Origins of POS
Most organizations/companies show declines in productivity, morale, and innovation after this major organizational event.
What is downsizing?
The authors argue research often focuses on problems and deficits more than on flourishing. So this topic has been studied less in organizations.
What is Virtuousness
The authors define positive deviance as intentional behaviors that depart from norms of a group in this way.
What is honorable way.
A teacher regularly stays late to help students because it is expected in the culture and widely seen as “what good teachers do here.”
What is organizational citizenship behavior? (pro-social, not norm-departing)
POS emerged from studying the minority of organizations that did this after downsizing.
What is improve or flourish.
Virtuousness is connected to internal moral rules that help create this in a community or workplace.
What is Social Harmony
A teacher intentionally breaks a department norm about grading in order to reduce bias and better support learning, and the intention is clearly honorable.
What is an example of positive deviance
A department designs a new project based on a creative idea, but it fits the department’s norms and does not challenge how things are usually done.
What is an example of being creative?
POS is described as an empirical and theoretically grounded field focused on positivity at this level, not just individual attitude.
What is organizational level
The authors argue virtuousness goes beyond ethics or social responsibility because it is about fostering moral good and human impact, and doing so without expecting this.
What is personal return?
This change approach starts by finding “bright spots” inside the school, uncovering the specific behaviors that already work under the same constraints, and spreading them through peer learning rather than importing an outside program.
What is a positive deviance approach?
A counselor reports a colleague for falsifying records. It may be ethically necessary, but the act is primarily about exposing wrongdoing.
What is an example of Whistleblowing?
In a flourishing organization, employees typically play to their ______ instead of their weaknesses.
According to Losada and Heaphy’s findings, when positive comments outnumber negative comments by about this ratio, team culture is said to shift in a transformational way.
what is 5:1
A staff member quietly ignores a policy to make their own job easier, even though it disadvantages students or colleagues.
What is an example of deviance?