Workplace Emotions

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Why Were Emotions Excluded from OB Study?

 Myth of rationality –
emotions were the
antithesis of rationality and
should not be seen in the
workplace
 Belief that emotions of any
kind are disruptive in the
workplace

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Emotions Defined
 Psychological, behavioral, and
physiological episodes
experienced toward an object,
person, or event that create a
state of readiness.
 Most emotions occur without our
awareness
 Moods – lower intensity emotions
without any specific target source

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Affect, Emotions, and Moods

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Types of Emotions

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The Structure of a Mood

• Classifying Moods: Positive and Negative Affect

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The Functions of Emotions

 Emotions and Rationality

• Emotions are critical to rational
thought: they help in understanding
the world around us.
 Evolutionary Psychology
• Theory that emotions serve an
evolutionary purpose: helps in
survival of the gene pool
• The theory is not universally accepted

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 Sources of Emotions and Moods
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Personality
 Moods and emotions have a trait component: most people have built-in
tendencies to experience certain moods and emotions more frequently than
others do.
 People also experience the same emotions with different intensities.
Contrast Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger to Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. One is
easily moved to anger, while the other is relatively distant and
unemotional.
 Wenger and Gates probably differ in affect intensity, or how strongly they
experience their emotions.
 affect intensity, or how strongly they experience their emotions.
 Affectively intense people experience both positive and
negative emotions more deeply: when they’re sad, they’re
really sad, and when they’re happy, they’re really happy.
Sources of Emotions and Moods

Day of Week and Time of Day

• More positive interactions will likely occur mid-day and
later in the week

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More Sources

Weather
• No impact according to research
Stress
• Increased stress worsens moods
Social Activities
• Physical, informal, and epicurean activities increase
positive mood
Sleep
• Lack of sleep increases negative emotions and impairs
decision making

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Even More Sources

Exercise
• Mildly enhances positive mood
Age
• Older people experience negative emotions less
frequently
Gender
• Women show greater emotional expression, experience
emotions more intensely and display more frequent
expressions of emotions
• Could be due to socialization

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 Emotional Labor

An employee’s expression of
organizationally desired
emotions during interpersonal
transactions at work
 Emotional dissonance is
when an employee has to
project one emotion while
simultaneously feeling
another

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 Emotional Labor Defined

Effort, planning and control needed to express

organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal
transactions.
Emotional labor is higher when job requires:
• frequent and long duration display of emotions
• displaying a variety of emotions
• displaying more intense emotions

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Emotional Labor Across Cultures

 Displaying or hiding emotions varies across

cultures
• Minimal emotional expression and monotonic voice
in Korea, Japan, Austria
• Encourage emotional expression in Kuwait, Egypt,
Spain, Russia
• The Smile School in Japan

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Emotional Labor Challenges

 Difficult to display expected emotions

accurately, and to hide true emotions

 Emotional dissonance
• Conflict between true and required emotions
• Potentially stressful with surface acting
• Less stress through deep acting

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 Felt vs. Displayed Emotions

 Felt Emotions:
• the individual’s actual emotions

 Displayed Emotions:
• the learned emotions that the organization requires
workers to show and considers appropriate in a given
job
• Surface Acting is hiding one’s true emotions

• Deep Acting is trying to change one’s feelings based

on display rules

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Attitudes versus Emotions

Attitudes Emotions

Judgments about an Experiences related to an

attitude object attitude object

Based mainly on Based on innate and learned

rational logic responses to environment

Usually stable for days Usually experienced for

or longer seconds or less

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Attitudes: From Beliefs to Behavior

Perceived Environment
Cognitive Emotional
process process

Beliefs
Emotional
Episodes
Attitude Feelings

Behavioral
Intentions

Behavior
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Emotions, Attitudes, and Behavior

 How emotions influence attitudes:

1. Feelings are shaped by cumulative emotional
episodes (not just evaluation of beliefs)
2. We ‘listen in’ on our emotions when determining
our attitude toward something
 Potential conflict between cognitive and
emotional processes
 Emotions also directly affect behavior
• e.g. facial expression

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Generating Positive Emotions at Work

 The emotions-attitudes-
behavior model illustrates that
attitudes are shaped by
ongoing emotional experiences.

 Thus, successful companies

actively create more positive
than negative emotional
episodes.

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Emotional Intelligence Defined

Ability to perceive
and express emotion,
assimilate emotion in
thought, understand
and reason with
emotion, and regulate
emotion in oneself
and others

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Emotional intelligence

 “Is a type of social intelligence

that involves the ability to
monitor one's own and others'
emotions, to discriminate
among them, and to use the
information to guide one's
thinking and actions" (Mayer &
Salovey, 1993, p. 433)
 Subsumes inter-and
intrapersonal intelligences, and
involves abilities that may be
categorized into five domains
Five Domains of Ei

1. Self-Awareness: Observing yourself and recognizing a

feeling as it happens.
2. Managing Emotions: Handling feelings so that they are
appropriate; realizing what is behind a feeling; finding ways to
handle fears and anxieties, anger, and sadness
3. Motivating oneself: Channeling emotions in the service of a
goal; emotional self control; delaying gratification and stifling
impulses
4. Empathy: Sensitivity to others' feelings and concerns and
taking their perspective; appreciating the differences in how
people feel about things
5. Handling Relationships: Managing emotions in others;
social competence and social skills.
 Ei

 An umbrella term
 One must possess both traditional
intelligence (IQ) and emotional
intelligence (Ei)
 Ei fits well with the commonly held
notion that it takes more than just
brains to succeed in life
 One must also be able to develop
and maintain healthy
interpersonal relationships
EI defined
“The capacity for recognizing our own
feelings and those of others, for
motivating ourselves, for managing
emotions well in ourselves and in our
relationships.”

Daniel Goleman
Ei at Work

 Goleman argues that the

emotionally intelligent worker is
skilled in two key areas:
1. “Personal competence" - how we
manage ourselves, and
2. “Social competence " - how we
manage relationships
 Each broad area consists of a
number specific competencies,
Ei Competencies

Personal Competence Social Competence

Self Awareness Empathy (awareness of others

(of internal states, preferences, feelings, needs, and concerns)
resources, and intuitions)
Self Regulation Social Skills
(of internal states, impulses, and (adept at inducing desirable
resources) responses in others)
Motivation
(tendencies that facilitate
reaching goals)
2. Emotional Competencies
Aristotle’s Challenge

“Anyone can become angry … that is

easy. But to be angry with the right
person, to the right degree, at the right
time, for the right purpose, and the right
way … this is not easy.”
Emotional Competence Inventory (ECI)
Model
Self Others
Awareness Self- Social
Awareness Awareness
Actions

Self- Relationship
Management Management

Positive
impact
Is Self-Awareness really at the heart of
the model?

Low 17% chance

Self- Social
Awareness Awareness
ECI research has found
that if people lack Self-
Awareness, their
chances of having Self-
4% chance Management and Social
Self-
Management
Awareness are much
reduced
The Competency Framework

Self- Social
Awareness Awareness
• Emotional • Empathy
Self-Awareness • Organisational
• Accurate Awareness
Self-Assessment • Service Orientation
• Self-Confidence

Self- Relationship
Management Management
• Emotional Self-Control • Developing Others
• Transparency • Inspirational
• Adaptability Leadership
• Achievement • Change Catalyst
Orientation • Influence
• Initiative • Conflict Management
• Optimism • Teamwork &
Collaboration
 PERSONAL COMPETENCE

Self- Self-
Awareness Management

EI
Competencies

Social- Relationship
Awareness Management

SOCIAL COMPETENCE
I. Self-Awareness

The Core of Emotional Intelligence

 Emotional Self-Awareness: recognizing how our
emotions affect our performance
 Accurate Self-Assessment: knowing one’s inner
resources, abilities & limits
 Self-Confidence: a strong sense of one’s self-worth
& capabilities
II. Self-Management
Self-Regulation
 Emotional Self-Control: keeping disruptive emotions &
impulses in check
 Transparency: maintaining integrity, acting congruently with
one’s values
 Adaptability: flexibility in handling change:

Motivation
 Achievement : striving to improve or meeting a standards of
excellence
 Initiative: readiness to act on opportunities
 Optimism: Persistence in pursuing goals despite obstacles &
setbacks
III. Social-Awareness

 Empathy: sensing others’ feelings & perspectives & taking an

active interest in their concerns
 Organizational Awareness: reading a group’s emotional
currents & power relationships
 Service Orientation: anticipating, recognizing & meeting
customers’ or clients’ needs
IV. Relationship Management

Leading Others
 Developing others: sensing others’ development needs &
bolstering their abilities
 Inspirational Leadership: inspiring & guiding individuals &
groups
 Change Catalyst: initiating or managing change
Working with Others
 Influence: having impact on others
 Conflict Management: negotiating & resolving conflict
 Teamwork & Collaboration: working with others towards a
shared goal. Creating groups synergy in pursuing collective
goals
There Are Many Ways to Success

• One size does not fit all

• One competency may compensate for another
• Certain combinations of competencies may
contribute to outstanding performance
• Some competencies are more critical than
others
Which competencies are essential?
These competencies are essential because they
cannot be compensated for by any other
competencies.

n Self- Social Awareness:

n Empathy
Awareness:
n All competencies
Relationship Management:
n Influence
n Self-
Management:
n Emotional Self-
Control
Which competencies are also
important?
Self-Management:
n One of: Transparency or Adaptability
n One of: Achievement Orientation, Initiative, or Optimism

Social Awareness:
n One of: Organisational Awareness or Service Orientation

Relationship Management:
n One of: Developing Others, Inspirational Leadership or Change
Catalyst
n One of: Conflict Management or Teamwork & Collaboration
Model of Emotional Intelligence

Highest Relationship
Managing other people’s emotions
Management

Perceiving and understanding the

Social Awareness meaning of others’ emotions

Self-management Managing our own emotions

perceiving and understanding the

Self-awareness meaning of your own emotions
Lowest

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Emotional Intelligence Competencies
Self Other
(personal competence) (social competence)

Recognition
of emotions Self-awareness Social awareness

Regulation Relationship
of emotions Self-management
management

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Improving Emotional Intelligence

 Emotional intelligence is a set of

competencies (aptitudes, skills)
 Can be learned, especially through coaching
 EI increases with age -- maturity

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