Positive Links Speaker Series Session: Prosocial Behavior in Organizations — Positive Emotions or Strategic Reputation?

Wayne Baker was the first Director of the Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship. His POS research interests include (1) energy networks in organizations, (2) generosity and reciprocity, and (3) values.

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Positive Links Speaker Series Session: Title to be announced

Gretchen M. Spreitzer’s research focuses on employee empowerment and leadership development, particularly within a context of organizational change and decline. Her most recent work is looking at positive deviance and how organizations enable employees to flourish.

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Positive Leader Series Session: Title to be announced

Lynn Blodgett is president of Xerox Services, a position he was appointed to January 2012. Prior to this appointment, he was president and chief executive officer of Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., A Xerox Company. He served as the leader of ACS – Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. – since November 2006. He is also an executive vice president of Xerox Corporation, appointed when Xerox acquired ACS in February 2010.

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The Three R’s – and G: The place for Gratitude in Early Education

How would the educational experience be transformed—and transforming—if gratitude was part of the curriculum for students, and for training of teachers and administrators? Lea Waters is dedicated to providing the answers, as well as the resources, via her research on gratitude.

Lea Waters is the director of the Centre for Positive Psychology in the School of Education at the University of Melbourne, and she recently visited the Center for Positive Organizations to share her research into the importance of gratitude to well-being, and how best to engender a culture of gratitude in schools. She presented her research to University of Michigan faculty members and doctoral students in a POS Research Incubator session, and gave presentations on early education curricula featuring gratitude to students in the Center for Positive Organizations +Lab.

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POS in Action: Step one when facing an “insurmountable” challenge: identify the positives

Identify the problem, then formulate a solution. Reasonable strategy? What about looking first at what is right in the situation, and how to build on it? This is what Jim Mallozzi did in 2009, when he was appointed CEO to Prudential Real Estate and Relocation, which was deep in the red at time. He applied what he had learned from research in the field of Positive Organizational Scholarship, and not only implemented strengths-based strategies, but worked to answer the question, “How do we achieve something that is truly great and never before seen in our industry?”

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