.
5.3. Emotional Intelligence in the Work Place:
The dimension of emotional intelligence
contributes to workplace achievement. The
few application of emotional intelligence at
workplace is discussed as below:
i) Application of Goleman's Approach to
Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace:
According to this approach EI promotes the
relationship between co-workers, managers
and staffs and its customers.
It is applicable to every human interaction in an
organization.
It also tend to employees with productive,
efficient, motivate and commitment to work.

Employees how hold high levels of emotional

intelligence are self aware of their own
strengths and weaknesses. They will be self
motivated to result orientation.

Employees can develop job capabilities such as

higher morale, initiative, trustworthiness, self-
confidence and achievement in workplace.
ii) Application of Emotional Intelligence to
Leadership:
EI facilitates leaders to inspire productive work by
understanding others' motivation .
It allows the leader to recognize and act on
opportunities others may be unaware of.
When leaders are active and emotional intelligence
likely to inspire and energies subordinates and
make them confident, optimism and engaged in
work.
EI makes leader able to communicate the vision
and increase likelihood of acceptance of change
and positive social interaction in the organization
iii) Application of Emotional Intelligence to
Personal Well-being of Employee:

EI promotes individual employee towards adaption

and change.
There several research evidence indicating emotional
intelligence a better predictor of economic well-
being, satisfaction with life, friendship, family life,
occupational attainments of the employees
Employees get support if they are emotional
intelligent, they can build network of relationship
with friends.
iv) Application of Emotional Intelligence to
Improve Performance:
EI can be a factor of stress resistance and employee
can contribute to job performance.

Employee with high emotional intelligence become

better team performer and contribute positively to
the organizational performance. EI provides
opportunities, trust environment and commitment
to employees.
v) Application of Emotional Intelligence to
Improve Customer Service:
Customer service always influenced by the
emotional status of employees.

Therefore, EI of the employees influence the

level of customer satisfaction.

Employee can understand emotion of the

customers and act to manage the emotional
relationship with customers.
vi) Application of Emotional Intelligence to
Negotiation:
EI helps to the appreciation and resolution of
conflict in an open minded situation.
In the negotiation process, one should
understand the emotion of other party as well
as control own emotion too.
6) Self –Efficacy:
It is a person's belief in their capacity to
successfully perform a particular task.

It is the belief of an individual of being capable

of performing a task.

It is the degree of confidence of a person in

doing a task.
It is an individual's belief about his/her abilities
and cognitive resources towards successfully
execution of a specific task.

According to Bandura (1986) self efficacy refers

to the personal beliefs or to an individual's
confidence in his/her own ability to perform
effectively specified tasks.

He emphasizes that self efficacy is the most

pervading and important of the psychological
mechanisms of self influence.
In conclusion, Self efficacy refers to an
individual's confidence about his/her abilities
to mobilize the motivation, cognitive resources
and course of action needed to successfully
execute a specific task.
6.1. Process of Self –Efficacy
i) Cognitive Process: Self efficacy is purposively
organized in thoughts and shown in course of
action.
It is based on a cognitive process in which
personal goal setting is influenced by self
appraisal of competencies.
Much human behaviour being purposive is
regulated by forethought em