Emotions and Decision Making

One of the findings in recent research is that an overemphasis on rationality may not be the key to better decision making and innovation. In fact, a study conducted by Pirola-Merlo, Hartel, Mann, and Hirst (2002) illustrates how the emotions conveyed by a leader can potentially have a beneficial impact on employees' emotions and, in turn, strengthen their decision-making processes. Pirola-Merlo et al. (2002) examined the performance of research and development teams. A research lab may seem to be the perfect place to practice Weber's advice to eliminate all emotion from the workplace; after all, research and development seems to be an almost exclusively cognitive task. What the researchers found, however, was that certain leaders of the research and development teams had a major impact on the affective climate of the teams. By helping team members overcome the mood-dampening effects of typical research obstacles, the leaders with facilitative and transformational leadership styles were able to create positive affective climates at work. As one would expect, the bad leaders added to the frustrations and exacerbated the bad moods of the researchers. These mood effects in turn had a strong influence on the performance of the research and development teams. Rather than being a hindrance to good decision making and research, positive emotions have the potential to stimulate creativity, fuel the innovative drive, and power the passionate pursuit of excellence.

Applications: Think of the various emotions you have experienced and witnessed at work. Share a story with the class about a time when someone became emotional (happy, sad, angry, affectionate, frustrated, proud, surprised, embarrassed, etc.). Based on your experiences, do you think the workplace is largely nonemotional, or do you think people experience a wide variety of sometimes very intense emotions? What influence do leaders and managers have on the moods and emotions their followers feel?

reference

Humphrey, R. (2014). Effective Leadership: Theory, Cases and Applications (1st ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE. ISBN: 978-1-4129-6355-8