LESSON 7: WELL-BEING AT WORK

Learning outcomes
After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Discuss the construct “well-being” as applied in general and in the work context.
• Discuss the construct “positive emotions” as applied in general and in the work context
• Demonstrate an understanding of salutogenesis and fortigenesis.
• Explain the study field of positive psychology.
• Give a historical overview of the development of positive psychology
• Critically discuss the assumptions underpinning positive psychology.
• Identify and discuss constructs that conceptualise subjective well-being and positive
emotions in positive psychology.
• Critically analyse the implications of positive psychology for diagnosis and
interventions in the work context

Learning material
There is no additional learning material for this lesson. Study the contents of this lesson to
reach the learning outcomes of Lesson 7 as you learn about well-being at work.

To reach the learning outcomes of this lesson you need to download the following book
chapter from the library at this link: http://oasis.unisa.ac.za/search/r

Bergh, Z.C., & Geldenhuys D.J. (2013). Psychology in the work context (5th ed.). Cape Town:
Oxford University Press. Chapter 19, Psychological well-beimg (May, 2013).

The sections to follow will guide you through the learning material.

Key terms
Well-being and health: Physical, psychological and emotional health in all spheres of daily activity.
Positive psychology: Psychology focusing on the positive aspects of human well-being and health.
Subjective well-being: A person’s own assessment of his/her general state of well-being.
Coherence: Seeing the world as logical and predictable, and finding meaning in it.
Pathogenic orientation: An orientation towards the negative and towards illness.
Strength paradigm: An orientation towards the positive side of people, their intrinsic potential and their
resilience behaviour.

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7. INTRODUCTION TO WELL-BEING AT WORK

Lesson 7 deals with theory and concepts that denote the positive aspects of people's well-being and
adjustment to achieve optimal functioning in all spheres of life. In the past, many psychological theories
and models focused on understanding and explaining the reasons why people develop abnormal
behaviour or are maladjusted in the work context. This lesson, however, focuses on well-being or wellness
and includes the theory and concepts that explain the positive aspects of well-being and adjustment.

Well-being and health refer to the actual physical health of individuals as well as the mental, psychological
or emotional health of individuals under the impact of societal factors. As psychologists we are concerned
with developing the wellness of individuals, the goal being the facilitation of optimal health. Optimal
health can be defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity. This implies that our task is not done when we have “treated” individuals
and they have successfully worked through their problems. We need to continue our work and assist
individuals to reach the highest possible level of functioning.

7.1 THE CONCEPTUALISATION OF HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

You have already studied a number of psychological perspectives to personality in this module. In Lesson
7 we look at health or well-being from the perspective of positive psychology. Study the sections below
as we guide you through the different aspects of this lesson.

7.1.1 Health and well-being

As you study section 19.3 of Bergh and Geldenhuys (2013) you will notice that Danna and Griffin (1999),
state that “well-being” and “health” refer to the actual physical health of individuals, as well as to the
mental, psychological or emotional health of individuals, as affected by societal factors. They do not
simply imply the absence of disease but rather imply optimal health, a state of complete physical, mental
and social well-being within all spheres of life.

7.1.2 Subjective well-being

As a starting point, psychological wellness can be studied regarding different elements which can be
classified into two broad categories: emotional well-being or positive psychological and social functioning.

The role of positive emotions in subjective well-being:

Research has confirmed the role of positive emotions in the

experience of subjective psychological well-being. Positive emotions
are described as a brief positive reaction to some event that is
personally meaningful. Positive emotions include emotions such as
feelings of well-being, happiness, joy, interest, contentment and love.

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The Broad-and-Build Theory shows the effect of positive emotions. Positive emotions result in non-
specific action tendencies that allow a person to engage spontaneously with new ideas and experiences.
They also create cognitive flexibility and broadening.

7.1.3 Employee well-being

Employee well-being entails, amongst other things, peoples’ attitudes and feelings about themselves
with their work. The Holistic Employee Wellness Model is a systemic model of work well-being that can
be used to assess employees’ well-being.

Figure 19.3 in Bergh and Geldenhuys (2013) presents the Holistic Wellness Model.

The wheel of wellness proposes that:

• wellness consists of five primary functions contributing to the super-ordinate function of “wellness”
(see figure 1)
• five life tasks relate to optimal human functioning (see figure 2).

Figure 1 Five primary functions of wellness Figure 2 Five tasks relating to optimal human functioning

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7.1.4 The world happiness report

This is the 7th World Happiness Report. The first was released in April 2012 in support of a UN High-level
meeting on “Wellbeing and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm”. That report presented the
available global data on national happiness and reviewed related evidence from the emerging science of
happiness, showing that the quality of people’s lives can be coherently, reliably, and validly assessed by a
variety of subjective well-being measures, collectively referred to then and in subsequent reports as
“happiness.” Each report includes updated evaluations and a range of commissioned chapters on special
topics digging deeper into the science of well-being, and on happiness in specific countries and regions.
Often there is a central theme.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 7.1: THE WORLD HAPPINESS REPORT

The World Health Organisation defines Mental Health as a state of complete physical, mental
and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" (WHO, 2014). "a state of well-
being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life,
can work productively and fruitfully, and can make a contribution to her or his community".

The World Happiness Report was first released in April 2012 in support of a UN High-level meeting on
“Wellbeing and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm”. That report presented the available
global data on national happiness and reviewed related evidence from the emerging science of happiness,
showing that the quality of people’s lives can be coherently, reliably, and validly assessed by a variety of
subjective well-being measures. Since the 2012 report had been generated a report has been published
each year. For those students who are interested in reading the findings, the latest report may be accessed
at this link: https://worldhappiness.report/

7.2 SALUTOGENESIS, FORTOGENESIS AND POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PARADIGMS

In section 19.4 of Bergh and Geldenhuys (2013), the authors state that the study of well-being has been
produced by three main sources, namely salutogenesis, fortigenesis and positive psychology. Study this
section in detail to gain an understanding of these concepts.

(1) Salutogenesis

The salutogenic paradigm focuses on the origins of health. The Latin word “saluto” means conducting
research. The paradigm concerns itself with identifying and understanding why some people stay healthy
in the face of stressful life events. Questions that are asked include: Do individuals have certain unique
characteristics that help them to cope better than others? What are these characteristics?

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Constructs associated with salutogenesis:

The construct sense of coherence (SOC), introduced by Antonovsky, underpins the salutogenic model.
SOC is made up of three primary components:

• comprehensibility
• manageability
• meaningfulness
• locus of control
• self-efficacy
• hardiness
• potency
• learned resourcefulness

(2) Fortigenesis

The fortigenic paradigm represents a broadening of the salutogenic paradigm to include the sources and
origins of health and strength. This implies that not only are there certain characteristics that help people
cope (salutogenicis), but that some people even find stressful life events meaningful. These characteristics
or abilities involve more than mere coping.

Constructs associated with fortigenesis

Positive psychology uses fortigenesis to study optimal functioning by emphasising engagement,

meaningfulness, subjective well-being, positive emotions and proactive coping.

(3) Positive psychology

Positive psychology is the study of optimal human functioning to change the focus of theory and practice
in some fields of psychology, namely from a primary preoccupation with disease and healing wellness and
the enhancement or the fostering of strengths and virtues

Constructs associated with positive psychology:

Concepts such as locus of control, self-efficacy, learned resourcefulness, cognitive appraisal, cognitive
control and cognitive redefinition have become part of positive psychology.

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Constructs used to describe well-being

The constructs mentioned in the lesson so far include self-regulation,

self-efficacy, learned resourcefulness, cognitive appraisal, cognitive
control, cognitive redefinition, sense of coherence, locus of control,
hardiness and potency. These are some of the characteristics that play
a role in wellness.

In this section, a few more are added, namely happiness, hope,

optimism and virtues. For a detailed description of the different
virtues see section 19.5 in Bergh and Geldenhuys (2013).

LEARNING ACTIVITY 7.2: WHAT IS POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

The Youtube video provides an interesting summary of what is Positive Psychology. It does
not add anything new you are already studying in this lesson. If you cannot access the video you will not
lose out on any learning. Students will not be assessed on the video's content.
https://youtu.be/1qJvS8v0TTI

7.3 IMPLICATIONS FOR ASSESSMENT AND DIAGNOSIS

Psychologists have to include human strengths and environmental resources when diagnosing, treating
and researching human behaviour. In the past psychologists used classification systems like the DSM to
diagnose different psychological disorders before treatment. Positive psychologists suggest that we
consider developing similar classification systems for wellness constructs and that we also attend to the
development of positive characteristics in treatment. The Values-In-Action is an example of a classification
system that measures strengths.

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Mental health diagnosed positively

As psychologists, we have to diagnose both mental illness and mental health. Keyes
and Lopez present a complete state model of mental health and mental illness as
illustrated, in figure 19.10. Study this section of Chapter 19 in Bergh and
Geldenhuys for a detailed explanation.

7.4 IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH PROMOTION AT WORK

The causal relationship between employee well-being and positive business outcomes is bi-directional.
See Section 19.7 of Bergh and Geldenhuys (2013). Low levels of wellness and maladaptive behaviour
results in accidents at work, rising medical aid costs, low productivity, high absenteeism, high turnover
and even, at times, legal action. Workplace thinking should shift from focusing on reducing illness and
psychological disorders to increasing subjective well-being. This requires the development of health-
promotion policies and health promotion programmes.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 7.3: GRATITUDE EXERCISES

You may be interested in doing some of these gratitude exercises:

https://positivepsychology.com/gratitude-exercises/. Pick one that resonates with you or think about a
personal exercise for yourself.

REFERENCE

Bergh, Z.C. & Geldenhuys, D.J. (2013). Psychology in the work context (5th ed.). Cape Town: Oxford
University Press. (ISBN 9780199048069)