Towards Organizational Health: Stress, Positive Organizational Behavior, and Employee Well-Being

Health is an important resource at the individual, organizational, and societal level. Work can be satisfying and engaging, but it can also be stressful and lead to poor health outcomes. Decades of stress research have identified a range of workplace factors that are potentially harmful to health. This work has been valuable and influential in helping organizations take action to reduce stress and absenteeism. However, rather less research attention has been paid to providing a greater understanding of the factors that promote positive health and well-being. This chapter reviews the contribution of stress research to organizational health and articulates the need for future research to better understand the antecedents and consequences of positive mental health.