How it All Began
January 12, 2013
Professor Jane Dutton talks about how the Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship was founded, emerging out of the tragedy of September 11th, 2001.
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Ithaka: My Own Journey from Busy-ness to Clarity of Purpose
January 11, 2013
I had an experience this week that is both wonderful and embarrassing: I actually applied some basic principles of positive organizational scholarship in my own life. They worked—that’s the wonderful part. And it was embarrassing because I went through many weeks and a million excuses before I finally did what I knew was necessary, what would work, and what I am devoting my professional career to sharing. Why is it so hard to do what I know I should do?
Organizational Flourishing: Three Steps Toward Fostering Emotions
January 8, 2013
Professor Kim Cameron, from the Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship, has spent much of his career studying organizational virtuousness. How do attributes such as compassion, generosity, forgiveness and so forth get institutionalized into the processes, systems, strategies, culture of organizations?
Feeding the Wolf of Compassion
January 2, 2013
Our late colleague Peter Frost used this proverb as a reminder that we all suffer and that we all have the capacity to meet suffering with compassion. We offer it in memory of Peter, and as an invitation to feed the wolf of compassion in your life.
Defining Compassion
January 2, 2013
Compassion is the heart’s response to suffering. Compassion — from the roots passio (suffering) and com (with) — means to suffer with another. Compassion is an innate part of human response to suffering, which is comprised of a three-part experience of noticing another’s pain, feeling with another, and responding in some way.
Compassion Organizing
January 1, 2013
Pain and suffering, though often unspoken, are ubiquitous in work organizations. Sometimes the work of the organization itself becomes painful, while at other times pain comes from tragic and unexpected events in employees’ lives
How do *Organizations* Flourish
December 27, 2012
In Flourish, Penn Professor Marty Seligman lays out a five-component framework for maximizing well-being in your own life. It got me thinking: in what ways can this be applied to organizations?
The Role of Others in Fostering Transformational Growth
December 23, 2012
In our culture, we often place a premium on agency – the role of the individual actor. In reality, the individual works within a system. That system places a key role in determining whether a person grows and is successful – or does not.
The Teaching and Practice of POS, Part V: Transcending Your Own Culture
December 21, 2012
I was recently teaching a class on how to be a transformative teacher of positive organizational scholarship. To make a lasting difference with these fellow educators, I realized I needed to carefully plan our lesson, and then be prepared let go of the plan and let the students take the teacher where they most need to go—to co-create with them.
The Teaching and Practice of POS, Part IV: Transcending the Narrow Mindset
December 20, 2012
Most senior authority figures tend to be smart. But not all of them are wise. Wisdom often comes with experience, and experiences often change a person’s natural assumptions.
The Teaching and Practice of POS, Part III: Recognizing How Threatening the Message Really Is
December 20, 2012
In Part I of this series, I suggested that POS’s central message is that an organization can have a more positive culture. In yesterday’s entry, Part II, I explained how “Normal Blindness” caused people to ignore such opportunities. I went on to state that POS’s message is actually threatening to those with the normal mindset.What responsibility does this fact put on POS teachers and practitioners?
Want to be an Intrapreneur? Learn From Social Movements
December 19, 2012
My colleague and friend Jerry Davis and I are doing a bit of blogging through Forbes and Ashoka.