Emotions Affect Attitudes and Behaviors at Work

Emotions shape an individual's belief in the value of a job, company, or team. Emotions also influence behavior in the workplace. Research shows that people in your inner circle can better recognize and understand your emotions (Elfenbein & Ambady, 2002).

Then what is the relationship between emotions, attitudes and behavior at work? This relationship can be explained by a theory called Affective Event Theory (AET). Researchers Howard Weiss and Russell Cropanzano examined the effects of six main types of emotions at work: anger, fear, joy, love, sadness, and surprise (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996). Their theory is that certain events at work cause different people to experience different emotions. These emotions, in turn, inspire actions that can help or hinder others in their work (Fisher, 2002).

Source :

courses.lumenlearning.com. (n.d.). 7.5 Emotions at Work | Organizational Behavior. [online] Available at: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-orgbehavior/chapter/7-5-emotions-at-work/.

According to Affective Events Theory, six emotions are affected by events at work.

For example, imagine a colleague unexpectedly delivering your morning coffee to your table. As a result of a pleasant experience, if unexpected, you can feel both happy and surprised. If that coworker is your boss, you can be proud too. Research shows that positive feelings from work experiences can inspire you to do something you never planned before. For example, you could volunteer to help coworkers on a project you haven't worked on before. Your actions will become influence-driven behavior. If you have been wrongly reprimanded by your manager, the negative emotions you experience could result in you retiring or mistreating your coworkers. Over time, these small moments of emotion at work can affect a person's job satisfaction. While company privileges and promotions can add to one's happiness at work, satisfaction is not the only result of this type of "external" reward system. Job satisfaction in the AET model comes from within - from a combination of individual personalities, minor emotional experiences at work over time, beliefs and influence-driven behavior.

Working with high levels of negative emotions can lead to frustration and burning - a persistent negative emotional state that results from dissatisfaction. Depression, anxiety, anger, physical illness, increased drug and alcohol use, and insomnia can all be the result of frustration and burning, with frustration being a little more active and burning feeling more passive. The effects of these two conditions can affect coworkers, clients, and clients because of excessive anger and manifest in one's interactions with other people.

Reference : courses.lumenlearning.com. (n.d.). 7.5 Emotions at Work | Organizational Behavior. [online] Available at: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-orgbehavior/chapter/7-5-emotions-at-work/.[Accessed on 22 May 2021].