TITLE:
Positive Organizational Scholarship from a Psychotherapeutic Perspective
AUTHORS:
Joshua Hollis, Mark Cogburn
KEYWORDS:
Organizational Development, Positive Organizational Scholarship, Psychotherapy, Reframing, Reappraisal, Stoic Philosophy
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Psychiatry,
Vol.13 No.2,
April
17,
2023
ABSTRACT: Many organizational development perspectives and discussions adopt a
medical or diagnostic viewpoint of organizational dysfunction, focusing heavily
on the numerous deficiencies, mistakes, and other negative aspects of
struggling organizations. While any organization has a fair share of problems
to address, such an overarching focus on everything that is wrong with
an organization can create a harmful cycle
of pessimism, depression, and low energy that can be difficult to
overcome. Positive Organization Scholarship (POS) practitioners, much like the
skilled therapist, help organizations shift from a negative, limiting mindset
into a positive, open mindset in order to facilitate positive change. This paper explores how cognitive reappraisal
strategies common in psychotherapy could be used by POS practitioners to
facilitate change and growth in the organizations they serve.