One important function of handbooks is to provide a comprehensive view of the latest information and most reliable findings related to a central topic. Almost no one reads a handbook from beginning to end, but we usually use them to identify what we know and do not yet know about certain subjects. Handbook chapters are generally considered to be the most reliable sources for advanced learning. They help us discover what’s new, what’s interesting, and what we have a difficult time finding elsewhere.
This handbook fulfills the highest aspirations to which handbooks aspire. It is edited by some of the best known scholars in the field of positive organizational psychology, and their choices of chapter topics and contributors are outstanding. The chapter contributors are not only luminary and internationally known for their work, but they represent the most diverse set of scholars yet to be compiled into one volume. Authors represent Africa, Asia, Australia–New Zealand, Europe, and North America. They address topics that are often neglected in the organizational psychology literature, and they highlight the application of positive organizational psychology across an impressive array of work contexts – including different sectors (e.g., education, health care, arts and crafts, agriculture, IT), different demographics (e.g., mid‐career, aging), and different practices (e.g., job crafting, relationships, motivation, leadership, organizational change).
As can be expected, the fields of positive psychology and strengths‐based approaches to work have met with their share of critics and detractors. These approaches to work have been accused of being biased toward the existing Western value system. They are Euro‐centric and U.S.‐centric and perpetuate a narrow values‐bias, say the critics. Moreover, the term “positive” connotes more pizzazz than substance, and this work has garnered attention merely because the term sounds commonsense. Research findings are often invalid, overstated, and misleading, say the detractors, and misinterpreting or over‐claiming results are common. Positive organizational psychology is merely a focus on “happiology,” and the results perpetuate increased conformity among workers and lack of freedom.
Oades, Steger, Delle Fave, and Passmore have created a volume that provides an excellent example of counter‐arguments to the critics. The perspectives are diverse. The research is rigorous and carefully crafted. The arguments are sound and well documented. And, the applications are impressive and innovative. The chapter authors are not novices or inexperienced scholars. They represent some of the best minds available. I am confident, therefore, that you will find The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Positivity and Strengths‐Based Approaches at Work to be an excellent source for the latest thinking and the most current findings about positive organizational psychology at work.
Kim Cameron
Russell William Kelley Professor of Management and Organizations
and Professor of Higher Education
University of Michigan, USA