WORKPLACE EMOTION AND ATTITUDE

Emotion

 Emotions Intense feelings that are directed at someone or something. Affect A broad range of
emotions that people experience.
 Often called feelings include EXPERIENCES SUCH AS: LOVE, Hate, anger, fear, joy, panick and
grief.
 Emotion are specific reaction to event
 We feel agitated or excited when we experience anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and
surprise
 An emotional state consists of feelings, impulses, physical and physiological reactions.

What Are Emotions?

 Emotional Labor- A situation in which an employee expresses organizationally desired emotions
during interpersonal transactions.
 Emotional Dissonance- A situation in which an employee must project one emotion while
simultaneously feeling another.
Felt versus Displayed Emotions

 Felt Emotions- An individual’s actual emotions.

 Displayed Emotions- Emotions that are organizationally required and considered appropriate in
a given job.
Emotion Dimensions
 Variety of emotions
– Positive
– Negative
 Intensity of emotions
– Personality
– Job Requirements
 Frequency and duration of emotions
– How often emotions are exhibited
. – How long emotions are displayed.
Gender and Emotion
 Women
– Can show greater emotional expression.
– Experience emotions more intensely.
– Display emotions more frequently.
– Are more comfortable in expressing emotions.
– Are better at reading others’ emotions. 
 Men
– Believe that displaying emotions is inconsistent with the male image.
– Are innately less able to read and to identify with others’ emotions.
– Have less need to seek social approval by showing positive emotions.
Why Emotions Were Ignored in OB
1. The “myth of rationality”
- Organizations are not emotion-free.
2. Emotions of any kind are disruptive to organizations.
- Original OB focus was solely on the effects of strong negative emotions that interfered with
individual and organizational efficiency.

Managing Emotional Reactions

Choosing Your Mood
 Part of managing emotions is choosing our moods. Moods are emotional states that last a bit.
We have the power to decide what mood is right for a situation, and then to get into that mood.
Choosing the right mood can help someone get motivated, concentrate on a task, or try again
instead of giving up. People with good EQ know that moods aren't just things that happen to us.
We can control them by knowing which mood is best for a particular situation and how to get
into that mood.

THEORIES OF EMOTION
Our emotional states are combinations of physiological arousal, psychological appraisal, and subjective
experiences. Together, these are known as the components of emotion. These appraisals are informed
by our experiences, backgrounds, and cultures. Therefore, different people may have different
emotional experiences even when faced with similar circumstances. Over time, several different
theories of emotion, shown in [link], have been proposed to explain how the various components of
emotion interact with one another.

The James-Lange theory of emotion asserts that emotions arise from physiological arousal. Recall what
you have learned about the sympathetic nervous system and our fight or flight response when
threatened. If you were to encounter some threat in your environment, like a venomous snake in your
backyard, your sympathetic nervous system would initiate significant physiological arousal, which would
make your heart race and increase your respiration rate. According to the James-Lange theory of
emotion, you would only experience a feeling of fear after this physiological arousal had taken place.
Furthermore, different arousal patterns would be associated with different feelings.
 A feeling is the experience of pleasantness or unpleasantness. Every emotion is also
accompanied by an impulse or inner drives towards action of one kind or another. The mode of
expression depends upon the intensity of emotion. Physical and physiological components refer
to the actual body movements. An emotion is always aroused by certain stimulus which may be
any people, object or event.
 Different persons may respond with different emotions to the same stimulus. So emotion stands
for a wide range of behaviors like love, anger, jealousy, etc. There is a specific condition of the
mind when one feels such thing like fear, anger or joy. Psychologists have termed these mental
conditions as emotions.
 Each emotion is a motor set. Fear is a set for escape, and anger for attack. Mirth is a readiness
to laugh and grief is readiness to cry. There is also a language of the emotions, composed of
gestures, postures, facial expression, and tone of voice, exclamations and bodily movements.
Such a gesticulation has become standardized through long ages, and now it is not difficult to
judge the emotions of a person through the facial expression and gesticulation.
The following are some of the characteristics of emotion:

(i) Emotion is a stirred up state of the organism.

(ii) It is a specific condition of the mind.

(iii) Emotion is a feeling of pleasantness and unpleasantness.

(iv) An emotion is always aroused by a certain stimulus.

(v) The same stimulus may arouse different emotions.

(vi) Maturation plays an important role in emotional development.

(vii) There are objective and subjective factors in the development of emotions.

How Can Employee Express Dissatisfaction?

Exit – Behavior directed towards leaving the organization

Neglect – Allowing conditions to worsen
Voice – Active and constructive attempts to improve conditions
Loyalty – Passively waiting for conditions to improve

Difference Between Attitude and Behavior

One of the widely accepted facts about human beings is, No two people are alike, whether in terms of physical appearance (i.e.
body structure, height, weight, colour, etc) or abstract aspects (like intelligence, attitude, personality, behaviour and so
on). Many people take a person’s attitude as their behaviour. Although directly or indirectly they are interrelated, they are
different in the sense that attitude represents how a person thinks or feels about someone or something.

Definition of Attitude
To put simply, attitude is a person’s mental outlook, which defines the way we think or feel anything. It is a hypothetical
construct, i.e. whose direct observation is not possible. It is a predisposition to respond in a settled way to a person, event,
opinion, object, etc., which is reflected in our body language. It has a strong impact on our decisions, actions, stimuli, etc.
Education, experience, and environment are the major factors that affect a person’s attitude.
A person’s attitude can be positive, negative or neutral views, which shows one’s likes and dislikes for someone or something.
So, the type of attitude we carry, speaks a lot about us, as we get into that mood and transmits a message to the people around
us. There is no such thing like ideal attitude, for a particular situation as it is spontaneous and so we always have a choice to opt
the right attitude for us.

 In psychology, an attitude refers to a set of emotions, beliefs, and behaviors toward a particular object, person,
thing, or event. Attitudes are often the result of experience or upbringing, and they can have a powerful influence
over behavior. While attitudes are enduring, they can also change.
 Psychologists define attitudes as a learned tendency to evaluate things in a certain way. This can include evaluations
of people, issues, objects, or events. Such evaluations are often positive or negative, but they can also be uncertain at
times. For example, you might have mixed feelings about a particular person or issue. Researchers also suggest that
there are several different components that make up attitudes
 Cognitive Component: your thoughts and beliefs about the subject.
 Affective Component: how the object, person, issue, or event makes you feel.
 Behavioral Component: how the attitude influences your behavior.
Emotional intelligence (EI
is the capability of individuals to recognize their own emotions and those of others, discern between different feelings
and label them appropriately, use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, and manage and/or adjust
emotions to adapt to environments or achieve one's goal(s)
Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction is defined as the extent to which an employee feels self-motivated, content & satisfied with his/her
job. Job satisfaction happens when an employee feels he or she is having job stability, career growth and a
comfortable work life balance. This implies that the employee is having satisfaction at job as the work meets the
expectations of the individual.

Importance of Job Satisfaction

A satisfied employee is always important for an organization as he/she aims to deliver the best of their capability.
Every employee wants a strong career growth and work life balance at workplace. If an employee feels happy with
their company & work, they look to give back to the company with all their efforts. Importance of job satisfaction can
be seen from two perspectives i.e. from employee and employer perspective:
For Employees: Job satisfaction from an employee perspective is to earn a good gross salary, have job stability,
have a steady career growth, get rewards & recognition and constantly have new opportunities.
For Employers: For an employer, job satisfaction for an employee is an important aspect to get the best out of them.
A satisfied employee always contributes more to the company, helps control attrition & helps the company grow.
Employers needs to ensure a good job description to attract employees and constantly give opportunities to
individuals to learn and grow.
The positive effects of job satisfaction include:
1. More efficiency of employees of workplace if they are satisfied with their job.
2. Higher employee loyalty leading to more commitment.
3. Job satisfaction of employees eventually results in higher profits for companies.
4. High employee retention is possible if employees are happy.

2. Work life balance: Every individual wants to have a good workplace which allow them time to spend with their family &
friends. Job satisfaction for employees is often due a good work life balance policy, which ensures that an employee spends
quality time with their family along with doing their work. This improves the employee's quality of work life.
3. Respect & Recognition: Any individual appreciates and feels motivated if they are respected at their workplace. Also, if they
are awarded for their hard work, it further motivates employees. Hence recognition is one of the job satisfaction factors.
4. Job security: If an employee is assured that the company would retain them even if the market is turbulent, it gives them
immense confidence. Job security is one of the main reasons for job satisfaction for employees.

What is an Attitude?
• An attitude is a favorable or unfavorable evaluation of something. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views
of a person, place, thing, or event - this is often referred to as the attitude object. People can also be conflicted or
ambivalent toward an object, meaning that they simultaneously possess both positive and negative attitudes toward
the item in question
)• Carl Gustav Jung – a well known psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology defines attitude as a "readiness
of the psyche to act or react in a certain way“

TYPES OF ATTITUDES

1. Consciousness and the Unconscious - The "presence of two attitudes is extremelyfrequent, one
conscious and the other unconscious. This means that consciousness hasa constellation of contents
different from that of the unconscious, a duality particularlyevident in neurosis"
2. Extraversion and introversion -This pair is so elementary to Jungs theory of types that he labeled them
the "attitude-types".
3. Rational and Irrational attitudes. "I conceive reason as an attitude"
 The rational attitude subdivides into the thinking and feeling psychological functions, each with its attitude
 The irrational attitude subdivides into the sensing and intuition psychological functions, each with its
attitude. "There is thus a typical thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuitive attitude"

4. Individual and social attitudes. Many of the latter are "isms“

5. Abstract attitude – IT is a type of cognitive functioning that includes assuming a mental set voluntarily;
shifting voluntarily from a specific aspect of a situation to the general; keeping in mind simultaneously
various aspects of a situation; grasping the essentials of a whole, and breaking it into its parts and isolating
them voluntarily; planning ahead ideationally; and/or thinking or performing symbolically.