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Positivity at Work: It’s Not a Contradiction!

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Positive Psychology in the Middle East/North Africa

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Abstract

While the benefits of greater organizational positivity are gaining popularity, the means to increase it are less well known. Too many organizations still take a traditional approach that focuses on reducing problems rather than increasing or leveraging human emotions and potential. With the recent attention to happiness at work in the United Arab Emirates, and increasingly across the region of the Gulf Cooperation Council, we make the case for greater positivity in organizations. We posit that positivity increases productivity, profits, employee engagement, and commitment, and reduces turnover and sick leave. Positivity is not a naïve endeavor that wastes organizational resources and time, but rather an evidence-based pathway for broadening individual perspectives, ideas, and actions with a demonstrable effect on the building of psychological resources useful to employees in the present and future. Insights are offered as to how HR personnel and managers can use the science of positive psychology to increase positivity in the workplace by exploring strategies such as social capitalization, health initiatives, expression of gratitude, acts of kindness, character strengths, and undertaking a Best Self exercise. We conclude with a case study of the telecom company du and highlight its practices for increasing organizational wellbeing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, UAE

    Louise Lambert

  2. Pearson Education, Dubai, UAE

    Elizabeth Topolskaya

  3. Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, USA

    Meg A. Warren

  4. du Telecom, Dubai, UAE

    Mansoor Anwar Habib

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  1. Louise Lambert
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  2. Elizabeth Topolskaya
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  3. Meg A. Warren
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  4. Mansoor Anwar Habib
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Correspondence to Louise Lambert .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Editor in Chief, Middle East Journal of Positive Psychology, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    Louise Lambert

  2. Department of Social Science, Houston Community College, University of Houston-Downtown, Houston, TX, USA

    Nausheen Pasha-Zaidi

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Lambert, L., Topolskaya, E., Warren, M.A., Habib, M.A. (2019). Positivity at Work: It’s Not a Contradiction!. In: Lambert, L., Pasha-Zaidi, N. (eds) Positive Psychology in the Middle East/North Africa. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13921-6_7

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