Eighteenth Annual Meeting of ANZAM
Emotions in Organizations:
A Multilevel Perspective
Neal M. Ashkanasy, PhD
Emotion at five levels of organization
Ashkanasy, N.
M. (2003).
Emotions in
organizations: A
multilevel
perspective. In
F. Dansereau
and F. J.
Yammarino
(Eds.), Research
5. Organization-wide
Organizational policies; requirement for emotional labor;
stress and wellbeing; emotional climate and culture
4. Groups
Affective composition; emotionally intelligent groups;
emotional contagion; leader-member exchange
3. Interpersonal Interactions
Emotional labor; emotional exchange;
displayed vs. felt emotion
in multi-level
issues, vol. 2:
Multi-level
issues in
organizational
behavior and
strategy (pp. 954). Oxford,
2. Between persons
Trait affectivity, affective commitment; job
satisfaction; burnout; emotional intelligence
1. Within-person
State affect; affective events;
discrete emotions; mood; behaviors
UK: Elsevier
Science
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page 2
Level 1: Within-person variation in emotion
Affective Events theory
(Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996)
Work Environment
• Nature of the job
• Requirement for
emotional labor
Work Events
•
•
Daily hassles
Daily uplifts
Judgment-driven Behaviors
• Quitting
• Anti- or pro-social behaviors
• Productive work
Experienced Emotions
• Positive emotions
• Negative emotions
Personal Dispositions
•
•
Trait affect
Emotional intelligence
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•
•
•
Work Attitudes
• Job satisfaction
• Loyalty
• Commitment
Affect-driven Behaviors
Impulsive acts
Spontaneous helping
Transient effort
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Neuropsychological Basis of Emotion
Sensory cortex
(Primary)
Sensory cortex
(Association)
2
Perirhinal cortex
3
Sensory Thalamus
LEM
EX
4
1
Hippocampal
Formation
AMYGDALA
Sensory stimulus
Central Gray
LH
BNST
RVL
Emotional behavior Autonomic
Nervous
system
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PVN
HypothalamicPituitary axis
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Level 2: State and trait mood
High positive
affect
Exulted, enthusiastic,
excited
Pleasantness
Happy
Low
negative
affect
Engagement
Aroused
Fearful,
nervous,
hostile
Calm
Quiet
Disengagement
High
negative
affect
Sad
Drowsy, sluggish
Unpleasantness
Low positive
affect
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Level 2: Emotional Intelligence
The ability to perceive emotions, to access and
generate emotions so as to assist thought, to
understand emotions and emotional knowledge,
and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to
promote emotional and intellectual growth
(Mayer & Salovey, 1997)
 Differentiated from personality measures
on theoretical basis
 Differentiated from impression management
by emotion focus
 Capable of being changed
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Level 3: Communicating emotion
Obicularis Oculi
Zygomatic Major
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Level 3: Emotional labor
 The “work” of emotion
 Ref. Hochschild: The Managed Heart
 Effects on wellbeing
 Effects on performance
 Within the organization
 At the customer interface
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Some Recent research
1.
A study of emotion
in the board room
… with Jean Altohoff
2.
Follower perceptions
of their leader
… with Marie Dasborough
3.
Emotional intelligence and follower
perceptions
… with Marie Dasborough
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Level 3, 4: Emotion in the Boardroom
Jean Althoff
 Participants answer to a
newspaper ad, and
complete the MSCEIT
( an ability-based test of
emotional intelligence)
 Participants view a realistic movie of a
boardroom meeting (“About face”)
 … then rate still frames of the board members’
emotional expressions …
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What Emotion is this?
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Results of boardroom study
 Females more accurate then males
 … but it’s all explained in terms of emotional
intelligence – females are more emotionally
intelligent than men
 Males and females base their recognition on
different mechanisms
 Females base recognition on
perception
 Males base recognition on
understanding
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Level 4: Emotion in Leadership
Marie Dasborough




Participants: 147 Australian undergraduates
Step 1:
Mood manipulation (movies)
Step 2:
View “charismatic” leader’s speech
Step 3:
Receive “I” or “we” e-mail from the
leader (in the video)
 Step 4:
Measure attribution to
manipulative
or sincere intentions.
 Step 5:
Measure emotional
reaction
 Step 5:
Labeling of the leader
and willingness
to comply with the
leader’s request
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Follower Perceptions of Leader Influence
Positive
emotional
reaction
Leader
Influence
behavior
Follower
attribution of
manipulative
intent
-
Negative
emotional
reaction
The “dark side” of
charismatic leadership?
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Labeling of the
leader as
“authentic” and
trustworthy
-
Follower’s
Intention to comply
with the request
CFI = .91, RMSEA = .06
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Emotional intelligence and follower perceptions
 High emotional intelligence
 More accurate perception of emotion
 More understanding of emotion
 Better control of emotional reactions
 Low emotional intelligence
 Less accurate perception of emotion
 Less understanding of emotion
 Worse control of emotional reactions
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Level 5: Culture and climate
“Emotional Climate” (De Reviera)
“Climate of Fear”
(Ashkanasy & Nicholson, 2003)
Emotional antecedents
ofculture
The “emotionally
healthy” organization
(Ashkanasy & Daus,
2002)
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On-going Research
 2003-5 Grant, Sponsored by the Australian
Research Council (in conjunction with the
Military Family Research Institute, Purdue
University).
 Projects:
 Affective events and leadership
 Group-Level effects and affective
climate
 AET and employee performance
in the organizational and social
context
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Related activities
 “Emonet”




Active e-mail discussion group
Affiliated with the Academy of Management
Web page http://www.uq.edu.au/emonet/
E-mail n.ashkanasy@uq.edu.au to join
 Conferences






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First conference in San Diego, 1998
Second Conference in Toronto, 2000
Third Conference at the Gold Coast, Australia, 2002
Fourth Conference in London, June 2004
Fifth Conference in Atlanta, August 2006
“Caucuses” at Academy of Management meetings in
odd-numbered years
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Key Publications
 Journal of Organizational Behavior Special
Edition (March, 2000, with C. Fisher)
 Human Performance Special Issue
(June, 2004)
 Edited Books (with C. Härtel and W. Zerbe, based on
– but not limited to - the best conference papers).
 Emotions in the Workplace,
Quorum, 2000
 Managing Emotions in the
Workplace, ME Sharpe, 2002
 Emotion in Organizational
Behavior, Erlbaum, 2004
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New Elsevier Book Series
Research on Emotion in Organizations
 Publisher: Elsevier Science, Oxford
 Based on conference papers + invited papers
 Volume 1
 Editors: Ashkanasy, Zerbe, Härtel
 “Affect and its effects in organizational
settings”
 Publication in June/July, 2005
 Volume 2
 Editors: Zerbe, Ashkanasy, Härtel
 “Displaying and managing emotions in
organizations”
 Publication in April, 2006
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Conclusions
 Extension of Ashforth and Humphrey’s call for
more focus on emotion in organizations.
 Emotion is emerging as a key management
and leadership skill.
 Understanding of emotion is
based on knowledge of basic
processes.
 Emotion as a source of future
research opportunity.
 New Elsevier Book Series
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