MG4L4      Half Unit
Building Positive Workplaces: Fostering Wellbeing and Meaning at Work

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

Ever thought about bringing more positivity and meaning into your work life? Thinking of becoming a manager, an HR manager, or a colleague who could bring such positivity and meaning to the organization and contribute to a happier workplace? The course Building Positive Workplaces: Fostering Wellbeing and Meaning at Work will provide you with the skills and knowledge to do that. Framed around the field of Positive Organizational Scholarship—a research movement that emerged in 2003 to promote flourishing in the workplace—the course explores how individuals and leaders can contribute to creating healthier, more compassionate, and engaging work environments.

Topics include promoting employee wellbeing, fostering gratitude and compassion in the workplace, navigating critical life events in professional settings, building high-quality connections, exploring the meaning and purpose of work, and managing emotions and energy for better productivity.

The course blends theory and practice, inviting students to engage with cutting-edge research while applying insights through interactive and reflective learning activities. These include mini-workshops, group discussions, case studies, and critical reflective essays.

15 hours of seminars and 15 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

In its Ethics Code, LSE upholds a commitment to intellectual freedom. This means we will protect the freedom of expression of our students and staff and the right to engage in healthy debate in the classroom.

Critical evaluation

Proposal in Winter Term Week 5

The course relies on journal articles (for example, Academy of Management Journal, Organizational Science and in some cases Harvard Business Review). Students are invited to read two articles per a session. A complete reading list will be provided at the start of the course, but the examples of readings are listed below.

• Ashforth, B.E., Caza, B.B. and Meister, A., 2024. My place: How workers become identified with their workplaces and why it matters. Academy of Management Review, 49(2), pp.366-398.
• Berg, J.M., Grant, A.M. and Johnson, V., 2010. When callings are calling: Crafting work and leisure in pursuit of unanswered occupational callings. Organization science, 21(5), pp.973-994.
• Dobrow, S.R., Weisman, H., Heller, D. and Tosti-Kharas, J., 2023. Calling and the good life: A meta-analysis and theoretical extension. Administrative Science Quarterly, 68(2), pp.508-550.
• Dodson, S.J. and Heng, Y.T., 2022. Self‐compassion in organizations: A review and future research agenda. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 43(2), pp.168-196.
• Petriglieri, G. and Maitlis, S., 2019. When a colleague is grieving. Harvard business review, 97(4), pp.116-123.
• Pletneva, L., 2024. Turning work into a refuge: Job crafting as coping with personal, grief-inducing events. Academy of Management Journal, 67(4), pp.1055-1083.
• Schabram, K., Nielsen, J. and Thompson, J., 2023. The dynamics of work orientations: An updated typology and agenda for the study of jobs, careers, and callings. Academy of Management Annals, 17(2), pp.405-438.

In addition to the compulsory readings, the list of supplementary readings will be provided for students who want to get deeper into the topics. It will also include the books, for example:

• Achor, S., 2011. The happiness advantage: The seven principles of positive psychology that fuel success and performance at work. Random House.
• Chhajer R., 2024. Be Well: Micro-Interventions for a Meaningful Life. Notion Press.
• Frankl, V.E., 1984. Search for meaning. Milwaukee, WI, USA: Mount Mary College.
• Kross, E., 2021. Chatter: The voice in our head, why it matters, and how to harness it. Crown.
• Kross, E., 2025. Shift: How to Manage Your Emotions so They Don’t Manage You. Vermilion.
• Strecher, V.J., 2016. Life on purpose: How living for what matters most changes everything.

There is no required textbook. The following textbook is recommended for students who would like further reading:

• Cameron, K. and Dutton, J. eds., 2003. Positive organizational scholarship: Foundations of a new discipline. Berrett-Koehler Publisher

Essay (60%)

Project (40%) in Winter Term Week 10

This component of assessment includes an element of group work.