Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS) is an umbrella concept used to emphasize what elevates and what is inspiring to individuals and organizations by defining the possibilities for positive deviance rather than just improving on the challenging, broken, and needlessly difficult. Just as positive psychology explores optimal individual psychological states rather than pathological ones, POS focuses attention on the generative dynamics in organizations that lead to the development of human strength, foster resiliency in employees, enable healing and restoration, and cultivate extraordinary individual and organizational performance. While POS does not ignore dysfunctional or typical patterns of behavior, it is most interested in the motivations and effects associated with remarkably positive phenomena--how they are facilitated, why they work, how they can be identified, and how organizations can capitalize on them.
This handbook is the first major resource for scholars and professionals interested in learning about POS. Across 80 chapters, authors comprehensively review basic principles, empirical evidence, and ideas for future research relating to POS. They focus on using a positive lens to address problems and challenges in organizational life and they draw on POS to expand the domain of other disciplines including ethics, economics, peace, spirituality, social movements, and sustainability. This volume is an ideal resource for organizational scholars, students, practitioners, human resource managers, and professional associations, with coverage of the full spectrum of organizational theories and outcomes that define, explain, and predict the occurrence, causes, and consequences of positivity.

Positive leaders are able to dramatically expand their people's - and their own - capacity for excellence. And they accomplish this without enormous expenditures or huge heroic gestures. Here leading scholars - including Adam Grant, author of the bestselling Give and Take; positive organizational scholarship movement cofounders Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn; and thirteen more - describe how this is being done at companies such as Wells Fargo, Ford, Kelly Services, Burt's Bees, Connecticut's Griffin Hospital, the Michigan - based Zingerman's Community of Businesses, and many others. They show that, like the butterfly in Brazil whose flapping wings create a typhoon in Texas, you can create profound positive change in your organization through simple actions and attitude shifts.

A Stunning Achievement in Change ManagementIn October of 1997, the nation's top business theorists and practitioners met at a conference cosponsored by USC's Leadership Institute and the Center for Effective Organizations. The group was challenged to present their most advanced ideas regarding leadership and change management. This guide is the stunning result of their collective efforts. Charged with fascinating case studies, action strategies, and unbeatable advice, The Leader's Change Handbook features fresh works by Christopher Bartlett, Michael Beer, John Kotter, David Nadler, Ron Heifetz, Susan Mohrman, Bob Quinn and other distinguished contributors. What it offers is a uniquely coherent, cutting-edge approach to leading today's organizations -- an approach only this elite group, working together toward a common vision, could offer.

Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS) is an umbrella concept used to emphasize what elevates and what is inspiring to individuals and organizations by defining and improving on the challenging, broken, and needlessly difficult. Just as positive psychology explores optimal individual psychological states rather than pathological ones, POS focuses attention on the generative dynamics in organizations that lead to the development of human strength, foster resiliency in employees, enable healing and restoration, and cultivate extraordinary individual and organizational performance. While POS does not ignore dysfunctional or typical patterns of behavior, it is most interested in the motivations and effects associated with remarkably positive phenomena-how they are facilitated, why they work, how they can be identified, and how organizations can capitalize on them. This handbook is the first major resource for scholars and professionals interested in learning about POS. Across 79 chapters, authors comprehensively review basic principles, empirical evidence, and ideas for future research relating to POS. They focus on using a positive lens to address problems and challenges in organizational life and they draw on POS to expand the domain of other disciplines including ethics, economics, peace, spirituality, social movements, and sustainability. This volume is an ideal resource for organizational scholars, students, practitioners, human resource managers, and professional associations, with coverage of the full spectrum of organizational theories and outcomes that define, explain, and predict the occurrence, causes, and consequences of positivity.

Provocative insights on leadership from a "who's who" of leadership thought including: Tom Peters, Charles Handy, and Jim Kouzes

A stellar cast of the world's foremost leadership gurus comes together in one place to offer their thoughts on leadership in the new economy. Edited by renowned leadership expert Warren Bennis, the book addresses issues that Bennis identifies as the ones that "keep CEOs up at night," including why we tolerate bad leaders, why leadership is everyone's business, and how ethics will play into new leadership. With contributions from Charles Handy, Tom Peters, Barry Posner, Jim Kouzes, and Warren Bennis--as well as from such young entrepreneurs as Michael Klein and Tara Church--no other book includes the caliber of authors and the range of thinking found in "The Future of Leadership."