Emotions, according to Greenberg and Baron (2003), can be defined as “overt reactions that express feelings about events.” The same researchers differentiate emotions from moods, claiming that moods are less reactive than emotions, existing in the background instead. Emotions arise due to a variety of reasons, such as needs, ambition, personal development, or the orientation of attention (Andries, 2011). Examples of such emotions include fear, anger, joy and pride among others, and are widely believed to be the antithesis of rational thought (Greenspan, 2002, as cited in Kirman, Livet and Teschl, 2010). This belief has led many to claim that within the workplace, the presence of emotions is problematic for organizations, as it may lead employees to think irrationally and perform erratic or unpredictable actions. However, it should be noted that emotions are an unavoidable aspect of dealing with human employees, therefore, the emotions felt by these individuals should be acknowledged by the organization and controlled or redirected to avoid an undesirable outcome, or in some cases, result in increased profitability through the use of emotional labor. Therefore, this paper will firstly use existing research to present how and why emotions are viewed negatively in organizations and discuss the consequences of such a view. Secondly, the impact of emotions on various aspects of employee performance will be considered, with a focus on the affective events theory. These effects will be further explored, with a focus on the positive effects through the broaden-and-build theory. Moreover, the regulation of emotions in the workplace through display rules and other mechanisms will be analyzed. Finally, the use of emotional labor will be examined to show that in some industries, especially service sectors, emotions can be used to boost customer satisfaction and therefore profits. To begin with, modern workplaces are often thought to be places devoid of emotions, with an emphasis on rational thought which does not allow for any emotional expression or experiences. However, as claimed by Ashkanasy et al. (2002), workplaces are as emotional as any other aspect of an individual’s social life. As mentioned previously, emotions may arise due to a variety of causes, many of which are unavoidable in a workplace. Organizations often fall under various economic or market pressures and have hierarchical power structures, with an uneven distribution of resources and privilege (Fineman, 2010). Fineman (2010) continues, claiming that such pressures may lead to the rise of negative emotions such as fear or anger. When these negative emotions such are left unchecked, they may escalate and lead to detrimental behaviors through a process known as “spinning” (Mitchell and Noakes-Fry, 2013). These detrimental behaviors, according to Fineman (2010), include resistance to executive instructions, lack of motivation, absenteeism, and in some extreme cases, a bullying culture w ...

1. Emotions, according to Greenberg and Baron (2003), can be
defined as “overt reactions that express feelings about events.”
The same researchers differentiate emotions from moods,
claiming that moods are less reactive than emotions, existing in
the background instead. Emotions arise due to a variety of
reasons, such as needs, ambition, personal development, or the
orientation of attention (Andries, 2011). Examples of such
emotions include fear, anger, joy and pride among others, and
are widely believed to be the antithesis of rational thought
(Greenspan, 2002, as cited in Kirman, Livet and Teschl, 2010).
This belief has led many to claim that within the workplace, the
presence of emotions is problematic for organizations, as it may
lead employees to think irrationally and perform erratic or
unpredictable actions. However, it should be noted that
emotions are an unavoidable aspect of dealing with human
employees, therefore, the emotions felt by these individuals
should be acknowledged by the organization and controlled or
redirected to avoid an undesirable outcome, or in some cases,
result in increased profitability through the use of emotional
labor. Therefore, this paper will firstly use existing research to
present how and why emotions are viewed negatively in
organizations and discuss the consequences of such a view.
Secondly, the impact of emotions on various aspects of
employee performance will be considered, with a focus on the
affective events theory. These effects will be further explored,
with a focus on the positive effects through the broaden-and-
build theory. Moreover, the regulation of emotions in the
workplace through display rules and other mechanisms will be
analyzed. Finally, the use of emotional labor will be examined
to show that in some industries, especially service sectors,
emotions can be used to boost customer satisfaction and
therefore profits.
To begin with, modern workplaces are often thought to be
places devoid of emotions, with an emphasis on rational thought

2. which does not allow for any emotional expression or
experiences. However, as claimed by Ashkanasy et al. (2002),
workplaces are as emotional as any other aspect of an
individual’s social life. As mentioned previously, emotions may
arise due to a variety of causes, many of which are unavoidable
in a workplace. Organizations often fall under various economic
or market pressures and have hierarchical power structures, with
an uneven distribution of resources and privilege (Fineman,
2010). Fineman (2010) continues, claiming that such pressures
may lead to the rise of negative emotions such as fear or anger.
When these negative emotions such are left unchecked, they
may escalate and lead to detrimental behaviors through a
process known as “spinning” (Mitchell and Noakes-Fry, 2013).
These detrimental behaviors, according to Fineman (2010),
include resistance to executive instructions, lack of motivation,
absenteeism, and in some extreme cases, a bullying culture
within the workplace. All of these behaviors may eventually
cause declines in the performance of a company. The
observance of such detrimental effects as a result of negative
emotions has led many to believe that all emotions are
problematic for organizations. As a result of this, many
organizations believe in a form of reinvention, where failures
due to unchecked negative emotions are simply hidden by
dismissing employees who display these negative behaviors, and
hiring others in the same position (Fineman, 2010). Such
practices lead to unpredictable results and lead to a workplace
where negative emotions are more likely to resurface once again
in the future, or a workforce which may lack the vocabulary
needed to discuss their emotions, and thus give rise to a
workplace where employees make baseless statements such as
“females are too emotional”. Calling employee emotions
“problematic” may exacerbate underlying issues, therefore,
efforts should be made to address these negative emotions by
understanding their sources and instead inspire positive
emotions within the workplace.
To better understand the emotions within a workplace and their

3. effects, the Affective Events Theory (AET) could be used. This
theory takes into account various aspects of a work
environment, such as environmental conditions, roles and job
design, all of which may give rise to emotions within a
workplace (Ashkanasy et al., 2002). AET considers an
individual’s personality and situation, before analyzing the
affect and whether it is functional and has a positive effect on
employee performance or dysfunctional and reduces
performance. Martocchio and Jimeno (2003), employ this model
to explain how absenteeism may not always be dysfunctional or
a result of negative emotions, as previously thought. According
to Martocchio and Jimeno (2002), some employees may take
leaves of absence to their benefit, breaking up the monotonous
cycle of office work and returning with a higher level of
productivity. Instead of reprimanding such employees for being
absent and inadvertently causing employees to remain
unproductive, managers could instead use AET to understand
which aspects of work cause the employees to feel tired or other
negative emotions and take steps to remove them instead.
Otherwise, AET could be used to track the productivity of
employees after an absence, to formulate flexible work-life
balance programs and reduce negative emotions and maximize
productivity.
Using AET to pinpoint and remove the sources of negative
emotions may lead to the emergence of positive emotions,
increased employee happiness and job satisfaction. These
aspects are proven to increase employee productivity and have a
positive effect on performance (Fisher and Sharp, 2004).
Emotions which have high positive affectivity include
excitement, enthusiasm, elation and happiness (Barsade and
Gibson, 2007). These positive emotions effect workplace
productivity in a variety of ways. Firstly, according to Fisher
and Sharp (2004), inspiring positive emotions in the workplace
minimizes and sometimes even removes serious conflict, thus
aiding employee cohesiveness and teamwork in an office
environment. Furthermore, a leader who attempts to understand

4. an employee’s needs inspires enthusiasm within the workforce,
thus increasing motivation. Additionally, according to
Fredrickson (2004), the broaden-and-build theory states that
positive emotions widen an individual’s motivation to turn
momentary thoughts into actions. Frederickson (2004) continues
by claiming that positive emotions such as joy, interest, and
contentment inspire creativity, exploration and the urge to
integrate, respectively. These, as stated by Frederickson (2004)
may lead to the discovery of novel ideas and personal
development, which in turn benefits the organization.
Therefore, the positive effects which result from these positive
emotions shows that not all emotions are problematic for
organizations.
Whether negative or positive, since emotions are unavoidable
within an office environment, various feeling rules and
mechanisms exist which govern or regulate emotions in the
workplace. It is important to lay down social rules which clearly
state which emotions are acceptable for expression and how to
control those which are not. This “feeling rule” or “display
rule” is a concept first introduced by Hochschild (1979, as cited
in Nakamura, 2000). An office environment should clearly state
these display rules to avoid any incidents where an employee
expresses undesirable negative emotions. Moreover, there exist
various methods for regulating such negative emotions within a
workplace, such as neutralizing, buffering, prescribing or
normalizing (Ashforth and Humphrey, 1995). Ashforth and
Humphrey (1995) state that neutralizing means preventing the
rise of negative emotions within the workplace, by either
removing the source of negative emotions or through other
methods; whereas buffering means containing a negative
emotion and keeping it separated from an employee’s tasks.
Prescribing, a method akin to feeling rules but more direct,
states the socially acceptable methods by which one can express
or experience, whereas normalizing aims to lessen the impact of
these emotions or redirect their meaning to least effect an
employee’s performance. These are all mechanisms by which

5. unavoidable negative emotions can be controlled, or their
effects lessened.
In some organizations, especially in the service industry,
emotions can even be used for commercial gain, through a
practice known as emotional labor. According to Hochschild
(1983, as cited in Mastracci, Guy and Newman, 2012)
“Emotional labor is the management of feeling to create a
publicly observable facial and bodily display.” Hochshild
(2012) further states that just as factory workers detach
themselves from their bodies, emotional laborers detach
themselves from their feelings. According to Mastracci, Guy
and Newman (2012), this ability to control one’s inner feelings
and display only desirable emotions is considered to be an
indispensable skill in industries with high levels of customer
contact, such as the airline industry or customer service sectors.
Within the private sector, this ability increases customer
satisfaction and therefore results in commercial gain
(Hochschild, 1983, as cited in Mastracci, Guy and Newman,
2012). Emotional labor goes beyond suppression, and also
consists of showing particular emotions, be it genuine or fake,
to generate a particular emotional response from the customer
(Williams, 2012). According to Williams (2012), flight
attendants also employ deep acting, a method which required
changing inner feelings through empathizing with the customer.
Therefore, through the feeling rules employed by corporations,
emotions can be commercialized and used to increase profits.
In conclusion, calling emotions “problematic” for organizations
can be considered to be a futile statement, as it is impossible to
create a work environment which does not give rise to emotions.
While negative emotions may lead to irrational actions and
erratic behaviors, positive emotions on the other hand may
increase employee satisfaction and therefore productivity, as
shown by the broaden-and-build theory. Therefore, locating the
sources of negative emotions through tactics such as the
Affective Events Theory may prove to be beneficial in a
company instead of directly dismissing employees who show

6. negative emotions. Additionally, emotional labor shows that in
some industries, using emotions in a particular manner can
actually increase profits. All these aspects show that while some
emotions may be problematic for organizations, due to their
unavoidable nature, companies should learn to foster positive
emotions and use them for gain.
References
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(2002). Managing Emotions in the Workplace. Armonk,
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