How workplace events change employee emotions.docx

1. How workplace events change employee
emotions, behaviour
20 June 2011 07:56 am - 6 - 44459
AET states that work-related events, known as affective events, occurring in workplaces
cause specific emotional reactions in employees which in turn lead to attitudinal and
behavioural changes in employees. AET marked the beginning of the study of the person
level emotional changes in organizations and therefore is considered a seminal piece of work.
The study of emotions in the workplace and their implications for employee and
organizational wellbeing has been a major development in management studies in the 21st
century. Thanks to this advancement in management thought, employees are no longer
expected to leave their emotions behind when they enter their workplaces. An understanding
of emotions is important because once activated our emotions cause our goals to change from
their prior state to a new and different state based on the type of emotion felt. Therefore,
understanding the emotions that employees feel in the work setting is also important as
emotions determine employees’ subsequent thoughts, behaviours and attitudes. Although
emotions have usually been discarded as irrational and therefore disruptive, emotions for the
most part have a positive and adaptive function as they steer us towards the fulfilment of
important goals and needs in life. It is only when emotions bring about results that are
contrary to what the emotional person is trying to achieve, do emotions become troublesome.
Research has found that our emotions play a crucial role in our decision making process. The
emotional part of our brains work very closely with our thinking part of the brain to assist our
decision making and reasoning abilities. Therefore our emotions are a very important part of
our lives.
AET
One reason that emotions in the workplace have been ignored for so long by researchers is
because of their dynamic and short lived nature. Our emotions do not last very long and
change from moment to moment and this makes them difficult to study accurately. However,
it is these very moment to moment changes in emotions that affect cognitive and behavioural
changes in employees and are therefore worthy of study.
A theory that has been successful in capturing these momentary changes in employees’
emotions and their consequences and therefore has made the study of such a transient
phenomena much easier is the ‘Affective Events Theory’ (or AET) developed by Weiss and
Cropanzano in 1996. AET states that work-related events, known as affective
events, occurring in workplaces cause specific emotional reactions in employees which in
turn lead to attitudinal and behavioural changes in employees. AET marked the beginning of
the study of the person level emotional changes in organizations and therefore is considered a
seminal piece of work.
Work-related hassles and uplifts
According to AET, a work-related event can be any event, occurrence or incident that
happens in the work environment. Such events, depending on their impact can either be
hassles or uplifts. Hassles are those work related events that cause disruption or difficulties
for an employee to carry out their work tasks. Uplifts on the other hand are those events that

2. make employees’ work tasks much easier and fulfilling. For example possible hassles that
may exist in a workplace are difficult customers, an abusive supervisor or manager, noisy or
poorly lighted work environment, impossible deadlines or sales targets, poor company
policies and procedures, lack of proper recognition or rewards for work carried out, work
overload, time pressure etc. Possible uplifts may be supportive colleagues, strong mentoring
programs, work related incentives etc. It’s important to note that an event can turn out to be
either a hassle or an uplift based on the nature of its impact. For example, poor and unhelpful
supervision will be a hassle for employees while strong and supportive supervision will be an
uplift. Also each organization will have its own set of unique hassles and uplifts.
Emotional, behavioural changes
AET further states that due to the exposure to these hassles and uplifts employees will have
specific emotional reactions. Hassles will lead to the experience of negative emotions such as
anger, frustration, sadness, fear etc while uplifts will be associated with positive emotions
such as happiness, excitement, pride, contentment etc. These emotional reactions in turn will
lead to behavioural and attitudinal changes in employees. For example it has been found that
the occurrence of frequent hassles leads to frequent negative emotions in employees which in
the long run affect their job satisfaction, absenteeism and even decision to leave the
organization. Uplifts on the other hand have been found to increase job satisfaction and desire
to stay in the organization.
Hassles that occur occasionally are not strong determinants of employee behaviour.
Employees are capable of tackling disruptions that happen once in a while in their
workplaces. However, when hassles occur on a continuous basis, the employee will become
vulnerable to a downward spiral in emotions that will subsequently have a significant impact
on the way he/she views the organization and decides what to do about it. That is why in
organizations that are characterised by lousy leadership, poor pay and unfair treatment,
employees generally feel frustrated, display rebellious behaviour, have high rates of
absenteeism and have problems in retaining existing employees.
Similarly occasional uplifts do not have a lasting impact on employee’s subsequent
behaviour. Uplifts need to be frequent and strong for employees to feel satisfied with their
working environment. All these factors, ultimately affect the organization’s bottom
line. Therefore the message given to management by AET is strong and clear: ‘Pay attention
to employee’s emotions or else suffer the consequences’.
Next week we will look at the strategies that management can adopt to change work
environments for the better and thereby increase employee emotional wellbeing.