ABSTRACT
New perspectives on affective and emotional experience at work have recently been ascendant in the organizational literature. Earlier studies neglected the importance of emotions in organizational settings and associated emotional expressions with unprofessional work behavior and even a sign of weakness. Post–World War II theories in organizational studies relied heavily on cognition and behavior. Emotions were recognized as biased social judgments, leading to irrational decision-making. The view that emotions are separate from reason and should not have any effect in organizational processes and decision-making has its roots in the ancient European philosophy and religion and has held a remarkable bearing on organizational behavior research for a long time. Positive emotions, such as satisfaction, caring, passion, eagerness, optimism, hope and enthusiasm, and negative emotions, such as envy, jealousy, anxiety, anger, disappointment, insecurity and loneliness, are the outcomes of positive and negative experience in organizational environments; and this chapter specifically focuses on negative emotions at work settings.
