Book: Positive Psychology for Work: Decent Work, Capabilities and Mattering
Editors: Sebastiaan (Ian) Rothmann and Michelle Tytherleigh
Contributing authors: Prof. Sebastiaan Rothmann, Dr Michelle Tytherleigh, and Dr Neil B. Barnard
Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Series: The book forms part of Emerald's Positive Psychology in Practice series https://bookstore.emerald.com/positive-psychology-in-practice.
Positive psychology has done a lot for how we think about well-being, meaning and engagement at work. But much of it asks employees to change themselves, through strengths, mindsets, gratitude and resilience, and says less about the conditions they work under. This new book from Emerald Publishing challenges that emphasis.
Its central claim is that positive functioning at work depends as much on working conditions as on individual strengths. Urging an insecure, underpaid or unrecognised worker to be more resilient, the opening chapter argues, “places the burden of flourishing on those with the least power to change what constrains it.” The book builds its case on three foundations:
Decent work: conditions of dignity, safety, fair pay, security and voice.
Work capabilities: the real opportunities people have to use their skills, take part in decisions and do what they value, drawing on Amartya Sen’s capability approach.
Mattering: feeling valued and being able to add value.
The authors argue these three are interdependent. Secure and fair conditions widen opportunities, opportunities to contribute foster mattering, and recognition strengthens the agency needed to seek better conditions. The book also proposes “flourishing work”: work that protects workers’ rights and also expands their freedom to grow and contribute.
What is in the book
The book has eight chapters.
Decent Work, Capabilities, and Mattering: Setting the Stage (Prof. Sebastiaan Rothmann and Dr Michelle Tytherleigh). Introduces the three foundations and the integrative framework.
Decent Work as a Foundation for Positive Functioning at Work (Prof. Sebastiaan Rothmann and Dr Michelle Tytherleigh). Argues that decent work is more than the absence of exploitation: it supports basic psychological needs, a sense of control and meaningful work. It is necessary but not sufficient for flourishing.
Individual Experiences and Psychological Outcomes (Dr Michelle Tytherleigh and Prof. Sebastiaan Rothmann). Shows how well-being, motivation, identity and mental health emerge from the interaction between person and environment, and why individual-level interventions often fall short.
Work Capabilities: Valued Ways of Doing and Being at Work (Prof. Sebastiaan Rothmann). Draws on Sen and Nussbaum to explain capabilities as real opportunities, and examines four of them: judgement, skill development, work–life balance and participation.
Mattering at Work: Foundations, Evidence and Practice (Dr Neil B. Barnard). Treats mattering as being valued and adding value, and as a matter of social justice, using the Capability Model for Work.
Structural Conditions and Organisational Practices (Prof. Sebastiaan Rothmann). Examines how employment arrangements, job design, workload, rewards and leadership decide who can actually use what an organisation provides.
Measurement, Intervention, and Change (Prof. Sebastiaan Rothmann and Dr Michelle Tytherleigh). Moves from explanation to application: assessing the three pillars as a developmental tool, redesigning conditions, and involving employees in change.
Toward an Integrated Positive Psychology of Work (Prof. Sebastiaan Rothmann and Dr Michelle Tytherleigh). Brings the arguments together and sets out implications for research and organisational practice.
Why it matters
The argument is backed by evidence, and it is careful about what that evidence shows. The opening chapter cites a UK study of more than 46,000 employees that found little link between individual-level well-being programmes and better well-being. It also cites meta-analyses connecting decent work with well-being, and mattering with eudaimonic well-being. It admits that no study yet tests all three pillars together, so the framework rests on converging pairwise findings and is not presented as proven.
The book also draws on research from South Africa, Namibia and other settings often missing from positive psychology, which gives it a global perspective. Chapters include reflective activities, such as the opening “Two Companies, Same Job Title” exercise, so the book works as a teaching text.
A collaboration that began in 2004
Ian Rothmann and Michelle Tytherleigh first met in 2004. Over the years, they have published various articles together. Their networking has also included several visits by Michelle to South Africa and several visits by Ian to the UK. Michelle has also supported the development of researchers at the North-West University over the years.
Ian says: “It is a wonderful privilege to co-edit this book with Michelle. We also appreciate the chapter contributed by Dr Neil Barnard.”
Who should read it
The book is aimed at work and organisational psychologists, HR and well-being practitioners, researchers, and students. Anyone designing a workplace well-being programme will find it useful.
The question it leaves with the reader is the one that matters: not only how people can become more resilient or engaged, but how work can be organised so that they can flourish.
