Positive Psychology at Work:

Management Influence on Engagement and Productivity at Work

Much management activity is devoted, intentionally or not, to manipulating the context in such a way as to encourage employees to be productive. Managers work to control the contingencies that operate in a particular context in an attempt to influence behaviour. So they try to control what happens when a person achieves their targets, when they are late to work or when they spend too long talking rather than working. Contingencies are about the relationship in the environment between what is going on, what people do and what happens next. It is through experiencing contingencies that people learn about the world. So at a simple level, when I am thirsty after playing sport (what is going on), I turn the tap (what I do) and water flows for me to drink, which relieves my thirst (what happens next). If taps never produced water, I would soon give up turning them when I'm thirsty.

This basic relationship translates to work situations. If, after I have produced a report and am keen for appreciation of my effort (what's happening), I go to my boss (what I do) and the report is lying on the desk unread or it returns with nothing but corrections (what happens next), I shall soon learn not to look to my boss to get my need for appreciation met. These local workplace contingencies are highly important and influential. We know that people's decisions to stay in or leave jobs are based on their assessment of their job against four ...