{"id":67,"date":"2018-10-29T13:43:30","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T13:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-psychwork\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=67"},"modified":"2018-10-29T15:57:23","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T15:57:23","slug":"3-a-successful-worker","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-psychologyofwork\/chapter\/3-a-successful-worker\/","title":{"raw":"3. A Successful Worker","rendered":"3. A Successful Worker"},"content":{"raw":"<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3719\/2018\/10\/29155250\/Chapter-3.pdf\">Chapter 3<\/a>\r\n\r\n<strong>Introduction<\/strong>\r\nWhat features do top workers share? How do they perceive their work? Do they\r\nface setbacks (at all)? Are they always excited about their work, or do they also\r\nhave boring work tasks? Work cannot be all about sunshine, can it?\r\nThese questions came to mind as we glanced at the work attitudes and personalities\r\nof Employees of the Year. In this chapter, we reveal their thoughts, allow\r\nthem to describe their motivation, engagement and themselves as employees.\r\nSurprisingly, the Employees of the Year participating in our studies had many\r\nthings in common \u2013 regardless of occupation.\r\nThe chapter consists of three viewpoints of top workers\u2019 descriptions of themselves\r\nand their work. First, their opinions on the most important features of their\r\nwork and other relevant factors that enhance success are introduced. Second, we\r\nlook at the top workers as persons following the ideas of positive psychology and\r\nhuman strengths. Finally, a new perspective on success is introduced: the experience\r\nof success. Here, we focus on experiences of success at work as described\r\nby top workers. All these contribute to a special perspective on the phenomenon\r\nof success when the analysis is limited to the employee as well as the workplace\r\nand its distinctive features.\r\nWork itself boosts motivation and provides\r\nexperiences of joy and accomplishment\r\nChallenging work is most appreciated\r\nSome commonalities emerged as employees listed the most important factors that\r\nresulted in positive experiences at work. The most signifi cant factor concerned\r\nthe challenges at work and opportunities to improve skills and\/or work. They\r\ndescribed such situations as those in which you can learn more and develop yourself\r\nthrough new challenges at work. The participants emphasised that recognising\r\nyour core skills is essential as it becomes possible to concentrate on doing\r\nwhat is most suitable for you. Indeed, knowing your strengths and weaknesses as\r\nChapter 3\r\nA successful worker\r\n30 A successful worker\r\nwell as your values and interests is crucial for enhancing your career (see also\r\nArnold et al . 1993 ).\r\n\u2018I\u2019m excited mostly in situations that enable me to develop something, to\r\nchange something for the better, in a more reasonable direction.\u2019\r\n\u2018Every day is different. It\u2019s challenging to see every customer as an individual\r\nand not as a group of clients!\u2019\r\n\u2018I can actually say that we have very diverse training at work. And all these\r\ncourses help with doing this work as this environment is changing constantly\r\nand, of course, the whole society. Continuously educating yourself in this\r\nway is essential in order to maintain your profi ciency.\u2019\r\nSurprisingly, participants were not mavericks at their work, but they highly\r\nvalued successful and effortless cooperation with their co-workers. Similarly, it\r\nhas been discovered that social support is an effective means of enhancing selfesteem\r\nand feelings of mastery (Rousseau et al . 2009 ), thus promoting success at\r\nwork. Argyle ( 1987 ) points out that contentment with relationships in the workplace,\r\nboth horizontally \u2013 between employees \u2013 and vertically \u2013 between\r\nemployers and employees \u2013 is central to happiness at work.\r\n\u2018I like working in teams. It\u2019s interesting to work with different kinds of people.\u2019\r\n\u2018I think that my most powerful experiences at work are those in which we are\r\nworking together as a group.\u2019\r\n\u2018I think that [good relationships in the workplace] are an unquestionable precondition;\r\neverybody works better when they feel good\u2026. So, if you spend fi ve or ten\r\nminutes chatting, it doesn\u2019t harm because it contributes to the system in general.\u2019\r\nThirdly, participants considered opportunities to work autonomously as a salient\r\ndimension of their experience. The Job Demands\u2013Resources (JD-R) Model\r\nsuggests that job resources (for example, autonomy, immediate feedback and\r\nrewards) are especially salient for resource gain, for example, true wellbeing and\r\nmotivation at work, i.e., work engagement (Bakker and Demerouti 2007 ). In\r\naddition, individuals should be encouraged to rest, to engage in positive work\r\nrefl ection, and to prevent negative work-related thoughts (Binnewies et al . 2009 ).\r\n\u2018I can autonomously determine what I\u2019m doing and when.\u2019\r\n\u2018I can determine the content of my work.\u2019\r\n\u2018Work drive, engagement, and the joy of work.\u2019\r\nAll Employees of the Year thought that their work was rewarding. According to\r\nthem, new challenges, as well as opportunities to develop themselves at work,\r\nwere most exciting to them. It seemed certain that they experienced work\r\nA successful worker 31\r\nengagement and joy of work. From the sub-scales of work engagement, the\r\nsignifi cance of work refers to dedication. All participants were proud of their\r\nwork and considered their work meaningful. Furthermore, the sub-scales of fl ow,\r\nnamely, vigor and absorption, were apparent in their descriptions.\r\n\u2018I am able to concentrate so deeply that I escape from reality. I can close my\r\nears, and my husband tells me that I\u2019m a closed book\u2026. I am riveted by my\r\nwork, and I see it as a blessing.\u2019\r\nThe interviewees were asked to describe how they focused on work. This was\r\nsupposed to provide information about their fl ow experiences. In addition, they\r\nwere asked to describe setbacks and hardships and their ways of handling such\r\nsituations. Likewise, top workers described the challenges of their work and some\r\naspects of work that had recently made them excited. One way of expressing top\r\nworkers\u2019 inspiration for their work was their descriptions of how pleasurable it\r\nwas for them to go to work every day. Many of them spoke of how important it\r\nwas to be able to develop their work.\r\nThe experience of fl ow was familiar to almost everyone. Their descriptions\r\nwere convincing; they kept talking about how fantastic it was to be absorbed by\r\ntheir work. However, the conditions leading to fl ow varied from person to person:\r\nsome could reach this state in cooperation with colleagues, while others did so\r\nindependently.\r\n\u2018I become absorbed when the [work] space is as undisturbed as possible.\u2019\r\nInspiration and enthusiasm were concretely described as they said that they\r\nbecame riveted by work and did not remember to check the time or count the\r\nhours.\r\n\u2018Sometimes I can come here during weekends if I am very enthusiastic about\r\ndeveloping something, for example an initial idea, so the time can pass\r\nquickly and it can be that I come here to my offi ce on Saturday and Sunday.\u2019\r\nAbove all, the most extraordinary characteristic among Employees of the Year\r\nwas their positive attitude, which was specifi c to informants. For instance, they\r\ndid not give up in the face of confl icts. Instead, they saw such situations as opportunities\r\nto reassess their occupational skills and, if necessary, to study and\r\ndevelop. Thus, confl ict situations were seen as challenges that had to be solved.\r\nThis kind of positive and optimistic attitude was at the very core of the participants\u2019\r\ncharacteristics and may explain why they did not consider demanding\r\nsituations to be stressful.\r\n\u2018Firstly, you have to try again if it\u2019s worth it. And if it\u2019s not, it might be that\r\nyou weren\u2019t right after all. But then again, you can think that now is the time\r\n32 A successful worker\r\nto look in the mirror and accept the fact that that way isn\u2019t leading you anywhere\r\nand fi nd another one. This I have done many times along my way. And\r\nwhat else can you do\u2026?\u2019\r\n\u2018Sometimes I think that I\u2019m a little bit stupid\u2026. But I\u2019m not because it might\r\nbe that I don\u2019t see those [confl ict situations]. I\u2019ve always taken more responsibility\r\nthan I should have and thus got more interesting duties\u2026.\u2019\r\nThis is also an instance of the rewards of a proactive (as opposed to reactive)\r\nattitude (see Covey 2006 ). Proactive people can change their behaviour, see\r\nthings from a different angle, make choices, and know what they want. Reactive\r\npeople, on the other hand, concentrate on things that they cannot control or\r\nchange, such as other people\u2019s weaknesses and poor circumstances. Accordingly,\r\nproactive people function in more effective and positive ways.\r\nPositive experiences at the core?\r\nThis research has shown that one\u2019s positive work experiences (both the work\r\nitself and the employee\u2019s way of working) could be placed at the core of success.\r\nEmployees of the Year found their jobs pleasing. Having a holistic positive experience\r\nis crucial to this (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000 ; see also\r\nM\u00e4kikangas et al . 2005 ). Moreover, fi nding a balance between an employee\u2019s\r\nskills and work-related expectations, as well as between opportunities and challenges,\r\nis shown to lead to better performance at work, contentment, higher\r\nmotivation and self-effi cacy (M\u00e4kikangas et al . 2005 ).\r\nHow then can success at work be outlined? The positive attitude that Employees\r\nof the Year demonstrated toward work and life in general was a common factor\r\namong them. As they outlined the phenomenon of success at work, the manner in\r\nwhich the participants experienced their work appeared to lie at the core of their\r\nsuccess. Their positive experiences regarding their work and themselves as\r\nemployees can be seen as a salient factor whereas the other features of work \u2013\r\nprofessional profi ciency, life situation, work motivation and personality \u2013 merely\r\nappeared to be dependent on this positive experience. Notwithstanding, all these\r\nfactors affect each other to a certain extent. Especially the above-mentioned\r\nfeatures of work seemed to affect both the experience of work and work motivation.\r\nAll features together form the basis and prerequisites for success at work. The\r\ninterconnectedness of these factors is illustrated in Figure 3.1 .\r\nPlacing the experience of work at the center is, in fact, a unique way of understanding\r\nsuccess at work because it is not usually considered the most salient factor\r\nwhen compared with, for example, work motivation (cf. Ruohotie and Honka 2003).\r\nOn the other hand, the positive development that leads to becoming a top\r\nworker cannot be considered separate from an individual\u2019s environment\r\n(Magnusson and Mahoney 2006 ). Factors outside working life that\r\ninfl uence success include one\u2019s overall life situation, family, friends, hobbies,\r\nphysical and psychological health, and so on.\r\nA successful worker 33\r\nAlthough the fi ndings are not generalisable as such, some recent research\r\nprovides interesting guidelines regarding the types of attitudes that Finnish workers\r\nhave toward work. For example, the National Research and Development\r\nCentre for Welfare and Health of Finland has studied working conditions and\r\ncontentment (see, for example, Miettinen 2006 ) and has listed factors that\r\nemployees value most about their work. Among employees who were mostly\r\nvery pleased with their jobs, the factors that were most appreciated were the\r\nfollowing: interesting content, autonomy, variation at work and social relationships\r\nwith co-workers. Of these factors, autonomy and social relationships were\r\nalso important to Employees of the Year. The difference between Finnish workers\r\nin general and the participants in this research was in relation to employees\u2019\r\nattitudes toward opportunities for developing and educating themselves and the\r\nneed for challenges at work. These were highly appreciated among Employees of\r\nthe Year but not among workers in general.\r\nThe variation between top workers and the general pool can also be studied\r\nfrom another perspective. Among Finnish workers in general, two-thirds of\r\nmanagers, half of subordinate managers and one-third of workers reported\r\nconsidering education and development at work as very important (Aitta 2006 ).\r\n- Intrinsic work motivation.\r\nMotivation:\r\nThe positive work experience:\r\n- Work engagement and drive;\r\n- Regarding adversities as challenges;\r\n- Optimistic and enthusiastic attitude\r\ntowards work.\r\nLife situation:\r\n- The combination\r\nof work and family.\r\nPersonality:\r\n- social, optimistic, selfconfident,\r\ndiligent, openminded,\r\npersistent, reliable,\r\nwilling to learn and develop,\r\netc.\r\nProfessional proficiency:\r\n- Maintaining, updating and\r\ndeveloping one\u2019s\r\nprofessional skills;\r\n- Interest in developing the\r\nprofession.\r\nSUCCESS\r\nAT\r\nWORK\r\nThe features of work:\r\n- Challenging work;\r\n- Development\r\nopportunities;\r\n- Good working\r\natmosphere;\r\n- Autonomy.\r\nFigure 3.1 The interconnectedness of the factors that explain success at work among\r\nEmployee of the Year awardees (Uusiautti, 2008).\r\n34 A successful worker\r\nIn our research, this kind of variation between different positions was not apparent.\r\nInstead, all Employees of the Year, regardless of their position, appeared to\r\nbe extremely eager to educate themselves.\r\nThese results are in line with previous research. For example, Kinnunen et al .\r\n( 2008 ) have found that increasing the rewarding aspects of work \u2013 instead of\r\ndecreasing effort \u2013 could be especially effi cient for increasing work engagement.\r\nAdditionally, researchers have demonstrated that wellbeing is impacted by core\r\nconcepts of positive psychology such as hope (see Snyder 1994 ), self- effi cacy\r\n(Bandura 1997 ) and optimism (Carver and Scheier 2002 ). These characteristics\r\nwere common to participants \u2013 especially the optimistic attitude toward work and\r\nlife in general.\r\nWhat can be learned from the experiences of Employees of the Year? It seems\r\nthat having positive experiences is a key factor in success and wellbeing at\r\nwork. Also, a lack of absenteeism and a willingness to stay in the same job \u2013\r\nengagement, so to speak \u2013 are signifi cant. Employees of the Year could be\r\ndescribed as true \u2018try-harders\u2019 because of their optimistic attitude both when\r\nconfronting obstacles and when striving forward in their careers and other workrelated\r\nambitions. According to Tugade and Fredrickson ( 2004 ), there are individuals\r\nwho seem to \u2018bounce back\u2019 from negative events quite effectively,\r\nwhereas others are seemingly unable to get out of their negative ruts. Our\r\nparticipants seemed to represent the former group. In addition, participants were\r\npassionate about working consummately. Indeed, it has been discovered that\r\nhigh work engagement magnifi es emotional responses to perceived success or\r\nfailure (Britt 1999 ).\r\nRegardless of occupation or position, Employees of the Year appreciated wellbeing\r\nat work over hard values, such as making a good salary. In order to gain\r\npositive experiences from one\u2019s work, an employee has to be (intrinsically) motivated\r\nto do this particular work, to accomplish tasks and goals set. Work itself\r\ncan motivate. However, in the present research, it was also discovered that when\r\nthe work content lacked interest but its other characteristics, such as challenges,\r\nautonomy and work environment, appealed to employees, positive experiences\r\nwere more likely to be achieved.\r\nStrengths and success\r\nEmployees are human beings working in a certain job or occupation. As the\r\nprevious fi ndings show, success at work can be connected to challenging and\r\ninspiring work tasks but also to the intrinsic drive to work well. However, it is\r\nalso interesting to think about the strengths that top workers possess and illustrate\r\nin their doings.\r\nIndeed, recent research has paid increasing attention to studying human virtues\r\n(Magnusson and Mahoney 2006 ). Now, the research concentrating on human\r\nweaknesses has had to compete with a strong interest in human abilities, healthy\r\naptitudes and virtues. Researchers have become conscious that people\u2019s\r\nA successful worker 35\r\nexperiences can be studied from this perspective as well and not just in a way that\r\nis oriented toward fl aws and conditions (Mahoney 2002 ).\r\nThe concept of human strengths can be considered as contextually dynamic\r\nbecause the function of a specifi c behaviour depends on its context and its\r\noutcome. In addition, contexts are dynamic and change during an individual\u2019s life\r\nspan. The concept of human strengths is also norm-dependent because the fundamental\r\nfeatures of a society involve common knowledge about appropriate and\r\nappreciated behaviour (Baltes and Freund 2006 ).\r\nAccording to Baltes and Freund ( 2006 ), the concept of human strengths is (1)\r\ndynamic and unbound to context from the point of view of adaptation or\r\ngeneral mechanism, (2) represents the state of life-long learning and fl exible lifemanagement,\r\n(3) regulates the direction of the goals in individual development as\r\nwell as the ways in which the goals will be achieved, and (4) not only supports\r\nindividuals\u2019 development but also makes them more effi cient participants in\r\ncreating the common good.\r\nVirtues can be dissected from a variety of viewpoints. The synchronic perspective\r\ntries to explain an individual\u2019s behaviour on the basis of psychological and\r\nbiological orientations at a certain moment, whereas the diachronic point of view\r\nis interested in those developmental processes that have led to the prevailing\r\nbehaviour. This perspective focuses on the behaviour at a certain moment as part\r\nof an individual\u2019s developmental history. Diachronic models consider individual\r\ndevelopment and the timing and emergence of important happenings in one\u2019s\r\nenvironment, as well as the ways in which these factors interact in the course of\r\ntime (Magnusson and Mahoney 2006 ).\r\nWe leaned on a universal idea of human strengths and asked about the strengths\r\nthat top workers recognised in themselves. The list of strengths was originally\r\ndeveloped by Professors Seligman and Peterson and their research group. After\r\nhaving read all kinds of categorisations about human virtues \u2013 starting from\r\nAristotle and Plato, to the Old Testament, Talmud, Buddha, Bushido and the Boy\r\nScouts \u2013 they managed to defi ne six virtues that appeared common to all.\r\nTheir criteria for the strengths and virtues selected among the list were the\r\nfollowing: fi rst, a strength needs to be manifest in an individual\u2019s behaviour,\r\nincluding thoughts, feelings or actions consistently across time and situations.\r\nSecond, a strength contributes to various fulfi llments that comprise the good life.\r\nThird, although strengths can and do produce desirable outcomes, each strength\r\nis morally valued in its own right. Fourth, the display of a strength by one person\r\ninspires and encourages others rather than diminishes them. Strengths and virtuousness\r\nin this sense are not based on or evoke jealousy. Fifth, the wider society\r\nprovides institutions and associated rituals for cultivating strengths and virtues.\r\nSixth, it is possible to recognise people who are paragons of virtue. Seventh,\r\nstrength is arguably one-dimensional and cannot be decomposed into other\r\nstrengths (Peterson and Park 2004 : 436-436).\r\nThe virtues listed were wisdom and knowledge, courage, justice, temperance,\r\nspirituality and transcendence, and love and humanity (Seligman 2002 ). Each\r\n36 A successful worker\r\nvirtue was complemented with strengths that illustrate the particular virtue. In\r\nother words, the idea is that one can reach a virtue and manifest it through special\r\nstrengths, for example, the virtue of love and humanity can be shown through\r\nsocial intelligence.\r\nThe list of virtues and strengths is as follows (Seligman et al. 2005 : 412):\r\n1 Wisdom and knowledge (cognitive strengths that entail the acquisition and\r\nuse of knowledge):\r\nCreativity (thinking of novel and productive ways of doing things);\r\nCuriosity (taking an interest in all of ongoing experience);\r\nOpen-mindedness (thinking things through and examining them from all\r\nsides);\r\nLove of learning (mastering new skills, topics and bodies of knowledge);\r\nPerspective (being able to provide wise counsel to others).\r\n2 Courage (emotional strengths that involve the exercise of will to accomplish\r\ngoals in the face of opposition, external or internal):\r\nAuthenticity (speaking the truth and presenting oneself in a genuine way);\r\nBravery (not shrinking from threat, challenge, diffi culty or pain);\r\nPersistence (fi nishing what one starts);\r\nZest (approaching life with excitement and energy).\r\n3 Humanity (interpersonal strengths that involve \u2018tending and befriending\u2019\r\nothers):\r\nKindness (doing favours and good deeds for others);\r\nLove (valuing close relations with others);\r\nSocial intelligence (being aware of the motives and feelings of self and\r\nothers).\r\n4 Justice (civic strengths that underlie healthy community life):\r\nFairness (treating all people the same according to notions of fairness and\r\njustice);\r\nLeadership (organising group activities and seeing that they happen);\r\nTeamwork (working well as a member of a group or team).\r\n5 Temperance (strengths that protect against excess):\r\nForgiveness (forgiving those who have done wrong);\r\nModesty (letting one\u2019s accomplishments speak for themselves);\r\nPrudence (being careful about one\u2019s choices; not saying or doing things\r\nthat might later be regretted);\r\nSelf-regulation (regulating what one feels and does).\r\n6 Transcendence (strengths that forge connections to the larger universe and\r\nprovide meaning):\r\nA successful worker 37\r\nAppreciation of beauty and excellence (noticing and appreciating beauty,\r\nexcellence, and\/or skilled performance in all domains of life);\r\nGratitude (being aware of and thankful for the good things that happen);\r\nHope (expecting the best and working to achieve it);\r\nHumour (liking to laugh and tease; bringing smiles to other people);\r\nReligiousness (having coherent beliefs about the higher purpose and\r\nmeaning of life).\r\nTop workers\u2019 strengths and virtues\r\nWe asked the top workers to rank their strengths by giving three points to their\r\nbest strength, two to their second best, one to their third best and half points to any\r\nother strengths they considered typical of them. When all the data were combined,\r\nthe results were interesting. Three strengths stood out: open-mindedness came\r\nin fi rst, social intelligence was ranked second and perseverance came in as the\r\nthird important strength. We will now introduce the strength-based analysis in\r\ngreater detail.\r\nWisdom and knowledge\r\nThe virtue of wisdom and knowledge consists of cognitive strengths (creativity,\r\ncuriosity, open-mindedness, love of learning and perspective) that relate to the\r\nability to acquire and use information. This virtue was the most important among\r\nthe top workers. Based on their own perceptions, wisdom and knowledge as a\r\nvirtue included those strengths that best described their passionate attitude toward\r\nlearning new things, developing themselves and their occupation, as well as gathering\r\nversatile knowledge and skills. Therefore, their estimation also illustrated\r\ntheir attitude towards working.\r\nThe top workers were not always able to recognise their strengths, for example,\r\nwhen they spoke about creativity:\r\n\u2018I thought that I was not creative at all because I have always been really bad\r\nat drawing. But still, I compose music and write lyrics\u2026 and make up all\r\nkinds of gadgetries and apparatuses.\u2019\r\nCreativity was appreciated, but not all the top workers recognised themselves as\r\ncreative. In fact, the concept of creativity is not as self-evident as one might think.\r\nSeligman et al. ( 2005 : 412) state that creativity simply means \u2018thinking of novel\r\nand productive ways to do things\u2019 whereas Sternberg and Lubart ( 1999 ) have\r\ndefi ned creativity as the ability to produce work that is novel and appropriate.\r\nSimonton\u2019s ( 2009 : 262) defi nition follows that of Sternberg and Lubart.\r\nCreativity can be defi ned on the basis of two conditions: fi rst, it must be original.\r\nThis means that creative ideas are novel, surprising and unexpected; however,\r\noriginality is not a suffi cient criterion. Creativity must also be adaptive, which\r\n38 A successful worker\r\nmeans that others should fi nd the created thing adjustable or the creation should\r\nbe adaptable. Sometimes, creativity is defi ned only as a feature that produces\r\nconcrete results (for example, Carson et al . 2005 ). Furthermore, creativity can be\r\ndefi ned only in terms of the so-called divergent creative reasoning. In divergent\r\nworking, several options for solutions are kept open and fl exible whereas the\r\nconvergent way of working concentrates on one solution in order to achieve the\r\nright convincing result (Basadur and Hausdorf 1996 ; Runco 1993 ). From a\r\npsychological point of view, creativity is a very important human strength; it is\r\nmost productive for those whose personality consists of features such as independence,\r\nstrength, optimism, inner-direction, fl exibility, tolerance of confl icts,\r\nenergy, as well as perseverance and goal-orientation (Csikszentmihalyi 1990,\r\n2000; Eysenck 1993 ; Maslow 1988 ).\r\nFurthermore, creativity must not only be understood as a feature of an individual\r\n(a lone genius) but more often as a result of group work (see Nijstad and\r\nLevine 2007 ; Simonton 2009 ). Indeed, Anderson et al . ( 2004 ) have suggested\r\nthat creativity and innovations should be studied more comprehensively and in a\r\nmore routinised manner as the modern, constantly changing working life requires\r\nit \u2013 not to mention other areas of life.\r\nOpen-mindedness is associated with tolerance and courage to take part in\r\nnew things. From the point of view of success at work, this is interesting\r\nbecause it can explain top workers\u2019 willingness to tolerate changes and seize\r\nopportunities. Usually, people tend to resist information that confl icts with their\r\npersonal views \u2013 even if new information is shown to improve understanding\r\n(Correll et al . 2004 ). Interestingly, people seem to be motivated toward\r\ndiscounting both the source and the content of a challenging message in an\r\neffort to protect their existing beliefs and by striving for positive self-regard by\r\ndrawing on successes in important domains in their lives (see also Cohen et al .\r\n2000 ). For successful working, it is worth mentioning that research has shown\r\nthat open-minded interaction leads to curiosity and information-seeking and the\r\nincreasing likelihood of creative new knowledge emerging in work groups and\r\nteams (Mitchell and Nicholas 2006 ).\r\nIn particular, the Police Offi cer of the Year, the Psychologist of the Year and\r\nthe Farmer of the Year considered open-mindedness as an important characteristic.\r\nAccording to the interviews, open-mindedness aptly described all the participants,\r\nas did love of learning (for example, Nurse of the Year considered this to\r\nbe his greatest strength), whereas creativity and curiosity were not. Curiosity was\r\nconsidered rather negatively: as nosiness. This might be a culture-specifi c fi nding\r\nsince the concept seemed to have a negative connotation among interviewees.\r\nNotwithstanding, according to an American-Japanese comparative research, curiosity\r\nwas connected with subjective happiness (Shimai et al . 2006 ), thus representing\r\na very important human strength.\r\nPerspective was, to some extent, every top worker\u2019s strength. It was understood\r\nas a sort of wisdom gained through experience, i.e., the ability to look at\r\nthings from different perspectives:\r\nA successful worker 39\r\n\u2018First, I thought of some tactics\u2026 The more experience you have the easier\r\nyou notice that you have plenty of other options and tacks that you have to\r\nconsider.\u2019\r\nThus, the virtue of wisdom and knowledge described the top workers well, a\r\npoint also supported by the fact that none of these workers thought that these\r\nstrengths should be improved or that they lacked one or some of these strengths.\r\nCourage\r\nThe virtue of courage was defi ned as an emotional strength consisting of the will\r\nto achieve goals regardless of inner or outer resistance. Putnam ( 1997 ) distinguishes\r\nthree dimensions of courage: physical courage is characterised by overcoming\r\na fear of death or physical harm. The goals to be achieved by the exercise\r\nof physical courage are traditionally defi ned by society or by the requirements of\r\nsurvival. Moral courage deals with loss of ethical integrity or authenticity and\r\nsocial disapproval. For example, it refers to situations in which a person adheres\r\nto his or her moral principles regardless of the group pressure of the people\r\nsurrounding him or her. The third form of courage is psychological courage,\r\nwhich refers to fear centering on a loss of psychological stability. In the classifi -\r\ncation of virtues and strengths (Seligman et al . 2005 ) courage is analysed through\r\nthe strength of authenticity, bravery, persistence and zest, which can all contain\r\nelements of the aforementioned three dimensions as well.\r\nThis virtue was evaluated as having secondary importance by the top workers,\r\nand they did not see any shortcomings in the strengths listed within this virtue.\r\nNurse of the Year and Priest of the Year thought that authenticity was their most\r\nimportant strength, which is, indeed, especially crucial among professions that\r\nentail working closely with other people.\r\n\u2018So you certainly have to be genuine when dealing with people and at work\r\nin general and I think that I try to express that I am what I am and what I\r\ndo\u2026\u2019.\r\nPersistence is an interesting strength when it comes to success at work. The previous\r\nchapters have shown that, to some extent, success requires persistent and\r\ndiligent work. Therefore, it could be assumed that persistence would score high\r\namong top workers. Furthermore, the strength itself is not as straightforward as it\r\nmight appear. For example, Lent et al . ( 1984 ) have shown that high self-effi cacy\r\npositively affects persistence. Likewise, motivation and outer surroundings can\r\ninfl uence how persistently people keep on doing something. But when regarded\r\nas a personal strength, persistence appears more stable, a constant feature that one\r\nmanifests in many areas of life. It is also a question of a certain kind of attitude,\r\na mental map (Achor 2010 ), that leads people to strive and try over and over\r\nagain or to approach any long-term goal step by step.\r\n40 A successful worker\r\nPersistence as a strength was emphasised by Police of the Year, Psychologist\r\nof the Year and Priest of the Year and, according to the top workers, persistence\r\nwas the third most important strength among them.\r\n\u2018I can say that if I agree to take care of something, I\u2019ll have a great need to do\r\nit; I rarely leave tasks unfi nished.\u2019\r\nEvery top worker also considered himself or herself to be typically zesty;\r\nhowever, bravery as a concept was diffi cult to grasp as many of them associated\r\nit with romantic images of brave heroes. Nonetheless, defi ned as everyday bravery,\r\nit seemed more familiar, and they described it as staying strong and sticking\r\nto one\u2019s principles when accomplishing daily chores and making daily choices.\r\nHumanity\r\nThe third most important virtue among the top workers according to their assessments\r\nwas humanity. Within this virtue, they also recognised their second most\r\nimportant strength, namely, social intelligence. The concept of social intelligence\r\ncan be perceived from various viewpoints. Salovey et al . ( 2004 ) sums up four of\r\nthem: (1) perceiving emotions, (2) using emotions to facilitate thought, (3) understanding\r\nemotions, and (4) managing emotions in a way that enhances personal\r\ngrowth and social relations. If success at work was previously associated with\r\nopportunist, cold-hearted mavericks, top workers in our studies proved the opposite.\r\nArtisan of the Year, Priest of the Year, Police of the Year, and Nurse of the\r\nYear all thought that social intelligence described them extremely well. Of\r\ncourse, the later three are occupations for which social intelligence can be seen\r\nas one of the basic requirements to perform well. One of the top workers paralleled\r\nsocial intelligence with social skills, and he was of the opinion that his\r\nsocial skills were not perfect but should be improved. One interesting remark\r\nconcerning social intelligence was made by Artisan of the Year who pointed out\r\nthat social relationships are important for success at work:\r\n\u2018You don\u2019t create your success all by yourself; it\u2019s the others who create your\r\nsuccess.\u2019\r\nHowever, those employees who lacked social skills can also be rewarded, but\r\nwhether it is more likely that social personalities are rewarded is a different question\r\naltogether.\r\nJustice\r\nAmong the strengths (fairness, leadership, teamwork) that describe the virtue of\r\njustice, the top workers named fairness as their most important feature, especially\r\nFarmer of the Year, as he considered it as a component of good leadership. Treating\r\nA successful worker 41\r\nhis employees fairly was important for creating and sustaining a good working\r\natmosphere and trust in the workplace. Leadership can be defi ned as a leader\u2019s\r\npersonal characteristics or behaviour, style and decisions (Arnold et al . 1993). The\r\ntop workers regarded leadership merely as a skill, instead of a strength, that one\r\nshould have. Indeed, leadership can be seen as an innate characteristic \u2013 or\r\nstrength \u2013 that can be cultivated and that can fl ourish along with one\u2019s development\r\n(see, for example, Murphy and Johnson 2011 ). On the other hand, leadership\r\ncan also be considered as a profession that can be taught and learned for the benefi t\r\nof oneself and others (see, for example, Uusiautti 2013 ; Uusiautti et al. 2012).\r\nOne of the top workers recognised the shortcomings in her leadership skills\r\nwhereas another considered it as one of his most important strengths.\r\n\u2018I want to be in the lead and take the group forward\u2026 Yet, I am not a dictator\u2026\r\nbut I consider myself as a leader and a trend-setter in order to make\r\ngood for other people as well.\u2019\r\nTeamwork skills varied among top workers according to their assessments. Those\r\nwho evaluated their social intelligence as good assessed their teamwork skills\r\nsimilarly, whereas two of the top workers who held managerial positions saw some\r\ndefi ciencies in their teamwork skills; one of them wanted to improve his skills.\r\nTemperance\r\nThis virtue was not deemed very important, but downright distant, because of its\r\nconnection with modesty and prudence. The top workers found it somewhat diffi -\r\ncult to assess how this virtue and its associated strengths (forgiveness, modesty,\r\nprudence and self-regulation) would characterise them. However, after persistently\r\ndefi ning them together during the interviews, the workers began to have an\r\nidea of which strength typifi ed them and which did not.\r\nNot surprisingly, the ability to forgive did depict all top workers to some\r\nextent. They also emphasised that one has to be able to apologise as well.\r\nAccording to the top workers, their forgiveness was tested by the social confl icts\r\nin the workplace.\r\n\u2018I am able to forgive and apologize\u2026 but it is hard if you are accused of\r\nsomething that you have not done.\u2019\r\nModesty as a strength was considered paradoxical; on one hand, modesty is a\r\ndesirable trait, but one has to be able to be genuinely proud of one\u2019s achievements\r\nwithout unnecessary or excessive modesty. Indeed, a study by Shimai et al .\r\n( 2006 ) also showed that modesty had a strong negative correlation with happiness\r\namong both Americans and Japanese, which means that having modesty as a\r\nsignature strength was associated with less happiness. The contradictory nature\r\nof this concept was also discussed in our studies. Although, traditionally, modesty\r\n42 A successful worker\r\nin people has been appreciated, the top workers were critical. For example, some\r\nold proverbs were questioned:\r\n\u2018\u201cModesty makes you prettier\u201d is not necessarily good for success at work\r\nbut \u201cyou would foster your own achievements\u201d would be.\u2019\r\nHowever, feeling proud assumes that one cannot be proud of something to which\r\none has not contributed oneself (see also Varila and Ikonen-Varila 2002 ). Two of\r\nthe top workers associated modesty with humbleness.\r\n\u2018I would like to be humble but do I want to be\u2026 \u201cthe one who reaches high\r\nends up low\u201d \u2013 this proverb has stumped us.\u2019\r\nIn work life, unwritten emotional rules determine what emotions are approved\r\nand how, to whom, and in which situation one is allowed to express them, and\r\nhow emotions are interpreted.\r\nHalf of the participants saw prudence as one of their strengths, and they\r\nexplained it as their special skill in deliberating their actions and making justifi ed\r\ndecisions at work. Therefore, prudence merely resembled a professional skill or\r\na work-related strength rather than a personal attribute, unlike self-regulation,\r\nwhich was seen as a strictly personal characteristic and as an aspect of temperament.\r\nHalf of the top workers assessed that their self-regulation could be better.\r\n\u2018Still, there are many dimensions that could be smoothened\u2026 my nature can\r\nbe stretched to many directions.\u2019\r\nTranscendence\r\nTranscendence as a virtue was also considered paradoxical because they did not\r\nagree with all the strengths (appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude,\r\nhope, humour, religiousness) included in this virtue. For example, it was diffi cult\r\nto imagine religiousness as a strength \u2013 except for the Priest of the Year.\r\nHowever, the top workers did spend a signifi cant amount of time contemplating\r\nhow appreciation of beauty and excellence was manifested in working life. They\r\nexplained this virtue as the ability to recognise good performances and achievements\r\ninstead of using one\u2019s energy on envying. This had to do with their positive\r\nattitude and ability to understand achievements earned (Pajares 2001 ).\r\nGratitude is an important human strength that contributes to subjective happiness\r\n(McCullough et al . 2002 ; see also Otake et al . 2006 ). Gratitude was considered\r\nas gratefulness for being able to have rewarding and pleasing work.\r\n\u2018This lies deep in our culture; you cannot say when another does something\r\ngood. We haven\u2019t had such a working culture either. I want to give feedback\r\nif I see that someone is seriously doing something really great.\u2019\r\nA successful worker 43\r\nOne of the top workers saw hope as one of her most important strengths. Hope\r\nwas seen as the foundation of an optimistic attitude.\r\n\u2018So that you believe that you\u2019ll cope with this although there are diffi culties;\r\nthat you\u2019ll just try again or some other route.\u2019\r\nIndeed, hope and optimism are neighbouring concepts, but Finnish people\r\n(Ojanen 2002 ), for example, are traditionally seen as optimistic rather than hopeful.\r\nOjanen ( 2002 ) defi nes hope as realistic optimism which has trust at the\r\ncenter.\r\nThe top workers appreciated humour although some of them did not consider\r\nthemselves very humorous. The ability to look at things from a distance and see\r\nhumour in them was, however, considered important as humour helped to process\r\nproblematic issues and handle tough situations. For example, the Police of the\r\nYear emphasised the meaning of humour in police work as a connective factor\r\namong police offi cers and when there is a need to confront the most diffi cult situations\r\nat work. The Priest of the Year saw similarities in humour and religion:\r\n\u2018They are at least cousins, if not downright siblings; both create hope in\r\npeople.\u2019\r\nIn addition, humorous people understand things widely and do not remain stuck\r\non details; in his opinion, religion has the same dimension.\r\nOther virtues and strengths\r\nThe top workers also named some other strengths that were not included in the\r\nCVS Model. Five of them highlighted the signifi cance of their own personality;\r\nthey allowed their strong personalities to surface in their work. Many of them\r\nassociated this with authenticity or being themselves. This was important for\r\nNurse of the Year, Priest of the Year and Police of the Year. But those who\r\nworked as supervisors also emphasised the signifi cance of acting in a genuine\r\nway and bringing out one\u2019s personality. In this way, followers\u2019 trust can be\r\nachieved.\r\nAnother important characteristic that most of the top workers mentioned was\r\ndiligence and dedication. They thought that success at work could be achieved\r\nthrough industriousness. This was also a trait that was mentioned when they were\r\nasked to identify one trait that they would like other workers in their work\r\ncommunity to possess.\r\nHalf of the top workers emphasised their positivity and joviality. Positivity\r\nappeared as an optimistic attitude towards working. In addition, it was seen as\r\nproviding resources to the entire work community. Indeed, optimism is one of the\r\nmost salient concepts in positive psychology. It can be defi ned as a steady attitude\r\nand view of life and the future (Pajares 2001 ).\r\n44 A successful worker\r\nOn the connection between virtues and strengths\r\nand success and wellbeing at work\r\nArnold et al . ( 1993 ) state that awareness of one\u2019s strengths and weaknesses as\r\nwell as values and interests is of primary importance for enhancing one\u2019s career.\r\nOptimism has a clear connection with success because, among other things, it\r\ninvolves the ability to set reasonable goals, to achieve these goals, and to use\r\neffi cient learning strategies. According to Carver and Scheier ( 2002 ), optimistic\r\npeople achieve their goals because they organise their actions in an intellectual\r\nway in order to achieve these goals. Furthermore, the top workers appeared to\r\nhave proactive (Covey 2006 ), as opposed to reactive, attitudes. A proactive attitude\r\nembodies a way of thinking according to which people are able to change\r\ntheir behaviour, look at things from various perspectives, make choices by themselves,\r\nand know what they want. Proactive people concentrate on things that\r\nthey can affect and thus, their action is positive and more effi cient by nature.\r\nThis kind of attitude can also be dissected with the use of the concept of resilience.\r\nBeing able to move on, despite hardships, demonstrates the resilience of\r\nthose successful individuals. Therefore, psychological resilience refers to effective\r\ncoping and adaptation when faced with loss, hardship or adversity \u2013 a\r\ncommon feature among the top workers.\r\nThe strengths that the top workers recognised most in themselves \u2013 openmindedness,\r\nsocial intelligence, persistence, optimism and authenticity \u2013 all\r\nrelate to positive behaviour. If these features explain success at work, at\r\nleast partly, wellbeing and happiness are most certainly not irrelevant to the\r\nworkplace.\r\nExperiencing success alone and together\r\nThus far, we have talked about the process of success or the phenomenon of\r\nsuccess. We have referred to the idea of success as a (developing) state. However,\r\nthe phenomenon of success at work also includes various experiences of success.\r\nSuccess is related to work and life in general and can be seen as a positive\r\noutcome of working.\r\nWhat is an experience of success and what kinds of successes do top workers\r\nrecognise in their work? This question was also posed to the top workers. They\r\nwere eventually able to describe their experiences of successful situations or\r\nevents at work in numerous ways. However, some categorisations could be made.\r\nThe most fundamental categorisation concerned whether the experience of success\r\nwas achieved alone or in a group. These are thus divided into personal experiences\r\nand communal, teamwork-based experiences. These two categories include various\r\nelements that illustrate the origin or nature of the experience of success.\r\nHere again, the model of human strengths and virtues was applied for analytical\r\npurposes as it appeared that the two main categories could also be illustrated\r\non the basis of personal strengths that are connected to the experience of success.\r\nA successful worker 45\r\nIn addition to individual strengths that can partly explain the origin of experiences\r\nof success, and that also appear on Seligman\u2019s list, teamwork-based experiences\r\nof success also seemed to necessitate human strengths that are social by\r\nnature. The categories somewhat overlap, but their purpose is to highlight the\r\nconnection between individual strengths and experiences of success both at the\r\nindividual and communal levels.\r\nPersonal experiences of success\r\nPersistence, bravery and hope: experiencing\r\n(concrete) accomplishments\r\nThe list provided by Seligman et al . ( 2005 ) includes strengths that can be seen as\r\nrelevant to accomplishing work-related tasks. Specifi cally, persistence as the ability\r\nto fi nish what one starts; bravery as not shrinking from threat, challenge, diffi -\r\nculty or pain; and hope as expecting the best and working to achieve it, appeared\r\nin the participants\u2019 descriptions. Firstly, the experience of success results from\r\nquite concrete accomplishments at work. On one hand, the top workers described\r\ntheir experiences of success as hands-on experiences such as, for example,\r\nperforming well in some concrete task (for example, compiling a manual for guidance\r\nat work). On the other hand, these experiences could result from achieving a\r\nmore high-level goal, sometimes through practical action. Furthermore, concrete\r\nsuccesses may be born when some larger entity at work is directed in the right\r\nway. These kinds of experiences were described in the interviews as follows:\r\n\u2018So it is an orientation fi le. We began to compile this kind of bible\u2026. The\r\noperation of our workplace is described in a very comprehensive manner, and\r\nall the practices are printed in it. Our boss always remembers to mention it.\r\nI think that our employees appreciate it as well. I think it is something that has\r\nbeen very useful.\u2019\r\n\u2018I have thrown myself in new tasks. Supervisors have asked about my willingness,\r\nand I guess that they have seen in all their wisdom that I am able and\r\ncapable of taking on new tasks. There [in the participant\u2019s work unit], it went\r\nlike that, and I think it was something like one year since I had started as the\r\nsection leader when my boss asked whether I was willing to change over to\r\nthe duty offi cer\u2019s task. My boss thought that I would be good at that, so I took\r\nthe duty offi cer\u2019s post\u2026 And I can tell that I had an excellent group at that\r\ntime; it was this so-called car offence group. Many really good fellows worked\r\nin it and we really produced great results; the best of Finland at that time.\u2019\r\n\u2018We created a new training program for occupational health psychologists\u2026so\r\nthat\u2019s my thing, you know\u2026 This task came to me at the end of the 1990s, and the\r\nhead of department assigned me for it. And I have managed to create a team of it.\u2019\r\n46 A successful worker\r\nMoreover, the experience of success could result from such occasions in which\r\nemployees were able to control or solve a situation at work. Therefore, accomplishment\r\ncould be concrete but not always material in nature:\r\n\u2018There are phases when everyone fl ounder. So, I might have given a speech\r\nor address that solved that situation\u2026 When you hurl yourself into the situation\r\nand manage to reach the goal.\u2019\r\n\u2018I have had the experience of \u201coh how good was it that I intervened the situation\r\nand was able to handle it\u201d.\u2019\r\nOne way of achieving the experience of success is to work systematically and\r\npersistently. Therefore, daily practices and actions are not always that peculiar\r\nbut the result may be:\r\n\u2018Then there are sort of exceptional crimes that I was allowed to help [solve]\u2026\r\nI headed it here in the district. We quizzed people; and every time we had a\r\nsmall hint, we would start off, even at nights. And that is something immemorial\r\nand so exceptional that we could solve things like that.\u2019\r\nZest and love of learning: experiencing success through\r\nthe joy of work and flow\r\nSeligman et al . ( 2005 ) defi ne zest as the ability to approach life with excitement\r\nand energy, and love of learning as a desire to master new skills, topics and\r\nbodies of knowledge. These strengths surfaced in the top workers\u2019 interviews in\r\nthe form of various positive emotional states toward their work. In this research,\r\nthe top workers showed high levels of joy of work (Varila and Lehtosaari 2001 )\r\nand fl ow (Csikszentmihalyi 2008 ) that resulted from putting their soul into work\r\nor learning new skills. When viewed from this perspective, the experience of\r\nsuccess can also entail these positive feelings. The top workers described their\r\nmoments of joy and fl ow in the following way:\r\n\u2018I am riveted by it and it is a blessing that you can be so wrapped up in your\r\nwork so much.\u2019\r\n\u2018Maybe the best feedback is those numbers and successes; in other words, we\r\nhave good results to show the things that I want.\u2019\r\nCuriosity and open-mindedness: experiencing success and\r\nexpertise through challenges and new opportunities at work\r\nTop workers also emphasised the signifi cance of challenges and new development\r\nopportunities in their work. Of the strengths categorised in the list by\r\nSeligman et al . ( 2005 ), this attitude especially resembled curiosity as workers\r\nA successful worker 47\r\nwere open-minded, were actively interested in ongoing experience, thought\r\nthings through, and examined them from all angles. The experience of success\r\ncould often result from a situation in which the outcome was not always clearly\r\nknown beforehand or if worker had to learn or study something new. These\r\nevents were described as follows:\r\n\u2018I always take up the gauntlet although a bit clueless\u2026 Huge challenges\r\n[I have accepted]. And then if you can contribute in a developing manner\u2026\u2019\r\n\u2018Then I considered criminal investigation challenging since I had worked [as\r\na patrol offi cer] for two and half years, and I didn\u2019t know anything about\r\ncriminal investigation. And I had so many questions on how I should handle\r\nthis\u2026 So I thought I should put myself in criminal investigation for a couple\r\nof years so that I could learn it. And then I went, and I did not regret it. Of\r\ncourse, after a few months, I found working there quite awkward, but then it\r\nstarted to run smoothly.\u2019\r\nThe experience of success is certainly closely connected to the experience of expertise.\r\nTop workers were extremely willing to educate themselves and gather knowledge\r\neither from various areas of their occupation or gain increasingly profound\r\nknowledge in their special fi eld. The experience of success may thus consist of the\r\nself-effi cacy and perceived feelings of capability and competence (see also\r\nBandura 1997 ; Carver and Scheier 2005 ; Judge et al . 1997; Paloste et al . 2011):\r\n\u2018But then\u2026 as I qualifi ed as a leader and had that training, it gave me such\r\nsources in a positive way, that I thought that someday I could go after that\r\nkind of position.\u2019\r\n\u2018Oh yeah, I have taken all sorts of them [training sessions]. Of course, quite\r\nquickly, I reached the level that no one could teach me anymore.\u2019\r\n\u2018And then, I have been developing quality work and pursued an auditing\r\nqualifi cation, and then I was able to evaluate other units with my co-worker.\u2019\r\nAt its best, work provides employees with opportunities to develop, fi nd meaning\r\nin life and achieve social, emotional and mental wellbeing. Therefore, more attention\r\nshould be paid on increasing employees\u2019 possibilities in workplaces (Snyder\r\nand Lopez 2002 ) since the opportunities to achieve experiences of success could\r\nalso increase.\r\nCommunal, teamwork-based experiences of success\r\nSeligman et al . ( 2005 ) allude to strengths that appeared especially important\r\namong top workers when they discussed teamwork-based experiences. They\r\ndefi ned teamwork as working well as a member of a group or team; social intelligence\r\nas being aware of the motives and feelings of self and others; fairness as\r\n48 A successful worker\r\ntreating all people the same according to notions of fairness and justice; and\r\nkindness as doing favours and good deeds for others. Although the experience of\r\nsuccess is a personal positive emotion, it may spring up after or while of working\r\ntogether with co-workers, clients or other people who are closely connected to the\r\ntask at hand. When everyone in a team is excited and inspired by the task, developing\r\nsuccessful outcomes may produce the most delightful experience of success\r\n(see also Losada and Heaphy 2004 ), as described in the following utterances:\r\n\u2018It is most fruitful when we all are excited about developing things.\u2019\r\n\u2018What is most important is that you see together that something works, that\r\nthe orchestra works and plays, and that everyone even plays the same melody.\u2019\r\nFurthermore, it is easier to carry out diffi cult work tasks when you are supported\r\nby colleagues and share ideas with them. According to the participants, when you\r\nhave a good network or work community, you can succeed better than before.\r\nNaturally, however, one has to be willing to share and work for the team:\r\n\u2018It is a problem when you have to do it [make decisions] alone. When you\r\nthink of whether you are blind to something or whether you have forgotten\r\nsomething crucial; it is a little bit harassing, but on the other hand, you\u2019ll fi nd\r\nhelp from your network. I mean you can ask your colleagues.\u2019\r\n\u2018Quite a few people come to talk to me about things and have the courage to\r\nsay if there is something wrong or what they cannot take up in the negotiations\r\nby themselves. Many times I have been the channel through which the\r\nissues are discussed and thought over and their anxieties are released\u2026 It\u2019s\r\none of those experiences.\u2019\r\n\u2018But then I was called for this locum post, and it was something that I felt\r\nthat I could work with real professionals, and somehow I worked well and\r\nfelt supported and was in a really good team. The work was a regular nineto-\r\nfi ve job, and it was a success even though I was a mother of a small child.\u2019\r\nThe notion of the communal nature of the experience of success also highlights\r\nthe fact that supportive and positive atmosphere at the workplace may be an\r\nimportant contributor to the experiences of success. Boreham ( 2004 ) uses the\r\nconcept of collective competence to refer to making collective sense of events in\r\nthe workplace, developing and using a collective knowledge base, and developing\r\na sense of interdependency. Indeed, a common feature of the new ways of\r\norganising work is their emphasis on teamwork. Thus, the top workers\u2019 perceptions\r\nof teamwork and the support received from co-workers are essential from\r\nthis point of view. It is important to notice that the experience of success can also\r\nbe communal by nature. However, it requires strengths of a social character (see\r\nSeligman et al . 2005 ).\r\nA successful worker 49\r\nExperiencing work\r\nThe experience of success is only one way of dissecting positive experiences at\r\nwork. However, the top workers\u2019 experiences are also interesting because of their\r\nconnection to overall success at work. In this research, the experiences of success\r\nwere categorised in a data-driven manner, being aware that there are other ways\r\nof categorising these experiences. For example, Lutgen-Sandvik et al . ( 2011 )\r\nused a more detailed categorisation structure when they studied American workers\u2019\r\nexperiences of success. However, some similar categories could be found in\r\nthese two studies; for example, appreciation, challenge, success, opportunity,\r\nrelationships, social support and teamwork, climate, supervisor\/mentor, resources\r\nand triumphs were apparent in the participants\u2019 descriptions in both studies.\r\nBased on the results, we constructed a model to illustrate the connection\r\nbetween individual and communal factors to the possibility of experiencing\r\nsuccess at work (see Figure 3.2 ). Figure 3.2 includes the dimensions of both individual\/\r\ncommunal and positive\/negative. Next, we will introduce the four starting\r\npoints for the experience of success at work in greater detail:\r\n1 Firstly, there is the state in which both negative individual and communal\r\nfactors are present. The employee is belittled not only by himself or herself\r\nbut also by the work community. This situation is not likely to further the\r\ndevelopment of positive emotions at work \u2013 neither at the individual nor at\r\nthe communal level. Instead, it can be considered as hindering the emergence\r\nof successes or other positive feelings.\r\n2 Secondly, there is the possibility that the work community acts as a positive\r\nfactor but the individual employee may still have low-esteem. Success as\r\nwell as feelings of joy are diffi cult to achieve on the personal level as people\r\nusually tend to feel genuinely happy about achievement if they feel entitled\r\nto it (see, for example, Deci and Moller 2005 ).\r\n3 The third part of the illustration describes a situation whereby the work community\r\nacts as a negative factor, but the individual has a positive perception.\r\nTherefore, the individual employee may have strong self-esteem, regardless\r\nof the work community\u2019s disregard \u2013 although the employee\u2019s self-regard in\r\nthis situation may be low (Baumeister 1993 ; see also Baumeister et al . 1996).\r\n4 The fourth section presents the so-called ideal situation whereby both the\r\nindividual and communal factors are positive. This kind of starting point\r\nmight be the core factor for the emergence of positively-toned experiences\r\nsuch as fl ow (see Csikszentmihalyi 2008 ) and joy of work (Varila and\r\nLehtosaari 2001 ). Likewise, experiences of success, both alone and as a\r\nteam, become more likely than in the other above-mentioned situations as it\r\ncan, for its part, lead to maximal performances (see Avey et al . 2010 ; Kanfer\r\nand Ackerman 2005 ). Furthermore, for example, intelligent thought and\r\nsocial inclusion have also been seen to have a positive, direct relationship\r\n(Baumeister et al . 2002 ). Our idea is that this kind of combination of positive\r\nindividual and communal factors will also lead to wellbeing at work.\r\n50 A successful worker\r\nEmployees of the Year found their jobs pleasing. Furthermore, fi nding a balance\r\nbetween an employee\u2019s skills and work-related expectations as well as opportunities\r\nand challenges leads to better performance at work, contentment, higher motivation\r\nand self-effi cacy (M\u00e4kikangas et al . 2005 ). As Myers and Diener ( 1995 : 11)\r\npoint out, \u2018Positive wellbeing is not just the absence of negative emotions\u2019. Thus,\r\nno one has only positive experiences or experiences of success \u2013 one would not\r\neven know what these experiences are if one had not experienced the opposite.\r\nEmployees of the year considered diffi culties as challenges and moments for\r\nstocktaking. This behaviour resembles realistic optimism (see also Chapter 2).\r\nSchneider ( 2001 ) illustrates this way of thinking felicitously. According to her\r\ndefi nition of realistic optimism and its benefi cial consequences, the term \u2018problem\u2019\r\n(with synonyms such as predicament, obstacle and diffi culty) implies that the\r\ncurrent state is negative and that actions must be successful to establish a satisfactory\r\nstate. When this problem is seen as a challenge, the current state is considered\r\nacceptable, offering a potential opportunity for bringing about a benefi cial change.\r\nIndeed, this framing can be quite powerful and explain the fundamental attitudes\r\nenhancing the process of success. Thus, they were able to eventually turn these\r\nsituations into experiences of success \u2013 although it did not necessarily happen in\r\nan instant (see also Mitchell et al . 2004).\r\nBravery was not the only strength among the participants. Employees of the\r\nYear could tackle obstacles and strive forward in their careers and other workrelated\r\nambitions. In addition, participants were passionate about working\r\nPOSITIVE INDIVIDUAL\r\nFACTORS\r\nStrong self-esteem\r\nregardless of the\r\nwork community\u2019s\r\ndisregard\r\nFlow, joy of\r\nwork\r\nPOSITIVE\r\nCOMMUNAL\r\nFACTORS\r\nNEGATIVE\r\nCOMMUNAL\r\nFACTORS\r\nBelittled by the work\r\ncommunity and\r\noneself\r\nLow self-esteem\r\nregardless of the\r\nwork community\u2019s\r\nappreciation\r\nNEGATIVE\r\nINDIVIDUAL FACTORS\r\nFigure 3.2 The connection of individual and communal factors with the perceived success\r\nat work (Uusiautti and M\u00e4\u00e4tt\u00e4, 2013).\r\nA successful worker 51\r\nconsummately. Indeed, it has been discovered that high work engagement magnifi\r\nes emotional responses concerning perceived success or failure (Britt 1999 ).\r\nThe positive attitude that Employees of the Year had toward work and life in\r\ngeneral was the common factor among them. Their experiences of success can be\r\nseen as a salient factor in the perceived happiness at work. Of course, other\r\nfeatures of work \u2013 professional profi ciency, life situation, work motivation and\r\npersonality \u2013 are also important for the positive experience. However, all factors\r\naffect each other to a certain extent. All special features together form the basis\r\nand prerequisites for success and wellbeing at work. In order to gain positive\r\nexperiences from one\u2019s work, an employee has to be (intrinsically) motivated to\r\ndo this particular work and to accomplish the tasks and goals that are set. Brown\r\nand Ryan (2003) suggest that mindfulness may also directly contribute to wellbeing\r\nand happiness. They defi ne mindfulness as a pre-refl ective state, which\r\nincludes both self-focused attention and, for instance, experience. Furthermore,\r\nhappy people are seen to possess adequate resources for making progress toward\r\nvalued goals (Diener et al . 1999 ). This is interesting especially from the point of\r\nview of performing well and experiencing success at work because people who\r\nhave a high perception of their self-effi cacy tend to devote more to their work and\r\nare more persistent workers than those who make lower assessments of their\r\nabilities (cf. the second part of the model in Figure 3.2) (see Bandura 1997 ;\r\nMitchell 1997 ).\r\nThe above-mentioned matters are important but, on their own, they are not\r\nenough. The results encouraged us to also consider success from the perspective\r\nof a work community. Therefore, the results of our study suggest that success is\r\nnot only matter of a single employee; participants also highlighted the importance\r\nof a good working atmosphere and a supportive and healthy work community.\r\nQuick ( 1999 : 123) maintains that \u2018healthy work exists where people feel good,\r\nachieve high performance, and have high levels of wellbeing\u2019 \u2013 in other words,\r\nwhere people are happy. Could it be, then, that success could be enhanced by\r\ncreating happy and functional work communities? It seems that feeling positive\r\nemotions toward work produces not only a quantitative improvement by increasing\r\neffi ciency but also a qualitative one by making a better product or outcome\r\nthat results from the virtue of pride, belief and commitment to one\u2019s job (Wright,\r\n2004 ). Indeed, Arnold et al . ( 2007 : 201) point out that \u2018it is possible that humanistic\r\nwork values (the normative beliefs individuals hold about whether work\r\nshould be meaningful) are an important infl uence on the likelihood of fi nding\r\nmeaning in current work and psychological wellbeing.\r\nReferences\r\nAchor , S. ( 2010 ) The Happiness Advantage. The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology\r\nthat Fuel Success and Performance at Work . New York, NY : Crown Business\r\nAitta, U. ( 2006) \u2018 Ylemm\u00e4t toimihenkil\u00f6naiset ty\u00f6- ja aikapaineiden ristiaallokossa [Female\r\nmanagers in the riptide of work and time pressures]\u2019 pp. 17\u2013 35 in Lehto, A.-M. , Sutela, H.\r\n52 A successful worker\r\nand Miettinen, A. (Eds.) Kaikilla mausteilla. Artikkeleita ty\u00f6olotutkimuksesta [ With All\r\nSpices. Articles Research at Working Conditions ]. Helsinki : Statistics Finland\r\nAnderson , N. , De Dreu , C. K. W. and Nijstad , B. A. 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( 2001 ) Ty\u00f6nilo - Ahkeruudella ansaittua, sattuman synnytt\u00e4m\u00e4\u00e4\r\nvai oppivan organisaation vaatimaa? [Joy of Work \u2013 Earned by Diligence,\r\nCaused by an Accident or Required by a Learning Organisation?] . Joensuu : University\r\nof Joensuu\r\nWright , T. A. ( 2004 ) \u2018 The role of \u201chappiness\u201d in organizational research: past, present and\r\nfuture directions \u2019 pp. 221 \u2013 264 in Perrewe , P. L. and Ganster , D. C. (Eds) Exploring\r\nInterpersonal Dynamics . ( Research in Occupational Stress and Well-being, Vol. 4 ).\r\nOxford, UK : Elsevier","rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3719\/2018\/10\/29155250\/Chapter-3.pdf\">Chapter 3<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Introduction<\/strong><br \/>\nWhat features do top workers share? How do they perceive their work? Do they<br \/>\nface setbacks (at all)? Are they always excited about their work, or do they also<br \/>\nhave boring work tasks? Work cannot be all about sunshine, can it?<br \/>\nThese questions came to mind as we glanced at the work attitudes and personalities<br \/>\nof Employees of the Year. In this chapter, we reveal their thoughts, allow<br \/>\nthem to describe their motivation, engagement and themselves as employees.<br \/>\nSurprisingly, the Employees of the Year participating in our studies had many<br \/>\nthings in common \u2013 regardless of occupation.<br \/>\nThe chapter consists of three viewpoints of top workers\u2019 descriptions of themselves<br \/>\nand their work. First, their opinions on the most important features of their<br \/>\nwork and other relevant factors that enhance success are introduced. Second, we<br \/>\nlook at the top workers as persons following the ideas of positive psychology and<br \/>\nhuman strengths. Finally, a new perspective on success is introduced: the experience<br \/>\nof success. Here, we focus on experiences of success at work as described<br \/>\nby top workers. All these contribute to a special perspective on the phenomenon<br \/>\nof success when the analysis is limited to the employee as well as the workplace<br \/>\nand its distinctive features.<br \/>\nWork itself boosts motivation and provides<br \/>\nexperiences of joy and accomplishment<br \/>\nChallenging work is most appreciated<br \/>\nSome commonalities emerged as employees listed the most important factors that<br \/>\nresulted in positive experiences at work. The most signifi cant factor concerned<br \/>\nthe challenges at work and opportunities to improve skills and\/or work. They<br \/>\ndescribed such situations as those in which you can learn more and develop yourself<br \/>\nthrough new challenges at work. The participants emphasised that recognising<br \/>\nyour core skills is essential as it becomes possible to concentrate on doing<br \/>\nwhat is most suitable for you. Indeed, knowing your strengths and weaknesses as<br \/>\nChapter 3<br \/>\nA successful worker<br \/>\n30 A successful worker<br \/>\nwell as your values and interests is crucial for enhancing your career (see also<br \/>\nArnold et al . 1993 ).<br \/>\n\u2018I\u2019m excited mostly in situations that enable me to develop something, to<br \/>\nchange something for the better, in a more reasonable direction.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018Every day is different. It\u2019s challenging to see every customer as an individual<br \/>\nand not as a group of clients!\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018I can actually say that we have very diverse training at work. And all these<br \/>\ncourses help with doing this work as this environment is changing constantly<br \/>\nand, of course, the whole society. Continuously educating yourself in this<br \/>\nway is essential in order to maintain your profi ciency.\u2019<br \/>\nSurprisingly, participants were not mavericks at their work, but they highly<br \/>\nvalued successful and effortless cooperation with their co-workers. Similarly, it<br \/>\nhas been discovered that social support is an effective means of enhancing selfesteem<br \/>\nand feelings of mastery (Rousseau et al . 2009 ), thus promoting success at<br \/>\nwork. Argyle ( 1987 ) points out that contentment with relationships in the workplace,<br \/>\nboth horizontally \u2013 between employees \u2013 and vertically \u2013 between<br \/>\nemployers and employees \u2013 is central to happiness at work.<br \/>\n\u2018I like working in teams. It\u2019s interesting to work with different kinds of people.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018I think that my most powerful experiences at work are those in which we are<br \/>\nworking together as a group.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018I think that [good relationships in the workplace] are an unquestionable precondition;<br \/>\neverybody works better when they feel good\u2026. So, if you spend fi ve or ten<br \/>\nminutes chatting, it doesn\u2019t harm because it contributes to the system in general.\u2019<br \/>\nThirdly, participants considered opportunities to work autonomously as a salient<br \/>\ndimension of their experience. The Job Demands\u2013Resources (JD-R) Model<br \/>\nsuggests that job resources (for example, autonomy, immediate feedback and<br \/>\nrewards) are especially salient for resource gain, for example, true wellbeing and<br \/>\nmotivation at work, i.e., work engagement (Bakker and Demerouti 2007 ). In<br \/>\naddition, individuals should be encouraged to rest, to engage in positive work<br \/>\nrefl ection, and to prevent negative work-related thoughts (Binnewies et al . 2009 ).<br \/>\n\u2018I can autonomously determine what I\u2019m doing and when.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018I can determine the content of my work.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018Work drive, engagement, and the joy of work.\u2019<br \/>\nAll Employees of the Year thought that their work was rewarding. According to<br \/>\nthem, new challenges, as well as opportunities to develop themselves at work,<br \/>\nwere most exciting to them. It seemed certain that they experienced work<br \/>\nA successful worker 31<br \/>\nengagement and joy of work. From the sub-scales of work engagement, the<br \/>\nsignifi cance of work refers to dedication. All participants were proud of their<br \/>\nwork and considered their work meaningful. Furthermore, the sub-scales of fl ow,<br \/>\nnamely, vigor and absorption, were apparent in their descriptions.<br \/>\n\u2018I am able to concentrate so deeply that I escape from reality. I can close my<br \/>\nears, and my husband tells me that I\u2019m a closed book\u2026. I am riveted by my<br \/>\nwork, and I see it as a blessing.\u2019<br \/>\nThe interviewees were asked to describe how they focused on work. This was<br \/>\nsupposed to provide information about their fl ow experiences. In addition, they<br \/>\nwere asked to describe setbacks and hardships and their ways of handling such<br \/>\nsituations. Likewise, top workers described the challenges of their work and some<br \/>\naspects of work that had recently made them excited. One way of expressing top<br \/>\nworkers\u2019 inspiration for their work was their descriptions of how pleasurable it<br \/>\nwas for them to go to work every day. Many of them spoke of how important it<br \/>\nwas to be able to develop their work.<br \/>\nThe experience of fl ow was familiar to almost everyone. Their descriptions<br \/>\nwere convincing; they kept talking about how fantastic it was to be absorbed by<br \/>\ntheir work. However, the conditions leading to fl ow varied from person to person:<br \/>\nsome could reach this state in cooperation with colleagues, while others did so<br \/>\nindependently.<br \/>\n\u2018I become absorbed when the [work] space is as undisturbed as possible.\u2019<br \/>\nInspiration and enthusiasm were concretely described as they said that they<br \/>\nbecame riveted by work and did not remember to check the time or count the<br \/>\nhours.<br \/>\n\u2018Sometimes I can come here during weekends if I am very enthusiastic about<br \/>\ndeveloping something, for example an initial idea, so the time can pass<br \/>\nquickly and it can be that I come here to my offi ce on Saturday and Sunday.\u2019<br \/>\nAbove all, the most extraordinary characteristic among Employees of the Year<br \/>\nwas their positive attitude, which was specifi c to informants. For instance, they<br \/>\ndid not give up in the face of confl icts. Instead, they saw such situations as opportunities<br \/>\nto reassess their occupational skills and, if necessary, to study and<br \/>\ndevelop. Thus, confl ict situations were seen as challenges that had to be solved.<br \/>\nThis kind of positive and optimistic attitude was at the very core of the participants\u2019<br \/>\ncharacteristics and may explain why they did not consider demanding<br \/>\nsituations to be stressful.<br \/>\n\u2018Firstly, you have to try again if it\u2019s worth it. And if it\u2019s not, it might be that<br \/>\nyou weren\u2019t right after all. But then again, you can think that now is the time<br \/>\n32 A successful worker<br \/>\nto look in the mirror and accept the fact that that way isn\u2019t leading you anywhere<br \/>\nand fi nd another one. This I have done many times along my way. And<br \/>\nwhat else can you do\u2026?\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018Sometimes I think that I\u2019m a little bit stupid\u2026. But I\u2019m not because it might<br \/>\nbe that I don\u2019t see those [confl ict situations]. I\u2019ve always taken more responsibility<br \/>\nthan I should have and thus got more interesting duties\u2026.\u2019<br \/>\nThis is also an instance of the rewards of a proactive (as opposed to reactive)<br \/>\nattitude (see Covey 2006 ). Proactive people can change their behaviour, see<br \/>\nthings from a different angle, make choices, and know what they want. Reactive<br \/>\npeople, on the other hand, concentrate on things that they cannot control or<br \/>\nchange, such as other people\u2019s weaknesses and poor circumstances. Accordingly,<br \/>\nproactive people function in more effective and positive ways.<br \/>\nPositive experiences at the core?<br \/>\nThis research has shown that one\u2019s positive work experiences (both the work<br \/>\nitself and the employee\u2019s way of working) could be placed at the core of success.<br \/>\nEmployees of the Year found their jobs pleasing. Having a holistic positive experience<br \/>\nis crucial to this (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000 ; see also<br \/>\nM\u00e4kikangas et al . 2005 ). Moreover, fi nding a balance between an employee\u2019s<br \/>\nskills and work-related expectations, as well as between opportunities and challenges,<br \/>\nis shown to lead to better performance at work, contentment, higher<br \/>\nmotivation and self-effi cacy (M\u00e4kikangas et al . 2005 ).<br \/>\nHow then can success at work be outlined? The positive attitude that Employees<br \/>\nof the Year demonstrated toward work and life in general was a common factor<br \/>\namong them. As they outlined the phenomenon of success at work, the manner in<br \/>\nwhich the participants experienced their work appeared to lie at the core of their<br \/>\nsuccess. Their positive experiences regarding their work and themselves as<br \/>\nemployees can be seen as a salient factor whereas the other features of work \u2013<br \/>\nprofessional profi ciency, life situation, work motivation and personality \u2013 merely<br \/>\nappeared to be dependent on this positive experience. Notwithstanding, all these<br \/>\nfactors affect each other to a certain extent. Especially the above-mentioned<br \/>\nfeatures of work seemed to affect both the experience of work and work motivation.<br \/>\nAll features together form the basis and prerequisites for success at work. The<br \/>\ninterconnectedness of these factors is illustrated in Figure 3.1 .<br \/>\nPlacing the experience of work at the center is, in fact, a unique way of understanding<br \/>\nsuccess at work because it is not usually considered the most salient factor<br \/>\nwhen compared with, for example, work motivation (cf. Ruohotie and Honka 2003).<br \/>\nOn the other hand, the positive development that leads to becoming a top<br \/>\nworker cannot be considered separate from an individual\u2019s environment<br \/>\n(Magnusson and Mahoney 2006 ). Factors outside working life that<br \/>\ninfl uence success include one\u2019s overall life situation, family, friends, hobbies,<br \/>\nphysical and psychological health, and so on.<br \/>\nA successful worker 33<br \/>\nAlthough the fi ndings are not generalisable as such, some recent research<br \/>\nprovides interesting guidelines regarding the types of attitudes that Finnish workers<br \/>\nhave toward work. For example, the National Research and Development<br \/>\nCentre for Welfare and Health of Finland has studied working conditions and<br \/>\ncontentment (see, for example, Miettinen 2006 ) and has listed factors that<br \/>\nemployees value most about their work. Among employees who were mostly<br \/>\nvery pleased with their jobs, the factors that were most appreciated were the<br \/>\nfollowing: interesting content, autonomy, variation at work and social relationships<br \/>\nwith co-workers. Of these factors, autonomy and social relationships were<br \/>\nalso important to Employees of the Year. The difference between Finnish workers<br \/>\nin general and the participants in this research was in relation to employees\u2019<br \/>\nattitudes toward opportunities for developing and educating themselves and the<br \/>\nneed for challenges at work. These were highly appreciated among Employees of<br \/>\nthe Year but not among workers in general.<br \/>\nThe variation between top workers and the general pool can also be studied<br \/>\nfrom another perspective. Among Finnish workers in general, two-thirds of<br \/>\nmanagers, half of subordinate managers and one-third of workers reported<br \/>\nconsidering education and development at work as very important (Aitta 2006 ).<br \/>\n&#8211; Intrinsic work motivation.<br \/>\nMotivation:<br \/>\nThe positive work experience:<br \/>\n&#8211; Work engagement and drive;<br \/>\n&#8211; Regarding adversities as challenges;<br \/>\n&#8211; Optimistic and enthusiastic attitude<br \/>\ntowards work.<br \/>\nLife situation:<br \/>\n&#8211; The combination<br \/>\nof work and family.<br \/>\nPersonality:<br \/>\n&#8211; social, optimistic, selfconfident,<br \/>\ndiligent, openminded,<br \/>\npersistent, reliable,<br \/>\nwilling to learn and develop,<br \/>\netc.<br \/>\nProfessional proficiency:<br \/>\n&#8211; Maintaining, updating and<br \/>\ndeveloping one\u2019s<br \/>\nprofessional skills;<br \/>\n&#8211; Interest in developing the<br \/>\nprofession.<br \/>\nSUCCESS<br \/>\nAT<br \/>\nWORK<br \/>\nThe features of work:<br \/>\n&#8211; Challenging work;<br \/>\n&#8211; Development<br \/>\nopportunities;<br \/>\n&#8211; Good working<br \/>\natmosphere;<br \/>\n&#8211; Autonomy.<br \/>\nFigure 3.1 The interconnectedness of the factors that explain success at work among<br \/>\nEmployee of the Year awardees (Uusiautti, 2008).<br \/>\n34 A successful worker<br \/>\nIn our research, this kind of variation between different positions was not apparent.<br \/>\nInstead, all Employees of the Year, regardless of their position, appeared to<br \/>\nbe extremely eager to educate themselves.<br \/>\nThese results are in line with previous research. For example, Kinnunen et al .<br \/>\n( 2008 ) have found that increasing the rewarding aspects of work \u2013 instead of<br \/>\ndecreasing effort \u2013 could be especially effi cient for increasing work engagement.<br \/>\nAdditionally, researchers have demonstrated that wellbeing is impacted by core<br \/>\nconcepts of positive psychology such as hope (see Snyder 1994 ), self- effi cacy<br \/>\n(Bandura 1997 ) and optimism (Carver and Scheier 2002 ). These characteristics<br \/>\nwere common to participants \u2013 especially the optimistic attitude toward work and<br \/>\nlife in general.<br \/>\nWhat can be learned from the experiences of Employees of the Year? It seems<br \/>\nthat having positive experiences is a key factor in success and wellbeing at<br \/>\nwork. Also, a lack of absenteeism and a willingness to stay in the same job \u2013<br \/>\nengagement, so to speak \u2013 are signifi cant. Employees of the Year could be<br \/>\ndescribed as true \u2018try-harders\u2019 because of their optimistic attitude both when<br \/>\nconfronting obstacles and when striving forward in their careers and other workrelated<br \/>\nambitions. According to Tugade and Fredrickson ( 2004 ), there are individuals<br \/>\nwho seem to \u2018bounce back\u2019 from negative events quite effectively,<br \/>\nwhereas others are seemingly unable to get out of their negative ruts. Our<br \/>\nparticipants seemed to represent the former group. In addition, participants were<br \/>\npassionate about working consummately. Indeed, it has been discovered that<br \/>\nhigh work engagement magnifi es emotional responses to perceived success or<br \/>\nfailure (Britt 1999 ).<br \/>\nRegardless of occupation or position, Employees of the Year appreciated wellbeing<br \/>\nat work over hard values, such as making a good salary. In order to gain<br \/>\npositive experiences from one\u2019s work, an employee has to be (intrinsically) motivated<br \/>\nto do this particular work, to accomplish tasks and goals set. Work itself<br \/>\ncan motivate. However, in the present research, it was also discovered that when<br \/>\nthe work content lacked interest but its other characteristics, such as challenges,<br \/>\nautonomy and work environment, appealed to employees, positive experiences<br \/>\nwere more likely to be achieved.<br \/>\nStrengths and success<br \/>\nEmployees are human beings working in a certain job or occupation. As the<br \/>\nprevious fi ndings show, success at work can be connected to challenging and<br \/>\ninspiring work tasks but also to the intrinsic drive to work well. However, it is<br \/>\nalso interesting to think about the strengths that top workers possess and illustrate<br \/>\nin their doings.<br \/>\nIndeed, recent research has paid increasing attention to studying human virtues<br \/>\n(Magnusson and Mahoney 2006 ). Now, the research concentrating on human<br \/>\nweaknesses has had to compete with a strong interest in human abilities, healthy<br \/>\naptitudes and virtues. Researchers have become conscious that people\u2019s<br \/>\nA successful worker 35<br \/>\nexperiences can be studied from this perspective as well and not just in a way that<br \/>\nis oriented toward fl aws and conditions (Mahoney 2002 ).<br \/>\nThe concept of human strengths can be considered as contextually dynamic<br \/>\nbecause the function of a specifi c behaviour depends on its context and its<br \/>\noutcome. In addition, contexts are dynamic and change during an individual\u2019s life<br \/>\nspan. The concept of human strengths is also norm-dependent because the fundamental<br \/>\nfeatures of a society involve common knowledge about appropriate and<br \/>\nappreciated behaviour (Baltes and Freund 2006 ).<br \/>\nAccording to Baltes and Freund ( 2006 ), the concept of human strengths is (1)<br \/>\ndynamic and unbound to context from the point of view of adaptation or<br \/>\ngeneral mechanism, (2) represents the state of life-long learning and fl exible lifemanagement,<br \/>\n(3) regulates the direction of the goals in individual development as<br \/>\nwell as the ways in which the goals will be achieved, and (4) not only supports<br \/>\nindividuals\u2019 development but also makes them more effi cient participants in<br \/>\ncreating the common good.<br \/>\nVirtues can be dissected from a variety of viewpoints. The synchronic perspective<br \/>\ntries to explain an individual\u2019s behaviour on the basis of psychological and<br \/>\nbiological orientations at a certain moment, whereas the diachronic point of view<br \/>\nis interested in those developmental processes that have led to the prevailing<br \/>\nbehaviour. This perspective focuses on the behaviour at a certain moment as part<br \/>\nof an individual\u2019s developmental history. Diachronic models consider individual<br \/>\ndevelopment and the timing and emergence of important happenings in one\u2019s<br \/>\nenvironment, as well as the ways in which these factors interact in the course of<br \/>\ntime (Magnusson and Mahoney 2006 ).<br \/>\nWe leaned on a universal idea of human strengths and asked about the strengths<br \/>\nthat top workers recognised in themselves. The list of strengths was originally<br \/>\ndeveloped by Professors Seligman and Peterson and their research group. After<br \/>\nhaving read all kinds of categorisations about human virtues \u2013 starting from<br \/>\nAristotle and Plato, to the Old Testament, Talmud, Buddha, Bushido and the Boy<br \/>\nScouts \u2013 they managed to defi ne six virtues that appeared common to all.<br \/>\nTheir criteria for the strengths and virtues selected among the list were the<br \/>\nfollowing: fi rst, a strength needs to be manifest in an individual\u2019s behaviour,<br \/>\nincluding thoughts, feelings or actions consistently across time and situations.<br \/>\nSecond, a strength contributes to various fulfi llments that comprise the good life.<br \/>\nThird, although strengths can and do produce desirable outcomes, each strength<br \/>\nis morally valued in its own right. Fourth, the display of a strength by one person<br \/>\ninspires and encourages others rather than diminishes them. Strengths and virtuousness<br \/>\nin this sense are not based on or evoke jealousy. Fifth, the wider society<br \/>\nprovides institutions and associated rituals for cultivating strengths and virtues.<br \/>\nSixth, it is possible to recognise people who are paragons of virtue. Seventh,<br \/>\nstrength is arguably one-dimensional and cannot be decomposed into other<br \/>\nstrengths (Peterson and Park 2004 : 436-436).<br \/>\nThe virtues listed were wisdom and knowledge, courage, justice, temperance,<br \/>\nspirituality and transcendence, and love and humanity (Seligman 2002 ). Each<br \/>\n36 A successful worker<br \/>\nvirtue was complemented with strengths that illustrate the particular virtue. In<br \/>\nother words, the idea is that one can reach a virtue and manifest it through special<br \/>\nstrengths, for example, the virtue of love and humanity can be shown through<br \/>\nsocial intelligence.<br \/>\nThe list of virtues and strengths is as follows (Seligman et al. 2005 : 412):<br \/>\n1 Wisdom and knowledge (cognitive strengths that entail the acquisition and<br \/>\nuse of knowledge):<br \/>\nCreativity (thinking of novel and productive ways of doing things);<br \/>\nCuriosity (taking an interest in all of ongoing experience);<br \/>\nOpen-mindedness (thinking things through and examining them from all<br \/>\nsides);<br \/>\nLove of learning (mastering new skills, topics and bodies of knowledge);<br \/>\nPerspective (being able to provide wise counsel to others).<br \/>\n2 Courage (emotional strengths that involve the exercise of will to accomplish<br \/>\ngoals in the face of opposition, external or internal):<br \/>\nAuthenticity (speaking the truth and presenting oneself in a genuine way);<br \/>\nBravery (not shrinking from threat, challenge, diffi culty or pain);<br \/>\nPersistence (fi nishing what one starts);<br \/>\nZest (approaching life with excitement and energy).<br \/>\n3 Humanity (interpersonal strengths that involve \u2018tending and befriending\u2019<br \/>\nothers):<br \/>\nKindness (doing favours and good deeds for others);<br \/>\nLove (valuing close relations with others);<br \/>\nSocial intelligence (being aware of the motives and feelings of self and<br \/>\nothers).<br \/>\n4 Justice (civic strengths that underlie healthy community life):<br \/>\nFairness (treating all people the same according to notions of fairness and<br \/>\njustice);<br \/>\nLeadership (organising group activities and seeing that they happen);<br \/>\nTeamwork (working well as a member of a group or team).<br \/>\n5 Temperance (strengths that protect against excess):<br \/>\nForgiveness (forgiving those who have done wrong);<br \/>\nModesty (letting one\u2019s accomplishments speak for themselves);<br \/>\nPrudence (being careful about one\u2019s choices; not saying or doing things<br \/>\nthat might later be regretted);<br \/>\nSelf-regulation (regulating what one feels and does).<br \/>\n6 Transcendence (strengths that forge connections to the larger universe and<br \/>\nprovide meaning):<br \/>\nA successful worker 37<br \/>\nAppreciation of beauty and excellence (noticing and appreciating beauty,<br \/>\nexcellence, and\/or skilled performance in all domains of life);<br \/>\nGratitude (being aware of and thankful for the good things that happen);<br \/>\nHope (expecting the best and working to achieve it);<br \/>\nHumour (liking to laugh and tease; bringing smiles to other people);<br \/>\nReligiousness (having coherent beliefs about the higher purpose and<br \/>\nmeaning of life).<br \/>\nTop workers\u2019 strengths and virtues<br \/>\nWe asked the top workers to rank their strengths by giving three points to their<br \/>\nbest strength, two to their second best, one to their third best and half points to any<br \/>\nother strengths they considered typical of them. When all the data were combined,<br \/>\nthe results were interesting. Three strengths stood out: open-mindedness came<br \/>\nin fi rst, social intelligence was ranked second and perseverance came in as the<br \/>\nthird important strength. We will now introduce the strength-based analysis in<br \/>\ngreater detail.<br \/>\nWisdom and knowledge<br \/>\nThe virtue of wisdom and knowledge consists of cognitive strengths (creativity,<br \/>\ncuriosity, open-mindedness, love of learning and perspective) that relate to the<br \/>\nability to acquire and use information. This virtue was the most important among<br \/>\nthe top workers. Based on their own perceptions, wisdom and knowledge as a<br \/>\nvirtue included those strengths that best described their passionate attitude toward<br \/>\nlearning new things, developing themselves and their occupation, as well as gathering<br \/>\nversatile knowledge and skills. Therefore, their estimation also illustrated<br \/>\ntheir attitude towards working.<br \/>\nThe top workers were not always able to recognise their strengths, for example,<br \/>\nwhen they spoke about creativity:<br \/>\n\u2018I thought that I was not creative at all because I have always been really bad<br \/>\nat drawing. But still, I compose music and write lyrics\u2026 and make up all<br \/>\nkinds of gadgetries and apparatuses.\u2019<br \/>\nCreativity was appreciated, but not all the top workers recognised themselves as<br \/>\ncreative. In fact, the concept of creativity is not as self-evident as one might think.<br \/>\nSeligman et al. ( 2005 : 412) state that creativity simply means \u2018thinking of novel<br \/>\nand productive ways to do things\u2019 whereas Sternberg and Lubart ( 1999 ) have<br \/>\ndefi ned creativity as the ability to produce work that is novel and appropriate.<br \/>\nSimonton\u2019s ( 2009 : 262) defi nition follows that of Sternberg and Lubart.<br \/>\nCreativity can be defi ned on the basis of two conditions: fi rst, it must be original.<br \/>\nThis means that creative ideas are novel, surprising and unexpected; however,<br \/>\noriginality is not a suffi cient criterion. Creativity must also be adaptive, which<br \/>\n38 A successful worker<br \/>\nmeans that others should fi nd the created thing adjustable or the creation should<br \/>\nbe adaptable. Sometimes, creativity is defi ned only as a feature that produces<br \/>\nconcrete results (for example, Carson et al . 2005 ). Furthermore, creativity can be<br \/>\ndefi ned only in terms of the so-called divergent creative reasoning. In divergent<br \/>\nworking, several options for solutions are kept open and fl exible whereas the<br \/>\nconvergent way of working concentrates on one solution in order to achieve the<br \/>\nright convincing result (Basadur and Hausdorf 1996 ; Runco 1993 ). From a<br \/>\npsychological point of view, creativity is a very important human strength; it is<br \/>\nmost productive for those whose personality consists of features such as independence,<br \/>\nstrength, optimism, inner-direction, fl exibility, tolerance of confl icts,<br \/>\nenergy, as well as perseverance and goal-orientation (Csikszentmihalyi 1990,<br \/>\n2000; Eysenck 1993 ; Maslow 1988 ).<br \/>\nFurthermore, creativity must not only be understood as a feature of an individual<br \/>\n(a lone genius) but more often as a result of group work (see Nijstad and<br \/>\nLevine 2007 ; Simonton 2009 ). Indeed, Anderson et al . ( 2004 ) have suggested<br \/>\nthat creativity and innovations should be studied more comprehensively and in a<br \/>\nmore routinised manner as the modern, constantly changing working life requires<br \/>\nit \u2013 not to mention other areas of life.<br \/>\nOpen-mindedness is associated with tolerance and courage to take part in<br \/>\nnew things. From the point of view of success at work, this is interesting<br \/>\nbecause it can explain top workers\u2019 willingness to tolerate changes and seize<br \/>\nopportunities. Usually, people tend to resist information that confl icts with their<br \/>\npersonal views \u2013 even if new information is shown to improve understanding<br \/>\n(Correll et al . 2004 ). Interestingly, people seem to be motivated toward<br \/>\ndiscounting both the source and the content of a challenging message in an<br \/>\neffort to protect their existing beliefs and by striving for positive self-regard by<br \/>\ndrawing on successes in important domains in their lives (see also Cohen et al .<br \/>\n2000 ). For successful working, it is worth mentioning that research has shown<br \/>\nthat open-minded interaction leads to curiosity and information-seeking and the<br \/>\nincreasing likelihood of creative new knowledge emerging in work groups and<br \/>\nteams (Mitchell and Nicholas 2006 ).<br \/>\nIn particular, the Police Offi cer of the Year, the Psychologist of the Year and<br \/>\nthe Farmer of the Year considered open-mindedness as an important characteristic.<br \/>\nAccording to the interviews, open-mindedness aptly described all the participants,<br \/>\nas did love of learning (for example, Nurse of the Year considered this to<br \/>\nbe his greatest strength), whereas creativity and curiosity were not. Curiosity was<br \/>\nconsidered rather negatively: as nosiness. This might be a culture-specifi c fi nding<br \/>\nsince the concept seemed to have a negative connotation among interviewees.<br \/>\nNotwithstanding, according to an American-Japanese comparative research, curiosity<br \/>\nwas connected with subjective happiness (Shimai et al . 2006 ), thus representing<br \/>\na very important human strength.<br \/>\nPerspective was, to some extent, every top worker\u2019s strength. It was understood<br \/>\nas a sort of wisdom gained through experience, i.e., the ability to look at<br \/>\nthings from different perspectives:<br \/>\nA successful worker 39<br \/>\n\u2018First, I thought of some tactics\u2026 The more experience you have the easier<br \/>\nyou notice that you have plenty of other options and tacks that you have to<br \/>\nconsider.\u2019<br \/>\nThus, the virtue of wisdom and knowledge described the top workers well, a<br \/>\npoint also supported by the fact that none of these workers thought that these<br \/>\nstrengths should be improved or that they lacked one or some of these strengths.<br \/>\nCourage<br \/>\nThe virtue of courage was defi ned as an emotional strength consisting of the will<br \/>\nto achieve goals regardless of inner or outer resistance. Putnam ( 1997 ) distinguishes<br \/>\nthree dimensions of courage: physical courage is characterised by overcoming<br \/>\na fear of death or physical harm. The goals to be achieved by the exercise<br \/>\nof physical courage are traditionally defi ned by society or by the requirements of<br \/>\nsurvival. Moral courage deals with loss of ethical integrity or authenticity and<br \/>\nsocial disapproval. For example, it refers to situations in which a person adheres<br \/>\nto his or her moral principles regardless of the group pressure of the people<br \/>\nsurrounding him or her. The third form of courage is psychological courage,<br \/>\nwhich refers to fear centering on a loss of psychological stability. In the classifi &#8211;<br \/>\ncation of virtues and strengths (Seligman et al . 2005 ) courage is analysed through<br \/>\nthe strength of authenticity, bravery, persistence and zest, which can all contain<br \/>\nelements of the aforementioned three dimensions as well.<br \/>\nThis virtue was evaluated as having secondary importance by the top workers,<br \/>\nand they did not see any shortcomings in the strengths listed within this virtue.<br \/>\nNurse of the Year and Priest of the Year thought that authenticity was their most<br \/>\nimportant strength, which is, indeed, especially crucial among professions that<br \/>\nentail working closely with other people.<br \/>\n\u2018So you certainly have to be genuine when dealing with people and at work<br \/>\nin general and I think that I try to express that I am what I am and what I<br \/>\ndo\u2026\u2019.<br \/>\nPersistence is an interesting strength when it comes to success at work. The previous<br \/>\nchapters have shown that, to some extent, success requires persistent and<br \/>\ndiligent work. Therefore, it could be assumed that persistence would score high<br \/>\namong top workers. Furthermore, the strength itself is not as straightforward as it<br \/>\nmight appear. For example, Lent et al . ( 1984 ) have shown that high self-effi cacy<br \/>\npositively affects persistence. Likewise, motivation and outer surroundings can<br \/>\ninfl uence how persistently people keep on doing something. But when regarded<br \/>\nas a personal strength, persistence appears more stable, a constant feature that one<br \/>\nmanifests in many areas of life. It is also a question of a certain kind of attitude,<br \/>\na mental map (Achor 2010 ), that leads people to strive and try over and over<br \/>\nagain or to approach any long-term goal step by step.<br \/>\n40 A successful worker<br \/>\nPersistence as a strength was emphasised by Police of the Year, Psychologist<br \/>\nof the Year and Priest of the Year and, according to the top workers, persistence<br \/>\nwas the third most important strength among them.<br \/>\n\u2018I can say that if I agree to take care of something, I\u2019ll have a great need to do<br \/>\nit; I rarely leave tasks unfi nished.\u2019<br \/>\nEvery top worker also considered himself or herself to be typically zesty;<br \/>\nhowever, bravery as a concept was diffi cult to grasp as many of them associated<br \/>\nit with romantic images of brave heroes. Nonetheless, defi ned as everyday bravery,<br \/>\nit seemed more familiar, and they described it as staying strong and sticking<br \/>\nto one\u2019s principles when accomplishing daily chores and making daily choices.<br \/>\nHumanity<br \/>\nThe third most important virtue among the top workers according to their assessments<br \/>\nwas humanity. Within this virtue, they also recognised their second most<br \/>\nimportant strength, namely, social intelligence. The concept of social intelligence<br \/>\ncan be perceived from various viewpoints. Salovey et al . ( 2004 ) sums up four of<br \/>\nthem: (1) perceiving emotions, (2) using emotions to facilitate thought, (3) understanding<br \/>\nemotions, and (4) managing emotions in a way that enhances personal<br \/>\ngrowth and social relations. If success at work was previously associated with<br \/>\nopportunist, cold-hearted mavericks, top workers in our studies proved the opposite.<br \/>\nArtisan of the Year, Priest of the Year, Police of the Year, and Nurse of the<br \/>\nYear all thought that social intelligence described them extremely well. Of<br \/>\ncourse, the later three are occupations for which social intelligence can be seen<br \/>\nas one of the basic requirements to perform well. One of the top workers paralleled<br \/>\nsocial intelligence with social skills, and he was of the opinion that his<br \/>\nsocial skills were not perfect but should be improved. One interesting remark<br \/>\nconcerning social intelligence was made by Artisan of the Year who pointed out<br \/>\nthat social relationships are important for success at work:<br \/>\n\u2018You don\u2019t create your success all by yourself; it\u2019s the others who create your<br \/>\nsuccess.\u2019<br \/>\nHowever, those employees who lacked social skills can also be rewarded, but<br \/>\nwhether it is more likely that social personalities are rewarded is a different question<br \/>\naltogether.<br \/>\nJustice<br \/>\nAmong the strengths (fairness, leadership, teamwork) that describe the virtue of<br \/>\njustice, the top workers named fairness as their most important feature, especially<br \/>\nFarmer of the Year, as he considered it as a component of good leadership. Treating<br \/>\nA successful worker 41<br \/>\nhis employees fairly was important for creating and sustaining a good working<br \/>\natmosphere and trust in the workplace. Leadership can be defi ned as a leader\u2019s<br \/>\npersonal characteristics or behaviour, style and decisions (Arnold et al . 1993). The<br \/>\ntop workers regarded leadership merely as a skill, instead of a strength, that one<br \/>\nshould have. Indeed, leadership can be seen as an innate characteristic \u2013 or<br \/>\nstrength \u2013 that can be cultivated and that can fl ourish along with one\u2019s development<br \/>\n(see, for example, Murphy and Johnson 2011 ). On the other hand, leadership<br \/>\ncan also be considered as a profession that can be taught and learned for the benefi t<br \/>\nof oneself and others (see, for example, Uusiautti 2013 ; Uusiautti et al. 2012).<br \/>\nOne of the top workers recognised the shortcomings in her leadership skills<br \/>\nwhereas another considered it as one of his most important strengths.<br \/>\n\u2018I want to be in the lead and take the group forward\u2026 Yet, I am not a dictator\u2026<br \/>\nbut I consider myself as a leader and a trend-setter in order to make<br \/>\ngood for other people as well.\u2019<br \/>\nTeamwork skills varied among top workers according to their assessments. Those<br \/>\nwho evaluated their social intelligence as good assessed their teamwork skills<br \/>\nsimilarly, whereas two of the top workers who held managerial positions saw some<br \/>\ndefi ciencies in their teamwork skills; one of them wanted to improve his skills.<br \/>\nTemperance<br \/>\nThis virtue was not deemed very important, but downright distant, because of its<br \/>\nconnection with modesty and prudence. The top workers found it somewhat diffi &#8211;<br \/>\ncult to assess how this virtue and its associated strengths (forgiveness, modesty,<br \/>\nprudence and self-regulation) would characterise them. However, after persistently<br \/>\ndefi ning them together during the interviews, the workers began to have an<br \/>\nidea of which strength typifi ed them and which did not.<br \/>\nNot surprisingly, the ability to forgive did depict all top workers to some<br \/>\nextent. They also emphasised that one has to be able to apologise as well.<br \/>\nAccording to the top workers, their forgiveness was tested by the social confl icts<br \/>\nin the workplace.<br \/>\n\u2018I am able to forgive and apologize\u2026 but it is hard if you are accused of<br \/>\nsomething that you have not done.\u2019<br \/>\nModesty as a strength was considered paradoxical; on one hand, modesty is a<br \/>\ndesirable trait, but one has to be able to be genuinely proud of one\u2019s achievements<br \/>\nwithout unnecessary or excessive modesty. Indeed, a study by Shimai et al .<br \/>\n( 2006 ) also showed that modesty had a strong negative correlation with happiness<br \/>\namong both Americans and Japanese, which means that having modesty as a<br \/>\nsignature strength was associated with less happiness. The contradictory nature<br \/>\nof this concept was also discussed in our studies. Although, traditionally, modesty<br \/>\n42 A successful worker<br \/>\nin people has been appreciated, the top workers were critical. For example, some<br \/>\nold proverbs were questioned:<br \/>\n\u2018\u201cModesty makes you prettier\u201d is not necessarily good for success at work<br \/>\nbut \u201cyou would foster your own achievements\u201d would be.\u2019<br \/>\nHowever, feeling proud assumes that one cannot be proud of something to which<br \/>\none has not contributed oneself (see also Varila and Ikonen-Varila 2002 ). Two of<br \/>\nthe top workers associated modesty with humbleness.<br \/>\n\u2018I would like to be humble but do I want to be\u2026 \u201cthe one who reaches high<br \/>\nends up low\u201d \u2013 this proverb has stumped us.\u2019<br \/>\nIn work life, unwritten emotional rules determine what emotions are approved<br \/>\nand how, to whom, and in which situation one is allowed to express them, and<br \/>\nhow emotions are interpreted.<br \/>\nHalf of the participants saw prudence as one of their strengths, and they<br \/>\nexplained it as their special skill in deliberating their actions and making justifi ed<br \/>\ndecisions at work. Therefore, prudence merely resembled a professional skill or<br \/>\na work-related strength rather than a personal attribute, unlike self-regulation,<br \/>\nwhich was seen as a strictly personal characteristic and as an aspect of temperament.<br \/>\nHalf of the top workers assessed that their self-regulation could be better.<br \/>\n\u2018Still, there are many dimensions that could be smoothened\u2026 my nature can<br \/>\nbe stretched to many directions.\u2019<br \/>\nTranscendence<br \/>\nTranscendence as a virtue was also considered paradoxical because they did not<br \/>\nagree with all the strengths (appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude,<br \/>\nhope, humour, religiousness) included in this virtue. For example, it was diffi cult<br \/>\nto imagine religiousness as a strength \u2013 except for the Priest of the Year.<br \/>\nHowever, the top workers did spend a signifi cant amount of time contemplating<br \/>\nhow appreciation of beauty and excellence was manifested in working life. They<br \/>\nexplained this virtue as the ability to recognise good performances and achievements<br \/>\ninstead of using one\u2019s energy on envying. This had to do with their positive<br \/>\nattitude and ability to understand achievements earned (Pajares 2001 ).<br \/>\nGratitude is an important human strength that contributes to subjective happiness<br \/>\n(McCullough et al . 2002 ; see also Otake et al . 2006 ). Gratitude was considered<br \/>\nas gratefulness for being able to have rewarding and pleasing work.<br \/>\n\u2018This lies deep in our culture; you cannot say when another does something<br \/>\ngood. We haven\u2019t had such a working culture either. I want to give feedback<br \/>\nif I see that someone is seriously doing something really great.\u2019<br \/>\nA successful worker 43<br \/>\nOne of the top workers saw hope as one of her most important strengths. Hope<br \/>\nwas seen as the foundation of an optimistic attitude.<br \/>\n\u2018So that you believe that you\u2019ll cope with this although there are diffi culties;<br \/>\nthat you\u2019ll just try again or some other route.\u2019<br \/>\nIndeed, hope and optimism are neighbouring concepts, but Finnish people<br \/>\n(Ojanen 2002 ), for example, are traditionally seen as optimistic rather than hopeful.<br \/>\nOjanen ( 2002 ) defi nes hope as realistic optimism which has trust at the<br \/>\ncenter.<br \/>\nThe top workers appreciated humour although some of them did not consider<br \/>\nthemselves very humorous. The ability to look at things from a distance and see<br \/>\nhumour in them was, however, considered important as humour helped to process<br \/>\nproblematic issues and handle tough situations. For example, the Police of the<br \/>\nYear emphasised the meaning of humour in police work as a connective factor<br \/>\namong police offi cers and when there is a need to confront the most diffi cult situations<br \/>\nat work. The Priest of the Year saw similarities in humour and religion:<br \/>\n\u2018They are at least cousins, if not downright siblings; both create hope in<br \/>\npeople.\u2019<br \/>\nIn addition, humorous people understand things widely and do not remain stuck<br \/>\non details; in his opinion, religion has the same dimension.<br \/>\nOther virtues and strengths<br \/>\nThe top workers also named some other strengths that were not included in the<br \/>\nCVS Model. Five of them highlighted the signifi cance of their own personality;<br \/>\nthey allowed their strong personalities to surface in their work. Many of them<br \/>\nassociated this with authenticity or being themselves. This was important for<br \/>\nNurse of the Year, Priest of the Year and Police of the Year. But those who<br \/>\nworked as supervisors also emphasised the signifi cance of acting in a genuine<br \/>\nway and bringing out one\u2019s personality. In this way, followers\u2019 trust can be<br \/>\nachieved.<br \/>\nAnother important characteristic that most of the top workers mentioned was<br \/>\ndiligence and dedication. They thought that success at work could be achieved<br \/>\nthrough industriousness. This was also a trait that was mentioned when they were<br \/>\nasked to identify one trait that they would like other workers in their work<br \/>\ncommunity to possess.<br \/>\nHalf of the top workers emphasised their positivity and joviality. Positivity<br \/>\nappeared as an optimistic attitude towards working. In addition, it was seen as<br \/>\nproviding resources to the entire work community. Indeed, optimism is one of the<br \/>\nmost salient concepts in positive psychology. It can be defi ned as a steady attitude<br \/>\nand view of life and the future (Pajares 2001 ).<br \/>\n44 A successful worker<br \/>\nOn the connection between virtues and strengths<br \/>\nand success and wellbeing at work<br \/>\nArnold et al . ( 1993 ) state that awareness of one\u2019s strengths and weaknesses as<br \/>\nwell as values and interests is of primary importance for enhancing one\u2019s career.<br \/>\nOptimism has a clear connection with success because, among other things, it<br \/>\ninvolves the ability to set reasonable goals, to achieve these goals, and to use<br \/>\neffi cient learning strategies. According to Carver and Scheier ( 2002 ), optimistic<br \/>\npeople achieve their goals because they organise their actions in an intellectual<br \/>\nway in order to achieve these goals. Furthermore, the top workers appeared to<br \/>\nhave proactive (Covey 2006 ), as opposed to reactive, attitudes. A proactive attitude<br \/>\nembodies a way of thinking according to which people are able to change<br \/>\ntheir behaviour, look at things from various perspectives, make choices by themselves,<br \/>\nand know what they want. Proactive people concentrate on things that<br \/>\nthey can affect and thus, their action is positive and more effi cient by nature.<br \/>\nThis kind of attitude can also be dissected with the use of the concept of resilience.<br \/>\nBeing able to move on, despite hardships, demonstrates the resilience of<br \/>\nthose successful individuals. Therefore, psychological resilience refers to effective<br \/>\ncoping and adaptation when faced with loss, hardship or adversity \u2013 a<br \/>\ncommon feature among the top workers.<br \/>\nThe strengths that the top workers recognised most in themselves \u2013 openmindedness,<br \/>\nsocial intelligence, persistence, optimism and authenticity \u2013 all<br \/>\nrelate to positive behaviour. If these features explain success at work, at<br \/>\nleast partly, wellbeing and happiness are most certainly not irrelevant to the<br \/>\nworkplace.<br \/>\nExperiencing success alone and together<br \/>\nThus far, we have talked about the process of success or the phenomenon of<br \/>\nsuccess. We have referred to the idea of success as a (developing) state. However,<br \/>\nthe phenomenon of success at work also includes various experiences of success.<br \/>\nSuccess is related to work and life in general and can be seen as a positive<br \/>\noutcome of working.<br \/>\nWhat is an experience of success and what kinds of successes do top workers<br \/>\nrecognise in their work? This question was also posed to the top workers. They<br \/>\nwere eventually able to describe their experiences of successful situations or<br \/>\nevents at work in numerous ways. However, some categorisations could be made.<br \/>\nThe most fundamental categorisation concerned whether the experience of success<br \/>\nwas achieved alone or in a group. These are thus divided into personal experiences<br \/>\nand communal, teamwork-based experiences. These two categories include various<br \/>\nelements that illustrate the origin or nature of the experience of success.<br \/>\nHere again, the model of human strengths and virtues was applied for analytical<br \/>\npurposes as it appeared that the two main categories could also be illustrated<br \/>\non the basis of personal strengths that are connected to the experience of success.<br \/>\nA successful worker 45<br \/>\nIn addition to individual strengths that can partly explain the origin of experiences<br \/>\nof success, and that also appear on Seligman\u2019s list, teamwork-based experiences<br \/>\nof success also seemed to necessitate human strengths that are social by<br \/>\nnature. The categories somewhat overlap, but their purpose is to highlight the<br \/>\nconnection between individual strengths and experiences of success both at the<br \/>\nindividual and communal levels.<br \/>\nPersonal experiences of success<br \/>\nPersistence, bravery and hope: experiencing<br \/>\n(concrete) accomplishments<br \/>\nThe list provided by Seligman et al . ( 2005 ) includes strengths that can be seen as<br \/>\nrelevant to accomplishing work-related tasks. Specifi cally, persistence as the ability<br \/>\nto fi nish what one starts; bravery as not shrinking from threat, challenge, diffi &#8211;<br \/>\nculty or pain; and hope as expecting the best and working to achieve it, appeared<br \/>\nin the participants\u2019 descriptions. Firstly, the experience of success results from<br \/>\nquite concrete accomplishments at work. On one hand, the top workers described<br \/>\ntheir experiences of success as hands-on experiences such as, for example,<br \/>\nperforming well in some concrete task (for example, compiling a manual for guidance<br \/>\nat work). On the other hand, these experiences could result from achieving a<br \/>\nmore high-level goal, sometimes through practical action. Furthermore, concrete<br \/>\nsuccesses may be born when some larger entity at work is directed in the right<br \/>\nway. These kinds of experiences were described in the interviews as follows:<br \/>\n\u2018So it is an orientation fi le. We began to compile this kind of bible\u2026. The<br \/>\noperation of our workplace is described in a very comprehensive manner, and<br \/>\nall the practices are printed in it. Our boss always remembers to mention it.<br \/>\nI think that our employees appreciate it as well. I think it is something that has<br \/>\nbeen very useful.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018I have thrown myself in new tasks. Supervisors have asked about my willingness,<br \/>\nand I guess that they have seen in all their wisdom that I am able and<br \/>\ncapable of taking on new tasks. There [in the participant\u2019s work unit], it went<br \/>\nlike that, and I think it was something like one year since I had started as the<br \/>\nsection leader when my boss asked whether I was willing to change over to<br \/>\nthe duty offi cer\u2019s task. My boss thought that I would be good at that, so I took<br \/>\nthe duty offi cer\u2019s post\u2026 And I can tell that I had an excellent group at that<br \/>\ntime; it was this so-called car offence group. Many really good fellows worked<br \/>\nin it and we really produced great results; the best of Finland at that time.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018We created a new training program for occupational health psychologists\u2026so<br \/>\nthat\u2019s my thing, you know\u2026 This task came to me at the end of the 1990s, and the<br \/>\nhead of department assigned me for it. And I have managed to create a team of it.\u2019<br \/>\n46 A successful worker<br \/>\nMoreover, the experience of success could result from such occasions in which<br \/>\nemployees were able to control or solve a situation at work. Therefore, accomplishment<br \/>\ncould be concrete but not always material in nature:<br \/>\n\u2018There are phases when everyone fl ounder. So, I might have given a speech<br \/>\nor address that solved that situation\u2026 When you hurl yourself into the situation<br \/>\nand manage to reach the goal.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018I have had the experience of \u201coh how good was it that I intervened the situation<br \/>\nand was able to handle it\u201d.\u2019<br \/>\nOne way of achieving the experience of success is to work systematically and<br \/>\npersistently. Therefore, daily practices and actions are not always that peculiar<br \/>\nbut the result may be:<br \/>\n\u2018Then there are sort of exceptional crimes that I was allowed to help [solve]\u2026<br \/>\nI headed it here in the district. We quizzed people; and every time we had a<br \/>\nsmall hint, we would start off, even at nights. And that is something immemorial<br \/>\nand so exceptional that we could solve things like that.\u2019<br \/>\nZest and love of learning: experiencing success through<br \/>\nthe joy of work and flow<br \/>\nSeligman et al . ( 2005 ) defi ne zest as the ability to approach life with excitement<br \/>\nand energy, and love of learning as a desire to master new skills, topics and<br \/>\nbodies of knowledge. These strengths surfaced in the top workers\u2019 interviews in<br \/>\nthe form of various positive emotional states toward their work. In this research,<br \/>\nthe top workers showed high levels of joy of work (Varila and Lehtosaari 2001 )<br \/>\nand fl ow (Csikszentmihalyi 2008 ) that resulted from putting their soul into work<br \/>\nor learning new skills. When viewed from this perspective, the experience of<br \/>\nsuccess can also entail these positive feelings. The top workers described their<br \/>\nmoments of joy and fl ow in the following way:<br \/>\n\u2018I am riveted by it and it is a blessing that you can be so wrapped up in your<br \/>\nwork so much.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018Maybe the best feedback is those numbers and successes; in other words, we<br \/>\nhave good results to show the things that I want.\u2019<br \/>\nCuriosity and open-mindedness: experiencing success and<br \/>\nexpertise through challenges and new opportunities at work<br \/>\nTop workers also emphasised the signifi cance of challenges and new development<br \/>\nopportunities in their work. Of the strengths categorised in the list by<br \/>\nSeligman et al . ( 2005 ), this attitude especially resembled curiosity as workers<br \/>\nA successful worker 47<br \/>\nwere open-minded, were actively interested in ongoing experience, thought<br \/>\nthings through, and examined them from all angles. The experience of success<br \/>\ncould often result from a situation in which the outcome was not always clearly<br \/>\nknown beforehand or if worker had to learn or study something new. These<br \/>\nevents were described as follows:<br \/>\n\u2018I always take up the gauntlet although a bit clueless\u2026 Huge challenges<br \/>\n[I have accepted]. And then if you can contribute in a developing manner\u2026\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018Then I considered criminal investigation challenging since I had worked [as<br \/>\na patrol offi cer] for two and half years, and I didn\u2019t know anything about<br \/>\ncriminal investigation. And I had so many questions on how I should handle<br \/>\nthis\u2026 So I thought I should put myself in criminal investigation for a couple<br \/>\nof years so that I could learn it. And then I went, and I did not regret it. Of<br \/>\ncourse, after a few months, I found working there quite awkward, but then it<br \/>\nstarted to run smoothly.\u2019<br \/>\nThe experience of success is certainly closely connected to the experience of expertise.<br \/>\nTop workers were extremely willing to educate themselves and gather knowledge<br \/>\neither from various areas of their occupation or gain increasingly profound<br \/>\nknowledge in their special fi eld. The experience of success may thus consist of the<br \/>\nself-effi cacy and perceived feelings of capability and competence (see also<br \/>\nBandura 1997 ; Carver and Scheier 2005 ; Judge et al . 1997; Paloste et al . 2011):<br \/>\n\u2018But then\u2026 as I qualifi ed as a leader and had that training, it gave me such<br \/>\nsources in a positive way, that I thought that someday I could go after that<br \/>\nkind of position.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018Oh yeah, I have taken all sorts of them [training sessions]. Of course, quite<br \/>\nquickly, I reached the level that no one could teach me anymore.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018And then, I have been developing quality work and pursued an auditing<br \/>\nqualifi cation, and then I was able to evaluate other units with my co-worker.\u2019<br \/>\nAt its best, work provides employees with opportunities to develop, fi nd meaning<br \/>\nin life and achieve social, emotional and mental wellbeing. Therefore, more attention<br \/>\nshould be paid on increasing employees\u2019 possibilities in workplaces (Snyder<br \/>\nand Lopez 2002 ) since the opportunities to achieve experiences of success could<br \/>\nalso increase.<br \/>\nCommunal, teamwork-based experiences of success<br \/>\nSeligman et al . ( 2005 ) allude to strengths that appeared especially important<br \/>\namong top workers when they discussed teamwork-based experiences. They<br \/>\ndefi ned teamwork as working well as a member of a group or team; social intelligence<br \/>\nas being aware of the motives and feelings of self and others; fairness as<br \/>\n48 A successful worker<br \/>\ntreating all people the same according to notions of fairness and justice; and<br \/>\nkindness as doing favours and good deeds for others. Although the experience of<br \/>\nsuccess is a personal positive emotion, it may spring up after or while of working<br \/>\ntogether with co-workers, clients or other people who are closely connected to the<br \/>\ntask at hand. When everyone in a team is excited and inspired by the task, developing<br \/>\nsuccessful outcomes may produce the most delightful experience of success<br \/>\n(see also Losada and Heaphy 2004 ), as described in the following utterances:<br \/>\n\u2018It is most fruitful when we all are excited about developing things.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018What is most important is that you see together that something works, that<br \/>\nthe orchestra works and plays, and that everyone even plays the same melody.\u2019<br \/>\nFurthermore, it is easier to carry out diffi cult work tasks when you are supported<br \/>\nby colleagues and share ideas with them. According to the participants, when you<br \/>\nhave a good network or work community, you can succeed better than before.<br \/>\nNaturally, however, one has to be willing to share and work for the team:<br \/>\n\u2018It is a problem when you have to do it [make decisions] alone. When you<br \/>\nthink of whether you are blind to something or whether you have forgotten<br \/>\nsomething crucial; it is a little bit harassing, but on the other hand, you\u2019ll fi nd<br \/>\nhelp from your network. I mean you can ask your colleagues.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018Quite a few people come to talk to me about things and have the courage to<br \/>\nsay if there is something wrong or what they cannot take up in the negotiations<br \/>\nby themselves. Many times I have been the channel through which the<br \/>\nissues are discussed and thought over and their anxieties are released\u2026 It\u2019s<br \/>\none of those experiences.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018But then I was called for this locum post, and it was something that I felt<br \/>\nthat I could work with real professionals, and somehow I worked well and<br \/>\nfelt supported and was in a really good team. The work was a regular nineto-<br \/>\nfi ve job, and it was a success even though I was a mother of a small child.\u2019<br \/>\nThe notion of the communal nature of the experience of success also highlights<br \/>\nthe fact that supportive and positive atmosphere at the workplace may be an<br \/>\nimportant contributor to the experiences of success. Boreham ( 2004 ) uses the<br \/>\nconcept of collective competence to refer to making collective sense of events in<br \/>\nthe workplace, developing and using a collective knowledge base, and developing<br \/>\na sense of interdependency. Indeed, a common feature of the new ways of<br \/>\norganising work is their emphasis on teamwork. Thus, the top workers\u2019 perceptions<br \/>\nof teamwork and the support received from co-workers are essential from<br \/>\nthis point of view. It is important to notice that the experience of success can also<br \/>\nbe communal by nature. However, it requires strengths of a social character (see<br \/>\nSeligman et al . 2005 ).<br \/>\nA successful worker 49<br \/>\nExperiencing work<br \/>\nThe experience of success is only one way of dissecting positive experiences at<br \/>\nwork. However, the top workers\u2019 experiences are also interesting because of their<br \/>\nconnection to overall success at work. In this research, the experiences of success<br \/>\nwere categorised in a data-driven manner, being aware that there are other ways<br \/>\nof categorising these experiences. For example, Lutgen-Sandvik et al . ( 2011 )<br \/>\nused a more detailed categorisation structure when they studied American workers\u2019<br \/>\nexperiences of success. However, some similar categories could be found in<br \/>\nthese two studies; for example, appreciation, challenge, success, opportunity,<br \/>\nrelationships, social support and teamwork, climate, supervisor\/mentor, resources<br \/>\nand triumphs were apparent in the participants\u2019 descriptions in both studies.<br \/>\nBased on the results, we constructed a model to illustrate the connection<br \/>\nbetween individual and communal factors to the possibility of experiencing<br \/>\nsuccess at work (see Figure 3.2 ). Figure 3.2 includes the dimensions of both individual\/<br \/>\ncommunal and positive\/negative. Next, we will introduce the four starting<br \/>\npoints for the experience of success at work in greater detail:<br \/>\n1 Firstly, there is the state in which both negative individual and communal<br \/>\nfactors are present. The employee is belittled not only by himself or herself<br \/>\nbut also by the work community. This situation is not likely to further the<br \/>\ndevelopment of positive emotions at work \u2013 neither at the individual nor at<br \/>\nthe communal level. Instead, it can be considered as hindering the emergence<br \/>\nof successes or other positive feelings.<br \/>\n2 Secondly, there is the possibility that the work community acts as a positive<br \/>\nfactor but the individual employee may still have low-esteem. Success as<br \/>\nwell as feelings of joy are diffi cult to achieve on the personal level as people<br \/>\nusually tend to feel genuinely happy about achievement if they feel entitled<br \/>\nto it (see, for example, Deci and Moller 2005 ).<br \/>\n3 The third part of the illustration describes a situation whereby the work community<br \/>\nacts as a negative factor, but the individual has a positive perception.<br \/>\nTherefore, the individual employee may have strong self-esteem, regardless<br \/>\nof the work community\u2019s disregard \u2013 although the employee\u2019s self-regard in<br \/>\nthis situation may be low (Baumeister 1993 ; see also Baumeister et al . 1996).<br \/>\n4 The fourth section presents the so-called ideal situation whereby both the<br \/>\nindividual and communal factors are positive. This kind of starting point<br \/>\nmight be the core factor for the emergence of positively-toned experiences<br \/>\nsuch as fl ow (see Csikszentmihalyi 2008 ) and joy of work (Varila and<br \/>\nLehtosaari 2001 ). Likewise, experiences of success, both alone and as a<br \/>\nteam, become more likely than in the other above-mentioned situations as it<br \/>\ncan, for its part, lead to maximal performances (see Avey et al . 2010 ; Kanfer<br \/>\nand Ackerman 2005 ). Furthermore, for example, intelligent thought and<br \/>\nsocial inclusion have also been seen to have a positive, direct relationship<br \/>\n(Baumeister et al . 2002 ). Our idea is that this kind of combination of positive<br \/>\nindividual and communal factors will also lead to wellbeing at work.<br \/>\n50 A successful worker<br \/>\nEmployees of the Year found their jobs pleasing. Furthermore, fi nding a balance<br \/>\nbetween an employee\u2019s skills and work-related expectations as well as opportunities<br \/>\nand challenges leads to better performance at work, contentment, higher motivation<br \/>\nand self-effi cacy (M\u00e4kikangas et al . 2005 ). As Myers and Diener ( 1995 : 11)<br \/>\npoint out, \u2018Positive wellbeing is not just the absence of negative emotions\u2019. Thus,<br \/>\nno one has only positive experiences or experiences of success \u2013 one would not<br \/>\neven know what these experiences are if one had not experienced the opposite.<br \/>\nEmployees of the year considered diffi culties as challenges and moments for<br \/>\nstocktaking. This behaviour resembles realistic optimism (see also Chapter 2).<br \/>\nSchneider ( 2001 ) illustrates this way of thinking felicitously. According to her<br \/>\ndefi nition of realistic optimism and its benefi cial consequences, the term \u2018problem\u2019<br \/>\n(with synonyms such as predicament, obstacle and diffi culty) implies that the<br \/>\ncurrent state is negative and that actions must be successful to establish a satisfactory<br \/>\nstate. When this problem is seen as a challenge, the current state is considered<br \/>\nacceptable, offering a potential opportunity for bringing about a benefi cial change.<br \/>\nIndeed, this framing can be quite powerful and explain the fundamental attitudes<br \/>\nenhancing the process of success. Thus, they were able to eventually turn these<br \/>\nsituations into experiences of success \u2013 although it did not necessarily happen in<br \/>\nan instant (see also Mitchell et al . 2004).<br \/>\nBravery was not the only strength among the participants. Employees of the<br \/>\nYear could tackle obstacles and strive forward in their careers and other workrelated<br \/>\nambitions. In addition, participants were passionate about working<br \/>\nPOSITIVE INDIVIDUAL<br \/>\nFACTORS<br \/>\nStrong self-esteem<br \/>\nregardless of the<br \/>\nwork community\u2019s<br \/>\ndisregard<br \/>\nFlow, joy of<br \/>\nwork<br \/>\nPOSITIVE<br \/>\nCOMMUNAL<br \/>\nFACTORS<br \/>\nNEGATIVE<br \/>\nCOMMUNAL<br \/>\nFACTORS<br \/>\nBelittled by the work<br \/>\ncommunity and<br \/>\noneself<br \/>\nLow self-esteem<br \/>\nregardless of the<br \/>\nwork community\u2019s<br \/>\nappreciation<br \/>\nNEGATIVE<br \/>\nINDIVIDUAL FACTORS<br \/>\nFigure 3.2 The connection of individual and communal factors with the perceived success<br \/>\nat work (Uusiautti and M\u00e4\u00e4tt\u00e4, 2013).<br \/>\nA successful worker 51<br \/>\nconsummately. Indeed, it has been discovered that high work engagement magnifi<br \/>\nes emotional responses concerning perceived success or failure (Britt 1999 ).<br \/>\nThe positive attitude that Employees of the Year had toward work and life in<br \/>\ngeneral was the common factor among them. Their experiences of success can be<br \/>\nseen as a salient factor in the perceived happiness at work. Of course, other<br \/>\nfeatures of work \u2013 professional profi ciency, life situation, work motivation and<br \/>\npersonality \u2013 are also important for the positive experience. However, all factors<br \/>\naffect each other to a certain extent. All special features together form the basis<br \/>\nand prerequisites for success and wellbeing at work. In order to gain positive<br \/>\nexperiences from one\u2019s work, an employee has to be (intrinsically) motivated to<br \/>\ndo this particular work and to accomplish the tasks and goals that are set. Brown<br \/>\nand Ryan (2003) suggest that mindfulness may also directly contribute to wellbeing<br \/>\nand happiness. They defi ne mindfulness as a pre-refl ective state, which<br \/>\nincludes both self-focused attention and, for instance, experience. Furthermore,<br \/>\nhappy people are seen to possess adequate resources for making progress toward<br \/>\nvalued goals (Diener et al . 1999 ). This is interesting especially from the point of<br \/>\nview of performing well and experiencing success at work because people who<br \/>\nhave a high perception of their self-effi cacy tend to devote more to their work and<br \/>\nare more persistent workers than those who make lower assessments of their<br \/>\nabilities (cf. the second part of the model in Figure 3.2) (see Bandura 1997 ;<br \/>\nMitchell 1997 ).<br \/>\nThe above-mentioned matters are important but, on their own, they are not<br \/>\nenough. The results encouraged us to also consider success from the perspective<br \/>\nof a work community. Therefore, the results of our study suggest that success is<br \/>\nnot only matter of a single employee; participants also highlighted the importance<br \/>\nof a good working atmosphere and a supportive and healthy work community.<br \/>\nQuick ( 1999 : 123) maintains that \u2018healthy work exists where people feel good,<br \/>\nachieve high performance, and have high levels of wellbeing\u2019 \u2013 in other words,<br \/>\nwhere people are happy. Could it be, then, that success could be enhanced by<br \/>\ncreating happy and functional work communities? It seems that feeling positive<br \/>\nemotions toward work produces not only a quantitative improvement by increasing<br \/>\neffi ciency but also a qualitative one by making a better product or outcome<br \/>\nthat results from the virtue of pride, belief and commitment to one\u2019s job (Wright,<br \/>\n2004 ). 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