Well-being and work : towards a balanced agenda

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Work and well-being is one of the fastest growing areas of concern to business, public sector and government. This book looks at the causes of stress in the modern work-place, and offers practical advice for managers on how to combat stress in their employees, and put in place strategies for developing a healthy workplace.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of Figures and Tables (p. viii)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• Work stress (p. 2)
• Towards well-being (p. 4)
• What can we do? (p. 4)
• The idea of balance (p. 5)
• The structure of the book (p. 8)
• Chapter 1 Setting the Scene (p. 13)
• A touch of history (p. 13)
• Positive psychology (p. 15)
• Positive organizational scholarship (p. 21)
• Positive organizational behavior (p. 26)
• The good work agenda (p. 29)
• Overview (p. 32)
• Chapter 2 The Changing Nature of Work and its Challenges (p. 33)
• The landscape of work (p. 33)
• Forces of change and human resource management (p. 35)
• Management theory and its impact on practice (p. 38)
• What has become of leadership? (p. 40)
• The shaping of positive leadership (p. 42)
• Leadership and the role of positive psychology (p. 44)
• Positive psychology and the responsible organization (p. 45)
• Overview (p. 46)
• Chapter 3 Work and Well-being: Progress and Prospects (p. 48)
• Work (p. 48)
• Well-being (p. 65)
• Chapter 4 Resource Depletion (p. 74)
• The term "stress" (p. 74)
• The transactional approach: a way forward (p. 77)
• Eustress: the positive side of stress (p. 80)
• From stress to emotions (p. 83)
• Resource depletion - work stressors (p. 88)
• Overview (p. 98)
• Chapter 5 Resource Accumulation (p. 99)
• Happiness-unhappiness at work: the vitamin model (p. 100)
• Emotions at work (p. 106)
• Job satisfaction: a surrogate measure of emotions? (p. 108)
• Discrete emotions (p. 110)
• Positive emotions (p. 113)
• Positive psychological capital (p. 118)
• From hardiness to resilience (p. 120)
• Positive resources (p. 130)
• Some final comments (p. 132)
• Chapter 6 Coping and Stress Interventions (p. 134)
• Defining coping (p. 135)
• Classifying coping strategies (p. 138)
• Coping checklists and analysis (p. 143)
• Coping effectiveness (p. 147)
• Stress interventions (p. 151)
• The influence of positive psychology (p. 157)
• Overview (p. 158)
• Chapter 7 Conclusions (p. 159)
• Balance: towards a new perspective (p. 159)
• Meaning and measurement (p. 161)
• Membership (p. 162)
• Moral responsibilities (p. 163)
• References (p. 165)
• Index (p. 190)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This is a book about work and individual employee well-being, which the authors, UK academics, refer to as "positive psychology" or "positive organizational scholarship." Both authors are well published, major contributors to the above field, which they claim is "new" because it is now "integrative." However, this reviewer believes that the book simply puts "old wine in new bottles." The book's goal--to address the balance between economic wealth and employee well-being--is not achieved. Rather, this work is more like a handbook, with several chapters that are only loosely connected, summarizing 450 references on the psychology of work. Along the way, numerous concepts such as well-being, positive psychology, happiness, societal context, job quality, and stress interventions are defined and briefly discussed with numerous citations. Consequently, the book lacks focus. One has a feeling that it is "a mile wide and an inch deep." The book appears to be written for other researchers rather than the field of practice that it aspires to influence. It is most appropriate for faculty and PhD students in organizational psychology and management. See related, Well-Being: Productivity and Happiness at Work, by Ivan Robertson and Cary Cooper (CH, Jan'12, 49-2773). Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate, faculty, and research collections. M. Fottler University of Central Florida