EMOTIONS IN ORGANIZATIONS:
A MULTI-LEVEL PERSPECTIVE
Neal M.Ashkanasy
ABSTRACT
Recent years have en an upsurge of interest in the study of emotions in organizations.Rearch,however,has been hampered by the ephemeral nature of emotions and a lack of an integrated multi-level model.This article therefore prents afive-level model of emotions in organizations. At the lowest level is within-person variation,defined in terms of affective events theory.Levels of the model then proceed through individual,dyadic relationship,group,and organization-wide perspectives.The article also outlines the neurophysiological process that underlie the experience, perception,and communication of emotion;it concludes with a discussion of implications for rearch and practice.
INTRODUCTION
Although the study of emotions in work ttings is not new(e Mastenbroek, 2000;Weiss&Brief,2001,f
or historical overviews),empirical rearch in this field has been slow to enter the mainstream of organization science.This situation began to change,however,following publication in1983of Hochschild’s The Managed Heart,and accelerated in1995following Ashforth and Humphrey’s (1995)Reappraisal.Today the level of interest is at a high point,as evidenced in the raft of books(Ashkanasy,H¨a rtel&Zerbe,2000;Ashkanasy,Zerbe&H¨a rtel, Multi-Level Issues in Organizational Behavior and Strategy
Rearch in Multi-Level Issues,Volume2,9–54
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榆林体育运动学校ISSN:1475-9144/doi:10.1016/S1475-9144(03)02002-2
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郁金香折纸10NEAL M.ASHKANASY 2002;Fineman,1993,2000;Lord,Klimoski&Kanfer,2002;Payne&Cooper, 2001)and special issues of journals(Fisher&Ashkanasy,2000;Fox,2002;Weiss, 2001)that have appeared over the last two years.Simultaneously,there has been a ri in interest in studying emotio
ns in social psychology(e,for example,Forgas, 2001),much of this buoyed by advances in our understanding of neuropsychology (e,for example,Damasio,1999;Dolan,2000;LeDoux,2000).Although this rearch is still in development,it is becoming clear that emotion dimensions pervade the entire spectrum of human behavior and interaction,including orga-nizations.Mumby and Putnam(1992)characterized this as a shift in perspective from“bounded rationality”(cf.Simon,1976)to“bounded emotionality”(e also Martin,Knopoff&Beckman,2000).In particular,recent advances in emotional rearch have spanned all levels of organizational analysis.This article, therefore,prents a multi-level theory of emotions in organizations,extending acrossfive levels,from the within-person level to the idea of emotional climate and culture in organizations.
One of the reasons that organization science has been so belated in rearching emotions is becau of the inherently ephemeral and idiosyncratic nature of emotion.How is it possible to study systematically a concept that can vary so widely and unpredictably within each of us?One moment we are sad,the next elated.One moment we can be fearful,the next triumphant.Not only that, but emotions appear to be manipulable.As Hochschild(1983)so poignantly illustrated,people can even be paid to display emotions different from the one they are actually experiencing(e also Fineman,2
001).In this article,I argue that this is exactly what makes the study of emotions so vital and interesting.Recent advances in rearch methodology,such as the experience sampling method (ESM;e Csikszentmihalyi&Larson,1987;Larson&Csikszentmihalyi,1983), have allowed us to study systematically the dynamic phenomena.Conquently, I prent in this article afive-level model of emotions in organizations.The first level in this model,however,is not the ubiquitous individual level,but within-person,and involves the temporal variations in mood and emotion that people experience every day of their lives.The remaining levels in the model proceed through the individual level,to interpersonal relationships,to groups, and then to organizations.Thefive levels are illustrated in Fig.1,showing the topics salient at each level.
Although this article prents a multi-level model that spans micro and macro dimensions of organizational behavior,emotions are intenly personal.As a con-quence,much discussion is devoted to the micro-level nature of emotions–how individuals experience,perceive,communicate,and manage their own and others’emotions.In this respect,afterfirst defining emotion,I proceed to a description of some of the recentfindings on the biological bas of emotions.This establishes
Emotions in Organizations11
钱用英语Fig.1.Five Levels of Emotions in Organizations.
a foundation for discussion of emotion at each level of the model,including the means of rearching this topic.I conclude the article with a discussion of the implications of emotions at multiple levels for rearch and practice.
DEFINING EMOTIONS
One of the most frustrating issues confronting writers and readers in the emotion literature is the diversity of definitions and overlapping terms(e Oatley& Jenkins,1992).Terms such as emotion,mood,affect,and feelings appear to be ud almost interchangeably by some authors.Indeed,there is ongoing debate in the literature about the very underpinnings of emotions and related terms(e,for example,Einberg,2000;Izard,1993;Lazarus,1991;Plutchik,1991;Zajonc, 1980,1984,1985).For example,while Lazarus(1991)argued that emotions are initiated by cognitions,contemporaneously Zajonc(1985)argued that emotions are esntially visceral reactions and therefore constitute antecedents,rather than conquences of cognition.Since the1980s,however,the connsus has emerged that emotions involve an interaction of cognitive and non-cognitive neural systems (e Bloom,Lazerson&Hofstadter,1985;Cacioppo&Gardner,1999;Dalton, 2000;Fischer,Shaver&Carnochan,1990).In this respect,emotion is en as an integration of innate,ad
aptive subsystems,derived from the evolutionary needs of survival(LeDoux,1995a;Tooby&Cosmides,1990).千与千寻语录
12NEAL M.ASHKANASY Table1.Simplified Emotional Hierarchy(Adapted from Fischer et al.,1990). Super-ordinate Component Basic Component Subordinate Component Positive Love Fondness
Infatuation
Joy Bliss
Contentment
Pride
Negative Anger Annoyance
Hostility
Contempt
Jealousy
Sadness Agony
Grief
Guilt
西湖的绿Loneliness
Fear Horror
Worry
The interactive model would therefore em to provide an appropriate platform for a definition of emotion.Working from this model,Izard(1993)cited a taxon-omy developed by Fischer,Shaver and Carnochan(1990)as the basis for defining emotion(e Gray&Watson,2001for a similar taxonomy).Fischer et al.define emotion as a“discrete,innate,functional,biosocial action and expression system”(p.84),and posit that emotions are determined by three distinct categorical components(e Table1).Thefirst,called the superordinate category,involves a functional appraisal of events as either advancing or hindering the organism’s explicit or implicit goals.The cond component,referred to by Fischer et al.as the basic level,categorizes emotion underfive broad labels:
love and joy are cate-gorized under the superordinate heading of positive emotion(goal advancement), while anger,sadness,and fear are under the superordinate heading of negative emotion(goal hindrance).The third level defines the subordinate category,which Fischer et al.describe as manifest in“prototypical scripts.”The scripts compri ts of predetermined behavioral respons ud to express emotions in particular circumstances.Fischer that there are a great number of scripts,and that the develop over a lifetime of experience and social learning.For example, open expression of joy may be appropriate in celebratory circumstances,but may be circumscribed in other learning of an inheritance following the death of a family member).
In the organizational context,Basch and Fisher(2000)have demonstrated that,with only a few exceptions,employees experience nearly the full range of
Emotions in Organizations13 emotions in their workplace,together with emotions more specific to the work environment.In descending order of frequency of occurrence,they found that employees report feeling positive emotions of pleasure,happiness,pride,enthu-siasm,relief,optimism,affection,and power.The negative emotions reported by Basch and Fisher,again in descending order of frequency,were frustration, worry,disappointment,annoyance,anger,unhappiness,embarrassment,sad
有颈纹怎么办ness, disgust,hurt,fear,and bitterness.More recently,Lazarus and Cohen-Charash (2001)list anger,anxiety,guilt and shame,envy and jealousy,hope,happiness/joy, pride,compassion,and love as instances of discrete emotions that are found in workplace ttings.
Basch and Fisher(2000)demonstrated further that emotions in the workplace are tied to specific events(cf.Weiss&Cropanzano,1996).Consistent with Fischer et al.(1990),it appears that organizational members react to events in terms of learned behavioral scripts(cf.Fischer et al.,1990).More particularly, Gioia and Poole(1984)argue that,in organizational contexts,it is the scripts that constitute the detailed range of respons that organizational members have at their disposal to cope with organizational reality.According to Izard(1993),the scripts are made up of uniquely identifiable combinations of behavioral,cognitive, and emotional reactions to environmental stimuli.Considerable controversy exists,however,about the mechanisms underlying elicitation of scripts and the specific nature of emotional scripts.
An alternative definition,bad on the evolutionary theory of emotion,is bad on the idea that emotions such as fear and disgust motivate us to avoid statistically regular threats in the environment.In this respect,Damasio(1994)differentiates between primary emotions,the evolved emotions needed for survival and bad on the limbic system of the brain,and condary emotions,w
here the neocortex process information at a higher level(e below for further discussion of brain process).Secondary emotions are less genetically derived than primary emotions and develop progressively over the lifetime of the organism. Finally,emotions also include a motor component that is derived from,but distinct from,mental functions(e Damasio,1994,1999;Fischer et al.,1990; Izard,1993).The motor components involve facial expressions,posture, vocalizations,head and eye movements,and muscle action potential(Izard, 1992).Associated with them are physiological respons that are caud by the effects of emotions on the autonomic and endocrine systems of the organism. They include heartbeat,sweat glands,blood pressure,and respiration.From the evolutionary perspective,activation of the systems has adaptive value in dealing with threats in the environment.Bloom et al.(1985)and LeDoux(1995b)also point out that the survival advantages offered by the autonomic and endocrine respons to threat also include incread bloodflow to the skeletal muscles and
14NEAL M.ASHKANASY suppresd reactivity to pain.The resulting improvements in the effectiveness of the motor system help to reduce physical damage to the organism. Summatively,and bad on the neurophysiological evidence,Ashkanasy, H¨a rtel and Zerbe(2000)defined emotions in terms of endogenous and exogenous inputs to particular neural syst
ems,leading to internal and external manifestations of emotion.The internal manifestations of emotion include the subjective feelings experienced by the individual subject to the emotion-eliciting stimulus,which the individual cognitively interprets.The external manifestations of emotion include respiration rate,facial expression,and posture.Importantly,it is the external manifestations of emotion that are subject to interpretation both by the individual affected and by obrvers in the environment.
As the reader can e,the foregoing attempts to define emotion have led inevitably into the murky interior of the human brain.Indeed,understanding of emotions requires an appreciation of the neural process that drive emotional reactions.
公交车上那些事Neurological and Biological Bas of Emotions
What makes emotions unique is that they are only partially under our control. Indeed,I suspect that this property is what has made the study of emotions such an anathema to organizational scholars.Simon(1976)went so far as to refer to emotions pejoratively as irrational or even arational behavior,and suggested that attempts to study emotions using the usual approaches are inherently problematical.At the same time,the new emotions-cognition rearch has shown that it is erroneous to try to study any aspect of human thought or behavior without addressing the emotions.Damasio(1
994)referred to this as “Descartes’error.”He argues that our cognitive and emotional systems in the brain work more cloly together than had been realized previously,and that reasoning is dependent on what he terms“somantic markers”in the physical body.
The critical connection point of the physiological and neurological systems re-sides in the limbic system in the brain.Damasio(1998)points out that this is what drives our emotional respons.The principal components of the limbic system compri the(anterior)cingulate cortex,the amigdaloid nuclei(which compri two amygdalae),and the hypothalamus.Damasio(1998;e also Dalton,2000) has shown that,rather than the limbic system acting in an integrated fashion as was once thought(e MacLean,1952),the different limbic components actually act independently in respect to each emotion.Moreover,recent rearch has suggested that the limbic system is not the only mechanism of emotion,although it
