“Understanding Emotions
and the Myth of Rationality”
Elizabeth J. Rozell, Ph.D.
Kenneth E. Meyer Professor of Management
Missouri State University
What Is Perception, and Why Is It Important?
Perception
A process by which
individuals organize and
interpret their sensory
impressions in order to
give meaning to their
environment.
• People’s behavior is
based on their
perception of what
reality is, not on
reality itself.
• The world as it is
perceived is the world
that is behaviorally
important.
Person Perception: Making Judgments About
Others
Attribution Theory
When individuals observe
behavior, they attempt to
determine whether it is
internally or externally
caused.
Distinctiveness: shows different behaviors in different situations.
Consensus: response is the same as others to same situation.
Consistency: responds in the same way over time.
Errors and Biases in Attributions
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency to underestimate
the influence of external factors
and overestimate the influence
of internal factors when making
judgments about the behavior
of others.
In general, we
tend to blame the
person first, not
the situation.
Errors and Biases in Attributions (cont’d)
Self-Serving Bias
The tendency for individuals to
attribute their own successes
to internal factors while
putting the blame for failures
on external factors.
Thought: When student
gets an “A” on an exam,
they often say they studied
hard. But when they don’t
do well, how does the self
serving bias come into
play?
Hint: Whose fault is it
usually when an exam is
“tough”?
Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging Others
Selective Perception
People selectively interpret what they see on the
basis of their interests, background, experience,
and attitudes.
Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging Others
Halo Effect
Drawing a general impression
about an individual on the
basis of a single characteristic
Contrast Effects
Evaluation of a person’s characteristics that
are affected by comparisons with other
people recently encountered who rank higher
or lower on the same characteristics
Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging Others
Projection
Attributing one’s own
characteristics to other
people.
Stereotyping
Judging someone on the
basis of one’s perception of
the group to which that
person belongs.
Specific Applications in Organizations
 Employment Interview
– Perceptual biases of raters affect the accuracy of
interviewers’ judgments of applicants.
 Performance Expectations
– Self-fulfilling prophecy (Pygmalion effect): The lower or
higher performance of employees reflects preconceived
leader expectations about employee capabilities.
 Ethnic Profiling
– A form of stereotyping in which a group of individuals
is singled out—typically on the basis of race or
ethnicity—for intensive inquiry, scrutinizing, or
investigation.
Specific Applications in Organizations (cont’d)
 Performance Evaluations
– Appraisals are often the subjective (judgmental)
perceptions of appraisers of another employee’s job
performance.
Emotions- Why Emotions Were Ignored in OB
 The “myth of rationality”
– Organizations are not emotion-free.
 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.
What Are Emotions?
Affect
A broad range of emotions
that people experience.
Emotions
Moods
Intense feelings that are
directed at someone or
something.
Feelings that tend to be
less intense than
emotions and that lack a
contextual stimulus.
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.
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.
Emotion Continuum
 The closer any two emotions are to each other on
the continuum, the more likely people are to
confuse them.
Source: Based on R.D. Woodworth, Experimental Psychology (New York: Holt, 1938).
OB Applications of Understanding Emotions
 Ability and Selection
– Emotions affect employee effectiveness.
 Decision Making
– Emotions are an important part of the decision-making
process in organizations.
 Motivation
– Emotional commitment to work and high motivation
are strongly linked.
 Leadership
– Emotions are important to acceptance of messages
from organizational leaders.
OB Applications… (cont’d)
 Interpersonal Conflict
– Conflict in the workplace and individual emotions are
strongly intertwined.
 Customer Services
– Emotions affect service quality delivered to customers
which, in turn, affects customer relationships.
 Deviant Workplace Behaviors
– Negative emotions lead to employee deviance (actions
that violate norms and threaten the organization).
•
•
•
•
Productivity failures
Property theft and destruction
Political actions
Personal aggression
Emotional Intelligence: The Concept
Emotional
Intelligence
An assortment of
noncognitive skills,
capabilities, and
competencies that
influence a person’s
ability to succeed in
coping with
environmental
demands and
pressures.
 Emotional Intelligence (EI)
• Self-awareness
• Self-management
• Self-motivation
• Empathy
• Social skills
 Research Findings
• High EI scores, not high
IQ scores, characterize
high performers.
Emotional Intelligence
“We are being judged by a
new yardstick; not just how
smart we are, or by our
training and expertise, but
also how well we handle
ourselves and each other.”
Daniel Goleman, Ph.D.
Working with
Emotional Intelligence
What is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is not about being nice all the time.
• It is about being honest.
Emotional intelligence is not about being “touchy-feely.”
• It is about being aware of your feelings, and those of
others.
Emotional intelligence is not about being emotional.
• It is about being smart with your emotions.
Personal Benefits of Emotional Intelligence
• Greater career success
• Stronger personal relationships
• Increased optimism and confidence
• Better health
Professional Benefits of Emotional Intelligence
• Effective leadership skills
• Improved communication
• Less workplace conflict
• Better problem solving skills
• Increased likelihood of promotion
The Five Essential Competencies of
Emotional Intelligence
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Regulation
Relate to Ourselves
• Self-Motivation
• Empathy
Relate to Others
• Effective Relationships
Self-Awareness
“If you understand your own feelings
you get a really great handle
on how you’re going to interact
and perform with others…
So one of the first starting
points is, ‘what’s going on
inside of me?’”
Chuck Wolfe
President,
C. J. Wolfe Associates, LLC
Self-Regulation
“If we are in a heightened state
of agitation or anger we cannot
make good decisions,
we cannot reason well.”
Christine Casper
Communication, Motivation
& Management Inc.
Self-Motivation
“High performers are those who are
able to see with some clarity
to what degree they are
responsible for a setback and
to what degree it may be
circumstance or other people,
and as a result they are
able to be more persistent.”
Dr. J.P. Pawliw-Fry
Co-Director,
Inst. For Health & Human Potential
Empathy
“If people will stop for a moment and put
themselves in another person’s shoes…
it will help them modify their
own behavior. It will help
them develop relationships
with those people.”
Darryl Grigg, Ed.D.
Co-Developer,
American Express Emotional Competence Program
Social Skills
"And so there's a real pay-off.
The people who will become
the leaders, the people who
will become the star
performers, are the ones who
have the strengths in the key
emotional intelligence
abilities."
Daniel Goleman, Ph.D.
Founder,
Emotional Intelligence Services
Rozell’s Research Stream in EI
Topics of Recent Publication
• EI as a predictor of performance in salespeople
• EI as a predictor of workplace aggression
• EI as a predictor of group satisfaction
• EI as a moderator of emotional labor and burnout
• EI as a predictor of impression management
Rozell’s Research Stream in EI (cont.)
Topics of Recent Publication
• EI and ethical decision making
• EI and work attitudes
• EI and organizational citizenship behaviors
• EI and management development
• EI and international students in business school
curriculum
Example Study #1
EI and Workplace Aggression
Research Question:
• Does EI impact workplace aggression?
We expected that as a person’s EI increased, his or her
ability to control negative emotions would be enhanced,
and therefore, workplace aggression would decrease.
Sample:
• 110 behavioral health workers
Example Study #1 (cont.)
Findings:
• Verbal aggression – no significance
• Physical aggression – significant
• Hostility – significant
• Anger – no significance
Implications:
• Organizations should seek to hire and retain
employees with high emotional intelligence.
• Also implications for training, selection, placement
practices, and performance appraisal practices.
Example Study #2
EI and Performance in Salespeople
Research Question:
• Does EI impact performance in salespeople?
We expected that the highest levels of sales
performance would be achieved by salespeople
possessing the highest levels of EI.
Sample:
• 103 salespeople employed by a national company
that specializes in medical devices.
Example Study #2 (cont.)
Findings:
• Performance significantly related to emotional
intelligence
• Emotional awareness – significant
• Internal emotional control – significant
• External emotional control – no significance
Implications:
• Important for a salesperson to have ability to control
own emotions (e.g. rejection) and have empathy (e.g.
understand) needs of clients.
• Implications for sales training, job assignment, and
selection.
Questions?