Emotions - Interpersonal Communication and Workplace - Essay Example

Emotions: interpersonal Communication and Workplace Department Emotions: interpersonal Communication and Workplace Introduction Emotions are behavioral, physiological and communicative reactions to stimuli that are cognitively experienced and processed as emotions (Payne & Cooper, 2001, p. 23). They are mostly experienced by physiological changes such as a tense stomach, a cold chill or increased heart rate among others. Such physiological reaction tend to not get noticed by others and therefore are intrapersonal except if we show some changes in behavior that makes others have a clue of what is happening. Sometimes the behavior resulting from emotions is voluntary, for instance, when we ignore someone else to show that we are angry with them or involuntary when we avoid eye contact with other people because we are nervous. When people communicate by use of emotions, they call attention to themselves and provide information to others that may inform how their reaction should be. Often, people learn through socialization how to display and read emotions. However, some people are undoubtedly better in reading emotions than others (Payne & Cooper, 2001, p. 28). Discussion Emotions are expressed in two forms; primary emotions and secondary emotions. Primary emotions are experienced for a short time. The reaction is as a result of an outside stimulus and experienced similarly across cultures. Such emotions include joy, anger, fear, distress, disgust and surprise. Secondary emotions do not tend to be innate as primary emotions. They always have a corresponding facial expression that makes them to be recognized by other people. The secondary emotions are processed by a different part of the brain that encompasses higher order thinking. They are not reflexive and include guilt, shame, pride, love, embarrassment, envy, jealousy and pride. They develop over time and take long to fade away. They are regarded as interpersonal since they are experienced many times in relation to real or imagined others. Consequently, they tend to be more influenced by thoughts that can be managed. It means that people can become competent communicators through becoming aware of how they experience and express their secondary emotions. There is more cultural variation in the expression and meaning of secondary emotions hence they are still universal for they are experienced by all cultures (Payne & Cooper, 2001, p. 30). Emotions are shaped by perceptions, social experiences, physiology and language. These elements interact continuously to come up with people’s experience of emotions. Theories of emotions are related to social influences, perceptional influences and physiological influences (Payne & Cooper, 2001, p. 31). Perceptional view asserts that the subjective perception is responsible for shaping what external phenomena means to us. The external events only gain meaning when people attribute significance to them. Physiological view asserts that in the incidence that an event occurs, people tend to respond physiologically which results to emotions. Societal view asserts that the communities and societies we live in affect what people perceive and what they do not and how they organize, respond and interpret what is perceived. People communicate emotions through three main concepts; framing rules, feeling rules and emotion work. Framing rules will define the emotional meaning of incidents and situations. Feeling rules portrays what we have the right to feel in the incidences and situations. It reflects the values and perpetuates them in reference to the society and the roles assigned to diverse groups in the society. Emotional work reveals that there is some effort that is generated when people think about what the appropriate feelings regard the situation. Although people do emotional work often, they are aware of engaging in the situations if the feelings are inappropriate in specific situations (Hartel, Zerbe & Ashkanasy, 2005, p. 113). Emotional intelligence dictates people’s competence in social and personal situations. People are said to be emotionally intelligent if they are self-aware and can accurately assess their strengths or limit their actions in a self-confident way. Emotional intelligence has impact to a person’s social competence because it involves a person’s ability to develop healthy relationships and in addition perceive and interpret the emotions of other people. Having emotional intelligence enables a person select responses that are socially acceptable and appropriate to the other people’s emotions (Hartel, Zerbe & Ashkanasy, 2005, p. 125). Emotional intelligence involves a personal being in touch with their inner feelings and dealing with the emotions and ensuring they do not overcome you. In addition, it involves having a strong and realistic sense of optimism and being able to listen to other people feelings in order to learn from them. Emotional intelligence controls and directs a significant role in the workplace. Emotions are a part of peoples workplaces. They cannot be ignored because workplaces consist of people with diverse ways of perception on things and personalities hence subject to different emotions (Hartel, Zerbe & Ashkanasy, 2002, p. 76). A successful organization or company will take time to understand this fact and the relevant managers will work towards creating a positive and conducive atmosphere for the employees. Emotions in conjunction with personalities and perceptions tend to affect peoples interaction processes at work place with each other. It also affects how people make decisions, how managers handle their employees and how conflicts are handled in line with the organizational goals. If employees interact well at work place, it is evident that they will be more productive, and their morale uplifted. Experiencing and expressing emotions, particularly in relation to communication that are positive tend to enhance the performances at individual and group levels and the organization as a whole. In reference to most organizational structures, there is a great requirement of emotional labor. Emotional labor is defined as the employee’s expression of organizationally desired emotion in the line of duty (Hartel, Zerbe & Ashkanasy, 2005, p. 127). Employees must not be overcome by emotions such as depression, panic and anger despite the probable uncertainties they may encounter at work. It tends to be a difficult time, but it is a reality in the current world’s workplace. Inconsistencies between what individuals feel and what is shown are referred to as emotional dissonance. There is a requirement for employees to exercise surface acting where someone can hide inner feelings and display what is expected of them in many organizations. Surface acting along with emotional dissonance can be very vital and dangerous for a company since employees may suffer from what is referred to as bottled feelings and get emotional exhaustion. Organizations need to put focus in emotions at the workplace by evaluating and focusing more energy and resources towards the emotion intelligence of the employees. As stated earlier, emotional intelligence enables a person particularly employees to be self-aware of their emotions, detect other people’s emotions and manage the emotional cues and information. If managers and their employees can read and understand their emotions and those of others, there are higher chances of emotional intelligence and an overall good job performance that brings about satisfaction within the organization. There is a need to understand the effects that accompany negative workplace emotions by the employees. One of the most possible is employee deviance that occurs when an employee engages in voluntary actions that go against the established norms hence threatening the organization and its members. Actions related to deviance have five categories. These include production, property, political and personal aggression (Hartel, Zerbe & Ashkanasy, 2002, p. 83). Employees tend to leave early or intentionally work slow. On the other hand, the atmosphere is filled with a lot of blame games, gossiping, verbal abuse and sabotage among the workers. The impacts of emotions at workplace reveal that negative feeling have significant effects on job performances at individual levels and organization as a whole. Anger at work place leads to aggression directed to colleagues and on the other hand sadness leads to job dissatisfaction. Conflict or envy with fellow workers also leads to fights and probable absenteeism. Positive emotions tend to increase creativity at the workplace and encourage helping behavior among people. Moreover, it reduces aggression and encourages cooperation at workplace. The ability to handle or express emotions influence the task on which a person is working on. It shows the efforts they put and its influences the people around him or her at the workstation. Research shows that the positive mood at workplace leads to efficient and effective decision making. It does not however mean that decisions taken at bad moods are disruptive (Hartel, Zerbe & Ashkanasy, 2005, p. 130). Every employee has the capability of contributing to a positive or negative culture at workplace place depending on how they express and control emotions. To ensure success managers are entitled to understand emotions and their effects on employees, their colleagues and the entire business as a whole. It is imperative to understand the range of feeling evident at workplace and use this to inspire people and bring about positive outcomes. In addition, interpersonal communication is necessary for a person to function not only at the workplace but also in society as a whole (Hartel, Zerbe & Ashkanasy, 2002, p. 88). It helps people connect and develop empathy with the other people, which contributes not only to morale at workplace place but also physical and mental health. Conclusion It is evident that emotions are an important aspect of interpersonal communication and has both positive and negative impact to individuals, business and society as a whole. Having ability to control emotions is a key aspect when relating and communicating with others. In addition, we have also discussed that emotional intelligence is a significant aspect that determines how employees engage and solve problems that arise at work places. Personality and perceptions are also concepts that go in line with emotions since they seem to be diverse among people. At the workplace, one meets people who are from different background and have been brought up with different ways in regards to socialization. Managers should ensure that they focus on the emotions and their effects to the employees and the organization as a whole (Hartel, Zerbe & Ashkanasy, 2002, p. 90). References Ashkanasy, N. M., Zerbe, W. J., & HäRtel, C. E. J. (2002). Managing emotions in the workplace. Armonk, N.Y., M.E. Sharpe. HäRtel, C. E. J., Zerbe, W. J., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (2005). Emotions in organizational behavior. Mahwah, N.J., Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Payne, R., & Cooper, C. L. (2001). Emotions at work theory, research, and applications in management. Chichester, West Sussex, England, Wiley. Read More