Happiness and well-being at work has been an increasingly popular topic in the past two decades in academic and business contexts alike, along with positive psychology, through which organizations aim to find out, what makes working environments engaging and motivating. Few studies have focused on education, however, especially from a solution-focused perspective, even though it is a sector where employees are highly exposed to stress and burnout. Accordingly, the purpose of his study was to investigate the relationship between teachers' psychological resources through the concept of psychological capital, workplace well-being and perceived workplace happiness. We used both qualitative (open-ended question) and quantitative (test battery) methods to examine the relation between the various factors. Content analysis of responses in our qualitative research suggests that the main pillars of teachers' workplace happiness were realization of goals, feedback, finding meaning in work and social relationships. The results of our quantitative study indicated that workplace well-being and happiness correlated with inner psychological resources, hope and optimism in particular. We conclude that the future focus on employee well-being must take into account positive contributing factors and adopt a positively-oriented approach to promoting well-being. Suggestions for practical implications are also discussed.
Drawing on recent research on determinants of subjective well-being, we developed and conducted a pilot study of an employee well-being questionnaire using M. Seligman's (2011) Positive psychology is a quite new branch of psychology the roots of which can be traced back to Martin E. P. Seligman's 1998 Presidential Address to the American Psychological Association (Seligman, 1998). As APA president, Seligman initiated a shift in psychology's focus toward more positive psychological topics, such as well-being, contentment, hope, optimism, flow, happiness, savouring, human strengths, and resilience. In contrast with the classical focus of psychology on curing mental illness, positive psychology emphasizes understanding the factors that build strengths, help people to flourish and contribute to mental health, as well as on subjective wellbeing and happiness. All of these factors and processes may underlie optimal human functioning. (Seligman, 2002, p. 4). The message of the positive psychology movement is to remind our field that it has been deformed. Psychology is not just the study of disease, weakness, and damage; it also is the study of strength and virtue. Treatment is not just fixing what is wrong; it also is building what is right. Psychology is not just about illness or health; it also is about work, education, insight, love, growth, and play. And in this quest for what is best, positive psychology does not rely on wishful thinking, selfdeception, or hand waving; instead, it tries to adapt what is best in the scientific method to the unique problems that human behavior presents in all its complexityConsidering the basic statement Seligman proposed, how can we define positive psychology? There are as many definitions as there are positive psychologists, for example: "Positive psychology is a scientific field that studies the optimal functioning of individuals, groups, and institutions" (Gable and Haidt, 2005).
PurposeThis study aims to find out the differences in the employee well-being of teleworkers in Hungary prior to and during the pandemic restrictions and explores whether the differences stem from (1) the presence of children or (2) the changes in the telework situation (freely chosen or forced by pandemic restrictions).Design/methodology/approachAs the first step of this study of office workers, the authors created a “one working day” measure within the conceptual framework of positive psychology that is suitable for comparing the well-being factors experienced in various work environments. The survey was completed by two independent samples: 52 office workers regarding home office before the appearance of the virus in Europe (Phase 1) and 152 office workers during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary (Phase 2).Findings This research reveals that teleworking during the pandemic has increased irritability and tension for all teleworkers, but the stress levels, the overall subjective well-being and the level of engagement were significantly affected only in the case of those teleworkers who raise small children. Despite the overlapping responsibilities of parents, their work-related sense of accomplishment did not change during the COVID-19 lockdown. The forced home office setup may, however, entail the strengthening of co-worker relationships in the online space.Originality/valueBy understanding the relationship between well-being predictors and the changes in the situation of remote working, the results may help develop intervention programs to promote employee well-being in challenging times.
Háttér és célok A munkahelyi jóllét és boldogság empirikus kutatása egyre nagyobb teret nyer már hazai viszonylatban is. Jelen kutatás a magyar pedagógusok munka során átélt boldogságának legfőbb dimenziói és jellemzői feltárását tűzte ki célul kvalitatív és kvantitatív módszerrel. Módszer A vizsgálat részeként 297 pedagógus „Mikor él át/érez boldogságot a munkája során?” nyílt kérdésre adott válaszai, valamint Lyubomirsky és Lepper (1999) nevével fémjelzett, Szubjektív Boldogság Skálán (Subjective Happiness Scale) kapott eredményei kerültek feldolgozásra. Eredmények A szöveges válaszok tartalomelemzése során négy fő dimenzió rajzolódott ki. A pedagógus munka-boldogság élményében a legmarkánsabb meghatározók az eredményesség és siker tényezője, a munkájukra vonatkozó értékelés és visszajelzés, a munkaélményt jelentő tényezők, valamint a társas kapcsolatok. A vizsgált háttérváltozók (pl. a nem, az elégedettség, a munkastressz, az egészségi és családi állapot) közül több is értelmezhető kapcsolatot mutat a Szubjektív Boldogság Skála globális boldogság mutatójával. Következtetések Eredményeink ismeretében, különböző, pozitív pszichológiai intervenciós lehetőségeket is számba véve, gyakorlati megfontolásokat teszünk a munkahelyi jóllét és boldogság növelése érdekében. Ezen javaslatok nemcsak specifikusan a pedagógusok, de más munkakörben dolgozók szempontjából is relevánsak lehetnek.
To conceptualize how employees' perception of job performance might be generated, the present study tested a process model of Seligman's (2011, The Journal of Positive Psychology 13, 333) PERMA. Hierarchical regression and mediation analyses were conducted on 648 working adults from Hungary, Japan, China and Australia. A significant mediation effect of Positive Relationships and Meaning on the pathway from Positive Emotions to Accomplishment was found. Meaning was a stronger mediator than Positive Relationships. The indirect effect of Engagement as a mediator between Positive Emotions and Accomplishment was not significant, contrary to past empirical evidence of Engagement as a mediator. These findings demonstrate the significance of examining PERMA with a holistic approach. The implications of this study on workplace performance interventions are also discussed.
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