Emotions play a critical role in job satisfaction and motivation.

Affective events theory

(AET) proposes that employees react emotionally to things that happen to them at work, and this

reaction influences their job performance and satisfaction. (Matta, et al., 2014)

Work events trigger positive or negative emotional reactions, to which employees'

personalities and moods prompt them to respond with less or more intensity. (Fisher, et al.,

2013). Anxiety, fear, frustration, doubt, happiness, excitement, and similar emotions can all

influence one’s behaviour. Given the same objective data, managers should expect that people

may make different choices when they're angry and stressed-out than when they're calm and

content.

Positive motions influence a number of performance and satisfaction variables, such as

organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), organizational commitment, level of effort, intention

to quit, and workplace deviance. (Denier, et al., 2011). Affective Events Theory (AET) offers two

important messages (Ashkanasy, et al., 2002): first, emotions provide valuable insights into how

workplace events influence employee performance and satisfaction; second, employees and

managers should not ignore emotions or the events that cause them, even when they appear

minor, because they accumulate.

Emotional intelligence is another framework that helps us understand the impact of

emotions on job performance. Negative emotions can result in a limited search for new

alternatives and a less vigilant use of information. On the other hand, positive emotions can

increase problem solving and facilitate the integration of information. (Gopinath, 2011)

Accordigly, managers are responsible to understand the role of emotions in the workplace so they

can predict and influence their employee’s behavior. The ability to direct employees’ emotions

appropriately can surely make the productivity and satisfaction better. (Rietti, 2009)

While managers may not be able to control their employee’s emotions, but they can

certainly influence them. In general managers should be aware of the role that emotions play in

the workplace and study the strategies and techniques that can help people to change their
emotions. As an instance, one technique of emotion regulation is emotional suppression.

Managers should understand that although suppression used in crisis situations may help an

individual recover from the event emotionally, but if used as an everyday emotion it can impair

mental and emotional ability, health, and relationships. (Jooa, et al., 2015) To this end,

acknowledging rather than suppressing the emotional responses to situations, and re-evaluating

events after they occur yield the best outcomes. (Webb, et al., 2012)

Another technique with potential for emotion regulation is social sharing or venting.

Research shows that the open expression of emotions can help the individuals regulate their

emotions, as opposed to keeping emotions “bottled up” Social sharing can

reduce anger reactions when people can talk about the facts of a bad situation, their feelings about

the situation, or any positive aspects of the situation. (McCance, et al., 2013) must be exercised,

though, because expressing your frustration affects other people. In fact, whether venting

emotions helps the “venter" feel better depends very much upon the listener's response. Managers

should respond sympathetically to their employees and try to listen to them and understand them

better. Similarly, mindfulness has been shown to increase the ability to shape our behavioural

responses to emotions. (Teper, et al., 2013) When people become non-judgmentally aware of the

emotions they are experiencing, they are better able to look at situations separately from their

emotions.

First of all, to influence the employee’s emotions, the managers should identify the

emotional elements in conflict and to get the conflicting parties to work through their emotions. It

is very important for managers to know and understand the emotions of their employees, be

compassionate and understanding while trying to empathize. The manager could speak with the

employee and possibly find out what is triggering the emotions; maybe it is something in the

workplace that is causing the employee to be emotional and that the manager could fix it. While

understanding the employees and reaching out to them can be very effective by itself, the

managers and also provide further assistance by providing time off or proper advices if necessary.
Sometimes a few days off may resolve the issue and help the employees to get back on their feet

and regain focus and stamina. Appropriate and timely response by the managers can play a

significant role in employee satisfaction with their jobs. The manager who ignores the emotional

elements in conflicts, focusing singularly on rational and task-focused concerns, is unlikely to be

very effective in resolving those conflicts. (King, et al., 1990)

Furthermore, staying positive as a manager can help keep the workplace positive and set

an example for other workers, even in a tough situation. Showing recognition for the employees’

hard work is a good way to influence their moods and keep them positive. Offering small

surprises like a coffee or group lunch can help lifting the employees and make them feel

appreciated. Setting goals with bonuses or awards at the completion of those goals will keep

employees focused and motivated. There are a ton of things management can do to influence the

mood of the workforce. I cannot think of anything that I would find to be unethical, unless a

manager is showing favoritism or coercing the employees in illegal ways. Making false promises

for promotion and other awards would also be unethical.

So far as the ethical implication while managers should reach out to employees and try to

be compassionate and accommodating, they should also be mindful of ethical implications. They

should always be professional and do not get too much involved in the employees personal

matters as this may cause misunderstandings and inappropriate and problematic emotional issues.

In case of ethical implications as long as the manager is not acting improper or morally

unacceptable while dealing with an employee, I do not think that there is anything unethical about

a manager trying to help their employee’s manager their feelings in the workplace. Manages

should stay away from manipulative conducts which contradicts the employees’ interests and

welfare, for their personal of company gains and

value the employee mental health and wellbeing over the production of the business.
Works Cited
Ashkanasy, N. M., Hartel, C. E., & Daus, C. S. (2002). Diversity and Emotion: The New
f ro ntiers in Orga nizationa l Behavio r Research. Joumal ofManagemelll 28, no.
3, 324.
Bradley, M. (2000). Emotion and Motivation. J. Cacioppo, L. Tassinary and G. Berntson
(eds.), Handbook of Psychophysiology, 2nd edition, UK, Cambridge University
Press, 602-642.
Denier, E., & Biswas-Denier, R. (2011). Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of
Psychological Wealth. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing.
Fisher, C. D., Minbashian, A., Beckmann, N., & Wood, R. E. (2013). Task Appraisals,
Emotio ns, and Performance Goal Orientations. Joumal of Applied Psychology
98, no. 2, 364- 373.
Gopinath, R. (2011). Employees’ Emotions in Workplace. Research Journal of Business
Management, 5, 1-15.
Jooa, J. L., & Francesca, G. (2015). Poker-Faced Morality: Concealing Emotions Leads
to Utilita rian Decision Making. Organizational Behavior a11d Human Decision
Processes, 49-64.
King, L., & Emmons, R. (1990). Conflict over emotional expression: Psychological and
physical correlates . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 864-877.
Matta, F. K., Erol-Korkmaz, H. T., Johnson, R. E., & Biçaksiz, P. (2014). Significant
Work Events and Counterproductive Work Behavior: The Role of fairness,
Emotions, and Emotion Regulation. Journal of Organizational Behavior 35, no.
7, 920- 944.
McCance, A. S., Nye, C. D., Wang, L., Jones, K. S., & Chiu, C. (2013). Alleviating the
Burden of Emotional Labor: The Role of Social Sha ring . Journal of
Management 39, no. 2, 392- 415.
Teper, R., Segal, Z. V., & lnzlicht, M. (2013). In.side the Mindful Mind: How
Mindfulness Enhances Emotion Regulation through Improvements in Executive
Control. Current Directions i,i Psychological Science 22, no. 6, 449- 454.
Webb , T. L., Miles, E., & Sheeran, P. (2012). oealing with Feeling: A Meta-analysis of
the Effectiveness ofStrategies Derived from the Process Model of Emo tio n
Regulation. Psychological Bulletin 138, no. 4 , 775-808.
The introduction of change can cause a variety of different emotional reactions among affected employees.
Some employees might feel anxious, frightened or frustrated, whereas others feel hopeful and pleasant
(Bartunek et al., 2006; Mossholder et al., 2000; Huy, 2002). More studies now acknowledge the importance
of emotions and indicate their vital role on important outcomes of change (Vuori and Virtaharju, 2012; Liu
and Perrewe, 2005; Antonacopoulou and Gabriel, 2001).

Whereas the enacted sensemaking approach developed by Weick discusses the interplay of sensemaking
and actions, the emotional dimension has mostly been neglected in prior research. Weick himself considers
his groundbreaking 1988 work on enacted sensemaking to be “basically cool and cognitive” (Weick, 2010, p.
545). Integrating emotion and cognition, AIM is a comprehensive model of the judgment processes of
individuals that describes the circumstances under which affective reactions influence cognitive processing.

There are many reasons to expect substantive information processing, a processing strategy within AIM, in
the context of organizational change (George and Jones, 2001), and several indicators suggest a
conceptual overlap between substantive information processing and sensemaking. Major change initiatives
that have personal relevance for the recipient are characterized by uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity
(Balogun, 2001). All of these characteristics are relevant to substantive processing and to sensemaking.
Moreover, substantive processing and sensemaking are associated with high cognitive effort, which is
required when individuals confront atypical and complex circumstances and must develop new interpretive
schemata (Forgas, 1995; Weick, 1988, 1995; Weick et al., 2005)
Emotions provide insight into what motivates people and how to improve performance.

Although many companies display heightened concern for the well-being of their employees, not everyone is
convinced that efforts to create and maintain a positive workplace actually pay off. However, to Sigal
Barsade, the evidence is clear: Companies that want more satisfied employees and stronger performance
need to invest in understanding what motivates people in their work lives and pay attention to the emotional
side of organizational culture

Employees’ emotions in change: advancing the sensemaking approach

Helpap, Sevda; Bekmeier-Feuerhahn, Sigrid. Journal of Organizational Change Management;
Bradford Vol. 29, Iss. 6,  (2016): 903-916. DOI:10.1108/JOCM-05-2016-0088

Employee Emotions Aren't Noise - They're Data

Klotz, Frieda.MIT Sloan Management Review; Cambridge Vol. 61, Iss. 2,  (Winter 2020): 52-55.

Emotions are intense feelings an individual feels, it can either be directed at someone or something. Most
times emotions are short term and are a result of a specific event. The ideal manager in any workplace will
have a sense of emotional intelligence. This is how managers or anyone with emotional intelligence perceive
the emotions of others. They can then understand the meaning of those emotions and seek an appropriate
action to handle such emotions. This can help managers be more effective at their jobs because they will be
building better relationships with their employees. No one has a perfect life, sometimes we have a
breakdown moment and that is normal, it is also a sigh of relief knowing your manager cares for your well-
being. Managers who listen and are intuitive will make the employees feel comfortable and respected in the
workplace. 

As a manager of a retail store, I was in charge of managing 10 employees at a time. My job was not only to
make sure we were profitable or if the cash was stored correctly at the end of the night, it was my job to
make the best working environment I could. I was managing 10 sales associates in the middle of a
pandemic, I wanted to know every employee felt safe, and if they had any stress to talk about it instead of
holding it in. This was a stressful time for a-lot of people and instead of me enforcing their job responsibilities
on them it went beyond that for me. I would have one on one with my associates and I would read their
facial expressions if they were sad, worried, or even grossed out. I think it is so important for employees to
feel they are valued and cared for. This goes beyond work duties, it about building a safe environment.
Mental health is more prominent now than ever and now’s the time to just listen and give advice when asked
for. Personally, if I am having a bad morning and something personal going on and I come into work and my
manager notices that and decides to stay quiet and throw my work duties at me is just going to extend the
period of me feeling upset. I am going to have to go through a shift even more angry, bitter or sad than I was
before and in my opinion that should never be the case. This is why I will try to do my due diligence to be
present, listen, observe, and ask questions. Once I have observed certain emotions it is then time to come
up with an action plan. This can simply be reducing the workload of the employee or giving them more
breaks throughout their shift for a breather. I think managers in various workplaces should see what is in
their means to do to help employees and try to be as assisting as possible.
 
There can be ethical implications that come to play, such as crossing boundaries between work and
personal. There should be a fine line between keeping it professional and not. Ethically you want to make
sure your employees are safe and in control of their emotions. If you can't provide advice to your employees
or care for their feelings, never fake it or talk on a topic you cannot provide any insight. The wrong advice is
better than no advice. Some people know when they are crossing a line ethically and if you as a manager
don't it might be time for a refresher course with the HR department. There can be serious implications if you
take the emotions of your employees in the wrong way, so it is always better to ask questions whenever
possible and also set boundaries of what can be talked about out in the open vs. the back room or even for
a cup of coffee after work. I have read how many companies are now setting a separate room aside for
employees to destress and have a safe room. I love this concept and think it can do wonders for the future
of employees, a room to just have a moment to yourself if need be. Also, many companies are much more
encouraging about speaking about your mental health and working with individual worker to provide a better
work environment. 

References:
Langton, N., Robbins, S., & Judge, T. (2020). Organizational Behaviour Concepts, Controversies,
Applications. Toronto: Pearson Education.
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Managers are supposed to be role models for their employees. Their tone and daily behaviour is the most
important aspect in creating a healthy work environment for the rest of the workforce. As mentioned in the
Ethical Advocate blog, "Managers exercise great influence on employee attitudes and behavior. They play
an essential role in creating, nurturing, and sustaining an ethical culture and an ethical workforce."
(Manager's Role in Ethics, 2016).
The best way to manage employees' emotions is for managers to acknowledge it. They should keep a non-
biased judgement and lead by example. What will make them a great leader is how they choose to react and
communicate when emotional reactions do arise; be it from their employees or be it of themselves. They
should listen and sympathise with their employees and offer incentives and rewards to enhance employee
performances. This would keep the employees enthusiastic about their work and engaged with the company
in healthy way. Reiterating a Forbes article, "You’re usually better off acknowledging your reaction rather
than trying to pretend it never happened. You don't need to - and shouldn't - apologize about your reaction.
So in the moment, you can say something like, “As you can see, I’m feeling pretty invested in this,” "This is
hitting me pretty hard. Would you mind if I stepped out for a moment to get some water?” (Wilding, M. 2020).
Sometimes, there may arise a situation where telling employees to keep their emotions aside could conflict
with ethical and moral grounds. A quick prep talk with yourself as a manager is always a good idea to handle
situations like these. As the blog on Office Vibes states, "Be easy on yourself, ask for help when you need it,
learn to admit when you’re wrong (it’s liberating) and don’t aim to be perfect, just aim to always do a little
better than the day before." (Robins, 2020). That is a motto managers should follow for themselves and for
their employees, so as to keep a healthy and non-conflicting work environment.

1) Manager's Role in Ethics. 2016. https://www.ethicaladvocate.com/managers-role-ethics/

2) Wilding, M. 3 Myths About Emotions At Work You Need To Stop Believing. 2020. 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/melodywilding/2020/08/17/3-myths-about-emotions-at-work-you-need-to-stop-
believing/?sh=3e6e8d6851ac
3) Robins. A. Managing Emotions in the Workplace: 5 scenarios and how to keep your cool. 2020.
https://officevibe.com/blog/managing-emotions-in-the-workplace

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The most effective method to solve an issue is identifying the causes, understanding the effects, and
elaborating contingency measures to mitigate them. Since emotions can influence employees' performance,
the manager's responsibility is to contain the adverse impact on the team's productivity. Managing emotions
requires a personal involvement to:

 Perceive those emotions

 Understand why they are expressed
 Accordingly react to defuse the bomb

It is hardly possible to perceive the manifestation of an emotion someone has never felt or do not know how
one reacts when in the same situation. It then all starts by better knowing oneself and in general by
improving the Emotional Intelligence (EI or EQ). The critical skills for developing the EI are (Segal, Smith,
Robinson, & Shubin, 2020), (Stahl, 2018):

1. Self-awareness and self-management. Nobody is perfect; a self-evaluation of strengths and

weaknesses must be done. Assess the reactions when experiencing intense feelings? Identify
stressors? Be more conscious of strengths and manage the deficiencies to get the best outcomes.
2. Social awareness. Recognize and decrypt the subtle nonverbal hints the surroundings continually
use to communicate. It will enable the understanding of real feelings and overcome the barrier
created by Surface acting.
3. Relationship management. 
 Practice empathy
 Use nonverbal communication more efficiently.
 Mind the vocabulary used.
 Use humor for a stress-free environment.
 See adversity as an opportunity to grow closer to colleagues.
 Take responsibility; apologize whenever needed.

When it comes to rational decision-making, a manager could be influenced by the personal relationship with
some of his workmates (emotions). No wonder why many recommend taking a step back to have a global
picture before making a management decision. Feelings were described as the antithetic of a rational
decision process, individuals' interests taken as a priority over groups' ones. However, (Gaudine & Thorne,
2001) studied the impact of decisions on the ethical decision-making process. They state:

More specifically, the analysis suggests that: (1) aroused individuals and individuals in positive (e.g.,
happiness, joy) and certain negative feeling states (e.g., anger, resentment) have an increased propensity to
identify ethical dilemmas; (2) aroused individuals and individuals in positive feeling states tend to formulate
their prescriptive judgments at sophisticated levels of moral development; (3) individuals in positive feeling
states tend to make ethical decision choices that are consistent with their prescriptive judgments, and (4)
aroused individuals tend to comply with their ethical decision choices. (p. 183)

To sum up, emotional intelligence could improve the decision-making skills of a manager.

References:
Gaudine, A., & Thorne, L. (2001, May). Emotion and Ethical Decision-Making in Organizations. Journal of
Business Ethics 31, 175–187 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010711413444, 175-187.
doi:https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010711413444
Segal, J., Smith, M., Robinson, L., & Shubin, J. (2020, October). Improving Emotional Intelligence (EQ).
Retrieved from Help Guide: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/emotional-intelligence-eq.htm
Stahl, A. (2018, May 29). 5 Ways To Develop Your Emotional Intelligence. Retrieved from Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2018/05/29/5-ways-to-develop-your-emotional-intelligence/
 
While employees do their best to separate their personal lives from work, the reality is that we are human,
and the events that take place outside of work can have a lasting impact on emotions. These influenced
emotions can change an employee’s temperament and threshold for stress, causing them to respond in
uncharacteristic ways. In addition, with many employees working from home due to COVID-19, people's
personal and professional lives are blurring together more than ever.
Managers should reasonably expect their employees to exercise emotional control, and it would not be a
manager’s place to directly manage an employee’s emotions. What a manager can and should do, is help
equip employees with tools that will enable them to better help themselves, which will, in turn, help their
team and the company.
There is a plethora of tools at a wide variety of price ranges available to integrate into a workplace
environment to help employees better manage their own emotions. A free and simple way to start is by
fostering a workplace culture that promotes open discussions around mental health, and encouragement to
utilize mental wellness days when needed. Too often, employees feel a sense of guilt for taking their rightful
vacation and sick days, leading to burnout (Huhman, 2017). Burnout can potentially lead to becoming more
emotionally reactive, damaging the team morale as a result.
Offering seminars on coping with stress and anxiety is another great way to offer employees with tools to
help manage their emotions, which can have the added benefit of increasing productivity, reducing
absenteeism, and even reducing disability cases (Saad, n.d.).
Another fantastic tool managers can implement with their teams is education around their personality types
and how to best work with other personalities. There are many free and paid-for tools available, such as the
Meyers-Briggs, or Lumina, which can help employees and their manager learn about emotional intelligence
and “improve working relationships and productivity” (Lumina Learning, n.d.). By better understanding
ourselves and one another, we are able to better manage our emotional responses to the behavior of others.
Offering access to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP or EFAP) is another great way to enable staff
who need the help of a professional. With everything from counseling to emotional coaching available
immediately and without cost to the employee, potential barriers are removed that may have otherwise
precluded an employee from being able to get the help they need. An Emotional Coach, for example, can
help employees create a work-life balance and “resolve personal and work-related concerns (EFAP, n.d.).
While it may not be a manager’s place to intervene directly into an employee’s emotions, building a
workplace culture of recognizing emotions, mental health, and implementing tools in the workplace to help
employees help themselves benefits everyone. For employees, they feel their manager cares about them as
a person and for the corporation, an engaged employee prevents absenteeism, turnover and increases
productivity.
 
Huhman, H. (2017, May 8). Why ‘Vacation-Shaming’ Hurts You More Than Your
Employees. Entrepreneur. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/293711
Saad, F. (n.d.). Why Mindfulness Is Important To The Success of Your Organization. Be
Kalm. https://bekalm.org/why-mindfulness-is-important-to-the-success-of-your-organization/
Lumina Learning. (n.d.) Lumina Spark. https://luminalearning.com/products/lumina-spark
Employee and Family Assistance Program.
(n.d.). Overview. http://www.efap.ca/services/WellnessServices.htm
 
 

Managing Emotions and Ethical Implications  

In most organizations, these days, the people that own a business are not the
ones that manage it, and separate managers are appointed to run the company on their behalf
(Collier & Kizan, 2013). Langton et al. (2019) note a link between emotions and “employee performance and
satisfaction”. It seems reasonable that managers would have an ethical obligation to
manage emotions for optimal performance and employee satisfaction. 
Langton et al. (2019) and Morris & Feldman (2020) suggest that one way for managers to
manage employees’ emotions is to provide rules on acceptable emotions for employees to express. Langton
et al. (2019) note that employees expend energy when the way they feel is different from how employers
expect them to behave. Morris & Feldman (2020) term this “emotional dissonance” and indicate that this
leads to stress, reducing performance and employee satisfaction, especially in the service
industry. Managers find themselves in an ethical dilemma contrasting shareholders’ expectations to look
after customer profitability (Collier & Kizan, 2013) and employee wellbeing (Langton et al., 2019). 
Morris & Feldman (2020) offer employers solutions to reduce emotional dissonance by providing a more
comprehensive range of “display emotions” and giving employees input into the allowed behaviours. Morris
& Feldman (2020) also suggest that employers focus on finding employees who are less likely
to experience “emotional dissonance”. Langton et al. (2019) warn managers when
recruiting to be cautious of using emotional intelligence tests, which, while they do have some value, there
are concerns. 
References  
Collier, P. M., & Kizan, S. M. (2013). Accounting for Managers: Interpreting Accounting  Information for
Decision-Making (Canadian ed.). John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. 
Langton, N., Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2019). Organizational Behaviour: Concepts, Controversies,
Applications (8th Canadian ed.). Pearson Canada Inc. 
Morris, J. A., & Feldman, D.C. (2020). Managing Emotions In The Workplace. Journal of Managerial
Issues,  32(1). 84-101. 
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