Processes of emotion in the workplace

1. Processes of emotion in the workplace Chapter 11

2. Emotion in the Workplace • Part of the job-Hot emotion vs. cool logic • Bounded rationality-decisions limited by cognitive and situational factors (Learning Organizations) • Emotion (affective content) = A mental state that arises spontaneously rather than through conscious effort and is often accompanied by physiological changes; a feeling: the emotions of joy, sorrow, reverence, hate, and love. • Bounded emotionality-emotional quotient

3. Emotional Labor • Emotional labor: jobs in which workers are expected to display certain feelings to satisfy organizational role expectations (Hochschild) • Genuine (deep acting) vs. Managed emotion (surface acting)-Emotional Dissonance • EXAMPLES???? • Research (p. 200) • Front-line service workers-EL is way to increase profits • Emotion should be controlled-Mask your bad day w/ smile! • QUESTION? What a/b spontaneous expressions of genuine emotions?

4. Emotion in the Workplace • Work relationships create the potential for intense emotion in organizations (such as anger, frustration, elation, excitement, boredom) • Tension between public and private in work relationships • Friend becomes boss • Relational networks and emotional “buzzing” • Moods & attitudes spread • Conflicting allegiances • Personal vs. organizational • Emotional rights and obligations at work • Disruption of moral expectations

5. Emotional Display Rules(p. 204) • Express in a professional manner • Express to improve situations • Express to the right people • Express to help individuals • Don’t manage for personal benefit to the detriment of others • Expression of certain emotions is always inappropriate

6. Emotional IntelligenceEQ • Emotions dynamically affect our thoughts, behaviors, decisions, and communication • Skill (IP Competencies) in effectively appraising, understanding, regulating, expressing, & managing emotions in oneself & others • Use of feelings/attitude to motivate, plan, & achieve in one’s life

7. Emotional IntelligenceEQ • Ability to know what you’re feeling, manage your moods, optimistically function even while faced w/ challenges, & restrain negative feelings • Self awareness, self control, & situational awareness • Skill that can be developed through training • Critique-”marketable product” that masks authentic feelings

8. Stress • Aspects of environment (stressors) that create strain (BO) which can lead to negative psychological, physiological, and organizational outcomes • Roots in physical arousal back to stone age (flight or fight) • Only recently (last 30 years) human stress connected to health factors

9. Stress (cont.) • 70-80% of all disease and illness is stress related • The tension or force placed on an object to bend or break it (physics) • Absence of inner peace (Eastern) • A loss of control (Western) • Any change experienced by an individual (King) • A state of anxiety produced when events and responsibilities exceed one’s coping abilities (Lazurus – psychological)

10. Stress (cont.) • The rate of wear and tear on the body (physiology) • The nonspecific response of the body to any demand placed upon it to adapt, whether that demand produces pleasure or pain (Selye) • The inability to cope with a perceived (real or imagined) threat to one’s mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well being which results in a series of physiological responses and adaptations (holistic) • Stress is not the event but the reaction to the event

11. Burnout (BO) • Chronic condition • Wearing out from pressures at work • Emotional exhaustion • Lack of personal accomplishment • De-personalization • Workplace stressors • Workload • Role conflict • Role ambiguity • Stressors outside of workplace

12. Burnout (BO) • Individual predisposition to BO • Stress Inventories (class homepage/links) • Type A • Hardiness • Internal locus of control • Outcomes of BO on satisfaction, commitment, loyalty, productivity • Physiological • Attitudinal • Behavioral

13. Work-Life Balance • Defined • Coexisting success and enjoyment in both one’s personal and professional life • Development, implementation, and facilitation of programs, practices and initiatives that enable employees to balance their work and personal lives • How you juggle the demands of your job and of your personal commitments and how they affect one another • Achievement and enjoyment in private and personal life • Time Squeeze- the idea that individuals will try to squeeze more than 24 hours out of a day, or more than the available waking hours out of the day to accomplish extra tasks (Schor).

14. Work-Life Imbalance: What’s Out of Whack? • Life • Peer pressure, Spousal pressure, Family pressure, Associate pressure, Major Life Events • Work • Rituals & ceremonies • Boss • High performance & expectations • Peers • Others • EFFECTS • Burnout • Stress/strain • Turnover/unsatisfied workers/lower production

15. Communication & BurnOut • Communication interactions • Communication load • Role conflict & ambiguity • Communication networks • “Emotional labor” & communication • Degree of emotional content • Workers are expected to display certain faces to satisfy org. roles & expectations • Workers at risk

16. Communication & BurnOut • “Emotional labor” & communication • FR of emotional displays • Attentiveness to required display rules • Variety of expressed emotions • Emotional dissonance • Empathy, communication, and BO • Human service workers • Empathy • Emotional contagion-feeling w/ another • Empathic concern-feeling for another • Communicative responsiveness w/ Empathic Concern experiences less BO and more commitment (detached concern)

17. Techniques for dealing w/ org. stress • Problem-focused coping- dealing directly with the causes of burnout • Appraisal-focused coping- changing the way one thinks about the stressful situation • Emotional-focused coping- dealing with the negative outcomes of burnout

18. Techniques cont. • Coping using Participation in Decision Making • Reduces the workplace stressors of role conflict and role ambiguity • Employees feel more valued • Functions of social support • Emotional support • Informational support • Instrumental support • Sources of support • Supervisors • Co-workers (peers) • Family and friends