Promoting the Emergence of Team Flow in Organizations

An important question in the field of team research is how teams can optimize their collaboration to maximize their performance. When team members who are collaborating towards a common purpose experience flow together, the team, as a performing unit, improves its performance and delivers individual happiness to its members. From a practical point of view, it is relevant to know how team flow experiences arise within professional organizations. The aim of this study is therefore to get more insight into the how the elements of team flow emerge. We conducted interviews with team members, business leaders, and team experts, and in addition a survey with team members. The results provide confirmation of the existing research on team dynamics, flow, group and team flow and indicate that a collective ambition, professional autonomy, and open communication must be deliberately and carefully cultivated to set the stage for the other team flow prerequisites and thence for team flow to emerge.

Revisiting Adult Playfulness and Relationship Satisfaction: APIM Analyses of Middle-Aged and Older Couples

There is robust support for the notion that playfulness is important for how people initiate and engage in their romantic relationships. Our study sought to extend the knowledge on associations between four facets of playfulness (Other-directed, Lighthearted, Intellectual, and Whimsical; OLIW) with facets of relationship satisfaction (RS) in 116 middle-to-older age couples (median = 54 and 57 years in women and men). In comparison to younger samples, we found lower expressions in Other-directed playfulness. Using Actor-Partner Interdependence Modelling, we found that (a) older couples showed comparatively higher similarity in the single OLIW facets and their profiles than previously found in younger couples; (b) similarity is again unrelated to RS; and (c) findings on playfulness-RS associations partially replicated, with Other-directed and Whimsical playfulness showing the numerically strongest actor and partner effects, but mainly in women. We discuss the differences in similarity with regard to an attrition effect. Overall, we conclude that playfulness is important in older couples in similar ways as in younger couples.

Correction to: Exploring the Relationship between Character Strengths and Meditation: a Cross-Sectional Study among Long-Term Practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation

An Correction to this paper has been published: 10.1007/s41042-021-00053-z

Can Person-Centred, Strength Based Programmes Impact on Parents’ Engagement in Education?

Parental responsibility is often the focus of research and policy surrounding closing the attainment gap between low-income students and their wealthier peers. This article describes a pilot intervention programme which aimed to enable better parental support of their children with their schoolwork and educational engagement. Through interviews with the parents and facilitators involved with the pilot, this article provides an example of how strength-based interventions can promote parental engagement in education in marginalised groups, such as families considered disadvantaged. The programme consisted of six one-to-one sessions with 25 parents. Semi-structured interviews with five parents and four facilitators revealed that parents reported increased self-efficacy and confidence in supporting their children’s education. Key features of the programme contributing to sustainable changes were the programmes person-centred approach and the use of strength-based strategies. The qualitative analysis provides only short-term accounts of behavioral change, but despite these shortcomings the results provide tentative evidence for the efficacy of a brief solution focused programme in supporting low-income parents’ engagement. More research is needed using larger sample sizes with longer data collection periods.

Exploring the Relationship Between Character Strengths and Meditation: a Cross-Sectional Study Among Long-Term Practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation

A growing body of research has associated the practice of meditation with the development of character strengths. Sahaja Yoga (SY) is a spiritual practice designed to help people develop a set of character strengths. The primary goal of the current work is to determine whether practitioners of SY meditation endorse signature strengths. Using the VIA Inventory of Strengths 120, we conducted a survey to measure the character strengths among 310 daily practitioners of SY meditation and compared them to a matched sample from the database of the VIA Institute on Character. Practitioners of SY meditation endorsed seven signature strengths, relative to non- meditators: spirituality, forgiveness, gratitude, self-regulation, teamwork, appreciation of beauty, and hope. Findings suggest that the practice of SY meditation may be related to a unique and broad set of character strengths. The findings pave the way for research identifying signature strength development in other group contexts.

Maintaining High Eudaimonic Wellbeing Despite Ambiguity Intolerance Among Three Employment Status Groups: Examining the Buffering Effects of Positive Psychological Attributes

The unemployed, as well as individuals in self and salaried employment, face several work-related risks and uncertainties which can result in diminished psychological wellbeing especially for individuals with high ambiguity intolerance. However, positive psychology literature suggests that individuals with strong psychological resources can be resilient in difficult circumstances. Using a sample of 922 individuals (including 240 unemployed, 391 salary-employed, and 291 self-employed) from Uganda and Kenya, we investigated the moderating effects of locus of control and psychological capital on the association between ambiguity intolerance and eudaimonic wellbeing, comparing the unemployed with individuals in salaried and self-employment. Our findings indicated that ambiguity intolerance and external locus of control are negatively associated with eudaimonic wellbeing. Conversely, internal locus of control and psychological capital were positively associated with eudaimonic wellbeing. The moderation analysis revealed that whereas an external locus of control boosts the negative effects of ambiguity intolerance on eudaimonic wellbeing, internal locus of control and psychological capital buffer against the negative effects of ambiguity intolerance on eudaimonic wellbeing. Differences between employment status groups and implications are discussed.