Workplace Emotions and The Ways to Deal with Negative Ones

How to Deal with The Emotions at Workplace
Human beings are an essential part of an organization and are dynamic in nature and hence are needed to be handled with proper care because the utilization of all the other resources of an organization. Human resources unlike other resources should be taken proper care of and while other resources can be exploited one can’t exploit the human resources as human resources have feelings attached with them and there are various feelings an employee experience in his work place whether it’s negative one’s or the positive ones.

Most common emotions experienced at work place

• Comfortable– Providing a working environment which is comfortable and supportive in nature can nurture positive emotions in the employees.
• Satisfied– Providing a good grievance handling system, being transparent, providing proper guidance to employees and encouraging work life balance can provide a feeling of satisfaction to the employees.
• Happy– If the employers and good and empathetic in nature, and there is a proper work life balance in the organisation then the employees also feel happy and satisfied in the organisation.
• Enthusiastic– Providing new opportunities, providing achievable yet challenging tasks to the employees, incouraging healthy competition between employees can keep the employees enthusiastic and interested in their work.
• Stressed– Not having proper working environment, no work life balance, no proper planning and no proper grievance handling procedure can cause an employee to be stressed out.

Positive emotions experienced at work place

This includes:

• Satisfaction– Supportive working conditions, supportive colleagues and employer, challenging tasks and equal opportunities and rewards all provides job satisfaction to the employee and the employee thinks the organisation as it’s own and then tries to achieve the goals of the organisation as it it’s his own.
• Confident– Having day to day meetings, building employees trust and providing them space to share their creativity and creative ideas and giving employees some power to take decisions for the organisation can build up high confidence in the employees.
• Enthusiastic– Acknowledging employees work, involving recreational activities, appreciating employees work in any form verbal or monitory this all makes the employee more enthusiastic and hence improves their creativity, their innovation mindset etc.
• Comfortable– Making an organisation feel like home, providing and environment that encourages open communication, rewarding good and innovative work and hosting team building activities helps in making comfortable environment for the employees.

Negative emotions experienced at work

This includes:

• Unhappy– Lack of training, no proper recongition of their work, no opportunities for improvement can lead to unhappiness in the employees.
• Uncomfortable– A hostile working environment, bullying at workplace, disorganised working environment, unpredictable schedules this all makes an employee uncomfortable at the organisation.
• Dissatisfaction– Lack of job appreciation, lack of training, no proper work life balance, limited career growth and inadequate management makes an employee feel less satisfied In an organisation this not only hampers an employee working but it also leads to high employee absenteeism and employee turnover.
• Upset– Feeling of being underpaid in comparison to the work done for the organisation, strained work place relationship with others, no benefits other than salary creates an upset mindset of an employee.
• Anger and frustation– Harassment at workplace whether Whether physical or mental, rejection, favouritism of one employee over another leads to angry and frustrated employees
• Bored- Feeling less job satisfied, same work all the time, work is boring in nature, and employee not interacting with other people in the organisation leads to boredom in employees.

Importance of positive emotions at workplace

• Higher Performance – Having a good human relations with the employees can lead to positive emotions in them which can motivate them to willingly work hard for the organisation success.
• Optimum use of Resources – A satisfied employee Is more likely to properly use the resources ( materials, machinery, finance and other inputs ) without wasting them and also it decreases the chance of accidents.
• Moral Justification– Employees are also human beings like the managers and owners. And hence are to be treated like properly with request, this provides them with a positive mindset towards the organisation and which helps the organisation in winning It’s employees trust and cooperation.
• Decreases employees absenteeism -and turnover – A motivated, satisfied, happy and High morale employee will never think of leaving an organisation or get absent many a days.
• Productivity – When the level of performance of an employee increases the output per unit of input goes up.

Sources of negative emotions at workplace

Role in the organisation

1. Too little management support.
2. Holding a middle management position
3. Conflicts in role assigned

Stressful Relationship

1. With superior
2. With subordinate
3. With colleagues

Physical Environment

Harsh working conditions like high temperature, noisy environment, low lighting or too much lighting, small working space, high crowding, and lack of privacy etc.

Job Qualities

1. Quantitative overload/ underload
2. Qualitative overload/ underload
3. High Time pressure
4.  Much Responsibilities for things/ people

Organisational structure

1. Lack of participation
2. No sense of belonging
3. Poor communication
4. Restriction on behaviour
5. Lack of opportunity
6. Inequity in pay and performance
7. Long hours of work
8. Inequity in performance evaluation

Career development

1. Status incongruity
2. Under promotion
3. Over promotion
4. Mid career opportunities

Change in

1. Organisational level
2. Individual Level

Consequences of negative emotions at workplace

1. Absenteeism of employees are increased.
2. Employee job satisfaction is decreased.
3. Conflicts in the organisation are increased.
4. Productivity of the employees are decreased.
5. Employee no longer see themselves as a part of the organisation.
6. Accidents rates increases.
7. Motivation of the employees are decreased.

Ways to deal with negative emotions

Exercise – Physical and mental exercises helps in reducing emotional imbalance. Regular eating and good sleeping habits and yoga are very helpful.

Know yourself – An employee should have a clear understanding of one’s strength and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A periodical analysis of this factors helps to reduce negative emotions. An employee should also be conscious about his/ her triggers that are causing him/ her stress.

Forecasting and preparing – Advance thinking and foresight helps a manager to reduce the risk involved in decision making. Proper allocation of resources are useful.

Organise work and time– One need to separate workfrom home. We can break the routine in the form of small vacation or picnic. Share your problems with your spouse, friends, and the higher authority and try to make your job interisting.

Develop positive attitude – A positive attitude to both work and life helps in reducing negative emotions. This also helps in developing a correct perspective towards the organisation and one’s work. Accept things which your cannot control. The managers should create a supportive working environment and provide periodic counseling to employes to help them cope with negative emotions at work Place.

Conclusion

People experience both negative and positive emotions at workplace. The reason for negative emotions at workplace can have many reasons for it. However there are various negative consequences of the negative emotions experienced at work which can not only disturb the working of the organisation but also the employee. It can lead to less job satisfaction and the organisation will also not be able to reach their goals. Hence proper management of negative feelings at work place becomes not only important but a necessity for the organisation.