Understanding of Emotions in the Workplace - Coursework Example

Debate whether an understanding of emotions in the workplace.is necessary to the study of organisational behaviour. During the past two decades substantial progress has been made regarding human emotions and the affect that it has on organizational behaviour. Researchers at all levels have understood the relevance of understanding human emotions and the implications that it has on organizational behaviour and have gained substantially from it. The research carried out has helped in gaining an insight into traditional topics, such as leadership (Finess, 2000; Glomb & Hullin,1997; Lewis, 2000) or group process (George, 1990). Also, the research has helped in gaining an insight into the current relevant issues of employee violence and employee reaction to organizational justice (Cropanzano, Weiss, Suckow, & Grandey, 2000). No study of organizational behaviour would be complete without understanding of emotions at workplace. But, it is pertinent to first study the definition of emotions in order to comprehensively to be able to understand its implications on organizational behaviour. Emotions should not be confused with moods. Izard (1993) notes that defining emotions is a complex issue. He goes on lay stress on the fact that the experiential component of emotions – the experience of pain, anger, and joy- is central and manifests itself as an action tendency, a biasing of perceptions, or a feeling state. Emotions are generally for a short period of time and are related to the specific stimuli. Emotions differ from moods as moods are more enduring and more diffuse and are less related to specific stimuli (Frijda, 1993). Emotions can influence organizational behaviours in numerous ways. The influence is both direct as well as indirect. In direct ways it could be by triggering of behaviour by emotions and indirectly it could affect organizational behaviour in terms of motivation, cognition, etc. Scherer (1994) gives us a strong reason for concern with emotions. He states that emotions often act as an interface that arbitrate between environmental input and organizational output. This interface has a strong role to play in motivational- implementation system and seeing that the basic needs of a person are met. Human beings are generally able to adapt to a wide variety of environments owing to their emotional interface, as, it decouples stimuli and responses. Scherer argues that flexibility grows from the combination of two processes. First is the latency period, which occurs while emotions ready the action tendencies in which alternate responses are considered. Second, this latency period depends upon the intensity of the emotions. For stronger emotions the latency period is much shorter, therefore implying that in situations requiring immediate attention the pre-programmed responses could be used. On the other hand for situations that are not critical one could evaluate responses for a longer duration of time and come out with the best possible solution. Scherer’s argument shows us the relation between emotional intensity and its effect on the emotions and related responses. Figure 1.1 shows this relation graphically. The changing of emotional responses to potentially threatening situations by social processes is an important issue if unrecognized may cause difficulty in many organizational processes. Figure 1.1. Increased Behavioural Variability as Greater Latency Between Stimulus and Response Permits More Cognitive Processing. There are a number of theories of emotions that recognize the linkages between specific emotions and specific types of behaviours ( Fredrickson, 1998; Levenson, 1994). The linkage between emotion behaviour is evident from the fact that prototypical events lead to specific emotions ( Russel & Barret, 1999). Negative emotions are related to specific behaviour patterns. Negative emotions produce behaviours patterns which occur without any guidance since the responses occur too fast for much processing to occur. It is evident from above that negative emotions should be controlled in order to achieve behavioural regulations. Positive emotions on the other hand have been less studied since they do not have the same implications in organizational behaviour as negative emotions. They are also not related to specific action tendencies but are considered to be important for survival (Fredrickson, 1998). They also promote a number of important organizational processes, such as creativity, effective social relations, organizational commitments, etc. Positive emotions also raise the standards of work and create an atmosphere of congeniality. Negative and positive emotions both play an important and vital role in organizational behaviour. The study of emotions in this respect where emotions directly relate to behaviour are important in order to have a better understanding of the organizational behaviour. Emotions also play a vital role in motivation. An individual’s desire to attain greater heights in his career and to reach his goals is predominantly influenced by his emotional tendencies. The influence of emotional tendencies to organizational events, such as promotions of colleagues, recognition of the work done by someone else, or downsizing, may influence the individual’s commitment towards the organization. Individual differences in the regulation of different emotions, such as anger and boredom, play a central role in the effective pursuit of goals that involve sustained effort. In relation to organizational behaviour such individual differences are pertinent in analyzing the outcome of training and performance in jobs. This is especially so in jobs that requires autonomous functioning. Levenson (1994) noted that body language and tone modulation play a vital role in how we interact with others. A person to person relation is often affected by these non prominent gestures. For example, Keltener and Kring (1998) noted that experience and embarrassment evoke forgiveness in others and produce reconciliation after transgressions. Emotion- evoking stimuli and emotional reactions occur very fast and are communicated rapidly. They often occur even without the person being aware but they do play a very important role in social processes such as trust, interpersonal attraction and group commitment. For this reason, organizational behaviour is to a large extent is affected by these non verbal gestures which occur due to emotions. Clore (1994) & Issen (2000) noted that emotions are both bodily state as well as mental state. Research has proven that styles of information processing are influenced by emotions. Strong emotions can short- circuit congnitive processing, which can often be too cumbersome, too excessive, and too inconclusive for action ( Levenson, 1994). Information processing is affected by the emotions as a positive mood often elicits more exploration and enjoyment. Positive emotions promulgate creativity in an individual. Emotions manipulate the information processing of an individual to a great extent. Certain emotional categories play a vital role in behavioural processes. Understanding of emotions helps us to understand the way evolution has and continues to limit human behaviour. Many of the components of congnitive, behavioural and emotional systems are co-opted and interact to produce emotions and behaviours. Emotions serve as a initiation mechanism for certain types of behaviours. Negative behaviours need to be curtailed by cultural, social and intra-individual processes. The ability to work as a group and manage social processes is dominated by the emotions of the person. Emotions have a strong linkage with social capacities, providing non verbal means to communicate such as facial expressions, tone modulation, body posture, etc. Understanding emotions have a great role to play both theoretically and practically to gain an insight into organizational behaviour at work. The environment input and behavioural output are related to each other based upon ones emotions. This influences the organizational behaviour as the output that a person produces is directly related to the emotions of the person. Specific types of emotions are also directly linked with certain specific types of behaviours. In order to ascertain organizational behaviour it is important that this relation should be understood. Negative emotions often have a negative impact on the entire work process. To facilitate better productivity and create an atmosphere that is both congenial and conducive to productive work it is pertinent that negative emotions are eliminated. Organizational behaviour plays a vital role in eliminating negative emotions thus producing better results. Emotions also play a vital role in motivation of persons. Again, organizational behaviour studies would be incomplete without understanding the role of emotions in motivating the organization. It is there fore pertinent that emotions at the workplace be understood deeply for one to study organizational behaviour. Clore, G. L. (1994). Why emotions require cognition. In P. Ekman & R. J. Davidson (Eds.). The nature of emotion: Fundamental questions (pp. 181–191). New York: Oxford University Press. Cropanzano, R., Weiss, H. M., Suckow, K. J., & Grandey, A. A. (2000). Doing justice to workplace emotion. In N. M. Ashkanasy, C.E.J. Har­tel, & W. 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