Lesson Proper:

EMOTIONS A 37-year-old U.S. postal worker in Milwaukee walked into his place of
work. He pulled out a gun and shot and killed a co-worker with whom he had argued,
wounded a supervisor who had scolded him, and injured another worker. He then
killed himself." For this worker, anger had led to violence.
Going on a shooting rampage at work is an extreme example but it does dramatically
illustrate the theme of this section: Emotions are a critical factor in employee behavior.
Given the obvious role that emotions play in our everyday life, it might surprise you to
learn that, until very recently, the topic of emotions had been given little or no attention
within the field of OB. How could this be? 
We can offer two possible explanations. The first is the myth of rationality. Since the
late nineteenth century and the rise of scientific management, organizations have been
specifically designed with the objective of trying to control emotions. A well-run
organization was one that successfully eliminated frustration, fear, anger, love, hate,
joy, grief, and similar feelings. Such emotions were the antithesis of rationality. 
So while researchers and managers knew that emotions were an inseparable part of
everyday life, they tried to create organizations that were emotion-free.
The second factor that acted to keep emotions out of OB was the belief that emotions
of any kind were disruptive. When emotions were considered, Emotions were rarely
viewed as being constructive or able to stimulate performance-enhancing behaviors.

Certainly, some emotions, particularly when exhibited at the wrong time, can reduce
employee performance. But this doesn't change the reality that employees bring an
emotional component with them to work every dayand that no study of OB could be
comprehensive without considering the role of emotions in workplace behavior.
"People work hard, but they have a good time. We are allowed to let our personalities
show," says Mary Ann Adams, project director at Southwest Airlines. Southwest uses
the person-organization fit during its selective hiring process. During interviews,
applicants must prove that they have a sense of humor.
WHAT ARE EMOTIONS?
Although we don't want to obsess analysis, we need to clarity three terms that are
closely intertwined. These are affect, emotions, and moods.
 
Affect is a generic term that covers a broad range of feelings that people experience.
It's an umbrella concept that encompasses both emotions and moods.
Emotions are intense feelings that are directed at someone or something.
Moods are feelings that tend to be less intense than emotions and that lack a
contextual stimulus.
Emotions are reactions to an object, not a trait. They're object-specific. You show your
emotions when you're happy about something. angry at someone afraid of something.
Moods, on the other hand, aren't directed at an object. Emotions can turn into moods
when you lose focus on the contextual object. So when a work colleague criticizes you
for the way you spoke to a client, you might become angry at him. That is you show
emotion (anger) toward a specific object dispirited. You can't attribute this feeling to
any single event: you're just not your normal, upbeat self. This affective state describes a
mood.  
A related behavior term that is gaining increasing importance in organizational be
is emotional labor. Every employee expends physical and mental labor when they put
their bodies and cognitive capabilities, respectively, into their job. But most jobs also
require emotional labor. This is when an employee expresses organizationally desired
emotions during interpersonal transactions." The concept of emotional labor originally
developed in relation to service jobs Airline flight attendants, for instance, are expected
to be cheerful and doctors emotionally neutral. But today the concept of emotional labor
seems relevant to almost every job You're expected, for example, to be courteous and
not hostile in interactions with co-workers.
FELT VERSUS DISPLAYED EMOTIONS

Emotional labor creates dilemmas for employees when their job requires them to
exhibit emotions that are incongruous with their actual feelings Not surprisingly, this is
a frequent occurrence. 
There are people at work with whom you find it very difficult to be friendly: Maybe
you consider their personality abrasive. Maybe you know they've said negative things
about you behind your back. 
They're not Innate: they're learned "The ritual look of delight on the face of
the font runner-up as the new Miss America is announced is a product of
the display rule that losers should mask their sadness with an expression
of 10 for the winners
Effective managers have learned to be serious when giving an employee a
negative performance evaluation and to cover up their anger when they've
been passed over for promotion. . And the salesperson who hasn't learned
to smile and appear friendly, regardless of his or her true feelings at the
moment, isn't typically going to last long on most sales jobs.
EMOTION DIMENSIONS
How many emotions are there? In what ways do they vary? We'll answer these
questions in this section. 

1. Variety There have been numerous efforts to limit and define the fundamental or
basic set of emotions.

One factor that has strongly shaped what is and isn't listed in this basic set is the
manner in which emotions were identified. Researchers tended to look for universally
identified facial expressions and then convert them into categories. Emotions that
couldn't be readily identified by others through facial expressions, or which were
considered a subset of one of the basic six, were not selected.
Do these six basic emotions surface in the workplace? Absolutely. I get angry after
receiving a poor performance appraisal. I fear that I could be laid off as a result of a
company cutback. I'm sad about one of my co-workers leaving to take new job in
another city. I'm happy after being selected as employee of the month.

2. Intensity People give different responses to identical emotion-provoking stimuli.

In some cases, this can be attributed to the individual's personality. People vary
in their inherent ability to express intensity. You undoubtedly know individuals
who almost never show their feelings. They rarely get angry They never show
rage. In contrast, you probably also know people who seem to be on an
emotional roller coaster. When they're happy, they're ecstatic. When they're sad,
they're deeply depressed.
Jobs make different intensity demands in terms of emotional labor. For instance, air
traffic controllers and trial judges are expected to be calm and controlled, even in
stressful situations. 

3. 3. Frequency and Duration. How often does an emotion need to be exhibited?

And for how long?
Sean Wolfson is basically a quiet and reserved person. He loves his job as a financial
planner. He doesn't enjoy, however, having to give occasional speeches in order to
increase his visibility and to promote his programs. "If I had to speak to large audiences
every day, I'd quit this business," he says. "I think this works for me because I can fake
excitement and enthusiasm for an hour, a couple of times a month." 
Emotional labor that requires high frequency or long durations is more demanding and
requires more exertion by employees. So whether an employee can successfully meet
the emotional demands of a given job depends not only on which emotions need to be
displayed and their intensity, but also how frequently and for how long the effort has to
be made. 
CAN PEOPLE BE EMOTIONLESS? 
 
Are people who seem outwardly calm or apathetic in situations, in which others are
clearly emotionally charged, without feeling? Can people be emotionless?
Some people have severe difficulty in expressing their emotions and understanding
the emotions of others.
Psychologists call this alexithymia (which is Greek for "lack of emotion"). People who
suffer from alexithymia rarely cry and are often seen by others as bland and cold.
Their own feelings make them discomfort able, and they're not able to discriminate
among their different emotions.
Does this inability to express emotions and read others mean that people who suffer
from alexithymia are poor work performers? Not necessarily. Consistent with our
discussion on matching personality types with appropriate jobs, people who lack
emotion need to be in jobs that require little or no emotional labor. These people are
not well suited to sales and managerial positions.
 
*** END of LESSON***