Center for Positive Organizations

What Center for Positive Organizations does

The Center for Positive Organizations (CPO) is a nonprofit academic research center established around 2004 within the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The Center is the leading global institutional home for Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS), a discipline focused on revealing and nurturing the highest levels of human potential in organizations. It was co-founded by Kim S. Cameron, Jane Dutton, and Robert E. Quinn — three scholars credited as founders of the POS field — and is currently led by Faculty Director Monica Worline alongside a small staff of approximately 11 employees.

The Center's core "product" is a portfolio of research-validated frameworks and tools designed for individual and organizational flourishing. These include four trademarked practitioner tools — the Reflected Best Self Exercise (RBSE), Positive Leadership The Game, the Task Enabling Exercise (TEE), and the Job Crafting Exercise — supplemented by partner offerings such as the Reciprocity Ring. Its learning programs span the Thriving Catalyst Endorsement (a 50-point credential for U-M students), the Thriving Accelerators workshop series (eight topics from compassion competence to sustainable human performance), undergraduate/graduate/PhD coursework, and executive education through Ross. Research output is distributed via white papers, books, teaching cases, the Kim Cameron Award, and a biennial POS Research Conference.

The Center does not operate as a commercial business. It is funded by the University of Michigan and accepts donations through the university's Leaders & Best giving platform, and its primary audiences — U-M students, academic scholars, and organizational leaders — consume most resources either free or as part of broader tuition/executive education bundles. The Center reaches practitioners and scholars globally through open-access website resources, a Community of Scholars network, Research Microcommunities, and active social and video channels, but revenue concentration and growth are governed by university budget cycles and donor sentiment rather than by enterprise sales.

Name

Center for Positive Organizations

Legal name

Center for Positive Organizations

Website

https://positiveorgs.bus.umich.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Center for Positive Organizations is a University of Michigan Ross School nonprofit research center advancing Positive Organizational Scholarship through trademarked practitioner tools, academic programs, and executive education for students, scholars, and organizational leaders worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Management Education / Organizational Research & Leadership Development

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (61131), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAHAAAF

Public Research Universities with Comprehensive Graduate & Professional Schools

Education/Higher Education (Colleges & Universities)/Public Research Universities

SECONDARYBPAGADAN

Education Policy, Research & Advocacy Organizations (Nonprofit)

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Education & Youth Development Nonprofits

SECONDARYEDABAMAG

Critical Thinking & Problem Solving

Education/Corporate Training & Professional Development/Soft Skills Development

Keywords

• Positive organizational scholarship
• Executive education
• Leadership development
• Organizational research
• Management education

Headquarters

HQ city

Ann Arbor

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. University of Michigan Funding: The Center is housed within the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and receives institutional funding from the university
2. Donations and Giving: The center accepts donations through the University's Leaders & Best giving platform to support its work in helping organizations thrive

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Center for Positive Organizations conducts research on positive organizational scholarship and translates that research into teaching, assessments, and executive education for managers and organizations. It produces and disseminates research, the Looking for the Good assessment tool, and runs courses, workshops, and conferences on flourishing workplaces. [Inferred — no source IDs were provided in the input]

Product overview

The Center for Positive Organizations is a research center at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, not a technology product company. It offers a portfolio of evidence-based organizational development tools including the Reflected Best Self Exercise, Positive Leadership The Game, Task Enabling Exercise, and Job Crafting Exercise, along with academic programs (Thriving Catalyst Endorsement, undergraduate, graduate, PhD, and executive education), workshop series (Thriving Accelerators), and partner products (Reciprocity Ring). These offerings are grounded in Positive Organizational Scholarship research and are designed to help individuals and organizations thrive.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Reflected Best Self Exercise: A tool that enables people to identify their unique strengths and talents by requesting positive feedback from significant people in their lives
• Positive Leadership The Game
• Task Enabling Exercise
• Job Crafting Exercise

Products and services

• Looking for the Good Assessment A free, video-based self-assessment tool that gives leaders and teams a personalized look at their behavior in support of a positive workplace; for managers, teams, and organizations seeking to apply Positive Organizational Scholarship.
• Executive Education Programs Multi-day executive education programs at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business covering positive leadership, organizational change, and flourishing workplaces; targeted at senior leaders and HR/learning & development teams.
• Customized Workshops and Conferences Customized workshops and conferences built on the Center's research base, delivered to organizations and learning communities on leadership, positive organizing, and culture change.
• Research and Teaching Resources Published research articles, teaching cases, and bookable speakers on Positive Organizational Scholarship; used by instructors, students, and practitioners.

Quantifiable outcome

• Organizations that invest in an infrastructure of thriving tend to have higher rates of retention
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Stanford Social Innovation ReviewminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Well-being Collective draws inspiration from Stanford Social Innovation Review's article on Collective Impact by Kania & Kramer (2011), adapting the framework for campus well-being initiatives

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• NeuroLeadership Institute: NeuroLeadership Institute applies neuroscience research to leadership and organizational effectiveness. It is an emerging peer in the research-to-practice space, intersecting with the Center's domain of evidence-based organizational flourishing.
• Great Place to Work: Great Place to Work is a research and certification organization that studies and ranks positive workplace cultures globally. It overlaps with the Center's POS themes (thriving organizations, trust, culture) while taking a more certification-driven commercial approach.
• VIA Institute on Character: VIA Institute is a nonprofit research and education organization focused on character strengths and positive psychology. It shares the positive-psychology intellectual heritage and research-driven tools business model with the Center.

Regional players

• Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management: Wharton's leadership center is housed within a top-tier business school and conducts research, executive education, and tool development for organizational leaders. It is a direct functional peer in the university-based leadership research center category.
• MIT Sloan School of Management (Leadership Research Centers): MIT Sloan hosts leadership and organizational research centers operating within a top-tier public business school. It is comparable in academic anchoring and research-driven programming though oriented to a different university ecosystem.

Broad incumbents

• Deloitte (Human Capital / Organization Transformation): Deloitte's Human Capital practice offers leadership development, organizational design, and culture transformation services to global enterprises. It competes for the same executive education and consulting engagements the Center pursues through Ross Executive Education.
• McKinsey & Company (Organizational Practice): McKinsey's Organizational Practice advises large enterprises on culture, leadership, and change management. It is a broad incumbent that competes for executive-education and consulting budgets serving the same organizational leaders the Center targets.
• Bain & Company (Organization Practice): Bain's Organization practice advises on culture, operating model, and change management for Fortune 500 firms. It is a broad incumbent competing for the same senior-leader audience the Center serves through executive education and consulting.

Direct peers

• Gallup: Gallup is a global analytics and advisory firm best known for employee engagement research, CliftonStrengths, and workplace well-being studies. It competes directly with the Center in the enterprise research and tools space serving organizational leaders.
• Center for Creative Leadership: CCL is a nonprofit research and education center focused on leadership development, with a comparable model of proprietary tools, executive education, and corporate research. It is the closest direct peer to the Center for Positive Organizations given its shared mission of evidence-based leadership and organizational effectiveness.

Market position

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/PositiveOrg
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCBJ7QnAzZ0yKE8VNVNZsaYw
• Facebookfacebook.com/PositiveOrg
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/center-for-positive-organizations

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Center for Positive Organizations