Be Happy in your Work: The Role of Positive Psychology in Working with Change and Performance

Health, Hope, and Harmony: A Systematic Review of the Determinants of Happiness across Cultures and Countries

The aim of this study was to review the literature on what constitutes happiness across cultures and countries to advance scholarly knowledge on the happiness construct. A systematic review was conducted to examine the determinants of happiness in samples across cultures and countries. Five different databases, including APA PsycNet, EBSCO-Academic, EBSCO-Business, Project MUSE, and Google Scholar, grey literature, and in-text references from relevant review articles were used. A total of 155 articles were included in the review, encompassing studies from over 100 countries and 44 cultures. Myriad determinants of happiness were found that were placed into three broad categories labeled Health, Hope, and Harmony. The predominant happiness determinants were mental, emotional, and physical well-being, a purposeful holistic work-life balance, nurturing social relationships, caring for self and others, and being in harmony with one's culture, traditions, community, religion, and environment. This study engendered an "Integrated Model of the Determinants of Happiness" to provide a universally applicable conceptualization of the happiness construct. By examining studies on determinants of happiness across the globe in the past 90 years, this review uncovered that happiness constitutes multiple determinants that fall under three major categories: 'Health', 'Hope', and 'Harmony'.

Physical activity in the workplace: a cost or a benefit for organizations? A systematic review

Purpose

Most adults do not follow the minimum requirements for physical activity despite the benefits such activity can provide toward improving quality of life. On average, an adult spends 60% of daily hours in the workplace, making it essential to create working environments that are favorable to avoiding harmful effects on the health of workers. Toward this end, the application of physical activity programs in a work context is one of the possible interventions. This study aims to carry out a systematic review of the literature to identify the impact of physical activity programs applied in the workplace, on employee wellness and organizational productivity.

Design/methodology/approach

The search for reports was carried out in two databases, namely, Thomson Reuters Web of Science and Scopus, according to several inclusion and exclusion criteria. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) was applied to ensure the quality of the study. Microsoft Excel 2016 was used to organize the database to support the data analysis.

Findings

The sample comprised 64 reports published in international journals between 1986 and 2019. From these studies, six thematic clusters were formed: Workplace Physical Activity Interventions, Workplace Wellness, Physical Activity and Organizational Performance, Barriers to Developing Physical Activity Programs in the Workplace, Physical Activity and Sedentary Occupations and Workplace Physical Activity Incentives. The analysis of these clusters confirmed that the implementation of physical activity programs in this context could represent beneficial effects for workers and the organizational system by contributing to a reduction in the rates of absenteeism and presenteeism. However, there are still many organizations that do not implement such programs.

Originality/value

The results of this study are essential for managers of organizations to be able to implement physical activity programs in a work context, similarly to the application of a strategy of corporate social responsibility in an intra-organizational environment. This research may also be useful for professionals in the areas of sports and physical exercise, who want to build their business around physical exercise programs applied to a work context.

Bem-estar no trabalho: influência do clima organizacional entre trabalhadores hospitalares

Introdução: Bem-estar no trabalho (BET) é uma temática em florescimento que interessa a gestores e acadêmicos. O objetivo do estudo foi analisar a influência do clima organizacional no BET de profissionais de saúde de hospital. Método: Foi utilizada uma amostra de conveniência de 182 trabalhadores de diferentes cargos. Resultados: Os resultados da regressão múltipla padrão mostraram que a variável preditora trouxe contribuição significativa para todas as dimensões de BET, sendo maior poder explicativo para afeto positivo (r2 = 0,39, p < 0,005) e a contribuição significativa oriunda das dimensões liderança (β = 0,25; p < 0,005), equipe (β = 0,16; p < 0,005) e desenvolvimento (β = 0,21; p < 0,023). Discussões: Sendo assim, quanto melhor a relação entre a equipe e quanto mais os trabalhadores são estimulados a participarem dos processos, mais eles se sentem motivados. Para isso, é muito importante que o líder reconheça e oriente todos a alcançar estes objetivos. Conclusões: Os achados são cotejados com a literatura.