The dark side of emotions in the workplace.

As IO Psychologists, we hear a lot about positivity these days. This is especially exemplified in positive psychology (Fredrickson, 2001) and positive organizational scholarship (Cameron, Dutton, & Quinn, 2003). But this does not mean the “dark side” has necessarily gone away. On the contrary, Basch and Fisher (2000) reported that organizational members typically say they experience more negative emotions than positive at work. Thus, while the positivity movement is indeed making a contribution to our field, IO psychologists also need to address issues pertaining to the negative emotions that continue to “dog” today’s organizations. In particular, we need to study how manages should best deal with negative emotions when they arise. Indeed, as Frost (2003) so eloquently argued, organizations can become “toxic” unless managers take particular care to be compassionate. The four presentations in this symposium all address this topic, but take different perspectives. Laura Petitta and Fiorenza Di Cave open the symposium by outlining a study on the role of emotional contagion, including emotions absorbed by as well as issued towards others, as a predictor of job burnout. In two studies, conducted in the context of the Italian hospital system, 371 employees completed measures of contagion, burnout, and cynicism. Results were that, from the perspective of both receiver and the sender, positive and negative emotions were more frequently experienced respectively with colleagues, patients, and leaders under conditions conduce to contagion. In effect, positive emotions appear to serve to decrease cynicism and burnout, while negative emotions, and in particular anger serve as “toxins” and contribute to employees’ feelings of depletion and job withdrawal. The authors conclude in a discussion of the research implications of their findings, and implications for practice. Frost (2001) noted that a particular feature of toxic organizations is abusive supervision. This aspect of the “dark emotions” is addressed in the second presentation by Rebecca Michalak and Neal M. Ashkanasy, who look in particular at victim retaliation, and especially how perpetrator and victim can engage in ‘tit-for-tat,’ an escalating spiral of abuse. Citing Affective Events Theory (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1966), they hypothesize that abusive behavior is initiated by negative emotional reactions to abusive events. They tested this idea in a longitudinal study involving 120 Australian professional employees. Results confirmed that victims appraise their mistreatment experiences negatively and that negative reciprocity norms related to feelings of frustration, retaliation against perpetrators. Anger was also found to be related to retaliation against perpetrators and the organization as a whole. The authors conclude that complex mediatory and moderated relationships govern relationships between mistreatment, and retaliation, and discuss the research and practical implication of their findings. In the third presentation, Catherine S. Daus and Tiffani Cage present the results of two studies of jobs with high emotional labor requirements, police and retail, where they found that emotional intelligence can ameliorate potential negative effects of emotional labor, job performance, job satisfaction and turnover. They conclude that, for both retail sales and police officers, emotional intelligence appear to reflect an ability that places higher demands through recognizing and understanding the emotional labor demands of the job, while simultaneously helping employees to cope with them effectively. These results suggest that the relationship between emotional intelligence and emotional labor is a complex one, suggesting that those with high emotional intelligence abilities concomitantly may be (partially) negatively impacted through higher felt emotional labor. The final presentation, which will be made on behalf of KiYoung Lee, Michelle K. Duffy, Brian R. Dineen, Chris A. Henle, and Tiffany M. Trzebiatowski, will address an exciting new topic: the guilt experienced by organizational members who engage in unethical behavior. The authors argue that engaging in unethical behavior will evoke feelings of guilt when the unethical behavior does not produce a successful outcome. On the other hand, when unethical behavior results in success guilt is mitigated through moral disengagement. Lee and his colleagues tested this hypothesis in two studies, one in the lab involving students playing an investment game, and one in a field study of full-time masters students seeking internships. Results were supportive of the idea that guilt feelings are outcome-dependent. They conclude that guilt emotion is in need of a nuanced understanding in light of both attained outcomes and unethical behaviors. Following the presentations, Yochi Cohen-Charesh, an international authority on the causes of negative emotions in the workplace, their effects, and how they should be managed, will lead the discussion. Dr. Cohen-Charesh will seek to engender lively discussion on the future of this critically important field of research.