Organizations tend toward pessimism because people respond more strongly to shame, insult, and embarrassment (of themselves and others) than to victory, pride, altruism, and shared glory.
My understanding is the exact opposite [1]. At least that what we were often taught in our teacher prep classes. I know that other research indicates that people are more loss averse than gain seeking [2], but I'm not sure that indicates that a pessimistic environment is actually productive in the long-run. I think that may be your point though, in your second paragraph.
He is saying that more people on average will respond more directly and immediately to punishment than reinforcement.
The context is that organizations' behavior influence via punishment is a short-term tactic: in the long run, we would like to believe that reinforcement poses a net gain. However cultural influence results in short-term behavior control tactics from organizations prevailing, and little heed paid to the tradeoff.
One might also argue that it is cheaper in the short term to punish than to reward, and this further perpetuates the downward cycle as a staple of organization culture.
It depends heavily on the individual person. People who have a negative unconscious self-image respond more strongly to shame, insult, and embarrassment, because it confirms their self-image and resonates with how they see the world. Every time something negative happens, it confirms their worldview and pushes them further into cynicism.
People who have a positive self-image respond more strongly to victory, pride, and altruism, because it resonates with how they see the world. If someone tries to shame or insult them, they remove themselves from that person's presence, or shrug off the insult by recognizing that other person as trying to discharge his own emotional hurt on other people.
The interesting thing is that both worldviews are self-reinforcing. The latter kind of people typically refuse to work with the first, because why would you put yourself in a position where you're listening to someone who only understands shame, insult, and embarrassment? As a result, positive people tend to work only with other positive people, and negative people tend to work with only other negative people (this usually manifests itself as scheming and backbiting, as few folks have the courage and social-ineptness to be negative to one's face). Their worlds and experiences become congruent with their worldviews, which just confirms the worldviews in the first place. That's why psychologists often say that negative fears often cause themselves to come true: they make you act in a way that pushes away positive experiences and attunes you to negative ones.
It is possible to shift between worldviews, but this is often psychologically traumatic for the person involved and involves some sense of crisis. Going from negative to positive, the catalyst is often psychotherapy, a strong mentor, or having a core value (like a child's well-being) threatened. Going from positive to negative, the catalyst is often economic, being trapped with a bad boss or in a bad relationship because you lack the means to leave. Teachers and parents are taught to focus on positive emotions because they effectively are the ones to start the cycle off, and children are trapped in their care. It's not really that children innately respond better to one or another, it's that the way you treat them primes them for what sort of reinforcement they will accept later on in life, and so if you want children who naturally respond to and offer positive reinforcement, you should model that early on.
My understanding is the exact opposite [1]. At least that what we were often taught in our teacher prep classes. I know that other research indicates that people are more loss averse than gain seeking [2], but I'm not sure that indicates that a pessimistic environment is actually productive in the long-run. I think that may be your point though, in your second paragraph.
[1] http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/family-affair/200809/rew... (applying to children)
[2] http://www.inc.com/magazine/201304/issie-lapowsky/get-more-d...