Date of Conferral

2016

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Management

Advisor

James Bowman

Abstract

Organizations are looking for ways to have higher employee engagement and productive employees. A way that this may be accomplished is through Positive Organizational Behavior (POB) practices. There is a lack of knowledge surrounding the successes and failures of implementing a POB culture by human resource departments (HRDs). The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study design was to explore the influence POB practices have on HRDs. Specifically, the research helped to gain an understanding of how a POB strategy operates and affects HRDs. Items examined in the conceptual framework include a foundation in positive psychology theories and human resource (HR) theories. The elements of HRDs that can affect POB are culture, group dynamics, job design, and policies and procedures. The outputs of the system include employee morale, company profitability, employee productivity, and employee engagement. The research questions centered on discovering how HRDs achieve a POB culture based on their policies, procedures, funding, structure, and internal and external relationships. The research questions explored how a POB culture has affected the HRDs positively and negatively. Thirty-one participants' from13 different companies provided the data. The findings cause social change by providing HR professionals insight into POB practices that increase employees' job satisfaction, team productivity, and organizational profitability. The outcomes create social change by allowing individuals to have increased job and life satisfaction.

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