Happiness in the workplace: an appreciative inquiry

Maximising employee wellbeing is a challenge for managers at any time. The current economic climate of austerity and the resulting financial constraints within the public sector increase this challenge. Promoting happiness in the workplace is potentially relevant to improving productivity, creativity and retention of staff. Previous research on happiness in the workplace has focused on job satisfaction and employee engagement however happiness in the workplace is an understudied area and offers an incomplete understanding of the phenomenon. The aim of this study was to develop, in collaboration with staff, a workplace which facilitates staff happiness at work. Concept analyses of happiness and happiness in the workplace were conducted in order to provide a conceptual framework for the study. Self-determination theory is proposed as a theoretical explanation for happiness in the workplace. Review of workplace happiness research highlighted an incomplete account of happiness in the workplace. The study was conducted in a School of Nursing in the university sector. An Appreciative Inquiry (AI) approach underpinned by a social constructionist philosophy was adopted. AI is an affirmative, collaborative, action focused and generative approach involving four stages of Discovery, Dream, Design and Destiny. All full time staff (n=80) of the School were invited to participate. A total of twenty three staff across roles and disciplines chose to participate in the study. Focus group and individual interviews were used to collect data during each of the stages. Template Analysis was used to inductively identify School strengths consistent with participants’ understandings of happiness in the workplace. Self-determination, Fulfilment and Community were found to be central to Being Happy in this workplace in the Discovery phase. On the basis of these shared meanings of happiness in the workplace, vision statements and an action plan were subsequently developed in the Dream and Design phases of the study. Actions developed by participants were then implemented and some are ongoing, as is the nature of action focused research. During this Destiny phase of the study an evaluation was conducted to identify change as a result of the process and to further identify participants’ experience of the AI process. In addition to observable outcomes in the workplace arising from the action plan, changed thinking and changed behaviour of participants, in line with achieving happiness in the workplace, were identified. Findings have implications for management practice and support the relevance of Self Determination Theory to the facilitation of happiness in the workplace. In addition findings indicat