Workplace Emotions,

Attitudes, and Stress

Prof. Christy Zhou Koval
Spring 2017
Reminder
 Submit your team’s library workshop exercise
sheet!
 Research Participation (6%)
 Purpose: learning about social science and business research by
being a research participant

 Participate in three hours of research-related activities that take

place outside of the class

 Specific information (e.g., sign-up method, date, time, location) will

be provided later in the semester

 Additional Q? Contact Sans

 Alternative option: one-page essay summarizing findings of a

recent academic paper
MARS Model of Individual Behavior
Role
Perceptions
Values
Personality Motivation
Individual
Perceptions Behavior
Emotions and Results
Ability
Attitudes
Stress Situational
Factors
 Learning objectives
 Attitudes
 Definition
 Attitude in OB
 Attitude change
 Emotions
 Definition
 Emotional labor
 Emotional intelligence
 Stress
 Definition
 Work-related stress
 Stress management
 Attitudes
 Definition
 Evaluation of a target (object, issue, person, group,
behavior, etc.)
 Represents an overall assessment of whether a
target is positive or negative
 People can and do hold attitudes about just
about anything
 Three components of attitude
Perceived Environment  Beliefs:
Cognitive  What one knows about the attitude target
process
 The facts and beliefs one has about the
target
Beliefs
 Feelings:
 How one feels about the attitude target
Attitude Feelings  The feelings the attitude target arouses in
the person
Behavioral
Intentions  Behavioral intentions:
 Knowledge about one’s past, present, or
future interactions with the attitude target
Behavior
 Learning objectives
 Attitudes
 Definition
 Attitude in OB
 Attitude change
 Emotions
 Definition
 Emotional labor
 Emotional intelligence
 Stress
 Definition
 Work-related stress
 Stress management
Job Satisfaction
A person's evaluation of his or her job and work
context, a collection of attitudes about different
aspects of the job
Job Satisfaction
Job
Supervisor
Content

Career Job
Satisfaction Co-workers
Progress

Pay and Working

Benefits Conditions
Job Satisfaction
 Is a happy worker also a productive worker?
Job Satisfaction and Performance
Workers with higher job satisfaction are
somewhat more productive workers, but
 General attitude is a poor predictor of specific
behaviors
 Depends on whether high performances are
rewarded
 Depends on employee control of job output (e.g.
assembly lines)
Responses to Job
Dissatisfaction: EVLN model
• Leaving the situation
Exit • Quitting, transferring

• Changing the situation

Voice • Problem solving, complaining

• Patiently waiting for the

Loyalty situation to improve

• Reducing work effort/ quality

Neglect • Increasing absenteeism/lateness
Responses to Job Dissatisfaction
 Office space video clip:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgg9byU
y-V4
 Organizational Commitment
 Affective commitment
 I want to stay at my company
 “This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me.”

 Continuance commitment
 I have to stay at my company
 “I am afraid of what might happen if I quit my job without having another one
lined up.”

 Normative commitment
 I should stay at my company
 “One of the major reasons I continue to work for this organization is that I
believe that loyalty is important and therefore feel a sense of moral obligation to
remain.”
Building Organizational
Commitment
• Apply humanitarian values
Justice & support
• Support employee well-being

Shared values • Values congruence

• Trustworthy leaders
Trust
• Job security supports trust

Organizational • Know firm’s past/present/future

comprehension • Open and rapid communication

Employee • Strengthen social identity

involvement • Involvement demonstrates trust
 Learning objectives
 Attitudes
 Definition
 Attitude in OB
 Attitude change
 Emotions
 Definition
 Emotional labor
 Emotional intelligence
 Stress
 Definition
 Work-related stress
 Stress management
Cognitive dissonance theory
 Cognitive dissonance
 Any conflict or disharmony between two or more
attitudes or between behavior and attitudes
 Any form of disharmony is uncomfortable
 Individuals will attempt to reduce the

dissonance and hence the discomfort

 Seek to reduce the dissonance
20

Cognitive dissonance

 Grasshopper experiment
(Zimbardo et al., 1965)
 Participants required to eat
grasshopper
 Told by either

1) A polite experimenter
2) A cold/unpleasant
experimenter
 Will you eat it?
• After eating…
 What do you think about insects as food
source?
 Cognitive dissonance
 Experiment on cognitive dissonance (Festinger &
Carlsmith, 1959)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=korGK0yGIDo

 Task
 Turning peg for one hour:

 The reality is that it can’t be more boring!!

 After the experiment, you got paid to convince the next person that
the task is “very interesting”
 You either got US$20 or US$1 in return

 Would you ended up liking the task more…

 If you received US$20 or US$1?
Cognitive Dissonance in the Workplace
3 ways of reducing cognitive dissonance:
(1) Change cognition (how you think about the situation)
(2) Change behavior
(3) Add consonant cognition (add new thoughts and viewpoints)

Dead-end I like my
job job

I quit the
job

I have learnt
I stay in a lot in this
this job job
Cognitive Dissonance in the Workplace

 If left unaddressed, cognitive dissonance can lead to

negative consequences in the long run:
 Worse learning outcomes
 Withdrawal and disengagement
 Reduction in performance
 Increased absenteeism
 Counterproductive behaviours
 Learning objectives
 Attitudes
 Definition
 Attitude in OB
 Attitude change
 Emotions
 Definition
 Emotional labor
 Emotional intelligence
 Stress
 Definition
 Work-related stress
 Stress management
 Emotions

 Psychological, physiological, and behavioral episodes

experienced toward an object, person, or event that
create a state of readiness
Emotions, Attitudes, and Behavior
Perceived Environment
Cognitive Emotional
process process

Beliefs
Emotional
Attitude Feelings Episodes

Behavioral
Intentions

Behavior
Felt versus Displayed Emotions
Felt Emotions
An individual’s actual emotions.

Displayed Emotions
Emotions that are organizationally required and
considered appropriate in a given job.
 Learning objectives
 Attitudes
 Definition
 Attitude in OB
 Attitude change
 Emotions
 Definition
 Emotional labor
 Emotional intelligence
 Stress
 Definition
 Work-related stress
 Stress management
Emotional Labor
 Effort, planning and control needed to express
organizationally desired emotions during
interpersonal transactions

 Emotional labor higher when job requires

 Frequent and long duration display of emotions
 Displaying a variety of emotions
 Displaying more intense emotions

 Emotional labor in Korea:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdBW61HhM-Q
Emotional Labor:
Deep vs. Surface Acting
 Two types of emotional labor

 Surface acting: when a person has to fake emotion to meet

certain social or work rules.

 Deep acting: a person trying to feel a specific emotion that they

are thinking about in their mind.

 Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2KoBk8cBs0
 Learning objectives
 Attitudes
 Definition
 Attitude in OB
 Attitude change
 Emotions
 Definition
 Emotional labor
 Emotional intelligence
 Stress
 Definition
 Work-related stress
 Stress management
Emotional Intelligence (EI)
Definition:
The ability to monitor one’s own and other
people’s emotions, to discriminate between
different emotions and label them
appropriately and to use emotional
information to guide thinking and behaviour.
Emotional Intelligence (EI)
 What’s your emotional quotient (EO?)
 Survey posted on Canvas
Improving Emotional Intelligence
 Emotional intelligence is a set of competencies
(aptitudes, skills) that can be learned to some extent
 Training programs
 Personal coaching
 Practice
 Feedback
 EI increases with age: maturity
 Learning objectives
 Attitudes
 Definition
 Attitude in OB
 Attitude change
 Emotions
 Definition
 Emotional labor
 Emotional intelligence
 Stress
 Definition
 Work-related stress
 Stress management
Stress
 An adaptive response to a situation that is
perceived as challenging or threatening to the
person’s well-being (fight vs. flight)
 Distress: physiological, psychological, and
behavioral deviation from healthy functioning
 Eustress: “good” stress, activates and motivates
people to achieve goals
 A Model of Stress

Potential Stressors Consequences

• Environmental Experienced • Physiological symptoms

• Organizational Stress • Psychological symptoms
• Individual • Behavioral symptoms

Individual
Differences
 General Adaptation Syndrome
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3
Alarm Reaction Resistance Exhaustion

Ability
to
Cope
Individual Differences in Stress
People have different stress experiences
 Resistance thresholds
 Coping strategies
 Levels of resilience
 Personality traits (e.g., extraversion, neuroticism)
 Competencies (e.g., emotional intelligence)
 Learning objectives
 Attitudes
 Definition
 Attitude in OB
 Attitude change
 Emotions
 Definition
 Emotional labor
 Emotional intelligence
 Stress
 Definition
 Work-related stress
 Stress management
Some Major Stressors at Work
 Harassment and incivility
 Psychological and sexual harassment
 Work overload
 Hours of work
 Intensity of work
 Low task control
 Worse when coupled with high responsibility
 E.g., assembly line workers vs. sports coaches
Lack of Sleep at Work
 How many hours of sleep do you get?
Lack of Sleep at Work
 Work accidents from lack of sleep:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms2KM8f
PlL0
 Learning objectives
 Attitudes
 Definition
 Attitude in OB
 Attitude change
 Emotions
 Definition
 Emotional labor
 Emotional intelligence
 Stress
 Definition
 Work-related stress
 Stress management
Managing Work-related Stress
 Remove the stressor (permanent removal)
 Quitting your job
 Withdraw from stressor (temporary removal)
 Coffee/lunch breaks
 Take a walk
 Sabbaticals
Managing Stress
 Receive social support
 Emotional and informational
 Control stress consequences
 Relaxation and meditation
 Fitness and wellness programs
 Get enough sleep!!!
Preparation for Next Class
 Motivation Part I:
 Read Chapter 7