There tends to be high agreement on what emotions mean within cultures
but not between. For instance, one study asked Americans to match facial expres-
sions with the six basic emotions.74 The range of agreement was between 86 and
98 percent. When a group of Japanese was given the same task, they correctly la-
beled only surprise (with 97 percent agreement). On the other five emotions,
their accuracy ranged from only 27 to 70 percent. In addition, studies indicate
that some cultures lack words for such standard emotions as anxiety, depression, or
guilt. Tahitians, as a case in point, don't have a word directly equivalent to sad-
ness. When Tahitians are sad, their peers typically attribute their state to a physi-
cal illness.75
OB APPLICATIONS
We conclude our discussion of emotions by considering their application to sev-
eral topics in OB. In this section, we assess how an understanding of emotions
can improve our ability to explain and predict the selection process in organiza-
tions, decision making, motivation, leadership, interpersonal conflict, and de-
viant workplace behaviors.
Ability and Selection
People who know their own emotions and are good at
reading others' emotions may be more effective in their jobs. That, in essence, is
the theme underlying recent research on emotional intelligence.76
Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to an assortment of noncognitive
skills, capabilities, and competencies that influence a person's ability to succeed
in coping with environmental demands and pressures. It's composed of five di-
mensions:
Self-awareness. The ability to be aware of what you're feeling.
Self-management. The ability to manage one's own emotions and impulses.
Self-motivation. The ability to persist in the face of setbacks and failures.
Empathy. The ability to sense how others are feeling.
Social skills. The ability to handle the emotions of others.
Several studies suggest EI may play an important role in job performance.
For instance, one study looked at the characteristics of Bell Lab engineers who
were rated as stars by their peers. The scientists concluded that stars were better
at relating to others. That is, it was EI, not academic IQ, that characterized high
performers. A second study of Air Force recruiters generated similar findings. Top-
performing recruiters exhibited high levels of EI. Using these findings, the Air
Force revamped its selection critieria. A follow-up investigation found that future
hires who had high EI scores were 2.6 times more successful than those who didn't.
A recent poll of human resource managers asked: How important is it for your
workers to demonstrate EI to move up the corporate ladder? Forty percent replied
"very Important." Another 16 percent said "moderately important."
The implications from the initial evidence on EI is that employers should
consider it as a factor in selection, especially in jobs that demand a high degree of
social interaction.
Decision Making
As you'll see in Chapter 5, traditional approaches to the
study of decision making in organizations have emphasized rationality. They
have downplayed, or even ignored, the role of anxiety, fear, frustration, doubt,
happiness, excitement, and similar emotions. Yet it's naive to assume that deci-
sion choices aren't influenced by one's feelings at a particular moment. Given
the same objective data, we should expect that people may make different
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emotional intelligence
An assortment of
noncognitive skills,
capabilities, and
competencies that influence
a person's ability to succeed
in coping with environmental
demands and pressures.
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