The Relevance of Discrete Emotional Experiences for Human Resource Management: Connecting Positive and Negative Emotions to HRM

Abstract

Organizational behavior scholars have long recognized the importance of a variety of emotion-related phenomena in everyday work life. Indeed, after three decades, the span of research on emotions in the workplace encompasses a wide variety of affective variables such as emotional climate, emotional labor, emotion regulation, positive and negative affect, empathy, and more recently, specific emotions. Emotions operate in complex ways across multiple levels of analysis (i.e., within-person, between-person, interpersonal, group, and organizational) to exert influence on work behavior and outcomes, but their linkages to human resource management (HRM) policies and practices have not always been explicit or well understood. This chapter offers a review and integration of the bourgeoning research on discrete positive and negative emotions, offering insights about why these emotions are relevant to HRM policies and practices. We review some of the dominant theories that have emerged out of functionalist perspectives on emotions, connecting these to a strategic HRM framework. We then define and describe four discrete positive and negative emotions (fear, pride, guilt, and interest) highlighting

Changes in workplace practices during the COVID-19 pandemic: the roles of emotion, psychological safety and organisation support

“…The theoretical implications in the present findings contribute to the current literature relating to the roles of emotion, psychological safety and organisational support (Connelly and Torrence, 2018;Singh et al, 2017;Kiewitz et al, 2016;Michie, 2009;Edmondson, 1999). First, it extends on the current knowledge of the role of emotions by examining the social comparison emotion, i.e.…”

“…The qualitative results from the respondents' narratives resonated with the past study on the outcome and emotional reactions (see Barclay et al, 2005). Discrete or specific emotions arise as employees appraise the environment to help them navigate the situational events (Connelly and Torrence, 2018;Baumeister et al, 2007) Within the organisational context, when resources such as job, income and social relationships are threatened or vulnerable to impending loss, individuals feel anxious and stressful. The full-time, part-time and contracted employees demonstrated similar low psychological safety relating to job insecurity, health and safety concerns and the supervisors' micro-management style.…”

“…The environment is regard as dynamic, contingent on the individual's ability to respond and cope with the situational demands (Baumeister et al, 2007;Keltner and Gross, 1999;Smith and Ellsworth, 1985). Different individuals experiencing an event in the same context may have different emotional responses and reactions (Connelly and Torrence, 2018).…”

“…In organisational behaviour studies, the focus has been directed to examining discrete emotional states of pride, hope, optimism, anger and fear that individuals experience in the workplace and their reactions to human resource practices (Connelly and Torrence, 2018;Kiewitz et al, 2016;Michie, 2009). Positive discrete or specific emotions are related to content, enthusiasm, attentiveness and negative discrete emotions are anxiety, anger and fatigue (Rubino et al, 2013).…”

“…Past studies on emotion in the workplace mostly focus on types of discreet emotion, in relation to positive and negative emotions (e.g. Connelly and Torrence, 2018;Rubino et al, 2013). Other studies reported that emotions are derived from social comparison processes (Matta and Dyne, 2020).…”