MANAGEMENT
how people can manage incidental anger in relation to their perspective- taking. What we found was that when people are made aware about the source of their incidental anger, and they are able to infer that their anger is irrelevant to their particular social situation, they are able to block the effects of anger and exhibit more perspective-taking. The important point here is
to cultivate an awareness of our emotions and pinpoint the sources of them, so we can judge whether they are relevant or irrelevant to the social situation at hand.
“A lot of emotion conveys information. If you have an employee who’s angry about something, that helps guide attention to that issue.” –Maurice Schweitzer
Knowledge@Wharton: Based on your research, would this work as well in the case of integral anger? For instance, if I’m getting into a heated argument with someone, is it useful to say, “I’m getting angry,” or “You seem to be getting angry about this?” In the case of integral anger, I can see where it might cause a spiral to go further. Do you think that that’s true?
Schweitzer: I think that it is, so we have to be careful. When we think about integral anger, the anger could be integral with the same person, or it could be about the same situation, or both. When we now vent about those issues, they could actually make us angrier. So, we have to be careful. On the other hand, in general, the
more we can be cognizant of our emotions, the more aware we are of incidental anger. I know that I’m angry about what my boss said to me at work, and now I come home and recognize the source of my anger, so
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I’m less likely to have that bleed into my interactions at home. Even when the sources are integral,
recognizing what’s making us angry can help us deal with that anger and recognize explicitly that this emotion is likely to influence our cognition.
Knowledge@Wharton: Years ago, the guideline for most workplaces was, “Check your baggage at the door. Work is work. Don’t bring your problems here.” Now it seems like the pendulum is swinging the other way and we are more inclined to acknowledge the power of emotion at work. How do you think that’s going to reshape management practice?
Yip: I think managers need to be aware of their own emotions and how they can affect their behavior, but they also want to be attuned to the emotional effects of their communication. When they use incendiary words — whether it is directed at people within their own workplace or outside competitors — there’s a chance that that may elicit anger among their audience of workers. And that can have significant effects and consequences for how individuals behave towards one another, as well as how they behave towards the leader. I think realizing this connection or this link between emotion and cognition is very important for managers to pay attention to.
Schweitzer: I think emotion is really integral to getting our work done. A lot of emotion conveys information. If you have an employee who’s angry about something, that helps guide attention to that issue. Maybe they’re upset because something isn’t working well, and we should be paying more attention to that problem. In the workplace, the emotions that
we express can help us accomplish different kinds of tasks. Sometimes
anger can be very motivating. We’re upset about some injustice, and we’re now motivated to address it. Or the use of positive emotions can help us either bond together or serve a client or help us be excited when we sell a product. But the emotions that we have are really part of us. Rather than trying to check our emotions at the door and assume that we’re unemotional throughout the full day, [we need] to recognize that there’s information here, and that there’s use for these emotions that we feel.
“Managers need to be aware of their own emotions and how they can affect their behavior, but they also want to be attuned to the emotional effects of their communication.” –Jeremy Yip
Knowledge@Wharton: If managers are validating or acknowledging emotion in the workplace, could it get to a point where all we’re talking about are our feelings and the work’s not getting done? Is there a balance that needs to be found within that?
Schweitzer: Yes, I’d say absolutely. Clearly, we don’t want unregulated emotions running wild. Instead, we need to be careful about how we regulate our emotions. I think the first step is just recognizing that we do feel these emotions, and if we can attribute where that emotion is coming from — how do I feel and why do I feel that way — that’s going to take us a pretty long way. The next step is going to be figure
out, how do I change my emotions? It could be that I’m feeling upset about an interaction I had with a co-worker or a colleague. I have to make an important strategic decision. I know that if I go for a walk or I
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