Emotions in the Workplace

Abstract

Emotions should be an economic concern as much as it is a concern of individual behavior, social interaction, health, and cultural transactions because they influence the creativity and productivity of the workforce in organizations which are the nave of societies’ economy. There has, however, been little systematic notice of emotions, and this chapter start with a note on the traditional neglect to consider emotional processes on the workplacePrideworkplacebecause of an illusion that organizations are fully rational. This is despite the results from the Hawthorne studies in the late 1920s that productivity was clearly related to emotional aspects of the work environment. The chapter proceeds by an overview of Hochschild’s analyzes of how emotions are Shamein the workplacecommercialized Interestin the workplacein the workplaceHappinessin the workplaceby being part of the emotional style of service offering, which require employees to do emotional work, at times exhaustive, of being pleasant and forthcoming. The last part of the chapter is devoted to discussion on the skills and measurement of emotional intelligenceEmotional intelligence (EI)and the effect of emotional intelligence on personnel selection and development of leadership.