We’re here with Stacey Scimeca and Professor Mari Kira from the Center for Positive Organizations (CPO). Stacey is CPO’s Learning and Engagement Specialist and Mari is CPO’s Research Director and a CPO core faculty member. Let’s dive right in!
Ross HCC: Stacey, could you get started by telling us about the Center for Positive Organizations? What is Positive Organizational Scholarship and what does the Center for Positive Organizations do?
Stacey: The Center for Positive Organizations is a research center at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and the hub for sharing the research and best practices in a field of science called Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS). POS was founded here at Ross by three Management and Organizations faculty members and is a sub-field of M&O. POS scholars explore ideas like positive culture, relationships, meaning and purpose, and ethics and virtues in organizations.
Ross HCC: Interesting, that sounds very relevant for students interested in human resource management or human capital consulting. Mari, as a faculty member, I read that you are a member of the editorial board of Human Resource Management Review. What are the applications of Positive Organizational Scholarship to HRM or human capital consulting?
Mari: Our work at the Center for Positive Organizations certainly applies to HR. A focus of POS is creating organizations where people thrive and can bring out the best in themselves. Our researchers at CPO are developing frameworks that emphasize several conditions for employee well-being, such as high-impact connections in the workplace, positive leadership, and effective change management. All of these frameworks can be applied to cultivating a high-performing, thriving workforce.
Ross HCC: Mari, tell us a little more about your past and present research. What is “sustainable work” and how does it relate to the work of human capital professionals?
Mari: Very often we talk about the triple-bottom-line—people, profit, and planet—but the people within these organizations are often overlooked. “Sustainable work” is a fourth bottom-line that emphasizes the growth and development of people within an organization, where employees are rejuvenated rather than depleted by their work. This is a core component of both POS as well as the field of human capital.
Ross HCC: Stacey, on a day-to-day basis, what are some specific examples of ways human capital professionals can incorporate best practices of Positive Organizational Scholarship into their work?
Stacey: I’d encourage human capital professionals to incorporate a strengths-based lens into their work to unlock organizational potential and counter the natural tendency to pay more attention to weaknesses or deficits. Practice using more strengths language. For example, challenge yourself to give feedback to one colleague each day about how they used their strengths on a project or in a meeting—how valuable their creativity was when they offered a new idea or how their teamwork made the project a success because they were always willing to lend a hand.
Ross HCC: Mari, one of the challenges human capital professionals face is substantiating their people strategy recommendations with evidence-based research or quantitative support. What resources would you recommend for human capital professionals who need data to create buy-in from colleagues at work who are skeptical of positive organizational practices?
Mari: One of the opportunities for Positive Organization Scholarship is to further substantiate some of the connections between employee well-being, flourishing communities, and business outcomes. On the other hand, the connection between well-being and performance is extremely complicated, and the straightforward business case between well-being and profits ends up being an inadequate simplification. Sometimes the connection is there—when positive emotions lead to creativity which leads to performance—but there are also situations when intervening factors challenge the potential of positive practices. This is what we must untangle—what are the direct connections and what cause them. We also have to be clear that the business case is just one case, that dignifying work is also a human right. There is a values case, that if positive organizational practices make the workplace a better place—then why not? If students would like to learn more about POS, I recommended visiting the CPO website to find links to our research as well as video recordings of leading positive organizational scholars.
Ross HCC: Thank you for that insight, Mari. Stacey, before we wrap up, what are some ways Ross MBA students can engage with the Center for Positive Organizations? Also, I’ve heard something about a turtle?
Stacey: MBA students can engage with CPO in three major ways: MBAs can enroll in coursework with CPO Faculty, MBAs can attend the Positive Links Speaker Series which are monthly hour-long talks about POS research, and/or MBAs can apply to the +LAB program. The +LAB is an experiential community designed to introduce students to POS through coursework and engagement opportunities with organizational and academic leaders. And we do have a tortoise at CPO named Rosa! Rosa is an African Red Footed Tortoise and one of our biggest community builders.
Ross HCC: How fun! Stacey and Mari, thank you so much for joining the Ross Human Capital Club today to discuss the Center for Positive Organizations!
To learn more about CPO, visit https://positiveorgs.bus.umich.edu/, and to register for Positive Links Speaker events, visit https://positiveorgs.bus.umich.edu/conferences-meetings/positive-links-speaker-series/.