HUL361 Assignment 3

Nishant Agarwal - 2020MT10828

Topic: Applied Positive Psychological Interventions in the workplace.

Applied positive psychology entails utilizing scientific insights to foster a positive work environment and capitalize on
employees' strengths. It redirects attention from problem-solving to cultivating pleasure, significance, and involvement.
This results in advantages such as enhanced productivity, improved overall health, and improved collaboration within
the team. Positive thinking enables organizations to maximize their employees' potential and attain greater success.

The following papers were reviewed for this assignment:

1) The job crafting intervention: Effects on job resources, self-efficacy, and affective well-being [link]
● The research investigates the effects of an intervention program called job crafting on employees.
● Job crafting refers to an employee's proactive behavior to redesign their job in a way that increases the
resources they get from work.
● The researchers examined whether this intervention would lead to positive changes in job resources,
self-efficacy, and emotional well-being of employees.

Study Design
● A quasi-experimental field study was conducted with a group of employees (n=39) from a Dutch police
district.
● The employees participated in a one-day training program on job crafting.
● After the training, they implemented job crafting strategies for a four-week period, with the goal of
achieving self-set goals.
● The intervention concluded with a half-day reflection session to solidify learnings.

Expected Outcomes
● The researchers expected that the intervention would enhance job resources like development
opportunities and positive leader-employee relationships.
● They also anticipated an increase in self-efficacy, positive emotions, and a decrease in negative
emotions among the participating employees.

Results
● Surprisingly, the researchers did not find significant positive effects of the job crafting intervention on
the targeted measures.

Conclusion
Overall, the study suggests that a one-day training program followed by four weeks of self-directed crafting
efforts may not be sufficient to produce significant improvements in job resources, self-efficacy, and affective
well-being.

2) Effects of a strengths intervention on general and work-related well-being: The mediating role of
positive affect [link]
● In this study, the focus is on the impact of strengths interventions on employee well-being, both
generally and in relation to work.
● Strengths interventions are programs designed to help individuals identify, develop, and utilize their
strengths.

Study Design
● A field experiment was conducted with 116 Dutch working adults.
● Participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a waitlist control group.
 ● The experimental group participated in a strengths intervention program.
● All participants completed questionnaires before the intervention (baseline), right after
(post-intervention), and one month later (follow-up).

Expected Outcomes
The researchers hypothesized that participation in the strengths intervention would lead to several positive
outcomes:
● Increased general well-being: This included aspects like psychological capital (optimism, hope, efficacy,
resilience) and life satisfaction.
● Improved work-related well-being: This encompassed factors like increased work engagement and
decreased burnout.
● Mediating role of positive affect: The researchers proposed that positive emotions (joy, pride, gratitude)
would act as a mediator. They expected the intervention to first increase positive affect, which would
then lead to improvements in general and work-related well-being.

Results
The findings partially supported the researchers' expectations:
● The strengths intervention did lead to short-term increases in positive affect for the participating group
compared to the control group.
● There was also a positive effect on psychological capital, which persisted even after a month.
● However, the intervention did not directly impact satisfaction with life, work engagement, or burnout.
● Interestingly, the study supported the mediating role of positive affect. The intervention's effect on
psychological capital was explained by the initial increase in positive emotions.

Conclusion
In conclusion, this research suggests that strengths interventions can be beneficial for employee well-being,
particularly by boosting psychological capital through increased positive emotions. While the study didn't find a
direct effect on all aspects of well-being, the positive affect pathway offers valuable insights for future research
and intervention design.

3) Group intervention: A way to improve working teams’ positive psychological capital [link]
● The study investigates the effectiveness of group interventions in enhancing Positive Psychological
Capital (PsyCap) within work teams. PsyCap is a concept referring to a combination of four traits:
optimism, hope, efficacy (self-belief), and resilience.

Study Design
● A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 126 employees from various Swedish organizations.
● The employees were assigned to one of four groups:
○ Two intervention groups received different intervention programs focused on improving PsyCap.
○ A control group received no intervention.
○ Another control group participated in a waitlist condition, receiving the intervention after the
main study.
● All participants completed surveys measuring PsyCap, general health, and job satisfaction at three
points:
○ Baseline (before the intervention)
○ Post-intervention
○ Six months follow-up

Expected Outcomes
The researchers expected that the intervention groups would experience improvements in PsyCap compared
to the control groups. These improvements were anticipated to translate into positive changes in:
● Health: Reduced levels of stress and improved overall well-being.
 ● Job Satisfaction: Increased feelings of enjoyment and fulfillment from work.

Results
The findings provided evidence for the effectiveness of group interventions in enhancing PsyCap:
● Both intervention groups showed significant increases in self-efficacy and job satisfaction compared to
the control groups at the post-intervention assessment.
● The positive changes in self-efficacy were sustained even at the six-month follow-up.
● Interestingly, the intervention focusing on learned optimism (intervention group I) yielded stronger
effects on self-efficacy compared to the other intervention program.
● However, the results for job satisfaction were mixed. While intervention group I showed lasting
improvements, the benefits for group II diminished after six months.
● The study also found that the intervention had a more significant impact on individuals who reported
lower PsyCap levels at baseline.

Conclusion
Overall, this research suggests that group interventions can be a valuable tool for boosting PsyCap and job
satisfaction within work teams, particularly when focusing on strategies like learned optimism.

4) An examination of two positive organizational interventions: For whom do these interventions work?
[link]
The research examines the effectiveness of two positive psychology interventions aimed at improving
employee well-being and investigates factors influencing their impact.

Study Design
● A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 92 employees from a large social services agency.
● Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions:
○ Gratitude intervention: Focused on cultivating gratitude through writing exercises.
○ Combined intervention: Alternated between gratitude exercises and activities promoting social
connectedness.
○ Waitlist control group: Did not receive any intervention during the study period.

Expected Outcomes
The researchers expected both interventions (gratitude and combined) to lead to positive changes in employee
affective well-being compared to the control group. Affective well-being refers to emotional states and
experiences, including:
● Positive emotions: Increased levels of joy, satisfaction, and contentment.
● Negative emotions: Reduced levels of stress, anxiety, and depression.

Results
The study yielded surprising findings:
● Neither the gratitude intervention nor the combined intervention produced significant main effects on
any of the measured aspects of affective well-being.
● In other words, participation in the interventions did not universally improve positive emotions or
decrease negative emotions for all employees.
However, the research did identify interesting factors influencing the effectiveness of the interventions:
● Personality Traits: Agreeableness, conscientiousness, and job tenure were found to moderate the
intervention effects.
○ Employees high in agreeableness and conscientiousness appeared to benefit more from the
interventions in terms of increased positive emotions.
○ Additionally, employees with longer job tenure seemed to experience a stronger reduction in
negative emotions after participating in the interventions.
 Conclusion
While the interventions themselves didn't yield universal improvements in well-being, the study highlights the
importance of considering individual characteristics that might influence their effectiveness. The findings
suggest that positive psychology interventions may be more beneficial for employees with specific personality
traits and job tenure.

5) Exploring selective exposure and confirmation bias as processes underlying employee work
happiness: An intervention study. Frontiers in Psychology [link]
The study by Williams, Kern, and Waters (2016) investigates how psychological processes like selective
exposure and confirmation bias might influence employee work happiness.

Study Design
● A quasi-experimental design was employed with school staff (N=69) participating across three
measurement points.
● At baseline, all staff completed surveys measuring work happiness, psychological capital (PsyCap), and
perceptions of organizational virtue (OV). PsyCap is a combination of optimism, hope, efficacy, and
resilience, while OV reflects an employee's perception of their organization's ethical and moral
character.
● Following the baseline assessment, participants were divided into two groups:
○ Intervention group (n=51): Received positive psychology training focused on developing PsyCap
and recognizing organizational strengths.
○ Control group (n=18): Continued with their regular work routines.
● All participants completed the same surveys again after the intervention and at a six-week follow-up.

Expected Outcomes
The researchers expected the positive psychology training to:
● Enhance the intervention group's PsyCap.
● Strengthen their perceptions of organizational virtue (OV).
● Ultimately, this would lead to increased work happiness within the intervention group compared to the
control group.
● They further hypothesized that selective exposure and confirmation bias would play mediating roles in
these processes.
○ Selective exposure suggests a tendency to seek out and focus on information that aligns with
one's existing beliefs.
○ Confirmation bias describes the inclination to interpret information in a way that confirms
pre-existing views.

Results
The findings provided some support for the researchers' expectations:
● The intervention group showed a significant increase in PsyCap compared to the control group.
● However, there were no significant differences in perceived organizational virtue between the groups.
● Interestingly, changes in PsyCap partially mediated the relationship between the intervention and work
happiness. This suggests that the intervention's effect on work happiness was at least partly explained
by the increase in PsyCap.

Conclusion
In conclusion, this study suggests that positive psychology interventions can improve employee PsyCap,
potentially leading to greater work happiness. While the research didn't definitively prove the mediating effects
of selective exposure and confirmation bias, it highlights the potential role of these cognitive processes in
shaping employee perceptions and well-being.