The Role of Psychological Well-

Being in Job Performance: A Fresh Look at An Age-Old

QuestWritten by: Thomas A. Wright

Russell Cropanzono

Presented By: Seth Estock

Thomas A. Wright, P.h.D.Professor in Management at Fordham Schools of Business

Education:Ph.D., 1984, University of California, BerkeleyMS, San Francisco State UniversityBA, Stonehill College Published in:Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Psychometrika, Journal of Management, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Journal of Management Inquiry, Human Resource Management Review, Organizational Dynamics, Academy of Management Executive, Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, Group and Organization Management, and others

Russell Cropanzano, P.h.D.Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado

Education:P.h.D., Purdue University, West Lafayette, IndianaMA., Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TexasBA., Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana“You don’t have to be greedy and self-interested to get ahead. In fact the data show that this may actually hurt you. We need to push back against that ‘greed is good’ philosophy. Good is good. It helps you and your organization.”

http://deming.colorado.edu/russell-cropanzano/

Purpose of Article

“Happiness is a valuable tool for maximizing both personal betterment and employee job performance.”

Traditional view of happiness as job satisfaction.

OutlineI. Accentuate the Negative

II. Back to the Future: Psychological Well-Being and Happiness

III.Job Performance: The Organizational Consequences of Happiness

IV.Broaden-and-Build: The Human Consequences of Happiness

V. How to Build a Happy Workforce

Accentuate the Negative

Journal of Applied Psychology Studies- Positive – sales went down 10%- Negative- sales increased 171%

Negative emotion leads to action- “Fight or Flight”

Good in nature, bad in the business world- Yearly performance evaluation procedure

Personal experience with performance evaluation

Affective Events Theory (AET)

“Affective Events Theory (AET: Weiss and Cropanzano, 1996), which suggests that employees’ positive emotional states are immediate responses to pleasant antecedent events at work.”

“…a happiness episode may relate to a pleasant event (e.g. receivingpositive feedback from my supervisor) that is appraised in a positive way (e.g. I am good in my job), and may result in the respective behaviors (e.g. enhanced performance).”

Bakker, A.B., Ilies, R. (13 August, 2012). Everyday Work Life: Explaining with Person Fluctuations in Employee Well

Being. Human Relations. V65, 1051-1069.

Back to the FutureHappiness as Psychological Well Being (PWB)- Subjective experience

- Happy to the extent that they believe themselves to be happy.

- Presence of positive emotions and absence of negative emotions

- Global Judgment

Consistency over time

High levels of PWB boost job performance.

Increase capacity to appreciate new opportunities and experiences

Job PerformanceM.B.A. Student Study- With high levels of PWB

- Superior decision makers- Interpersonal behaviors- High performance ratings

Study of employees with high PWB- Higher pay 18 months later

High PWB resulted in high supervisory performance years in the future.- Controlled for age, gender, ethnicity, job tenure, and education.

Conclusion of Studies

Even after controlling for multiple different variables “when happiness is measured as PWB, it is consistently and positively related to various measures of job performance.”

Broaden-and-BuildPWB broadens momentary thought-action repertories- Interest Explore- Joy urge to play, be creative- People who enjoy work consider it a “calling”

Executive Illustration

- Job – means to an end

- Career – work for rewards. Driven by desire for power and prestige

- Calling – Doing work is considered end in and of itself

Ouweneel, E., Le Blanc, P.M., Schaufeli, W.B., Wijhe, C.I. (4 April, 2012). Good Morning, Good Day: A Diary Study on Positive Emotions, Hope, and Work Engagement. Human Relations. V.65, 1129-1154.

Broaden-and-Build

“Upward Spiral”- More PWB translates into being more

proactive, resilient to adverse situations, less prone to stress symptoms

Effect of PWB on the body- Positive emotion linked to increases in brain

dopamine levels- Decrease blood pressure and heart rate- Help speed body’s recovery to its normal,

pre-stress levels.

Good Morning America Case

- C.R. Snyder- Specialist in positive psychology

- Test of positive emotion on cast- Charles Gibson

How to Build a Happy Workforce

Composition - Placing people into appropriate positions- Human and societal costs

Training- Stress management training- Constructive self talk- Learned optimism- Metropolitan Life Case and personal experience

Situational Engineering- Changing environment to promote, or not impair,

worker PWB- Work/family balance- Equitable pay

Situational Engineering

“…some research suggests that internal strife, conservatism, and rigid, formal management structures within organizations will impede creativity. Because individuals are likely to perceive each of these factors as controlling, they may lead to increases in individuals extrinsic motivation, and corresponding decreases in the intrinsic motivation that is necessary for creativity.”

- Apple Campus and Googleplex

Amabile, T.M., Conti, R., Coon, H., Lazenby, J., Herron, M. (October, 1996). Assessing the Work Environment for Creativity. The Academy of Management Journal. V.39, 5, 1154-1184.

In ConclusionBelief that the happy worker is a productive worker are correct when considering employee happiness as PWB.

Broaden-and-build is framework for understanding role of PWB in happy/productive workers- This may increase studies in other areas such as serene/thoughtful workers, caring/helpful workers, joyous/honest workers, and exhilarated/creative workers