4

Emotions and Moods

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

4.1 Differentiate between emotions and moods.
4.2 Identify the sources of emotions and moods.
4.3 Show the impact emotional labor has on employees.
4.4 Describe affective events theory.
4.5 Describe emotional intelligence.
4.6 Identify strategies for emotion regulation.
4.7 Apply concepts about emotions and moods to specific OB issues.

WHAT ARE EMOTIONS AND MOODS? Affect

Emotions can greatly influence our attitudes toward others, our decision making, and A term used to
describe a broad
our behaviors. It can even spark conflict with potentially disastrous consequences. For
range of feelings that
example, after being told to “stop being a crybaby,” one Florida Taco Bell employee people experience,
threw a hot bean burrito at his supervisor, snapped his headset in two, and stormed out including emotions
of the building.1 In truth, we are human and cannot set aside our emotions, but we can and moods.
acknowledge and work with them. And not all emotions have negative influences on us.
For example, when Fausto Martinez found out about Amazon’s minimum wage hike, he Emotions
was extremely happy—he looked forward to a better quality of life, more time with fam- Intense, discrete, and
short-lived feeling
ily, and the lack of a need for a second full-time job.2 By increasing the minimum wage, experiences that are
Amazon was able to improve the quality of life of its employees and stay competitive often caused by a
with regard to retaining them. specific event.
First, however, we need to discuss three terms that are closely intertwined:
affect, emotions, and moods. Affect is a generic term that covers a broad range of feel- Moods
ings, including both emotions and moods.3 Emotions are intense, discrete, and short- Feelings that tend
lived feeling experiences that are often caused by a specific event.4 Moods are longer to be longer lived
and less intense than
lived and less intense feelings than emotions and often arise without a specific event emotions and that
acting as a stimulus.5 Exhibit 4-1 shows the relationships among affect, emotions, lack a contextual
and moods. stimulus.

75

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 76 Part 1 • Understanding Yourself and Others

EXHIBIT 4-1
Affect,
Affect
Emotions, and
• Defined as a broad range of feelings that people experience.
Moods Affect can be experienced in the form of emotions or moods.
• More general (two main dimensions—positive affect and
negative affect—that are composed of multiple specific
emotions)

Emotions Moods
• Caused by specific event • Cause is often general and unclear
• Very brief in duration (seconds • Last longer than emotions (hours
or minutes) or days)
• Specific and numerous in nature • Generally not indicated by distinct
(many specific emotions such as expressions
anger, fear, sadness, happiness,
disgust, surprise)
• Usually accompanied by distinct
facial expressions

As the exhibit shows, affect is a broad term that encompasses emotions and moods.
Affect varies by its valence, or the degree to which the feelings are positive (e.g., excited,
happy, joyous) or negative (e.g., sad, angry, frustrated). Second, there are differences
between emotions and moods. Emotions are more likely to be caused by a specific event
and are more fleeting than moods.

Positive affect Positive and Negative Affect

A dimension that
consists of specific As a first step toward studying the effect of moods and emotions in the workplace, we
positive emotions classify affect into two broad categories: positive and negative. Positive emotions—such
such as excitement, as joy and gratitude—express a favorable evaluation or feeling. Negative emotions—such
enthusiasm, and
elation at the high
as anger and guilt—express the opposite. Keep in mind that emotions cannot be neutral.
end and boredom, Being neutral is being non-emotional.6
sluggishness, and The two categories of affect represent overall affective states, known as positive
tiredness at the low and negative affect (see Exhibit 4-2). So, we can think of positive affect as a mood
end. dimension consisting of positive emotions such as excitement, enthusiasm, and elation
at the high end (high positive affect). Negative affect is a mood dimension consisting of
Negative affect
nervousness, stress, and anxiety at the high end (high negative affect).7
A dimension that
consists of emotions
such as nervousness, The Basic Emotions
stress, and anxiety
at the high end and You might be wondering; how many emotions are there? There are dozens—including
relaxation and calm- anger, contempt, enthusiasm, envy, fear, frustration, disappointment, embarrass-
ness at the low end. ment, disgust, happiness, hate, hope, jealousy, joy, love, pride, surprise, and sadness.

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 Chapter 4 • Emotions and Moods 77

High Negative Tense Alert High Positive EXHIBIT 4-2

Affect Affect The Affective
Nervous Excited
Circumplex
Elated
Stressed

Happy
Upset

Sad Content

Depressed Serene

Bored
Relaxed
Low Positive Low Negative
Fatigued Calm
Affect Affect

Numerous researchers have tried to limit them to a fundamental set.8 Other scholars
argue that by thinking in terms of “basic” emotions, we lose sight of the bigger picture
because emotions can mean different things in different contexts and may vary across
cultures.9 It is unlikely psychologists or philosophers will ever completely agree on a
set of basic emotions, or even on whether there is such a thing. Still, many researchers
agree on six universal emotions—anger, fear, sadness, happiness, disgust, and sur-
prise.10 If you have ever held a job before, you can probably think of times in which
you have experienced these emotions in the workplace; for example, after a bad per-
formance review with your supervisor at the department store where you work, you
might be angry with your boss, fearful of being let go, or surprised that the supervisor
gave you such a poor evaluation.
Psychologists have tried to identify basic emotions by studying how we express
them. Facial expressions have proved difficult to interpret.11 One problem is that some
emotions are too complex to be easily represented on our faces. Second, although
people can, for the most part, recognize emotions across cultures at better-than-chance
levels, this accuracy is worse for cultural groups with less exposure to one another.12
Employees can also vocally express their emotions, and artificial intelligence is
advancing research in this area. For example, one machine learning (see Chapter 1:
What Is Organizational Behavior?) study of speeches from one hundred professional
actors across various English-speaking countries found that people are better at rec-
ognizing the emotions of actors who are from the same country, suggesting that there
are dialect differences in verbally expressing emotions.13 Differentiating the expres-
sion of emotions across cultures is quite important in this era of globalization: you
may find yourself communicating with people from radically different cultures from
you, and understanding the nuances in how they express emotion can be very helpful.
Studying how emotions are displayed, educating yourself on culture-specific emotion
expressions, and paying attention to cues when interacting with people from other
cultures can help you become a better cross-cultural communicator.14

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 78 Part 1 • Understanding Yourself and Others

Moral Emotions
Some emotions are closely tied to our interpretations of the events that evoke them. One
Moral emotions area in which researchers have been furthering this idea is through the study of moral
Emotions that have emotions, that is, emotions that have moral implications because of our instant judgment
moral implications
of the situation that evokes them.15
because of our instant
judgment of the Say you watched a video of a person making a sexist or racist slur. You might
situation that evokes feel disgusted because it offends your sense of right and wrong. In fact, you might feel
them. a variety of emotions based on your moral judgment of the situation.16 Other examples
of moral emotions include sympathy for the suffering of others, guilt about our own
immoral behavior, anger about injustice done to others, and contempt for those who
behave unethically. Therefore, we need to be aware of the moral aspects of situations that
trigger our emotions and make certain we understand the context before we act, espe-
cially in the workplace.17

Experiencing Moods and Emotions

As if it were not complex enough to consider the many distinct emotions a person might
experience, the reality is that we each experience moods and emotions differently. For most
people, positive moods are somewhat more common than negative moods. Indeed, research
finds nearly universal evidence for a positivity offset, meaning that at zero input (when noth-
Positivity offset
The tendency of ing in particular is going on), most individuals experience a mildly positive mood.18 Why is
most individuals to it that we seem to “default” to a positive mood? In general, positive moods enable employ-
experience a mildly ees to perform better, be more creative, be more social, as well as improve their health and
positive mood at zero longevity—for these reasons, humans may have evolved to possess a positivity offset.19
input (when nothing in
particular is going on).
The Function of Emotions
In some ways, emotions are a mystery. What function do they serve? As we discussed, a
large number of reviews suggest that happy employees tend to have positive job attitudes,
engage in fewer withdrawal and counterproductive work behaviors, engage in more task
and citizenship performance, and are even more successful than their unhappy counter-
parts.20 Individuals who tend to experience positive affect consistently as part of their per-
sonalities (see the chapter on personality and values) tend to have positive job attitudes,
experience good social integration with their supervisor and coworkers, experience good
treatment from their organizations, and engage in more task and citizenship performance.21

DO EMOTIONS MAKE US IRRATIONAL? How often have you heard someone say,
“Oh, you’re just being emotional?” You might have been offended. Observations like
this suggest that rationality and emotion are in conflict, and by exhibiting emotion, you
are acting irrationally. The perceived association between the two is so strong that some
researchers argue displaying emotions such as sadness to the point of crying is so toxic
to a career that we should leave the room rather than allow others to witness it.22 This
perspective suggests the demonstration or even experience of emotions can make us seem
weak, brittle, or irrational. However, our emotions can make our thinking more rational.
Why? Because our emotions provide important information about how we understand

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 Chapter 4 • Emotions and Moods 79

the world around us and help guide our behaviors. For instance, individuals in a negative
mood may be better able to discern truthful from inaccurate information than are people
in a happy mood.23 Furthermore, cold rationality does not acknowledge that people are,
by nature, emotional. We would do best to recognize and understand our own emotions
(as well as others’) and use this information in our interactions with others.
When we can identify the sources of emotions and moods, we are better able to
predict behavior and manage people well. Let us explore that topic next.

SOURCES OF EMOTIONS AND MOODS

It’s 8:15 a.m. on Monday, and you are so incredibly excited to tell your coworker,
Jordan, good news about the shiny Pokémon you caught in Pokémon Go. You rush over,
but Jordan immediately stops you and says, “Don’t even talk to me until I’ve had my
coffee.” Defeated, you walk back to your station and continue your opening activities.
You wonder where this bad mood originated from and begin to feel angry emotions
toward your coworker. You mutter under your breath, “I won’t trade the extra shiny
Pokémon I caught with Jordan. We’ll see who’s upset then!” We have all, no doubt,
been in a similar situation before. Clearly, these negative emotions and moods are often
unavoidable and have an impact on our work. Jordan hurt a coworker’s feelings, harm-
ing the functioning of the floor team that day, and now you may be preoccupied with
what Jordan said and miss one of your opening tasks. We are often left wondering
where these emotions and moods originated. Was it really the lack of coffee? Maybe
something else was going on? Here we discuss some of the primary influences on
emotions and moods.

Personality
Moods and emotions have a personality component, meaning that some people have
built-in tendencies to experience certain moods and emotions more frequently than
others do. Is Jordan frequently prone to experiencing negative emotions? It could
be that Jordan’s reaction is a reflection of personality. People also experience the
same emotions with different intensities; the degree to which they experience them
is called their affect intensity.24 Affectively intense people experience both positive Affect intensity
and negative emotions deeply: When they are sad, they are really sad, and when they Individual differences
in the strength with
are happy, they are really happy. Both the tendency to experience positive and nega-
which individuals
tive emotions, as well as the intensity at which we feel them, affects several factors experience their
at work, such as our typical moods, job satisfaction, and engagement at work (see the emotions.
chapter on attitudes and job satisfaction).25 For example, one review of over one hun-
dred studies suggests that the tendency to experience positive emotions and moods is
the strongest predictor of whether an employee is engaged.26

Time of Day
Maybe it was just too early for Jordan to interact with coworkers? Indeed, research does
show that moods vary by the time of day. Furthermore, most of us follow the same pat-
tern. Levels of positive affect tend to peak in the late morning (ten o’clock to noon) and

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 80 Part 1 • Understanding Yourself and Others

then remain at that level until early evening (around seven o’clock). Starting about twelve
hours after waking, positive affect begins to drop until dusk, and then, continues to accel-
erate until midnight. For those who remain awake, the drop continues until positive mood
picks up again after sunrise.27 As for negative affect, most research suggests it fluctuates
less than positive affect,28 but the general trend is for it to increase over the course of a
day, so that it is lowest early in the morning and highest late in the evening.29 A fascinat-
ing study assessed patterns by analyzing millions of Twitter messages from across the
globe.30 The researchers noted the presence of words connoting positive affect (happy,
enthused, excited) and negative affect (sad, angry, anxious). You can see the trends they
observed in the positive affect part of Exhibit 4-3.

Day of the Week

Was this just a case of the “Mondays” for Jordan? In most cultures, Mondays can be ...
“problematic” for employees—for example, as shown in Exhibit 4-3, U.S. adults tend to
experience their highest positive affect on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and their lowest
on Monday.31 This tends to be true in several other cultures. This is not the case in all
cultures, however. In Japan, positive affect is higher on Monday than on either Friday or
Saturday.32 As for negative affect, Monday is the highest negative-affect day across most
cultures.33 However, in some countries, negative affect is lower on Friday and Saturday
than on Sunday. It may be that while Sunday is enjoyable as a day off (and thus we have
higher positive affect), we also get a bit stressed about the week ahead (which is why
negative affect is higher). However, these findings may not generalize to cultures that
do not follow the Monday-Friday work schedule. For example, many countries observe
a Sunday-Thursday work week (e.g., Israel, Malaysia). More research is needed on
whether certain days of the week influence affect in these cultures.

Weather
Maybe Jordan was feeling a little ... “under the weather”? Many people believe their
mood is tied to the weather, and indeed, there are many self-proclaimed “rain haters”
and “summer lovers.”34 However, a large and detailed body of evidence suggests weather
Illusory correlation has little effect on mood, at least for most people.35 Illusory correlation, which occurs
The tendency of when we associate two events that, in reality, have no connection, explains why people
people to associate tend to think weather influences them. For example, employees may be more productive
two events when in
reality there is no
on bad weather days, as a study in Japan and the United States recently indicated, but not
connection. because of mood—instead, the worse weather removed some work distractions.36

Stress
Maybe Jordan was anxious about a worrisome meeting with the manager later that after-
noon? As you might imagine, stressful events at work (a nasty e-mail, impending dead-
line, loss of a sale, reprimand from the boss, etc.) negatively affect moods. The effects
of stress also build over time. As the authors of one study noted, “A constant diet of
even low-level stressful events has the potential to cause workers to experience gradually
increasing levels of strain over time.”37 Mounting levels of stress can worsen our moods,
as we experience more negative emotions. Although sometimes we thrive on it, most of us
find stress usually takes a toll on our mood. In fact, when situations are overly emotionally
charged and stressful, we have a natural response to disengage, to literally look away.38

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 Chapter 4 • Emotions and Moods 81

EXHIBIT 4-3
Time-of-Day
Effects on Mood
of U.S. Adults
Level of Positive Affect

as Rated From
Twitter Postings
Sources: Based
on S. A. Golder
and M. W. Macy,
“Diurnal and Sea-
sonal Mood Vary
with Work, Sleep,
and Daylength
Across Diverse Cul-
tures,” Science 333
(2011), 1878–81;
A. Elejalde-Ruiz,
12AM
1AM
2AM
3AM
4AM
5AM
6AM
7AM
8AM
9AM
10AM
11AM
12PM
1PM
2PM
3PM
4PM
5PM
6PM
7PM
8PM
9PM
10PM
11PM
“Seize the Day,”
Chicago Tribune
Time-of-Day (September 5,
2012), http://
SAT MON THR [Link]
[Link]/

Note: Based on
analysis of U.S.
Twitter post-
ings and coding
of words that
represent positive
feelings (delight,
enthusiasm) and
Level of Negative Affect

negative feelings
(fear, guilt). Lines
represent percent
of total words
in Twitter post
that convey these
moods.
12AM
1AM
2AM
3AM
4AM
5AM
6AM
7AM
8AM
9AM
10AM
11AM
12PM
1PM
2PM
3PM
4PM
5PM
6PM
7PM
8PM
9PM
10PM
11PM

Time-of-Day

SAT MON THU

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 82 Part 1 • Understanding Yourself and Others

Unilever
Sleep
The British-Dutch Maybe Jordan was extremely tired that morning due to a lack of sleep (and, hence, the
multinational
consumer goods
need for coffee)? Apparently, the world could use more sleep. Adults report sleeping
company that less than adults did a generation ago.39 Data mined from millions of users of the “Sleep
produces many of Cycle” application suggest that on average, sleep length and quality has diminished over
the world’s leading the years.40 Sleep quality affects moods and decision making, and increased fatigue puts
consumer brands is workers at risk of disease, injury, and depression.41 Poor or reduced sleep also leads to
actively engaged in
promoting physical
emotional changes and irritability, makes it difficult to control emotions, and can impair
exercise for their job satisfaction.42 On the positive side, increased regular sleep can reduce the negative
employees. As part effects of fatigue and stress on employees.43
of its commitment
to promoting a Exercise
healthy work
environment, To deal with the negative emotions surrounding your interaction with Jordan, have you
Unilever created considered exercising after work (maybe play some more Pokémon Go)? Perhaps you
the Lamplighter
program, which
have heard that people should exercise to improve their mood. Does “sweat therapy”
aims to assess really work? It appears so. Research consistently shows exercise enhances people’s posi-
and enhance tive moods and reduces perceptions of fatigue.44 Exercise can also help protect against
employees’ persistent negative moods and improve the ability to recover from negative experiences.45
physical health,
exercise, nutrition
and mental
Gender
resilience, You may think that Jordan’s behavior may be attributable to gender differences in emo-
mainly through
individualized
tions. Indeed, many people believe women are more emotional than men, but is there any
coaching and truth to this? Although there have been several reviews that have found differences in
training. Studies emotion display across genders that tend to increase with age,46 these tend to be trivial or
have shown that small, and likely reflect differences in upbringing and stereotypes, or even the way emo-
the program has tions are measured, rather than actual gender differences.47 Unfortunately, these stereo-
a clear impact
on employees’
typical perceptions of women as “emotional” and men as “angry” persist in the workplace,
energy levels despite little evidence that they are true. For example, a Denver police commander filed
and emotional a Civil Rights complaint against the city for gender discrimination, noting that the chief
wellbeing. told her she was “emotional” and “immature,” denying her a promotion to deputy chief.48
Unilever’s Let us put together what we have learned about emotions and moods with work-
managers strongly
believe that a
place coping strategies, beginning with emotional labor.
healthy physical
and mental health
environment is EMOTIONAL LABOR
critical for boosting
If you have ever had a job in retail or in sales, or waited on tables in a restaurant, you
employees’
productivity.49 know the importance of projecting a friendly demeanor and smiling. Even though there
were days when you did not feel cheerful, you knew management expected you to be
upbeat when dealing with customers, so you either tried to become upbeat and cheerful,
or you otherwise faked it.
Emotional labor When you work, you expend physical and mental labor or energy by putting your body
An employee’s orga- and mind, respectively, into your job. But jobs also require emotional labor, an employee’s
nizationally desired
emotions during
expression of organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions at work.
interpersonal transac- Emotional labor is a key component of effective job performance.50 We expect flight atten-
tions at work. dants to be cheerful, funeral directors to be sad, and doctors to be emotionally neutral.

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 Chapter 4 • Emotions and Moods 83

Controlling Emotional Displays

The way we experience an emotion is obviously not always the same as the way we show
it. To analyze emotional labor, we divide emotions into felt or displayed emotions.51 Felt Felt emotions
emotions are our actual emotions. In contrast, displayed emotions are those the orga- An individual’s
actual emotions.
nization requires workers to show and considers appropriate in each job. For instance,
research suggests that in U.S. workplaces, it is expected that employees should typically
Displayed emotions
display positive emotions like happiness and excitement, and suppress negative emotions Emotions that are
like fear, anger, disgust, and contempt.52 organizationally
Displaying fake emotions requires us to suppress real ones. Surface acting is hid- required and consid-
ing feelings and emotional expressions in response to display rules. A worker who smiles ered appropriate in a
at a customer even when they do not feel like it is surface acting. Deep acting is trying given job.
to modify our true feelings based on display rules. Surface acting deals with displayed
emotions, and deep acting deals with felt emotions. Surface acting
Hiding one’s feelings
Displaying emotions we do not really feel can be exhausting. Surface acting is and forgoing emo-
associated with increased stress and decreased job satisfaction.53 Daily surface acting tional expressions in
can also lead to emotional exhaustion at home, work–family conflict, absenteeism, and response to display
insomnia.54 On the other hand, deep acting has a positive relationship with job satisfac- rules.
tion (especially when the work is challenging), job performance, and even better cus-
tomer treatment and tips.55 Deep acting
Trying to modify
The disparity between employees having to project one emotion while feeling
one’s true inner feel-
another is called emotional dissonance. Bottled-up feelings of frustration, anger, and ings based on display
resentment can lead to emotional exhaustion. Long-term emotional dissonance is a pre- rules.
dictor for job burnout, declines in job performance, and lower job satisfaction.56
However, research from Germany and Australia suggests that employees who have
a high capacity for self-control, who get a good night’s sleep every day, and who have
strong relationships with their customers or clients tend to be buffered to some degree
from the negative side effects of emotional dissonance.57
Affective events theory, discussed next, describes how emotions and moods arise Emotional
from the experience of work events, and how these in turn affect job satisfaction and job dissonance
performance. Inconsistencies
between the emo-
tions people feel and
AFFECTIVE EVENTS THEORY the emotions they
project.
We have seen that emotions and moods are an important part of our personal and work
lives. But how do they influence our job performance and satisfaction? Affective events Affective events
theory (AET) proposes that employees react emotionally to things that happen to them theory (AET)
A model that suggests
at work, and this reaction influences their job performance and satisfaction.58 For exam-
that workplace events
ple, Lisamarie, a benefits administrator in North Carolina, began the in-vitro fertilization cause emotional
process after she was unable to conceive a child for six years and halfway through, found reactions on the
out her employer was dropping the benefit—she was “gutted,” “lost,” and “cried for a part of employees,
week,” and undoubtedly did not feel satisfied with her job following such a blow.59 which then influence
workplace attitudes
Work events trigger positive or negative emotional reactions, to which employees’
and behaviors.
personalities and moods predispose them to respond with greater or lesser intensity.60
Furthermore, some events tend to be more impactful than others, on a day-to-day basis.
For example, interpersonal mistreatment by customers of part-time workers accounted
for nearly 50 percent of negative affective work events.61

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 84 Part 1 • Understanding Yourself and Others

In sum, AET offers two important messages.62 First, emotions provide valuable
insights into how workplace events influence employee performance and satisfaction.
Second, employees and managers should not ignore emotions or the events that cause them,
even when they appear minor, because they accumulate. Emotional intelligence is another
framework that may help us understand the impact of emotions on job performance.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
As the CEO of an international talent company, Terrie Upshur-Lupberger was at a career
pinnacle. So why was she resentful and unhappy? A close friend observed, “Terrie, you
were out on the skinny branch—you know, the one that breaks easily in a strong wind.
You were so busy and overwhelmed and out of touch with your own values, cares, and
guiding beliefs that you failed to pay attention to the branch that was about to break.”63
According to Upshur-Lupberger, she had failed to notice that her moods constantly
swung toward frustration and exhaustion. Her job satisfaction, productivity, relation-
ships, and results suffered. Worst, she was too busy to realize the deficiencies until she
was completely depleted. She said, “I learned that, as a leader, you either pay attention to
and manage the moods (including your own) in the organization, or ... you ignore them
and pay the price.”64 Upshur-Lupberger learned the value of emotional intelligence.
Employers value emotional intelligence (EI). In one CareerBuilder survey of over
2,500 hiring managers and HR professionals, 59 percent said they would not hire some-
one with high cognitive ability (e.g., IQ), but low EI, and 75 percent said they would be
more likely to promote a high EI candidate over one with high IQ.65 In another study that
tracked college students from graduation to over ten years after entering the workforce,
EI predicted how high the their salary was ten years later, as well as whether the alumni
had a mentor.66
Emotional Emotional intelligence (EI) is a person’s ability to: (1) perceive emotions in one-
intelligence (EI) self and others; (2) understand the meaning of these emotions; and (3) regulate his or her
The ability to detect
own emotions accordingly, as shown in Exhibit 4-4.67 When asked why they value emo-
and to manage
emotional cues and tional intelligence over cognitive ability, the managers in the Career Builder study noted
information. that persons with high EI are more in tune with their emotions, so they can stay calms
under pressure, resolve conflict more effectively, be empathetic with coworkers and team
members, and effectively regulate their emotions.68

EXHIBIT 4-4
Perceive Emotions in Self
A Cascading Conscientiousness
and Others
Model of
Emotional
Intelligence
Understand the Meaning of
Cognitive
Emotions

Emotional Stability Regulate Emotions

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 Chapter 4 • Emotions and Moods 85

Several studies suggest that EI plays an important role in predicting job attitudes
and facilitating academic and job performance, although the survey items are often strik-
ingly similar to other items from personality, intelligence, and self-perception tests.69
Other reviews suggest that EI is related to improving teamwork effectiveness, organiza-
tional citizenship behaviors (OCBs; see Chapter 1: What Is Organizational Behavior?),
and career decision making, as well as reducing counterproductive work behaviors
(CWBs; see Chapter 1: What Is Organizational Behavior?).70 South Korean managers
with high EI tend to have better sales figures than those with low EI because they were
able to create more cohesive stores and improved sales-directed behavior.71
For a leadership perspective, one research study examined eleven U.S. presidents—
from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton—and evaluated them on six qualities: communica-
tion, organization, political skill, vision, cognitive style, and emotional intelligence. The key
quality that differentiated the successful (such as Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Reagan) from the
unsuccessful (such as Johnson, Carter, and Nixon) was emotional intelligence.72 Furthermore,
studies of popularity suggest that it is EI, not narcissism, that predicts long-term popularity.73
As such, leaders and employees alike who are high on EI tend to be more popular and suc-
cessful because they are able to understand and manage their own, and others’, emotions.
However, it appears as if there are limits to the degree to which EI can be helpful in the
workplace. For example, one study of Dutch administrative assistants suggests that EI that
is focused on the self (e.g., self-understanding) decreases the experience of stress, but with
physiological costs, while other-focused EI (e.g., accurately perceiving emotions in others)
only weakly explained task performance.74 This suggests that EI may be costly and not as
effective as we think, especially in emotionally demanding contexts. Furthermore, some
research suggests that EI might even be related to how well people can fake tests (because
they understand what desirable answers are on tests).75 According to this research, if you use
a personality test to screen candidates for a job, those with high EI may be better at faking it.
Although the field is progressing in its understanding of EI, many questions have
not been answered.76 One relates to a better understanding of EI. For example, we need
to be precise when we talk about EI—are we referring to EI in general? Or to regulating
emotions, understanding emotions, or perceiving emotions specifically? A second ques-
tion is about the reliability of EI testing and how best to measure emotional intelligence.
Several advancements have been made in this area, for example, by having test takers
recognize emotions from video clips, and by having them respond with what they would
do in emotionally charged situations.77 A third question is one of the most important for
managers in organizations: Can EI be learned? Several reviews of dozens of studies sug-
gest that EI can be trained and developed as a skill—although paradoxically, the people
who need it the most are the ones least likely to actually seek it out!78
All questions aside, EI is wildly popular among consulting firms and in the popular
press, and it has accumulated some support in the research literature. Love it or hate it,
one thing is for sure—EI is here to stay. So might be our next topic, emotion regulation,
which is increasingly studied as an independent concept.79

EMOTION REGULATION
Emotion regulation
Have you ever tried to cheer yourself up when you were feeling down, or calm your- The process of identi-
self when you were feeling angry? If so, you have engaged in emotion regulation. The fying and modifying
central idea behind emotion regulation is to identify and modify the emotions you feel. felt emotions.

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Recent research suggests that emotion regulation is a strong predictor of task perfor-
mance for some jobs and for OCB.80

Emotion Regulation Influences and Outcomes

As you might suspect, not everyone is equally good at regulating emotions.81 Individuals
who are higher in the personality trait of neuroticism (see the chapter on personality and
values) have more trouble doing so and often find their moods are beyond their ability
to control. Individuals who have lower levels of self-esteem are also less likely to try to
improve their moods, perhaps because they are less likely than others to feel they deserve
to be in a good mood.82 Finally, university seniors who are more focused on mastering
the job search process were better able to regulate their emotions, and engaged in more
job search behaviors as a result.83
The workplace environment influences an individual’s tendency to employ emo-
tion regulation. In general, diversity in work groups increases the likelihood that you
will regulate your emotions. For example, younger employees are likely to regulate their
emotions when their work groups include older members.84 Racial diversity also has an
effect. If diversity is low, the minority may engage in emotion regulation, perhaps to “fit
in” with the majority race as much as possible; if diversity is high and many different
races are represented, the majority race will employ emotion regulation, perhaps to inte-
grate themselves with the whole group.85 These findings suggest a beneficial outcome
of diversity—it may cause us to regulate our emotions more consciously and effectively.
While regulating your emotions might seem beneficial, research suggests there
may be a downside to trying to change the way you feel. Changing your emotions takes
effort, and as we noted when discussing emotional labor, this effort can be exhausting.
Sometimes attempts to change an emotion actually make the emotion stronger; for exam-
ple, trying to talk yourself out of being afraid can make you focus more on what scares
you, which makes you more afraid.86 From another perspective, research suggests that
avoiding negative emotional experiences is less likely to lead to positive moods than does
seeking out positive emotional experiences.87 For example, you are more likely to experi-
ence a positive mood if you have a pleasant conversation with a friend than if you avoid
an unpleasant conversation with a hostile coworker.
Interestingly, some positions involve more customer incivility and mistreatment
directed toward employees than do others—positions with higher levels of customer mis-
treatment (e.g., call center employees) necessitate more employee emotion regulation
and, as a result, can lead to higher levels of employee exhaustion.88 Do you want to make
a customer service employee’s life easier? Be nice to them! One study of supermarket
checkout operators found that smiling at checkout staff and engaging in short conversa-
tions reduces the staff members’ emotion regulation needs, and as such reduces their
emotional exhaustion and improves their performance.89

Emotion Regulation Techniques

Researchers of emotion regulation often study the strategies people employ to change
their emotions. One related technique of emotion regulation is emotional suppression,
literally suppressing—blocking or ignoring—initial emotional responses to situations.
This response seems to facilitate practical thinking in the short term, but is generally
ineffective when compared with expressing ones’ emotions.90 However, it appears to be

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 Chapter 4 • Emotions and Moods 87

helpful only when a strongly negative event would elicit a distressed emotional reaction
during a crisis.91 For example, a portfolio manager might suppress an emotional reaction
to a sudden drop in the value of a stock and therefore be able to clearly decide how to
plan. Cognitive reappraisal, or reframing our outlook on an emotional situation, is one
way to regulate emotions effectively.92 Cognitive reappraisal ability seems to be most
helpful to individuals in situations where they cannot control the sources of stress.93 For
example, if you lost your job, reframing it as an opportunity to try the new career you
always dreamed about may help you regulate your emotions. Another technique with
potential for emotion regulation is social sharing, or venting. Research shows that the
open expression of emotions can help individuals to regulate their emotions as opposed
to keeping emotions “bottled up.” Social sharing can reduce anger reactions when people
can talk about the facts of a bad situation, their feelings about the situation, or any posi-
tive aspects of the situation.94 For example, venting to your coworker after work about
the heated exchange with your manager in the kitchen may help you express your feel-
ings and understand the situation a little better.
While there is much promise in emotion regulation techniques, the best route to
a positive workplace is to recruit positive-minded individuals and train employees and
leaders alike to manage their moods, job attitudes, and performance.95 The best leaders
manage emotions as much as they do tasks and activities. The best employees can use
their knowledge of emotion regulation to decide when to speak up and how to express
themselves effectively.96 The key is to be adaptive: try to be aware of your emotions and
use the regulation techniques best suited for the situation.97
Now that we have studied the role of emotions and moods in OB, let us consider
the opportunities for more specific applications that our understanding provides.

OB APPLICATIONS OF EMOTIONS AND MOODS

Our understanding of emotions and moods can affect many aspects of OB. Let us think
through some of them.

Selection
One implication from the evidence on EI is that employers should consider it a factor
in hiring employees, especially for jobs that demand a high degree of social interaction.
In fact, more employers are starting to use EI measures to hire people. For example, a
study of U.S. Air Force recruiters showed that top-performing recruiters exhibited high
levels of EI. Using these findings, the Air Force revamped its selection criteria. A follow-
up investigation found hires who had high EI scores became 2.6 times more successful
than those with lower scores. A second implication is that applicant emotions are some-
times, knowingly or not, used in selection decisions. As an example, Hong Kong Chinese
applicants are more likely to try to appear calm, rather than excited, during the selection
process and Hong Kong Chinese employers were more likely to hire calm applicants.98

Decision Making
Moods and emotions have effects on decision making that employees and managers should
understand. Positive emotions and moods seem to help people make sound decisions. Positive
emotions also enhance problem-solving skills, so positive people find better solutions.99

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OB researchers continue to debate the role of negative emotions and moods in deci-
sion making. One recent study suggested that people who are saddened by events may
make the same decisions as before, while people who are angered by events might make
stronger (though not necessarily better) choices than before.100 Another study found that
participants made choices reflecting more original thinking when in a negative mood.101
Still other research indicated that individuals in a negative mood may take higher risks
than when in a positive mood.102 Taken together, these and other studies suggest negative
(and positive) emotions impact decision making, but that there are other variables that
require further research.103

Creativity
As we see throughout this text, one goal of leadership is to maximize employee produc-
tivity through creativity. Creativity is influenced by emotions and moods, but there are
two schools of thought on the relationship. Much research suggests that people in good
moods tend to be more creative than people in bad moods.104 People in good moods
produce more ideas and more options, and others find their ideas original.105 It seems
that people experiencing positive moods or emotions are more flexible and open in their
thinking, which may explain why they are more creative.106 Some researchers, however,
do not believe a positive mood makes people more creative. They argue that, when people
are in positive moods, they may relax (“If I’m in a good mood, things must be going
okay, and I don’t need to think of new ideas”) and not engage in the critical thinking nec-
essary for some forms of creativity.107 Individuals who worry more may perform better
on creative tasks than those who worry less.

Motivation
Several studies have highlighted the importance of moods and emotions on motivation.
Giving people performance feedback—whether real or fake—influences their mood,
which then influences their motivation.108 A cycle can be created in which positive
moods cause people to be more creative, leading to positive feedback from those observ-
ing their work. The feedback further reinforces the positive mood, which makes people
perform even better, and so on. Overall, the findings suggest a manager may enhance
employee motivation—and performance—by encouraging good moods.

Leadership
Research indicates that putting people in a good mood makes good sense. Leaders who focus
on inspirational goals generate greater optimism, cooperation, and enthusiasm in employ-
ees, leading to more positive social interactions with coworkers and customers.109 A study
with Taiwanese military participants indicated that by sharing emotions, transformational
leaders inspire positive emotions in their followers that lead to higher task performance.110
Leaders are perceived as more effective when they share positive emotions, and fol-
lowers are more creative in a positive emotional environment. What about when leaders are
sad? Research found that leader displays of sadness increased the analytic performance of
followers, perhaps because followers attended more closely to tasks to help the leaders.111
Another interesting study examined over 300 halftime locker room speeches from high
school and college basketball teams, finding that leaders’ sharing of negative emotions

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 Chapter 4 • Emotions and Moods 89

(e.g., anger) can help improve team performance. However, these emotions had to be at
the right level of intensity—too negative and intense, and the display would backfire.112

Customer Service
Workers’ emotional states influence the level of customer service they give, which in turn
influences levels of repeat business and customer satisfaction.113 This result is primarily
due to emotional contagion—the “catching” of emotions from others.114 When some- Emotional contagion
one at work experiences positive emotions and laughs and smiles at you, like when they The process by which
people’s emotions
are sending you a funny meme about retail life, you tend to respond positively. Of course,
are caused by the
the opposite is true as well. emotions of others.
Studies indicate a matching effect between employee and customer emotions. In
the employee-to-customer direction, research finds that customers who catch the positive
moods or emotions of employees shop longer. In the other direction, when an employee
feels unfairly treated by a customer, it is harder for the employee to display the positive
emotions the organization expects.115 High-quality customer service places demands on
employees because it often puts them in a state of emotional dissonance, which can be
damaging to the employee and the organization. Managers can interrupt negative conta-
gion by fostering positive moods.

Work–Life Satisfaction
Ever hear the advice “Never take your work home with you,” meaning you should forget
about work once you go home? That is easier said than done. The good news is that it
appears a positive mood at work can spill over to your off-work hours, and a negative
mood at work can be restored to a positive mood after a break. Several studies have
shown people who had a good day at work tend to be in a better mood at home that eve-
ning, and vice versa.116 Other research has found that although people do emotionally
take their work home with them, by the next day the effect is usually gone.117 The bad
news is that the moods of the people in your household may affect yours. As you might
expect, one study found if one member of a couple was in a negative mood during the
workday, the negative mood spilled over to the spouse at night.118

Deviant Workplace Behaviors

Anyone who has spent much time in an organization realizes people can behave in ways
that violate established norms and threaten the organization, its members, or both.119 As
we saw in the chapter on attitudes and job satisfaction, these CWBs can be traced to nega-
tive emotions and can take many forms. People who feel negative emotions are more likely
than others to engage in short-term deviant behavior at work, such as gossiping or surfing
the Internet,120 though negative emotions can also lead to more serious forms of CWB.
For instance, envy is an emotion that occurs when you resent someone for having
something you do not have but strongly desire—such as a better work assignment, larger
office, or higher salary. It can lead to malicious deviant behaviors. An envious employee
could undermine other employees and take all the credit for things others accomplished.
Angry people look for other people to blame for their bad mood, interpret other people’s
behavior as hostile, and have trouble considering others’ points of view.121 It’s not hard
to see how these thought processes can lead directly to verbal or physical aggression.

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One study in Pakistan found that anger correlated with more aggressive CWBs such
as abuse against others and production deviance, while sadness did not. Interestingly,
neither anger nor sadness predicted workplace deviance, which suggests that managers
need to take employee expressions of anger seriously; employees may stay with an orga-
nization and continue to act aggressively toward others.122 Once aggression starts, it is
likely that other people will become angry and aggressive, so the stage is set for a serious
escalation of negative behavior. Managers therefore need to stay connected with their
employees to gauge emotions and emotional intensity levels.

Safety and Injury at Work

Research relating negative affectivity to increased injuries at work suggests employers
might improve health and safety (and reduce costs) by ensuring workers are not engaged
in potentially dangerous activities when they are in a bad mood. Bad moods can contrib-
ute to injury at work in several ways.123 Individuals in negative moods tend to be more
anxious, which can make them less able to cope effectively with hazards. A person who
is always fearful will be more pessimistic about the effectiveness of safety precautions
because she feels she will just get hurt anyway, or she might panic or freeze up when con-
fronted with a threatening situation. Negative moods also make people more distractable,
and distractions can obviously lead to careless behaviors.
Selecting positive team members can contribute toward a positive work environ-
ment because positive moods transmit from team member to team member. One study
of 130 leaders and their followers found that leaders who are charismatic transfer their
positive emotions to their followers through a contagion effect.124 It makes sense, then, to
choose team members predisposed to positive moods.

SUMMARY
Emotions and moods are similar in that both are affective in nature. But they are also
different—moods are more general and less contextual than emotions. The time of day,
stressful events, and sleep patterns are some of the many factors that influence emotions
and moods. OB research on emotional labor, affective events theory, emotional intel-
ligence, and emotional regulation helps us understand how people deal with emotions.
Emotions and moods have proven relevant for virtually every OB topic we study, with
implications for managerial practices.

IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS

• Recognize that emotions are a natural part of the workplace and good management
does not mean creating an emotion-free environment.
• To foster effective decision making, creativity, and motivation in employees, model
positive emotions and moods as much as is authentically possible.
• Provide positive feedback to increase the positivity of employees. Of course, it also
helps to hire people who are predisposed to positive moods.
• In the service sector, encourage positive displays of emotion, which make customers
feel more positive and thus improve customer service interactions and negotiations.
• Understand the role of emotions and moods to significantly improve your ability to
explain and predict your coworkers’ and others’ behavior.

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