Accentuate the positive

T+D, Sept, 2003 by Jennifer J. Salopek

T D talked with Kim Cameron, one of the editors of Positive Organizational Scholarship, published this month by Berrett-Koehler. Cameron is professor of organizational behavior and HR management at the University of Michigan Business School.

Salopek What is Positive Organizational Scholarship?

Cameron Positive Organizational Scholarship, or POS, is a new movement in organizational studies and organizational development that focuses on that which is positive, flourishing, and life-giving in organizations. It investigates positive deviance, or the ways in which organizations and their members flourish and prosper in extraordinary ways.

Salopek What are its key concepts?

Cameron The title of the movement itself represents some of its core concepts. In particular, positive refers to an affirmative bias toward the elevating dynamics and outcomes in organizations. Organizational refers to the processes and dynamics associated in and through organizations. Scholarship refers to scientific, theoretically based, and rigorous investigation.

Unlike self-help approaches that prescribe relatively simple and uncomplicated techniques for achieving happiness, fulfillment, or effectiveness, POS focuses on developing rigorous, systematic, and theory-based foundations for positive phenomena.

Salopek What are its origins?

Cameron It parallels a new movement in psychology that has shifted from a traditional focus on illness and pathology--such as deviancy, abnormality, and therapy--toward a positive focus on human strengths, virtues, positive affect, and what makes life worth living.

My personal interest in POS began more than a decade ago when I was studying the effects of downsizing on organizations. I noticed that three-quarters of organizations were worse off after having downsized. But I discovered that the few organizations that flourished after downsizing demonstrated something quite extraordinary, even virtuous. So, I decided to investigate that phenomenon more carefully.

At the same time, several colleagues at the University of Michigan were beginning to study other positive dynamics in organizations. Two years ago, we sponsored a conference to bring all those people together to share research findings, and common interests, and to explore directions for the future. The response was overwhelming.

Salopek Please explain more about the concept of positive deviance. How is it manifested in organizations?

Cameron Low-performing organizations are characterized by inefficiency, ineffectiveness, unprofitability, unethical behavior, and so on. "Normal" organizations exhibit healthy organizational behavior: efficient, effective, profitable, ethical. Positive deviance exists in organizations that are better than normal, better than healthy. They're difficult to describe because we haven't developed very good language to describe them, but they manifest virtuous, benevolent, flourishing, honoring behavior. Their outcomes are extraordinary.

Salopek How important are the actions of leaders--managers, supervisors, executives, and so forth--to creating an environment in which positive deviance can flourish?

Cameron Positive deviance is seldom observed in organizations, even though it's inherently inspiring and uplifting. Therefore, leaders and managers are key to ensuring that organizations nurture and enable positive activities.

Most organizations face enormous pressures to achieve financial results--profitability, revenue generation, balanced budgets, and so on. Most leaders, therefore, respond to these pressures with self-interest and a focus on problem solving. Selfishness, manipulation, greed, secrecy, and a single-minded emphasis on winning are not all that uncommon in organizations, and they lead to conflict, law suits, contract breaking, retribution, and disrespect in social relationships.

Salopek What are the positive dynamics that organizations could foster instead?

Cameron Positive Organizational Scholarship seeks to enable organizations to also focus on appreciation, collaboration, virtuousness, vitality, and meaningfulness--where creating abundance and human well-being are key indicators of success. POS examines characteristics such as trustworthiness, resilience, humility, authenticity, respect, and forgiveness among employees, which lead to theories of excellence, transcendence, positive deviance, extraordinary performance, and positive spirals of flourishing. For the most part, organizational science has paid little heed to those kinds of phenomena up to now.

Salopek Companies exist to solve problems, meet needs, create the next, best widget. Isn't the POS approach a little naive about the true pressures facing the business world?

Cameron Research results demonstrate the power of a positive or abundance approach to organizational change. For example, I have found in my own research that organizations that emphasize compassion, integrity, optimism, forgiveness, and trust are significantly more successful than typical firms. They're more profitable, more productive, more innovative, and they retain customers and employees to a significantly greater degree than most firms do.