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Questions for Review
4-1. How are emotions different from moods?
Answer: Emotions are intense feelings directed at someone or something. Moods are
feelings that tend to be less intense than emotions and often lack a contextual stimulus.
Learning Objective: Differentiate between emotions and moods
Learning Outcome: Discuss the importance of individual moods and emotions in the workplace
AACSB: Written and oral communications; Reflective thinking
4-2. What are the sources of emotions and moods?
Answer: The primary sources of emotions and moods are:
a. Personality: there is a trait component – affect intensity
b. Time of day: happier in the midpoint of the daily awake period
c. Day of week: happier toward the end of the week
Learning Objectives: Show the impact emotional labor has on employees; Apply concepts about emotions
and moods to specific OB issues
Learning Outcome: Discuss the importance of individual moods and emotions in the workplace
AACSB: Written and oral communications; Reflective thinking
4-3. What impact does emotional labor have on employees?
Answer: Emotional labor is when an employee expresses organizationally desired
emotions during interpersonal transactions. It was originally developed in relation to
Learning Objective: Show the impact emotional labor has on employees
Learning Outcome: Discuss the importance of individual moods and emotions in the workplace
AACSB: Written and oral communications; Reflective thinking
4-4. What is affective events theory?
Answer: Affective events theory states that an event in the work environment triggers
positive or negative emotional reactions. AET recognizes that emotions are a response to
an event in the individual work environment. The environment creates work events that
Learning Objective: Describe affective events theory
Learning Outcome: Discuss the importance of individual moods and emotions in the workplace
AACSB: Written and oral communications; Reflective thinking
4-5. What is emotional intelligence?
Answer: Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to an assortment of non-cognitive skills,
a. Self-awareness: being aware of what you are feeling.
b. Self-management: the ability to manage one’s own emotions and impulses.
Learning Objective: Describe emotional intelligence
Learning Outcome: Discuss the importance of individual moods and emotions in the workplace
AACSB: Written and oral communications; Reflective thinking
4-6. What are some strategies for emotion regulation?
Answer: Emotion regulation is part of the EI literature but has also been studied as an
independent concept. The central ideal behind emotion regulation is to identify and
modify the emotions you feel. Strategies to change your emotions include thinking about
Learning Objective: Identify strategies for emotion regulation
Learning Outcome: Discuss the importance of individual moods and emotions in the workplace
AACSB: Written and oral communications; Reflective thinking
4-7. How do you apply concepts about emotions and moods to specific OB issues?
Answer: Emotions and moods have proven relevant for virtually every OB topic we
study, and they have implications for managerial practice. Increasingly, organizations are
selecting employees they believe have high levels of emotional intelligence. Research has
Recent research suggests mood is linked to motivation, especially through feedback.
Leaders rely on emotions to increase their effectiveness. The display of emotions is
Certainly there are practical and ethical limits to controlling employees’ and colleagues’
emotions and moods. Emotions and moods are a natural part of an individual’s makeup.
Learning Objective: Apply concepts about emotions and moods to specific OB issues
Learning Outcome: Discuss the importance of individual moods and emotions in the workplace
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Experiential Exercise
The Happiness Test
This exercise contributes to:
Learning Objectives: Differentiate between emotions and moods; Apply concepts about emotions and moods to
specific OB issues
Learning Outcome: Discuss the importance of individual moods and emotions in the workplace
AACSB: Written and oral communications; Reflective thinking
Class members begin by taking out a piece of paper and recording the appropriate answer for
themselves next to each of the words below.
Indicate to what extent you have felt this way during the past week, using a scale of 1 to 5 where:
1 = very slightly 2 = a little 3 = moderately 4 = quite a bit 5 = extremely or not at all
Items:
__interested __irritable __distressed __alert __excited __ashamed __upset __inspired __strong
__nervous __guilty __determined __scared __attentive __hostile __ jittery __enthusiastic
__active __proud __afraid
Next, class members need to write two to three sentences about a memory of the time they were
the happiest over the last year. Students should consider: What made you happy? What did the
happiness feel like? What did the event make you think about? How long did the feeling of
happiness last? Students may then take a few minutes to talk with others about their memories.
Turning over the paper with the happiness ratings, class members now rate themselves a second
time on the items above, using the scale. When this is complete, the class is ready to discuss the
following questions:
4-8. Looking over your initial ratings, how happy do your responses indicate you’ve been in
the last week? Was this a usual week for you?
4-9. Comparing your two ratings, did the second set change? Did your ratings go up or down?
Why do you think they would change?
4-10. The items in the rating represent the PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Scale). The
PANAS happiness scale has been shown to be a strong indicator of happiness. Do you
think the test accurately measured your happiness? Why or why not?
Teaching Notes
This exercise is applicable to face-to-face classes or synchronous online classes such as
BlackBoard 9.1, WIMBA, and Second Life Virtual Classrooms. See
http://www.baclass.panam.edu/imob/SecondLife for more information.
Ethical Dilemma
Data Mining Emotions
This exercise contributes to:
Learning Objective: Apply concepts about emotions and moods to specific OB issues
Learning Outcome: Discuss the importance of individual moods and emotions in the workplace
AACSB: Ethical understanding and reasoning; Reflective thinking
Did anyone ever tell you that you wear your heart on your sleeve? It’s a popular expression, but
obviously no one is looking at your sleeve to read your emotions. Instead, we tend to study a
person’s facial expressions to “read” their emotions. Most of us think we’re rather good at
reading faces, but we couldn’t say exactly how we make our interpretations, and we don’t know
whether they are accurate. But what if we could use technology to know how another person is
feeling? Would it be ethical to do so in the workplace and then act on our findings?
Thankfully, technology is not quite ready to do this. Face reading is a complex science. Paul
Eckman, a noted psychologist, may be the best human face reader in the world. He has been
studying the interpretation of emotions for over 40 years and developed a catalog of over 5,000
muscle movements and their emotional content. His work even spawned a television series called
Lie to Me, in which the main characters analyzed microexpressions —expressions that occur in
the fraction of a second—to assist in corporate and governmental investigations. Using Eckman’s
Facial Coding System, technology firms like Emotient Inc. have been developing algorithms to
match microexpressions to emotions. These organizations are currently looking for
patterns of microexpressions that might predict behavior. Honda, P&G, Coca-Cola, and Unilever
have tried the technology to identify the reactions to new products, with mixed results. For one
thing, since expressions can change instantly, it is challenging to discern which emotions prevail.
A person watching a commercial, for instance, may smile, furrow his brow, and raise his
eyebrows all in the space of 30 seconds, indicating expressiveness, confusion, and surprise in
turn. Second, it is difficult to know whether a person will act upon these fleeting emotions.
Third, the technology might misinterpret the underlying emotions or their causes.
The potential applications of this technology to the workplace include surveillance, gauging
reactions to organization announcements, and lie detection. Cameras could be in every meeting
room, hallway, and even on employees’ computer screens. Emotion monitoring could be an
announced event—say, every Monday from 8 to 9 a.m.—or random. Monitoring could be
conducted with or without the knowledge of employees; for instance, data on the emotional
reactions of every employee in an organizational announcement meeting could be read and
interpreted through a camera on the wall.
So far, the most reliable workplace application seems to be using the technology to capture
inconsistencies (lying). Even the pioneer of facial emotion recognition, Ekman, said, “I can’t
control usage [of his technology]. I can only be certain that what I’m providing is at least an
accurate depiction of when someone is concealing emotion.”
For each usage, there is an ethical consideration and a responsibility, particularly if a manager is
going to act on the findings or infer the employee’s future behavior. The fact that the technology
has not yet fully evolved for workplace application allows time for ethical guidelines to be
developed. Foremost among the ethical concerns is privacy. “I can see few things more invasive
than trying to record someone’s emotions in a database,” said privacy advocate Ginger McCall.
Concerns about ethical usage are also highly important if managers use the technology to make
decisions about employees. For example, what if a manager learns from the software that an
employee is unhappy and thus decides to look for a work reassignment for the employee, when
actually the employee is unhappy about his spouse? Former U.S. counterterrorism detective
Charles Lieberman advises, “Recognize [the technology’s] limitations—it can lead you in the
right direction but is not definitive.”
Sources: Paul Ekman profile, Being Human, http://www.beinghuman.org/mind/paul-ekman, accessed April 17, 2015;
E. Dwoskin and E. M. Rusli, “The Technology That Unmasks Your Hidden Emotions,” The Wall Street Journal, January
29, 2015, B1, B8; and D. Matsumoto and H. S. Hwang, “Reading Facial Expressions of Emotion,” Psychological
Science Agenda, May 2011, http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2011/05/facial-expressions.aspx.
Questions
4-11. What do you think are the best workplace applications for emotion reading technology?
Answer: Responses to this question will vary by student. However, at the moment, the
4-12. What are the ethical implications of reading faces for emotional content in the workplace?
Answer: Again, responses to this question will vary by student, but most students will
4-13. Assuming you could become better at detecting the real emotions of others from facial
expressions, do you think it would help your career? Why or why not?
Answer: This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyManagementLab.
Case Incident 1
Crybabies
This exercise contributes to:
Learning Objectives: Show the impact emotional labor has on employees; Apply concepts about emotions and
moods to specific OB issues
Learning Outcome: Discuss the importance of individual moods and emotions in the workplace
AACSB: Written and oral communications; Reflective thinking
As this chapter has shown, emotions are an inevitable part of people’s behavior at work. At the
same time, it’s not entirely clear that we’ve reached a point where people feel comfortable
expressing all emotions at work. The reason might be that business culture and etiquette remain
poorly suited to handling overt emotional displays. The question is, can organizations become
more intelligent about emotional management? Is it ever appropriate to yell, laugh, or cry at
work?
Some people are skeptical about the virtues of more emotional displays in the workplace. As the
chapter notes, emotions are automatic physiological responses to the environment, and as such,
they can be difficult to control appropriately. One 22-year-old customer service representative
named Laura, who was the subject of a case study, noted that fear and anger were routinely used
as methods to control employees, and employees deeply resented this use of emotions to
manipulate them. In another case, the chairman of a major television network made a practice of
screaming at employees whenever anything went wrong, leading to badly hurt feelings and a
lack of loyalty to the organization. Like Laura, workers at this organization were hesitant to show
their true reactions to these emotional outbursts for fear of being branded as “weak” or
“ineffectual.” Research indicated that while employees who could regulate their emotions would
refrain from acting on their anger, employees who were low in self-regulation and didn’t think
the boss would do anything were likely to retaliate.
It might seem like these individuals worked in heavily emotional workplaces, but in fact, only a
narrow range of emotions was deemed acceptable. Anger appears to be more acceptable then
sadness in many organizations, and anger can have serious maladaptive consequences. Many
people find their negative reaction to hearing an angry outburst lasts, making it difficult for them
to concentrate at work.
Others believe organizations that recognize and work with emotions effectively are more
creative, satisfying, and productive. For example, Laura noted that if she could express her hurt
feelings without fear, she would be much more satisfied with her work. In other words, the
problem with Laura’s organization is not that emotions are displayed, but that emotional displays
are handled poorly. Others note that the use of emotional knowledge, like being able to read and
understand the reactions of others, is crucial for workers ranging from salespeople and customer
service agents all the way to managers and executives. One survey even found that 88% of
workers feel being sensitive to the emotions of others is an asset. Management consultant Erika
Anderson notes, “Crying at work is transformative and can open the door to change.” The
question then is, “Can organizations take specific steps to become better at allowing emotional
displays without opening a Pandora’s box of outbursts?”
Sources: E. Bernstein, “Why People Have Big Explosions for Very Small Reasons,” The Wall Street Journal, October 16, 2012, D1, D2; A.
Kreamer, “Go Ahead—Cry at Work,” Time, April 4, 2010, www.time.com; J. S. Lerner and K. Shonk, “How Anger Poisons Decision Making,”
Harvard Business Review (September 2010): 26; H. Lian, D. J. Brown, D. L. Ferris, L. H. Liang, L. M. Keeping, and R. Morrison, “Abusive
Supervision and Retaliation: A Self-Control Framework,” Academy of Management Journal 57, no. 1 (2014): 116–39; S. Shellenbarger, “When
the Boss Is a Screamer,” The Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2012, D1–D2; and J. Perrone and M. H. Vickers, “Emotions as Strategic Game in a
Hostile Workplace: An Exemplar Case,” Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal 16, no. 3 (2004): 167–78.
Questions
4-14. Do you think the strategic use and display of emotions serve to protect employees, or
does covering your true emotions at work lead to more problems than it solves?
Answer: This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyManagementLab.
4-15. Have you ever worked where the free expression of emotion was part of the management
style? Describe the advantages and disadvantages of this approach from your experience.
Answer: Students will answer this question based on their own experiences.
4-16. Research shows that acts of coworkers (37 percent) and management (22 percent) cause
more negative emotions for employees than do acts of customers (7 percent). What can
Laura’s company do to change its emotional climate?
Answer: Laura’s company can set up a training program for managers and others about
the proper way to handle employees’ emotional concerns as they are displayed. Since
Case Incident 2
Tall Poppy Syndrome
This exercise contributes to:
Learning Objective: Apply concepts about emotions and moods to specific OB issues
Learning Outcome: Discuss the importance of individual moods and emotions in the workplace
AACSB: Written and oral communications; Reflective thinking
“. . . the tall poppy syndrome, where the successful are cut down to the same size as everyone
else, quick smart. You’re not supposed to stand out for intelligence, achievement, or, worst of all,
wealth.”– Peter Hartcher
You may be wondering what poppies have to do with the workplace. It’s a reasonable question.
The allegory behind tall poppy syndrome goes back centuries, but the emotions of envy and
resentment toward strong performers—and the desire to “cut them down to size”—are timeless.
So is the reality – evidence indicates that individuals whose performance and status rises above
the rest (the tall poppies) sometimes find their careers are decapitated by jealous coworkers (the
shorter poppies) who undermine their efforts. Tall poppies are more likely to be victimized by
group members, and group members are often pleased if a tall poppy is “brought down” by
outsiders.
Tall poppy syndrome seems to be motivated by the observer’s personality traits, emotions, and
perception of justice. When individuals believe the high achiever is undeserving of his or her
status, or conversely when individuals believe they deserve a higher status than they’ve been
given (called relative deprivation), resentment and envy are heightened. The degree of tall poppy
syndrome also seems to relate to the traits of the people who judge their coworkers. People who
have lower self-esteem and who do not value power and achievement tend to think high
performers are undeserving and should fall. Finally, the general likability of the achiever seems
to influence the emotions of observers. If achievers are popular, part of the in-group, work hard,
and exhibit high moral character, observers are less likely to feel resentful and wish them ill.
Tall poppy syndrome may be universal, but there are cultural differences. Research has shown
that in collectivistic societies like Japan, students in a study were more inclined to cut down a
high performer because they resented distinguishing one person more than the rest of the group.
In contrast, students from the individualistic United States were more likely to reward high
achievers than were Australian students because the Americans did not feel the same degree of
envy.
To the extent that it cuts down those with legitimate achievements, there is nothing good about
tall poppy syndrome when high performers are victimized and work performance is limited to a
common denominator. Both the high performer and the organization can employ some
countermeasures aimed at lessening the emotional reactions of observers. For one, high
performers can demonstrate humbleness and humility. This may allow them to boost the
performance of coworkers, who then no longer feel resentful of their success. Second, managers
can increase work group identity for the coworkers, so they see the success of one individual as
the success of the group, rather than as an injustice.
Sources: P. Hartcher, “Voters Now at Ease with Rich Pickings,” The Sydney Morning Herald (July 30, 2013),
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/voters-now-at-ease-withrich- pickings-20130729-2quvp.html; N. T. Feather,
“Analyzing Relative Deprivation in Relation to Deservingness, Entitlement and Resentment,” Social Justice Research 28 (2015): 7–26; E. Kim
and T. M. Glomb, “Victimization of High Performers: The Roles of Envy and Work Group Identification,” Journal of Applied Psychology 99, no.
4 (2014): 619–34; and K. Van Valkenburgh, Investigating Tall Poppy Syndrome in United States Financial Institutions: An Attitude and Values
Perspective, doctoral dissertation, Alliant International University (2013), publication number 3595388.
Questions
4-17. Have you observed tall poppy syndrome in your workplace or school? Which traits
seemed to bother the observers the most?
Answer: This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyManagementLab.
4-18. In what specific ways do you think high performers can mitigate feelings of envy and
resentment? Give examples.
Answer: This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyManagementLab.
4-19. In what ways do you think managers can foster a group attitude toward success?
Answer: Responses to this question will vary by student.
My Management Lab
Go to mymanagementlab.com for Auto-graded writing questions as well as the following
Assisted-graded writing questions:
4-20. In relation to the Ethical Dilemma, in what scenarios would you agree to having your
emotions read and interpreted by your organization?
4-21. Concerning Case Incident 2, have you ever been a tall poppy? If so, what reactions from
others did you get, and were there consequences for you? If not, why not.
4-22. MyManagement Lab only – comprehensive writing assignment for this chapter.
Instructor’s Choice
Promoting Organizational Citizenship Behavior
This exercise contributes to:
Learning Objective: Apply concepts about emotions and moods to specific OB issues
Learning Outcome: Discuss the importance of individual moods and emotions in the workplace
AACSB: Written and oral communications; Reflective thinking
Begin this exercise by reinforcing the definition or description of what organizational citizenship
behavior is and what it is not. The voluntary aspect of the term is important. Students should be
sure to describe the behavior itself, not just the end result of the behavior. For example, “people
were helped” is not as clear as describing exactly how a specific person(s) was (were) helped.
Students must also be able to separate this type of behavior from normal duties. For example, a
receptionist or greeter might normally “go the extra mile” to show someone where they need to
go, or a greeter walks someone across campus to the exact building referenced instead of
showing the party a map, because of the general atmosphere or culture of the organization. In
other words, there might be degrees of organizational citizenship behavior. Students should be
looking for exceptional behavior. Group discussion will oftentimes reveal these actions from
presented examples. Lastly, as students compile their lists of managerial steps to promote
organizational citizenship behavior, have them reference the section in the chapter that deals with
this form of behavior to find examples that will reveal some potential steps.
Exploring OB Topics on the Web
This exercise contributes to:
Learning Objectives: Apply concepts about emotions and moods to specific OB issues
Learning Outcome: Discuss the importance of individual moods and emotions in the workplace
AACSB: Written and oral communications; Reflective thinking
1. Learn more about yourself! Go to http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/. There you will
find a variety of personality tests such as “Are you a Type A?”, the “Stress O Meter,” and other
IQ and personality tests. Most are free and often fun to take. T]ake two or three of your choice.
Print the results you get on yourself and bring them to class where we will discuss the validity of
your findings.
2. What is EQ? Visit the Internet’s leading site on EQ: http://www.eq.org. There you will
find a wide variety of resources to assist you in researching this interesting topic.
3. Bring five new facts you learned from at least two of the above websites to class for a
group discussion.
