Abstract
Recent years have seen much interest in the new field of Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS). POS focuses specifically on what is positive, flourishing, and life-giving in organizations, and how to cultivate individual and organizational performance. In this article I will discuss the humanistic approach of Carl Rogers and how it can contribute to POS. Rogers is well known for his work on human relations and like POS he was concerned with the promotion of human flourishing. However, unlike POS, Rogers’ approach was based on a distinctive view of human nature and non-directive practice. By comparison, it looks like POS talks the language of human flourishing while offering ways in which to control and direct people as part of the neoliberal hegemony that humanistic scholars might see as the problem. I would like to advocate for a humanistic POS; one which explicitly has the aim of liberation and empowerment.
Highlights
Recent years have seen much interest in the new field of Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS)
In this article I will discuss the humanistic approach of Carl Rogers and how it can contribute to POS
Unlike POS, Rogers’ approach was based on a distinctive view of human nature and non-directive practice. It looks like POS talks the language of human flourishing while offering ways in which to control and direct people as part of the neoliberal hegemony that humanistic scholars might see as the problem
Summary
Seligman resolved to use his presidency to initiate a shift in psychology’s focus towards a more positive psychology Since these beginnings, positive psychology has attracted worldwide interest and its applications been developed into many different domains of areas activity (Joseph, 2015). POS and POB have changed the face of organizational studies in recent years with topics such as hope, optimism, resilience, strengths, grit, mindfulness, and emotional intelligence becoming the focus for empirical work and theorising, and acting as stimuli to influence change within organizations toward positive approaches (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008). While some of these terms may be new, the idea of taking a positive approach was not entirely new, and there is much in POS and POB that is reminiscent of the field of humanistic management, which seeks to promote human flourishing and add value to society (Von Kimakowitz et al, 2010). One of the early pioneering humanistic psychologists to put forward such arguments was Carl Rogers
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