Emotions and Moods in Organizational Behavior

Why Were Emotions Ignored in OB?

Emotions and moods are similar in that both are affective in nature. But they’re also different— moods are more general and less contextual than emotions. And events do matter. The time of day and day of the week, stressful events, social activities, and sleep patterns are some of the factors that influence emotions and moods.

Emotions and moods have proven relevant for virtually every OB topic we study. Increasingly, organizations are selecting employees they believe have high levels of emotional intelligence. Emotions and positive moods appear to facilitate effective decision making and creativity. Recent research suggests mood is linked to motivation, especially through feedback, and that leaders rely on emotions to increase their effectiveness. The display of emotions is important to negotiation and customer service, and the experience of emotions is closely linked to job attitudes and behaviors that follow from attitudes, such as deviant workplace behavior.

Can managers control colleagues’ and employees’ emotions and moods? Certainly there are limits, practical and ethical. Emotions and moods are a natural part of an individual’s makeup. Where managers err is in ignoring coworkers’ and employees’ emotions and assessing others’ behavior as if it were completely rational. As one consultant aptly put it, “You can’t divorce emotions from the workplace because you can’t divorce emotions from people.” Managers who understand the role of emotions and moods will significantly improve their ability to explain and predict their coworkers’ and employees’ behavior.

I. Why Were Emotions Ignored in OB?

A. The “Myth of Rationality”

B. Emotions were seen as irrational

C. Managers worked to make emotion-free environments

D. View of Emotionality

E. Emotions were believed to be disruptive

F. Emotions interfered with productivity

G. Only negative emotions were observed

H. Now we know emotions can’t be separated from the workplace

II. What Are Emotions And Moods?

A. Introduction (Exhibit 4–1)

1. Affect is a generic term that covers a broad range of feelings that people experience and encompasses both emotions and moods.

2. Emotions are intense feelings that are directed at someone or something. They are reactions, not a trait.

3. Moods are feelings that tend to be less intense than emotions and which lack a contextual stimulus. They are not directed at an object.

4. Emotions can turn into moods when you lose focus on the contextual object.

5. Shows the relationships among affect, emotions, and mood.

6. Affect is a broad term encompassing both emotions and moods.

The Basic Emotions

7. Differences exist between affects, emotions, and moods.

8. Emotions and moods can mutually influence each other.

B. The Basic Emotions

1. Numerous research efforts to limit and define the dozens of emotions into a basic set of emotions.

2. Differences exist among researchers in this area.

3. Contemporary research, psychologists have tried to identify basic emotions by studying facial expressions.

4. Cultural norms that govern emotional expression – how we experience an emotion isn’t always the same as how we show it.

5. There has been agreement on six essentially universal emotions (other emotions subsumed under one of the six categories).

6. Plot emotions along a continuum: Happiness—surprise—fear—sadness—anger— disgust

7. The closer any two emotions are, the more likely to be confused

C. The Basic Moods: Positive and Negative Affect

1. One way to classify emotions is by whether they are positive or negative.

a. Positive emotions—such as joy and gratitude—express a favorable evaluation or feeling.

b. Negative emotions—such as anger or guilt—express the opposite.

c. Keep in mind that emotions can’t be neutral. Being neutral is being nonemotional.

2. In Exhibit 4-2, excited is a pure marker of high positive affect, while boredom is a pure marker of low positive affect.

a. When we group emotions into positive and negative categories, they become mood states because we are now looking at them more generally instead of isolating one particular emotion.

b. We can think of positive affect as a mood dimension consisting of positive emotions such as excitement, self-assurance, and cheerfulness at the high end and boredom, sluggishness, and tiredness at the low end.

c. Negative affect is a mood dimension consisting of nervousness, stress, and anxiety at the high end and relaxation, tranquility, and poise at the low end.

d. Positive affect and negative affect play out at work and beyond in that they color our perceptions, and these perceptions can become their own reality.

e. Negative emotions are likely to translate into negative moods.

f. Research finds a positivity offset, meaning that at zero input (when nothing in particular is going on), most individuals experience a mildly positive mood.

D. The Function of Emotions

1. Observations of emotions suggest rationality and emotion are in conflict, and that if you exhibit emotion you are likely to act irrationally.

2. These perspectives suggest the demonstration or even experience of emotions can make us seem weak, brittle, or irrational.

The Basic Moods: Positive and Negative Affect

a. The example of Phineas Gage and many other brain injury studies show emotions are critical to rational thinking.

3. The key to good decision making is to employ both thinking and feeling in our decisions.

E. Sources of Emotions and Moods

1. Personality

a. Affect intensity—individual differences in the strength with which individuals

experience their emotions.

b. People differ in how predisposed they are to experience emotions intensely.

c. Positive events are more likely to affect the positive mood and positive emotions of extraverts.

d. Negative events are more likely to influence the negative mood and negative

emotions of those scoring low on emotional stability.

2. Day of the Week and Time of the Day

a. Exhibit 4–3 shows people tend to be in their worst moods early in the week and best moods late in the week.

b. People are generally in lower moods early in the morning. Exhibit 4–4 levels of positive affect tend to peak around the halfway point between waking and sleeping. Negative affect shows little fluctuation during the day.

3. Weather

a. Weather has little effect on mood.

b. Illusory correlation occurs when people associate two events but in reality there is no connection.

4. Stress

a. Stress can be cumulative and does affect mood and emotional states.

5. Social Activities

a. Social activities tend to increase positive mood.

b. People who are in positive moods seek out social activities.

c. Type of social activity matters; physical activities, informal, Epicurean are strongly associated with increases in positive mood.

d. Social interactions have long-term positive health benefits.

6. Sleep

a. Americans, on average, sleep less than 7 hours per weekday night.

b. Sleep quality affects mood.

7. Exercise

a. Enhances positive moods, but moderate effect.

8. Age

a. Negative emotions seem to occur less as people get older.

9. Gender

a. Women show greater emotional expression than men, experience emotions more intensely, and display more frequent expressions of both positive and negative emotions.

b. Women also report more comfort in expressing emotions.

c. Women are better at reading nonverbal cues than are men.

d. These differences may be explained several ways:

i. Women may have more innate ability to read others and present their emotions than do men.

ii. Women may have a greater need for social approval and thus a higher propensity to show positive emotions such as happiness.

III. Emotional Labor

A. Introduction

The Function of Emotions

1. Emotional labor is an employee’s expression of organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions at work.

2. Concept emerged from studies of service jobs.

3. Challenge for employees is to project one emotion while simultaneously feeling another (emotional dissonance).

4. Emotional labor creates dilemmas for employees.

B. Felt Versus Displayed Emotions

1. Separate emotions into felt and displayed.

2. Displayed emotions may require acting to keep employment. (Surface acting – hiding inner feelings by modifying facial expressions.)

3. Deep acting is the modification of inner feelings.

4. Positive correlation between a job’s cognitive demands and its emotional demands. (Exhibit 4–5)

5. Some jobs are demanding on both levels.

6. Some jobs are undemanding on both dimensions.

7. Emotional demands matter, but only when jobs already were cognitively demanding (lawyers, nurses).

IV. Affective Events Theory

A. Understanding emotions at work has been helped by a model called affective eventstheory (AET). (Exhibit 4-6)

1. Employees react emotionally to things that happen to them at work and this influences job performance and satisfaction.

2. Work events trigger positive or negative emotional reactions.

3. Events-reaction relationship is moderated by the employee’s personality and mood.

4. Person’s emotional response to a given event can change depending on his or her mood.

5. Emotions influence a number of performance and satisfaction variables such as OCB, organizational commitment, turnover, and level of effort.

B. Tests of the theory suggest:

1. An emotional episode is actually a series of emotional experiences, precipitated by a single event and containing elements of both emotions and mood cycles.

2. Current emotions influence job satisfaction at any given time, along with the history of emotions surrounding the event.

3. Because moods and emotions fluctuate over time, their effect on performance also fluctuates.

4. Emotion-driven behaviors are typically short in duration and of high variability.

5. Because emotions, even positive ones, tend to be incompatible with behaviors required to do a job, they typically have a negative influence on job performance.

C. In summary, AET offers two important messages:

1. First, emotions provide valuable insights into how workplace hassles and uplifting events influence employee performance and satisfaction.

2. Second, employees and managers shouldn’t ignore emotions or the events that cause them, even when they appear minor, because they accumulate.

V. Emotional Intelligence

A. Introduction

1. Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to an assortment of non-cognitive skills, capabilities, and competencies that influence a person’s ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands and pressures.

Sources of Emotions and Moods

a. Self-awareness. Being aware of what you are feeling.

b. Self-management. The ability to manage one’s own emotions and impulses.

c. Self-motivation. The ability to persist in the face of setbacks and failures.

d. Empathy. The ability to sense how others are feeling.

e. Social skills. The ability to handle the emotions of others.

2. Several studies suggest EI may play an important role in job performance.

3. EI, not academic I.Q., characterized high performers.

4. The implications from the initial evidence on EI are that employers should consider it as a factor in selection, especially in jobs that demand a high degree of social interaction.

B. The Case for EI

1. Intuitive Appeal

a. Almost everyone would agree it is good to possess street smarts and social intelligence.

b. Intuition suggests people who can detect emotions in others, control their own emotions, and handle social interactions well have a powerful leg up in the business world.

c. Partners in a multinational consulting firm who scored above the median on an

EI measure delivered $1.2 million more in business than did the other partners.

2. EI Predicts Criteria That Matter.

a. Evidence suggests a high level of EI means a person will perform well on the job.

b. One study found EI predicted the performance of employees in a cigarette factory in China.

c. Another study found the ability to recognize emotions in others’ facial expressions and to emotionally “eavesdrop” (pick up subtle signals about peoples’ emotions) predicted peer ratings of how valuable people were to their organization.

d. Finally, a review of 59 studies indicated that, overall, EI correlated moderately with job performance.

3. EI Biologically Based

a. In one study, people with damage to the brain area that governs emotional processing (part of the prefrontal cortex) scored no lower on standard measures of intelligence than people without similar damage.

b. But they scored significantly lower on EI tests and were impaired in normal decision making, as demonstrated by their poor performance in a card game with monetary rewards. 

i. This study suggests EI is neurologically based in a way that’s unrelated to standard measures of intelligence.

c. There is also evidence EI is genetically influenced, further supporting the idea that it measures a real underlying biological factor.

C. The Case Against EI

1. EI Is Too Vague a Concept

a. To many researchers, it’s not clear what EI is.

b. Is it a form of intelligence?

c. Most of us wouldn’t think being self-aware or self-motivated or having empathy is a matter of intellect.

d. Moreover, different researchers often focus on different skills, making it difficult to define EI.

e. One researcher may study self-discipline, another empathy, another selfawareness.

f. As one reviewer noted, “The concept of EI has now become so broad and the components so variegated that . . . it is no longer even an intelligible concept.”

2. EI Can’t Be Measured.

a. Many critics have raised questions about measuring EI.

i. Because EI is a form of intelligence, they argue, there must be right and wrong answers for it on tests.

ii. Some tests do have right and wrong answers, although the validity of some questions is doubtful.

b. One measure asks you to associate feelings with colors, as if purple always makes us feel cool and not warm.

c. Other measures are self reported, such as “I’m good at ‘reading’ other people,” and have no right or wrong answers.

d. The measures of EI are diverse, and researchers have not subjected them to as much rigorous study as they have measures of personality and general intelligence.

3. The Validity of EI Is Suspect.

a. Some critics argue that because EI is so closely related to intelligence and personality, once you control for these factors, it has nothing unique to offer. There is some foundation to this argument.

b. EI appears to be highly correlated with measures of personality, especially emotional stability.

i. If this is true, then the evidence for a biological component to EI is spurious, and biological markers like brain activity and heritability are attributable to other well-known and much more researched psychological constructs.

ii. But there hasn’t been enough research on whether EI adds insight beyond measures of personality and general intelligence in predicting job performance.

iii. Still, EI is wildly popular among consulting firms and in the popular press.

c. One company’s promotional materials for an EI measure claimed, “EI accounts for more than 85 percent of star performance in top leaders.”

i. To say the least, it’s difficult to validate this statement with the research literature.

ii. Weighing the arguments for and against EI, it’s still too early to tell whether the concept is useful. 

d. It is clear, though, that it’s here to stay.

VI. OB Applications of Emotions and Moods

A. Selection

1. One implication from the evidence on EI to date is that employers should consider it

a factor in hiring employees, especially in jobs that demand a high degree of social interaction.

2. More employers are starting to use EI measures to hire people.

B. Decision Making

1. Traditional approaches to the study of decision making in organizations have emphasized rationality. That approach is probably naïve. People use emotions, as well as rational and intuitive processes, in making decisions.

2. Negative emotions can result in a limited search for new alternatives and a less vigilant use of information.

3. Positive emotions can increase problem solving and facilitate the integration of information.

C. Creativity

1. Good moods associated with idea generation.

2. Some believe that good moods make people more creative.

D. Motivation

1. Motivation theories basically propose that individuals “are motivated to the extent that their behavior is expected to lead to desired outcomes.”

2. The image is that of rational exchange. People’s perceptions and calculations of situations are filled with emotional content that significantly influences how much effort they exert.

3. Not everyone is emotionally engaged in their work, but many are.

E. Leadership

1. The ability to lead others is a fundamental quality sought by organizations.

2. Effective leaders almost all rely on the expression of feelings to help convey their messages and is often the critical element that results in individuals accepting or rejecting a leader’s message.

3. When effective leaders want to implement significant changes, they rely on “the evocation, framing, and mobilization of emotions.’’

F. Negotiation

1. Displaying a negative emotion can be effective in negotiation.

2. Emotions may impair negotiator performance.

G. Customer service

1. Quality customer service makes demands on employees that can create emotional dissonance.

2. Emotional contagion is an important consideration.

H. Job Attitudes

1. Several studies have shown people who had a good day at work tend to be in a better mood at home that evening, and vice versa.

2. People who have a stressful day at work also have trouble relaxing after they get off work.

3. If you’ve had a bad day at work, your spouse is likely to have an unpleasant evening.

I. Deviant Workplace Behaviors

1. Negative emotions can lead to a number of deviant workplace behaviors.

2. Employee Deviance: Voluntary actions that violate established norms and which threaten the organization, its members, or both.

3. Many of these deviant behaviors can be traced to negative emotions. For example, envy is an emotion that occurs when you resent someone for having something that you do not, and which you strongly desire, and can lead to malicious deviant behaviors.

J. Safety and Injury at Work

1. Employers might improve health and safety (and reduce costs) by ensuring workers aren’t engaged in potentially dangerous activities when they’re in a bad mood.

2. Individuals in negative moods tend to be more anxious, which can make them less able to cope effectively with hazards.

3. Negative moods also make people more distractible, and distractions can obviously lead to careless behaviors.

K. How Managers Can Influence Moods

1. Managers can use humor and give their employees small tokens of appreciation for work well done.

2. When leaders are in good moods, group members are more positive, and as a result they cooperate more.

3. Selecting positive team members can have a contagion effect as positive moods transmit from team member to team member.

VII.Global Issues

A. Does the Degree to Which People Experience Emotions Vary Across Cultures?

1. Yes. In China, people report experiencing fewer positive and negative emotions than people in other cultures, and the emotions they experience are less intense.

2. People in most cultures appear to experience certain positive and negative emotions, but the frequency and intensity varies to some degree.

B. Do Peoples’ Interpretations of Emotions Vary Across Cultures?

1. People from all over the world interpret negative and positive emotions in much the same way.

2. Some cultures value certain emotions more than others.

C. Do the Norms for the Expression of Emotions Differ Across Cultures?

1. Absolutely. People in the United States and the Middle East recognize a smile as indicating happiness, but in the Middle East a smile is more likely to be seen as a sign of sexual attraction, so women have learned not to smile at men.

2. In general, and not surprisingly, it’s easier for people to accurately recognize emotions within their own culture than in others.

3. Some cultures lack words for standard U.S. emotional terms such as anxiety, depression, and guilt.

4. What’s acceptable in one culture may seem unusual or even dysfunctional in another.