Role of Emotions and Personality

Role of Emotions and Personality in the Workplace

Organizational Behavior

The significance of personality and emotions in the workplace today continues to be actively debated within the academic and practitioner professional communities. Previous generations of management theorists discounted the validity of studying emotions, stating instead that business professionals need to be logical, reasoned and rational decision makers and at best, emotions need to be sublimated to the greater needs of the organization. From the 1980s on emotions are increasingly seen as a cognitive process (Bono, Foldes, (Vinson, Muros, 2007) that can provide useful insights into managing employees to higher levels of performance (Miller, 2002). The progression of management theorists to define and fine-tune cognitive frameworks in studying the effects of personality and emotions in the workplace has generated a wealth of research. The intent of this paper is to evaluate two of these articles, one from (Muchinsky, 2000) and the second from (Lieberman, 2006). These articles will be summarized, compared, and conclusions defined for each.

Summary of Each Article

The first article by Lieberman (2006) provides a glimpse into how managing emotions from a mediations standpoint in human resources and labor relations corresponds to a roadmap of transforming negative to positive emotions in any work environment. The analysis presented also shows how through the use of effective bridging techniques, mediation can successfully occur, specifically illustrating through example how moving from adrenaline to awareness is critical (Lieberman, 2006). The progression from feelings of anxiety and combativeness through the adrenaline to fight for a given perspective are well defined in the article as Lieberman (2006) illustrates how quickly mediation processes can degenerate into long-term conflicts and aggression. The progression to awareness and acknowledgement, which are clearly pivotal from the perspective of the author to resolving conflicts, are well defined as the necessary "bridging" aspect of any mediation activity. Finally the author shows through example of emotions managed effectively through the mediation process that reconciliation is possible and where each side of an argument can emerge with an acceptable solution.

The second article excellently describes the progression of theoretical and cognitive theories relating to the impact of emotions and personalities in the workplace (Muchinsky, 2000). Beginning with a brief introduction to the highly logical and often passionateless approach to business as exemplified in purely operational research-based approaches implied in the author's first comments, then progressing through the development of theoretical and conceptual models that define the determinants of job satisfaction vs. job stress, the author successfully defines a cause-and-effect series of workflows. Muchinsky successfully argues that emotions are the legitimate domain of scientific inquiry, and that in analyzing response to stimuli, there are empirically verifiable models of response that can be derived. The author also defines a taxonomy of five dominant emotion types and includes implications for managers to alleviate negative implications, while working to accentuate the positive behaviors that are aligned with emotions including empathy and the ability to identify with others and contribute to their success as well. (Muchinsky, 2000) also specifically defines how critical emotional intelligence (EI) is to the development of effective managerial performance and development. The author defines emotional intelligence in the context of management as knowing one's emotions, managing emotions through the development stimulus management strategies, using motivations as the catalyst for personal achievement, and recognizing emotions and having empathy for others as well. Lastly the author contents that maturing in emotional development is exemplified in the successful managing of relationships over the long-term (Muchinsky, 2000). The author concludes that as sublimated and oblique emotions where in previous management theories ignored passion, the author contends that ultimately this trait is one of the most powerful for leaders to possess, a point supported by additional research (Ali, 2005).

Comparison of both Articles' Arguments

Both articles by (Lieberman, 2006) and (Muchinsky, 2000) illustrate how critical it is for organizations to recruit managers and promote leaders who can effectively develop strategies to accentuate the positive emotional and personality-based approaches to leading both individuals and teams. The articles reviewed both underscore how critical it is to nurture emotional environments in organizations and can serve as the catalyst of as Muchinsky calls them in his hierarchy of emotions "favorable life conditions," or those emotions that include happiness, pride, and love. Muchinsky argues that these emotions in conjunction with the empathetic emotions as defined in his proposed taxonomy are the necessary catalysts for managing a workplace with emotional intelligence. Both authors also contend that managing through conflict requires a thorough understanding of the cause-and-effect individual employees may have to stimuli, and the essential role managers play in guiding conflicts through the gamut of emotions. Both authors further imply that these strategies are beyond merely coaching for creating, sustaining, and nurturing collaboration; instead the orientation needs to be on how to navigate many sources of negative emotion to at least reach consensus and mediation first when conflicts arise. Of the two authors, Muchinsky argues that the response to stimulus that drives emotions is worthy of in-depth conceptual and theoretical modeling in addition to empirical studies, and provides a taxonomy for both theorists and practitioners to use.