Is Understanding of Emotions in the Workplace Necessary to Study Organizational Behavior - Literature review Example

Organization Behavior “Debate whether an understanding of emotions in the workplace is necessary to the study of organizational behavior”. Introduction Conceptually, the term organization behavior is used to refer to a systematic, observable and habitual way in which employees in an organization act and react in their most natural selves. It refers to how employees interact with each other, with superiors and juniors, with customers, with the society in which they operate in and with all the other publics of that organization. As Ashkanasy & Zerbe (2000) says, to attain an understanding of organization behavior in its true colors, it is important that we evaluate what determines, builds, influences and indicates particular organization behaviors. For instance, and for the purposes of this paper, employee emotions when at the place of work can be very influential to the organization’s behavior. Establishing whether the employee workplace emotions are relevant in determining the organization behavior is the central mandate of this paper. To arrive at a conclusive discussion, the paper begins by introducing organization behavior as a practical (not theoretical) concept in the work place. The practical indicators of organization behavior are exemplified in brief. The paper also endeavors to establish some elements of organization behavior and modes or studying such a behavior. After a thorough understanding of organization behavior, the paper then evaluates the conception of work place emotions in a scholarly approach. The objective here is to see whether the emotions exhibited by employees are in any way relevant to the organization behavior characteristic of any establishment. As the paper details, emotions are the major determinant factor in organization (Morris & Feldman, 1997 p. 17). Thesis Statement In studying organization behavior, emotions are a significant element of analysis since, the diverse range of emotions exhibited by employees in a workplace influence how they act on a daily basis and ultimately translates to the consistent organization behavior of the firm at large. Relevant Contemporary Concepts The study of organization behavior only emerged as a distinct field in the 1950’s and only as a subset of the organization theory. Since then, scholarly attempts have been made to integrate the distinct perspectives of human behavior and management in such a way as creates an understanding of what underlies behavioral dynamics of organizations. Ashkanasy & Zerbe (2000) point out that emergent theories have gone as far as considering the implications of objective management of employee emotions in a bid to establish a desired organization behavior. Managers are increasingly gaining awareness of how employee emotions can be aroused, used, suppressed and avoided in particular scenarios with organizations. Briner & Kiefer (2005) notes that front office staff and sales representatives are the primal indicators of organization behavior to the outside world. Managing their emotions have been found by most scholars to be relevant in attaining a particular organization behavior as depicted to the external publics of an organization, whether fake or genuine. The process of managing emotions effectively while at the place of work has been given the name Emotional Intelligence (EI). EI is today deemed an important tool in building the employee competency not only to improve relationships at the work place but also to streamline and improve productivity (Ashkanasy & Daus p. 78-86). Organization Behavior For the purposes of this paper, organization behavior is construed as the study of employees and groups of employees’ behavior within an organizational setting. Studying such a behavior incorporates a range of considerations such as employee attitudes, their interpersonal relationships, their performance, their productivity, their job satisfaction and their commitment to the organization’s objectives. Further, the study of organization behavior must analyze the projected behavior by the organization as a wholesome entity, in such areas as corporate image, corporate partnerships and corporate engagements. The behavior depicted by employees within an organization in most cases reflects the same behavior depicted by the organization to the outside world. Elements of Organizational Behavior According to Caruso & Salovey (2004), the chain through which organization behavior is crafted and consolidated is long and very complicated. For instance, every organization is built on four cores. These are the management's philosophy, the values, the vision and the goals. These four elements are the ones that determine the organization’s culture in the three crucial dimensions of formal organization, social environment and informal organization. These three dimensions as charted by the culture represents the leadership structure and protocols, the communication behaviors and the group dynamics of the organization in question. The product of these elements is usually depicted by the employee’s motivation. The employees judge their quality of employment and their work life depending on their degree of motivation. If the motivation is positive and energized, the employee emotions are positive and supportive of the organizational goals. Conversely, performance, employee individual satisfaction, personal growth, self development and relationships improve dramatically. These are finally what defines the behavior of an organization. A careful inspection of the above stated process of formulating organization behavior illustrates the essential components in organization behavior. Emotions (How employees feel and react to the feelings) have a central role in constituting organization behavior (Morris & Feldman, 1997 p. 17). The product of motivation is emotions and from emotions, we create a consistent organization behavior simply because employees will act depending on how they feel. Work Place and Emotions Having seen where emotions originate from in an organizational setting, it is now easy to see how influential emotions can be in workplace settings. The powerful role played by emotions in workplace settings means that organizations can manipulate the emotions towards creating an ideal and objective organization culture. Most work places have traditionally emphasized that emotions when felt must be expressed in carefully and in controlled ways. Uncontrollable expressed emotions are considered terribly unprofessional. This approach is no longer regarded as ideal. Emotion centers in the human brain do not relegate feelings to a secondary place just because we are at work. Instead emotions are always an integral part and a central influence to thoughts, reasoning and intelligence. Emotions help in making decisions, in take action, in solving problems, in coping with change, in interacting with others and in performing duties. That means that there is no way emotions can be eliminated from the work place. Relevance of Emotions in Workplace in the Study of Organization Behavior Customer service behavior of an organization is a perfect exemplification of how emotions determine how an organization and its employees rely on emotions to act in a particular way. No matter how much training a secretary or customer care representative goes through, he or she will only extend warmth and grace to the public that come into the office, only if he or she feels that warmth, that dedication and commitment to please the publics. Without the positive energetic feeling (emotions), he or she will come across as gloomy, unhelpful, arrogant and dismissive, irrespective of her training (Morris & Feldman, 1997 p. 17). It is also important to note that the duty of managers to maintain positive emotional climates in the organizations is not a choice if performance is to be maintained or amplified. This is because emotions are ubiquitous within a workplace (Briner & Kiefer 2005 p. 281-307). Non-emotional workplaces have the poorest performance indices since they do not facilitate the creation and maintenance of working relationships, supportive team work and collaboration in tasks. It is impossible to separate emotions from the workplace since they are an indelible constituent of humans in whatever settings they are. As such, rather than seek to eradicate, ignore or suppress emotions from the organization, managers can better differentiate between positive and negative emotions. Positive emotions are usually resultant of poor motivation and usually create poor behaviors. Good emotions accrue from highly positive motivation and helps establish positive behaviors. In striving for a good organizational behavior, the objective must be facilitating positive emotions in individual employees, in groups and in the organization as a whole (Briner & Kiefer, 2005 p. 281-307). Again, negative emotions mitigate the emergence of counterproductive behaviors and qualities such as stress, envy, sadness, vandalism, jealousy, irritation, aggression between employees, cheating, and high turnover rates. As Barret & Salovey (2002) notes, if these emotions were motivated towards a positive approach, the same employees turn out to be highly productive, competent, industrious, creative, inventive, enterprising, resourceful, reliable, committed, responsible, pleasant, courteous and very friendly (Briner & Kiefer 2005 p. 281-307). All these adjectives, both positive and negative, describe the organization behavior at the individual, group and organization level. The most important thing to note is that they are all derived from emotions; how the employees feel (Briner & Kiefer 2005 p. 281-307). Conclusion Traditionally, organization behavior was thought to be exclusively affected by the corporate culture, the leadership structure and by the management style. Today however, the concept of employee emotions has been adopted as another determining factor. According to Hess (2005), modern managers shrewdly maintain their employees at a particular degree, a degree at which the employees are enthusiastic, committed, vibrant, innovative, adaptive and responsible in their tasks, thereby consolidating an ideal organizational behavior. Conclusively therefore, in any study of organization behavior, the emotions exhibited by employees in the workplace have a central influence on how they act on a daily basis, which translates to the consistent organization behavior of the entire organization. References Ashkanasy, N & Cooper, C Eds., 2008, Research Companion to Emotion in Organizations, Edward Elgar Publishing, New York. Ashkanasy, N, Hartel, C. & Zerbe, W. 2000, Emotions in the Workplace: Research, Theory, and Practice. Quorum Books, Westport, Connecticut, USA. Ashkanasy, N & Daus, C 1993, ‘Emotion in the Workplace: The New Challenge for Managers’, The Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 76-86. Available at Bar-On, R & Parker, J, Eds, 2000, The Handbook of Emotional Intelligence: Theory, Development, Assessment, and Application at Home, School and in the Workplace, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. Barret, L & Salovey, P 2002, The Wisdom in Feeling: Psychological Process in Emotional Intelligence, Guilford Press, New York. Boyatzis, R & McKee, A 2005, Resonant Leadership: Renewing Yourself and Connecting with Others Through Mindfulness, Hope and Compassion, Harvard Business School Press, Boston. Briner, B, & Kiefer, T 2005, Psychological Research into the Experience of Emotion at Work: Definitely Older, But are we Any Wiser? Wiley, New York, pp. 281-307 Caruso, D & Salovey, P 2004, The Emotionally Intelligent Manager: How to Develop and Use the Four Key Emotional Skills of Leadership. Jossey-Bass, San Franscisco. Hess, U 2005, “Emotion At Work”, Ideas, Retrieved on 11 March 2010, from, . Morris, A & Feldman, D 1997, ‘Managing Emotions in the Workplace’, Journal of Managerial Issues, Vol. 9, pp. 17 Read More