Feeling and smiling
Rob Briner gives an overview of what we currently know about emotion in the workplace.
18 January 1999
Work, like any other domain of human activity, both produces and is influenced by emotion. We may, for example, feel envious of a co-worker's success, proud and delighted when we complete a difficult and important task, embarrassed about a barely-disguised failure, or angry if a colleague lets us down at a particularly crucial moment. It is, therefore, unfortunate and curious that in conceptualising and researching how people feel at work, psychologists have almost completely ignored emotion. Indeed, it has become something of a ritual for those who do write about the psychology of emotion at work to introduce the topic by expressing regret and surprise at the 'dearth' or 'paucity' of systematic knowledge (e.g. Fineman, 1996; Pekrun & Frese, 1992).
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