Talk about a challenge. Students who signed up for a program on positive organizational scholarship couldn’t have had a more difficult year to experience the corporate environment–let alone find a positive one–and seek to influence change in the midst of a pandemic.
But true to course ideals, students enrolled in the Ross School Magnify Immersion program found ways to make the best of the necessary Zoom culture, and employ digital tools that would make the most of virtual environments, as they interacted with the corporate world.
“It was kind of a rough start doing it virtually but the instructors and the teaching team worked really hard to make sure it was still an immersive experience from the get-go,” said senior Nic Ragon. “They made sure we were all interacting in the zoom call even when we were just being lectured at. It ended up being a blast with it all on zoom. It was still absolutely worth my time.”
The spring semester course titled The Science of Thriving at Work (and Beyond), uses a social science lens to understand not only individual thriving but also how to create contexts that support the simultaneous creation of human well-being and excellent performance for an organization. The program consists of two parts: learning what makes a positive work environment–based on the latest and best science and research–and applying what was learned to help organizations change.
“It was a lot of learning about how positivity and thriving in the individual, group, and organization sense can make businesses run more efficiently and make people’s work-life balance much better if they have a positive workspace,” Ragon said.
During the first part of the course students are taught the positive principles needed for a business to run smoothly. There were learning themes designated for each week focused on principles that lead to a more positive organization.
For example, students discovered that small routines, such as asking people what they were grateful for that day, make large differences in the environment of a workplace. They would then turn around and practice these strategies with their cohort members.
“Through learning about these small practices and actually using them with other people, we understood the value and power of these routines to create a more positive workplace,” said senior Angie Chen.
Students learned that when generating a positive work environment it is important to consider employees’ feelings, beliefs and values. This can translate into fewer accidents and more productivity and efficiency.
About five weeks into the course students were asked to apply the positive principles they learned to a real business. Groups of six were assigned an organizational partner that wanted a consulting experience from the students.
Some students worked with well-known companies such as General Motors and Cisco, while others chose smaller businesses, including Ragon who worked with HR Collaborative, a consulting group from Grand Rapids, MI.
“It was a customizable class experience because you could choose between working with a large or smaller business,” Ragon said. “It was a really interesting mix of learning these new principles and then having to turn around and teach these principles to experienced business people who are just looking for our opinion as students.”
Chen and her team worked with organization One Magnify, a marketing consulting company.
“My group created a fictional fantasy story and connected it back to their company to suggest how they can improve,” Chen said.
They spent four weeks analyzing and conducting field research to find out what One Magnify excels at and where positive principles could benefit the business. Analysis was done about the business structure, including how leaders handle employees, overall operations, customer base, and how the business has evolved over the past few years. The team’s findings were presented in a presentation at the end of the course.
The inability to meet in person created a few challenges, but the students persevered.
“There is a certain level of trust you need to have with your group especially when discussing the principles that are not widely accepted in business,” Ragon said. “That level of trust is really important, so with a virtual environment, it took longer for everyone to be comfortable with talking about their experiences and talking about these practices that were not necessarily socially always talked about. By the end of the course we certainly reached it.”
Even finding a time to meet presented lessons about being positive.
“My teammates and I learned the importance of being compassionate and understanding about people’s personal lives and schedules,” Chen said. “This led us to having a really great final deliverable because we were able to compromise. I definitely want to bring this skill to future teams I work with.”
The course emphasizes the holistic view of business and promotes the immersive experience in the process.
“I learned that the best businesses are open to change,” Ragon said. “It’s about bringing thriving into an organization without it being super convoluted of a business goal or focusing only on money.”
