ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the application of positive psychology to human resource development. As the majority of the positive psychology literature is overwhelmingly “positive”, our analysis seeks to provide an alternative reading of this relatively new phenomenon by exposing its limitations and potential dark side. By invoking the work of Michel Foucault we argue that positive psychology functions as a “technology of the self”; that is, it uses human science expertise to develop, enforce and normalise positive forms of self-regulation, in particular self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resilience. The danger of this positive approach is its focus on the development of employees’ internal mental states while ignoring the sociocultural context and power dynamics that function in organisations in line with management prerogatives, which has the potential to undermine employee autonomy, health and well-being. To counter these limitations, we argue that positive psychology when applied to human resource development needs to take a much more reflexive approach. In particular there needs to be a much greater awareness of positive psychology’s historical and philosophical antecedents, such as humanistic psychology and the corporate culture movement, so as to question its basic assumptions and the way in which coercive institutional practices may be embedded in its application.
