Abstract
The goal of the current research was to designing a model of flourishing at work in Iranian Central plateau Iron Ore Mines Complex. data coding was done with MAXQDA software in the current research, with the data-based qualitative approach and conducting interviews with 18 experts and managers of this complex, in the form of purposeful sampling. The identified results from data coding to five main research questions led to the identification of 20 main categories that leadership style; motivational sources; job requirements; job resources; and factors related to employees were identified as causal factors of flourishing at work. Also, individual factors; and organizational factors were identified as intervening factors, and organization climate; and organizational culture as background factors. Organizational support; strategic planning; effective communications; training and development of employees; and punishment and encouragement system were identified as flourishing strategies in the workplace. Also work engagement; performance increase; innovative work behavior; organizational agility; organizational commitment; and reducing negative job consequences were identified as consequences of flourishing in the workplace. Therefore, in order to achieve success and sustainable competitive advantage, organizations need employees whose mental health and flourishing are high in the work environment; these flourishing employees are distinguished by positive emotions and comprehensive performance.
Introduction
With the development and popularity of positive psychology in recent years, subjective well-being has attracted the attention of many researchers. Since the emergence of positive psychology more than five decades ago, the literature on subjective well-being has developed rapidly. Psychologists and other social scientists have contributed to the definition and understanding of subjective well-being, which is now conceptualized as “an individual's cognitive and affective evaluations of his or her life” (Diener et al., 2002). In order to better understand the positive performance of people, in addition to the general evaluations of life, the role of work and work environment in the existence of a person should be considered. In this sense, it is necessary to pay attention to the concept of flourishing, especially in the context of work, and it is still a relatively new approach in positive organizational behavior (Cherkowski et al., 2023), and considering that employees spend a lot of time at their workplace; therefore, the health of the work environment is important and affects people's lives and prosperity in the work environment, and because human resources are one of the resources that cannot be imitated by competitors and are considered the main capital of the organization (Dehghanizadeh & Babaizadeh 2023; Akbari et al., 2023) and as one of the most important ways to maintain the sustainable competitive advantage of the organization (Dehghanizadeh & Faraji, 2023), it is necessary to pay attention to the concept of subjective well-being and their prosperity; and organizations that emphasize employee well-being help them thrive in their workplace.
Therefore, the issue of employee prosperity as a strategy for important long-term organizational actions is one of the key concerns of organizational behavior management and human resource management (Stelzner & Schutte, 2016), and organizational prosperity requires the participation and empathy of all members of an organization, and it requires interest in the job and the job satisfaction of the employees so as to try with 100% ability to provide the best performance to achieve the goal of organizational prosperity. It should be noted that organizational prosperity is not only limited to the creativity of employees, and various factors are involved in it; therefore, it is expected that the identification of factors affecting prosperity in the work environment and its consequences for future planning to be very important. Thus, in parallel with the great changes and the complex environment of today and the importance of prosperity in the work environment, important questions arise in the minds of business managers, including the managers of iron ore mines in the central plateau of Iran; and because the complex of iron ore mines of the Central Plateau of Iran carries out very wide activities and has invested in various projects and due to the multiplicity and geographical dispersion of the mines; for a better control and a comprehensive view of the performance of the subcategories and projects and to achieve success, it is necessary for the managers of this large complex to pay more attention to the prosperity in the work environment. Therefore, considering that no research has been done on prosperity in the work environment, this study seeks to design a prosperity model in the iron ore complex of the Central Plateau of Iran and thus seeks to answer the following questions.
- What are the casual factors responsible for prosperity in the work environment of iron ore mining complex in the central plateau of Iran?
- What are the underlying factors of prosperity in the work environment of iron ore mining complex of the central plateau of Iran?
- What are the intervening conditions of flourishing in the work environment of iron ore mining complex of the central plateau of Iran?
- What are the prosperity strategies in the working environment of iron ore mining complex of the central plateau of Iran?
- What are the consequences of flourishing in the working environment of iron ore mining complex in the central plateau of Iran?
Theoretical foundations of research
The concept of flourishing
Flourishing means feeling good and functioning productively, which is synonymous with higher and superior subjective well-being (Huppert & So, 2013; Bullen et al., 2023). Flourishing is a term from positive psychology that describes a good life experience and providing this experience benefits employees, as well as motivates employees to strengthen important actions for success in themselves (Stelzner & Schutte, 2016). Seligman (2012) introduced positive emotions; meaning; belonging and attraction; achievement and success; and positive relationships as elements of prosperity. The element of positive emotions of prosperity shows a person's general tendency towards feeling happy and satisfied. The element of meaning in prosperity refers to a purposeful task that is important. The element of belonging and attraction of flourishing explains attraction, interest and involvement of a person in work. The achievement and success element of flourishing describes the feelings of success, and the element of positive relations of prosperity explains the feeling of support, value and satisfaction from others at work (Afzal et al., 2020).
The concept of flourishing in the workplace
The proper feeling and performance of people in the work environment, which originates from the provision of conditions to show their full working capacity, in other words, the positive consequences of subjective well-being related to work are considered to be flourishing in the work environment. Flourishing in the workplace refers to the state of well-being required by an employee, which is achieved through positive experiences and efficient management of job-related factors (Rautenbach, 2015). In other words, flourishing in work can be described as good performance; a sense of wholeness; involve with; communication and liveliness in the workplace (Cherkowski et al., 2018a; Peethambaran et al., 2023).
Methodology
According to the topic and nature of this research based on the design of the prosperity model in the iron ore complex of the Central Plateau of Iran, the approach of qualitative data-based research was used. Therefore, in this research, by means of subject analysis method and by content analysis of the interviews, some categories extracted, and finally according to the extracted categories, a subject pattern was drawn and interpreted in the form of a model. In order to sample according to the importance of the research subject, a range of experts and key informants to the issues of the organization and prosperity in the organization, including managers, engineers and high-level experts of the iron ore mining complex of the Central Plateau of Iran, were purposefully selected (18 people) and semi-structured interviews was carried out with them, and after data collection, data coding was done using thematic analysis method in Max Kyuda (2020) software.
Research findings
The identified results from coding the data into five main research questions led to the identification of 20 main categories, which are leadership style, motivational sources, job requirements, job resources; and the factors related to employees were identified as causal factors of prosperity in the workplace. Also, individual factors and organizational factors were identified as intervening factors and organizational atmosphere; and organizational culture as contextual factors. Organizational support, strategic planning, effective communications, training and development of employees, and the system of punishment and encouragement were identified as flourishing strategies in the workplace. Also belonging to work, increase performance, innovative work behavior, organizational agility, organizational commitment, and reduction of negative job outcomes were identified as outcomes of flourishing in the workplace.
Conclusion
In order to achieve success and sustainable competitive advantage in today's dynamic and complex environment, organizations need employees whose mental health and prosperity are high in the work environment; thriving employees experience high levels of mental health, characterized by positive emotions and productive overall performance (Kleynhans, 2022). Organizational prosperity requires the participation and empathy of all members of an organization, and it requires interest in the job and job satisfaction of the employees, who strive with 100% ability to provide the best performance to achieve the goal of organizational prosperity. Therefore, considering the importance of flourishing in the work environment, the present research sought to design a flourishing model in the iron ore complex of the central plateau of Iran. The results of the research showed that at the first step, infrastructures must be prepared for an organization in order to provide flourishing conditions in the work environment, and considering the significant and key consequences and benefits of employee flourishing in the work environment, it is suggested that the leaders and managers of iron ore complex of the central plateau of Iran pay special attention to prosperity in the work environment and provide conditions to increase the prosperity of employees in the work environment, which has many benefits for the organization.