Taming the Waves and Wild Horses of Positive Organizational Psychology

Abstract

During the past decade, the winds and raucous waves of positive psychology have altered the landscape and brought new life to the profession and discipline of psychology. Since Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) proffered the positive psychology manifesto at the turn of the century, an amazing plethora of books, articles, research investigations, grants, awards, and applications for improving human welfare and society at large have emerged (see Donaldson, 2011a). Sheldon, Kashdan, and Steger (2011) fully described this impressive groundswell of positive psychology activity in their recent edited volume on Designing positive psychology: Taking stock and moving forward. This rapid growth of scholarly activity has also spawned new professional societies such as the International Association of Positive Psychology (http://www.ippanetwork.org/Home/), scholarly journals including the Journal of Positive Psychology (http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/17439760.asp) and Journal of Happiness Studies (http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/well-being/journal/10902), and top tier graduate programs such as the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and the MA and PhD programs in Positive Organizational Psychology and Positive Developmental Psychology at Claremont Graduate University. All of these efforts share the desire to better organize and foster the continued growth and impact of positive psychology.