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Positive institutions are defined as institutions that foster better citizenship through responsibility, nurturance, altruism, civility, moderation, tolerance and work ethic. Along with positive subjective experiences and positive individual traits, positive institutions is one of three primary areas of interest under the domain of positive psychology. Positive organizational behavior and positive organizational scholarship are the two main research streams in the study of positive institutions. Positive organizational behaviour focuses on positive human strengths and capacities that are measurable and can be developed for improving workplace performance. It is primarily concerned with how individual factors contribute to people flourishing within organizations. Positive organizational scholarship focuses on positivity, flourishing, and 'that which is life-giving' in organizations. It is primarily concerned with dynamics that help organizations to thrive. Both streams operate under the assumption that applying concepts from positive psychology to organizations can lead to flourishing for the organization as a whole and for the individual members within. One means to accomplish this is through positive interventions at the institutional level.

Background
Positive institutions were introduced and encouraged as a research subject in psychology by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 2000, along with the introduction of the positive psychology domain. They encouraged psychologists working at the community and institutional level to research and develop environments that foster character strengths and virtues, with the goals of improving these systems and the well-being of individuals within them. They also asserted that people exist within a social context, and that in order to accomplish this, behaviour must be studied in ecologically valid social settings.

Application
In positive psychology an intervention is a method to cultivate valued subjective experiences, build positive individual traits, or increase well-being and civic virtue in institutions. In the development of positive institutions this includes interventions that identify, develop, and broaden valued characteristics in organizations.

Workplace Interventions
Given that working with one's strengths is fulfilling, engaging and promotes a sense of personal authenticity, workplace interventions are of interest to both organizational and positive psychologists.

Appreciative inquiry uses collections of organizational successes, positive idea development, strengths and action plans to promote flourishing in organizations. It is a process to identify animating forces and core strengths in an organization and to use them to increase motivation, spirit, and cooperation among individuals. This creates a positive and appreciative climate in the organization. Appreciative inquiry has been shown to promote greater task involvement and creativity in male employees, but lower task creativity in female employees. At the group level, it has been shown to increase group identification and group potency.

Promoting resilience has a positive effect on social, cognitive, psychological and physiological resources. The Promoting Adult Resilience Program is a strengths-based intervention integrating aspects of interpersonal and cognitive-behavioural therapy approaches. The program has been shown to have a positive influence on work-life fit, and increase work-life balance. One study also suggests that it reduces the negative spillover that can occur between work and family.

Other interventions that have been studied at the institutional level include solution-focused coaching, the Resilience Online program, psychological capital interventions, meditations, personal effectiveness training, gratitude interventions and leader positivity training.

The most consistent finding is that positive interventions in the workplace have a positive effect on individual well-being through increasing one or more of: happiness, good mood, positive emotions, vigour, self-view, hope, optimism, self-efficacy and resilience. Performance increases have been shown in both self-rated and supervisor-rated performance reviews. This is relevant to well-being since the link between well-being and performance has been strongly established. Promoting leadership positivity results in employee positivity, and has been shown to increase the quantity and quality of solutions employees generate when problem-solving. There is evidence that some interventions are effective at decreasing negative emotions, but many institutional interventions do not have this effect. There is no strong evidence that positive institutional interventions have an effect on gross margin, volume of products sold by sales managers, and delivery rate of primary care services.

Background
The term “Positive Institutions” has historical references dating back as early as 1846 (Alexander Campbell’s essay “ An Essay on the remission of sin”,page 61 and 62 – circa 1846) its origin appears to have Christian ancestry  in  theological application or study. John Mark Hicks, author of “Stone-Campbell Sacramental Theology“ discussion paper, opens with a reference to Alexander Campbell’s (founder of Bethany College in West Virginia) use  of the term “positive institutions” and refers the “three positive sacramental ordinances of Baptism, The Lord’s Supper and the Lords Day as the positive institutions of the Christian system.” In another search, an 1884 publication “The Year Book of the Congressional Christian Churches of the United States” on page 64 – it lists Positive Institutions as a Third Year Studies course or class.

In contrast, modern day positive psychology pioneer such as Martin Seligman uses the term positive institutions to conceptualize one of three areas of study in positive psychology, However, his “institutions” are not embedded in Christian beliefs but rather defines positive institutions as one of three focuses in the positive psychology movement, which may or may not use spirituality as a framework for achieving institutional change. Because the area of study is new, components of positive institutions could reach beyond what is currently the focus of the research such as social and/or cultural well-being, employee engagement and satisfaction, positive work environment, careers that use positive psychology, and positive communities. The exploration of factors that lead to or create positive institutions has commonality with the research generated from I-O (industrial-Organizational) Psychology. According to the Society of Industrial-Organizational Psychology website (https://www.siop.org/ ), Industrial-Organizational Psychology “is the scientific study of the workplace. Rigor and methods of psychology are applied to issues of critical relevance to business, including talent management, coaching, assessment, selection, training, organizational development, performance, and work-life balance.”

So, by definition alone (OXFORD), our workplaces, schools, churches, communities, and our beliefs are all institutions. Employing “positivity” or methods of positive psychology to those institutions, the context for a positive institution begins to form. We can begin by identifying the root causes of why our institutions could benefit from positive psychology research. In the workplace, high employee turn-over rates might begin the inquiry while in a school setting such as university the exodus of students or a low enrolment might be the catalyst to looking for change.

Recent Research
Much of the research on the application of positive psychology in institutions is fairly recent; according to the research by Donaldson and Ko (2010) there has only been 172 studies on positive institutions between 2000 and 2003. Gable and Haidt (2005) have also acknowledged the lack of research and advancement in the field. The research attempts to explain the link between positive institutions and the application of positive interventions to feelings of overall well-being and happiness. According to Seligman et.al in ''"Positive interventions can supplement traditional interventions that relieve suffering and may someday be the practical legacy of positive psychology". Some areas of research are Positive Workplaces, Positive Organizational Behaviour/Scholarships, Health Psychology and Positive Education.''

Shawn Achor, author and motivational speaker, has applied evidence-based research to drive his training programs that link happiness with success while other positive psychology researchers are gathering the evidence-based research to understand its validity, constructs and potential for personal and global benefits.

Measuring Positive Organizational Constructs
Listed below are the topics defined by Cameron and Spreitzer (2012) as the topics areas in positive organizational psychology: Each topic above has conceptual elements (constructs) or indicators that define the characteristics of each topic.
 * Positive Individual Attributes
 * Positive Emotions
 * Strengths and Virtues
 * Positive Human Resource Practices
 * Positive Organizational Practices
 * Positive Relationships
 * Leadership and Change

Positive Interventions
There are a wide array of positive interventions currently being employed in various institutions. For example, many workplaces are seeking advice and consultation for business solutions using positive psychology. Human resource departments spend time and money on investing in employee benefits outside of the traditional compensations (pay and health care) such as on-site childcare or emergency childcare, while other employers are offering flexible work hours, access to gym facilities, health and fitness classes as well as opportunities to connect with communities by offering paid days off work to volunteer.

Interventions that are implemented by the top-down model are acknowledging the need of organizations to provide coaching and training to their leaders to promote a positive environment. For example, sending gratitude or expressing appreciation in an email to employees or recognizing one's contribution to a project during a meeting has been reported to provide more job satisfaction.

Private practitioners in the field of psychology are using evidence based research to develop interventions that are catered to the uniqueness of each organization seeking business solutions. The association between the outcomes of interventions and the positive disposition of an individual (known as Psychological Capital or PsyCap ) is reported to have enduring benefits in attitudes, behaviour and performance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_psychological_capital). Petersen and Seligman suggests the use of character strengths for purposeful planning.

Outcome Measures
The outcome measures or "potential benefits" observed by many researches of positive organizational interventions are  summarized by Donaldson and Dollwet.

Website Sources
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Campbell_clergyman

2. https://www.siop.org/

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Donaldson

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Seligman

5. http://goodthinkinc.com/speaking/shawn-achor/

6. http://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2012/08/08/5-quick-ways-you-can-bring-positive-psychology-to-your-workplace-without-earning-a-degree/

7. http://positiveorgs.bus.umich.edu/articles/

8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_psychological_capital