MGMT 3276
Chapter 4 – Workplace Emotions, Attitudes and Stress
Textbook Concepts:
“emotions are psychological and physiological episodes experienced toward an object,
person, or event that create a state of readiness. Attitudes are the cluster of beliefs,
assessed feelings, and behavioral intentions toward an object”
EMOTIONS IN THE WORKPLACE
➢ Emotions
-physiological, psychological and behavioral episodes experienced toward an object,
person, or event that create a state of readiness.
-Emotions are brief events or “episodes”
-Emotions are directed towards something or someone
-Emotions are experienced both psychologically and physiologically
-Emotions create a state of readiness
➢ Types of Emotions
-some scholars cluster all emotions into six primary categories: anger, fear, joy, love,
sadness and surprise
Two dimensions of emotions depicted in the circumplex model (see p. 87)
1. Evaluation
• positive or negative valence - core affect
• e.g. fearful is a negative emotion
2. Activation
• emotions put us in a state of readiness - primary source of motivation
• e.g. relaxed has fairly low activation; astonished is high activation
➢ Emotions, Attitudes, and Behavior
-Attitudes – the cluster of beliefs, assessed feelings, and behavioral intentions toward
an object.
-Beliefs – perceptions about the attitude object.
-Feelings – positive or negative evaluations of the attitude object.
-Behavioral intentions – represent one’s motivation to engage in a particular behavior
with respect to the attitude object.
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➢ Linking emotions to behavior
Traditional Model: How Attitudes Influence Behaviour
Beliefs
• Perceived facts acquired from experience and other learning
Feelings
• Positive or negative evaluations of the attitude object
• Composite valences of our multiple beliefs about the attitude object
• You have feelings (pos/neg evaluations) of each belief about the attitude object
➡ e.g., if your job (attitude object) has negative features such as long hours
and difficult work, then you form a negative feeling about your job
• People with same beliefs might form different feelings because they
have different valences for each belief
➡ e.g., some like challenging work (positive); others dislike challenging work
(negative), which results in different feelings about the job
Behavioural intentions
• The motivation to act on the attitude object
• Feelings motivate behavioural intentions
• People with same feelings might form different behavioural intentions due to different
past experience, personality, social norms
➡ e.g., when employees dislike their boss, some intend to complain to management
whereas others intend to look for another job (relates to EVLN model later in chapter)
From behavioural intentions to behaviour
• Behavioural intentions (motivation to act) is the best predictor of behaviour.
• But the intentions-behaviour effect depends on the situation and possibly other MARS
elements
➡ e.g., employee wants to quit (intention) but can’t find a suitable job elsewhere
(behaviour)
Problem with traditional attitude model – ignores important and parallel emotional
process that shapes attitudes
Emotions Influence Attitudes
1. Emotional markers are automatically (nonconsciously) attached to incoming sensory
information (see Chapter 3)
2. Thinking about attitude object activates attached emotions
3. Feelings influenced by experienced emotions (fuzzy dots in model), not just by
cognitive evaluation described earlier
4. Emotions influence (potentially distort/bias) our cognitive thinking (beliefs, feelings,
intentions) about the attitude object
5. We also “listen in” on our emotions when judging whether we like or dislike
something or someone
Potential conflict – when cognitions and emotions disagree
• i.e. sensing that something isn’t right even though they can’t think of any logical reason
to be concerned
Emotions also directly affect behaviour
• e.g., facial expression, jumping when frightened
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➢ Cognitive dissonance
Emotional experience caused by a perception that our beliefs, feelings, and behaviour are
incongruent with each other
• Inconsistency generates emotions (e.g. feeling hypocritical) that motivate more
consistency by changing one or more elements
• Usually difficult to undo or change behaviour (e.g. reverse purchase decision)
• Instead, we reduce cognitive dissonance by changing our beliefs and feelings about the
attitude object
➡ develop more positive attitudes toward features of the decision
➡ look for positive features of the decision that weren’t considered before
➡ offset the dissonant decision by recognizing previous consonant decisions
➢ Emotions and personality
Positive affectivity (PA) – tendency to experience positive emotional states.
Similar to extroversion.
Negative affectivity (NA) – tendency to experience negative emotions.
Employees with high NA tend to be more distressed and unhappy.
MANAGING EMOTIONS AT WORK
Conditions requiring emotional labor (the effort, planning, and control needed to express
organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions).
➢ Occurs more often when job requires frequent and long durations of voice or faceto-face contact with clients and others.
➢ More challenging where the job requires employees to display a variety of
emotions and intense emotions.
Emotional Dissonance
➢ Conflict between required and true emotions.
➢ Significant cause of stress and job burnout.
Supporting Emotional Labor
➢ Involves teaching employees the subtle behaviors that express appropriate
emotions.
➢ Consists of hiring employees whose individual values and personalities match the
job’s emotional labor requirements.
Emotional Intelligence (EI)
➢ Ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought,
understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion in oneself and others.
➢ Is comprised of the following five dimensions – know the definition below (see
pp. 94-95 - slightly different than this definition):
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Most jobs involve social interaction - and EI is useful in social duties
People with high EI are:
➡ better at interpersonal relations
➡ perform better in jobs requiring emotional labour
➡ superior leaders
➡ make better decisions involving social exchanges
➡ more successful in many aspects of job interviews
➡ better at knowledge sharing.
➢ Improving EI – related to several personality traits: extroversion,
conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability, and low neuroticism, but it
can be learned to some extent. This requires personal coaching, plenty of practice,
and frequent feedback. Also increases with age (maturity).
Work-Related Attitudes
- Attitudes are stable clusters of feelings, beliefs, and behavioral tendencies directed
toward some aspects of the external world.
-work-related attitude involve such reactions toward various aspects of work settings or
the people in them. Five important work-related attitudes are job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, employee engagement (loyalty), attitudes toward
organizational citizenship behaviors, and attitudes that stem from the changing
nature of work. All attitudes consist of a cognitive component (what you believe), an
evaluative component (how you feel), and a behavioral component (the tendency to
behave a certain way).
Job Satisfaction
-job satisfaction involves positive or negative attitudes toward one’s work.
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-such attitudes can be measured by completing (1) rating scales (e.g., Job Descriptive
Index, Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, Pay Satisfaction Questionnaire; (2) critical
incidents; (3) interviews or confrontation interviews
-three important theories of job satisfaction are: (1) Herzberg’s two-factor theory – he
claims that satisfaction and dissatisfaction stem from two different groups of variables:
Hygiene factors (that will make you less dissatisfied) such as quality of supervision, pay,
company policies, physical working conditions, relations with others, job security and
Motivators (that will make you satisfied) such as promotion, growth, recognition,
responsibility and achievement; (2) Locke’s value theory –he claims that job satisfaction
depends primarily on the match (discrepancy) between the outcomes individuals value
(valence) in their jobs and their perceptions about the availability of such outcomes; (3)
Exit-Voice-Loyalty-Neglect (EVLN) Model (see p. 97-98)
-consequences of job dissatisfaction include withdrawal, absenteeism and intent to quit –
there is a weak correlation between satisfaction (happiness) and job performance (e.g.,
happy workers are not necessarily productive workers) – Why?
-levels of satisfaction can be raised by paying people fairly (?), improving the quality of
supervision, decentralizing control of organizational power, and matching people to jobs
that are congruent with their interests (job-person fit) as well as paying attention to joborganization fit.
Job Satisfaction and Performance
Happy workers are somewhat more productive workers – there is a moderately positive
correlation between job satisfaction and performance…but:
1. General attitude (e.g. job satisfaction) is a poor predictor of specific behaviours –
dissatisfaction might lead to turnover, complaining, or patiently waiting rather than
reduced performance
2. Dissatisfaction might affect performance only when employees have control
3. Reverse explanation – job performance might cause job satisfaction
i.e., higher performers receive more rewards so are more satisfied than low-performing
employees who receive less rewards
Service Profit Chain Model (see pp. 98-100)
Employees’ job satisfaction influences customer satisfaction and company profitability:
1. Organizational practices affect employee satisfaction (and commitment)
2. Satisfaction (a) reduces turnover, (b) improves motivation/behaviour
3. Low turnover and higher motivation improve service quality
4. Better service quality improves customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and company
profitability
Organizational Commitment
-organizational commitment deals with people’s attitudes toward their organization
(identification with and involvement in)
-commitment may be based on three different bases; (1) continuance commitment (sidebets orientation)-continuing to work for an organization because he or she has to and
cannot afford to do otherwise; (2) affective commitment (goal-congruence orientation)continuing to work for an organization because he or she agrees with its goals and values
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and desires to stay with it; (3) normative commitment-continuing to work for an
organization because of social obligations
-consequences of low organizational commitment include high levels of absenteeism,
intent to quit, voluntary turnover, unwillingness to share and make sacrifices for the
company and personal consequences like being discontent with life in general.
Building Affective Commitment
Justice and support
• Apply humanitarian values e.g. fairness, courtesy, integrity
• Support employee well-being
Shared values
• Employees believe their values are congruent with the organization’s dominant values
Trust
• Positive expectations one person has toward another person in situations involving risk
• Reciprocal activity -- employees trust mgt when they show trust in employees
• Job security supports trust
Organizational comprehension
• How well employees understand the organization -- strategic direction, social dynamics,
and physical layout
• Employees need a clear mental model of the organization – announcements, co-worker
meetings, learn about history and plans
Employee involvement
• Psychological ownership and social identity -- feel part of company
• Involvement demonstrates trust – builds loyalty
Employee Engagement (Loyalty)
-employee engagement (loyalty) is the state of emotional and intellectual involvement
that employees have in an organization.
-organizational loyalty is a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the
organization. As well, it is an urge to remain in the organization in order to complete its
goals and a willingness to exert inordinate amounts of effort to accomplish these goals. employees who are loyal to a company will often brag about the company and will stay
with the company even if the company is experiencing difficult times.
-job satisfaction and organizational commitment are often precursors of
organizational loyalty (refer to class discussion)
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Prosocial Behavior: Helping others at work
-prosocial behavior involves performing actions at work that benefits others, usually
without requiring anything obvious or immediate in return.
-an example of prosocial behavior is organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)
-OCBs tend to be: (1) above and beyond job requirements; (2) discretionary in nature;
and (3) not formally rewarded by the organization.
-specific forms of OCBs include altruism, conscientiousness, civic virtue, being a good
sport, and courtesy.
-research has indicated that the antecedents of OCBs are as follows:
Procedural
Justice
Trust
OCB
Distributive
Justice
Where procedural justice is the perception that the procedures used to determine
outcomes are fair (e.g., the rules of organization X state that you have to work for a year
to get a promotion, and so you do, and you get promoted. Then you see another worker
promoted to your same position after working only 6 months... you would feel
organization X had low procedural justice); distributive justice is the perception that
organizational rewards and compensations are given out fairly (e.g., if you find out that
the male managers with one year of experience in the organization get $15/hour while the
female managers with one year of experience get $12/hour, distributive justice would be
considered low); and trust is the belief among employees that they will be treated fairly
by their supervisors /organization.
-what are the effects of OCBs in organizations?
Psychological Contract
-the psychological/informal/loyalty contract our parents and grandparents were
accustomed to no longer exists
-this is due in part to the changing organizational landscape (e.g., downsizing, mergers,
acquisitions, forging of strategic alliances, dynamic global competition, concern with the
“bottom line/share price”, etc.). Another factor (as discussed in class) involves the fact
that we are in the midst of the “changing nature of work” - e.g., among other things, (1)
careers now rarely move upward through the corporate ladder (which used to signal more
job security); (2) they move laterally, rotating through several different jobs (job rotation)
and/or geographic locations; (3) job are constantly changing and sometimes melding with
other jobs in the company; and (4) increasingly, individuals spend more time as
independent contractors or subcontractors.
-as a result, individuals can no longer count on job security
-experts suggest that individuals should focus on using each job or assignment as a means
of acquiring new and valuable skills - in essence, as a way of becoming more marketable
for their next job
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-experts suggest that individuals can fill four distinct roles in today’s organizations: (1)
planners of corporate strategy; (2) project managers; (3) resource providers; and (4)
talents
Work-Related Stress and Stress Management
“stress is an individual’s response to a situation that is perceived
as challenging or threatening to the person’s well-being”
The Basic Nature of Stress
-stress refers to a complex pattern of emotional states, physiological reactions, and
related thoughts occurring in the response to external demands or stimuli (stressors)
-Eustress vs. distress
•Eustress -low levels of stress necessary for life - activates and motivates people to
achieve goals
•Distress - the degree of physiological, psychological, and behavioural deviation from
healthy functioning
-strain refers to the effects of stress – deviations from normal states or performance
resulting from exposure to stressful events (typically occurs when stress from one domain
spills over into another domain).
General Adaptation Syndrome (describes the stress experience)
1. Alarm reaction
•
Perceived threat/challenge -- higher respiration rate, blood pressure, heart
beat, and muscle tension
•
Energy level and coping effectiveness initially lower
2. Resistance
•
Dealing with the stress/stressor
-adrenaline increases; try to remove the stressor
•
More vulnerable to illness with energy focused on stress
3. Exhaustion
•
Limited store of energy is depleted
•
Increased long-term risks if exhaustion continues
-what is the fight or flight response??
-why do you think our fight or flight response is our silent killer?
Major Causes of Stress
-stress stems from both work-related causes and factors outside of work
-some of the most important work-related causes of stress are: (1) role conflict
(competing demands of work and family obligations); (2) role ambiguity; (3) overload;
(4) underload; (5) low task control; (6) responsibility for others; (7) lack of social
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support; (8) sexual harassment; (9) workplace violence; (10) workplace bullying; (11)
reduced job security as a result of organizational downsizing and/or restructuring
-causes of stress outside work include traumatic life events and the daily hassles of
everyday life.
Individual Differences in Stress
People have different stress reactions to same stressors
1.
Perceive the situation differently
e.g. high self-efficacy people have less stress because they
perceive fewer threats
2.
Different threshold levels of resistance to a stressor
threshold decreases with age
3.
Some people use better stress coping strategies
•
•
•
Type A/Type B Behaviour Patterns
Type As may experience more stress than Type Bs
Type As -- competitive, impatient, lose temper --work faster, choose more
challenging tasks, more self-motivated, more effective in time pressure jobs
Type Bs -- less competitive, more casual/systematic
-better interpersonal skills -- more senior executives
-- more productive in jobs requiring patience, cooperation, and thoughtful
judgment
Workaholism
Different types of workaholics
-Stereotypic workaholic – Highly involved in work, inner pressure, feels
driven to work, low enjoyment
-Enthusiastic workaholic – High involvement, drive to succeed, high
enjoyment
-Work enthusiasts – high work involvement & enjoyment, low drive to
succeed
Effects of Stress
-stress adversely influences task performance, even at relatively low levels
-in addition, it exerts harmful effects on psychological well-being
-prolonged exposure to stress can lead to burnout (a syndrome consisting of physical,
emotional, and mental exhaustion, plus intense feelings of low personal accomplishment)
-stress has also been linked to various degenerative diseases such as heart disease, high
blood pressure, ulcers, diabetes, and infectious diseases as well
-some individuals such as Type A’s are more prone to the effects of stress, while Type
B’s are more resistant to the adverse effects of stress.
-the consequences of stress can be broken down into physiological, psychological
and behavioral effects:
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Consequences of Stress
1. Physiological consequences
•
Cardiovascular diseases -- high blood pressure, coronary heart disease
(strokes, heart attacks)
•
Ulcers, hypertension, headaches, muscle pain
2. Psychological consequences
•
Job dissatisfaction, moodiness, depression and emotional fatigue
2a. Job burnout
•
Caused by excessive demands from serving or frequently interacting with
others
•
Three main elements in a sequence
1.
emotional exhaustion -- feeling of lack of energy
2.
cynicism or depersonalization – indifferent attitude toward work,
treating others like objects, emotionally detached, cynical about the
organization
3.
reduced personal efficacy or accomplishment -- feelings of lower
competency
•
Burnout most common in helping occupations (e.g. nurses,
teachers)
3. Behavioural consequences
•
Work performance, accidents, decisions, conflict
•
Absenteeism increases because:
-stress makes people sick
-absence is a form of flight -- coping mechanism
•
Workplace aggression
-a consequence of extreme stress, not just the temperament of
certain individuals
-represents the “fight” reaction to stress
verbal abuse, harassment and assault
Managing Stress
Many interventions are available to manage work-related stress, including removing the
stressor, withdrawing from the stressor, changing stress perceptions, controlling stress
consequences, and receiving social support (see pp. 105-107).
-something else to think about - techniques for managing stress exist both at the personal
and organizational level:
Personal Techniques: (1) lifestyle management such as good diet and exercise; (2)
physiological techniques such as meditation and relaxation; (3) cognitive techniques
which involve changes in the way individuals think about stress and situations that
produce it; and (4) finding social support (e.g., family, friends, church)
Organizational-Based Techniques: (1) the adoption of family-supportive policies such
as flexible work schedules and provision of day care for children and elder care; (2)
stress-management programs designed to teach employees various techniques for
managing stress; (3) employee assistant programs (EAP) which assist employees in
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dealing with important problems (e.g., substance abuse, career planning, financial and
legal problems, divorce); and (4) finding social support (e.g., a mentor)
Discussion Questions
1.
If “happy employees are not necessarily productive workers” then how are job
satisfaction and productivity related? How would you make your employees both
productive and satisfied?
10 marks
2.
As a result of “the changing organizational landscape” and “the changing nature
of work” individuals today are thinking about their careers differently? Explain.
Use concrete examples to support your logic.
10 marks
3.
Because the informal “employment contract” has basically disappeared,
employees are not as committed or loyal to their organizations – what can
organizations do to restore organizational commitment and loyalty? 10 marks
4.
Currently, stress-related problems cost Canadian business in excess of $12 billion
a year. Experts predict that by 2015, the number one reason for short and long
term disability claims will be stress-related illnesses (and organizations will be
“bearing the brunt” of much of the cost). Why do you think this will be the case?
What can organizations do now to prevent this eventuality?
10 marks
5.
Suppose you were faced with the task of choosing employees for a high-stress
job. What personal characteristics would you seek in these individuals? What
characteristics would you try to avoid? Explain your logic. (Chapters 1-3 would
also be good reference materials for this question)
10 marks
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