Abstract
Emotions are a complex and often challenging part of the everyday life of modern individuals. Emotions are present at all times and in every situation we face. Sometimes they are quite pleasant and relaxing, and sometimes they are confusing and frustrating. Both positive and negative emotions have one important feature in common – they are hard to control and manage.
Introduction
The question of emotions in the workplace is frequently discussed in our society. The scholars and practitioners are trying to determine the nature of emotions, their advantages, and disadvantages, and the ways they can be handled at the workplace without harming the employees.
Factors That Make Some Organizations Ineffective at Managing Emotions
First of all, emotions are frequently associated with weakness. In the contemporary world where the employees daily undergo a variety of stressful situations, pressures and are generally emotionally overloaded, it is considered tactless or inappropriate to show one’s emotions. As a result, most employees end up driven to their breaking point. Breaking down, men tend to show aggression, raise their voice, and behave in an angry way, whereas women tend to burst into tears. The reactions are so different because women tend not to show their temper due to social stereotypes where an aggressive woman is considered highly unpleasant and difficult to be around (Goudreau, 2013). Forcing the workers to hide emotions leads to poor management of emotions. Besides, emotionality is an individual characteristic, so ignoring personal differences of the employees is another factor leading to ineffective management of emotions at work.
Strategic Use and Display of Emotions
Strategic use of emotions at the workplace often has a rather one-sided nature, which means that only negative emotions such as fear and anxiety are used by the employers to motivate their workers. Such an approach may facilitate a certain devotion to the working process and improve the results of the employees, but it is also likely to decrease job satisfaction and increase the level of stress and lack of loyalty to a company (Robbins & Judge, 2013). Hiding emotions will lead to negative explosions and conflicts at work.
Workplaces Where Emotions Were a Part of Management Style
The boss of one of my former workplaces used a negative image to motivate workers. Her strategy was to convince the employees that they were easy to replace, so the smallest mistakes could result in the loss of employment. This was the use of fear to facilitate the working process. At another workplace, positive motions were employed as a team-building technique. The workers were acted to sit in a circle and communicate for half an hour every morning telling jokes and funny stories. Humor was used to bring the workers closer and start their day in a positive way.
Change Emotional Climate at Laura’s Company
The most important thing Laura’s company should change is to stop using anger and fear to manipulate its employees. There are more positive sources of motivation for the employees, hard work, and high performance could be encouraged through monetary rewards and other benefits. Since frustration is inevitable at most workplaces, it would be appropriate for the companies to provide their workers with rooms where they could express their emotions, for example, get a punching bag. This approach would reduce the chance of emotional outbursts harming not only the person who explodes but everyone who witnesses it. Besides, happier workers will be better at managing customers’ emotions.
Conclusion
Emotions are ever-present, and they are inevitable in the workplace. Failure to manage emotions could lead to dangerous emotional outbursts at work, disrupting the working process. Managing emotions means making them a natural and essential part of work and motivation, and allowing the employees to let out stress when they need it in a harmless way.
Reference List
Goudreau, J. (2013). From Crying To Temper Tantrums: How To Manage Emotions At Work. Web.
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2013). Organizational Behavior (16th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Web.