Accentuating the Positive

Accentuate the “Positives,” an Emerging OD Opportunity
Positive Psychology,
Positive Organizational Scholarship
and Appreciative Inquiry


Creativity and humor, topics of prior posts, are part of the emerging field of “Positive Psychology.” Positive psychology is the new science of strength, resilience and hope. The Handbook of Positive Psychology (Snyder, 2005) is an incredibly useful and accessible guide to the field. Topics dear to the OD heart include: well-being, flow, emotional intelligence, optimism, hope theory, self-efficacy, the passion to know, wisdom, compassion, love, empathy, relationship, gratitude, toughness, social support, multicultural context, and spirituality.

Positive psychology, in turn, provides the social science base for “positive organizational scholarship” (Cameron, 2003), a developing academic discipline that “focuses on the generative dynamics of human organizing.” (p.10). The titles of the three parts of the book, alone, are enough to rekindle the OD spirit:
Part 1: Virtuous Processes, Strengths, and Positive Organizing
Part 2: Upward Spirals and Positive Change
Part 3: Positive Meaning and Positive Connections

Today, OD practitioners use Appreciative Inquiry (AI) in their work. The AI process asks positive, rather than deficit based, questions, and typically includes the steps of discovery, dream, design and destiny. The roots of appreciative inquiry, as an applied practice, is positive organizational scholarship and, more fundamentally, positive psychology.

Our Challenge: What would OD become if we mastered the art and science of “Accentuating the Positive?”

References:
Snyder, C. R., and Lopez, Shane J., Editors (2005) Handbook of Positive Psychology, Oxford University Press

Cameron, Kim S. Dutton, Jane E., and Quinn, Robert E., Editors (2003) Positive Organizational Scholarship: Foundations of a new discipline, San Francisco, Berrett-Kohler Publishers. Inc.

Ludema, James D., Whitney. Diana, Mohr Bernard J., & Griffin, Thomas J. (2003), The Appreciative Inquiry Summit, San Francisco, Berrett-Kohler Publishers, Inc

Jim Webber