Page 215 - DMGT402_MANAGEMENT_PRACTICES_AND_ORGANIZATIONAL_BEHAVIOUR

Management Practices and Organisational Behaviour

Notes Theories about emotions stretch back at least as far as the Ancient Greek Stoics, as well as Plato
and Aristotle. We also see sophisticated theories in the works of philosophers such as Descartes,
Spinoza and David Hume. Later theories of emotions tend to be informed by advances in
empirical research. Often theories are not mutually exclusive and many researchers incorporate
multiple perspectives in their work.

10.1 Theories of Emotions

Let us have a brief exposure to various theories of emotions.
Somatic theories: Somatic theories of emotion claim that bodily responses rather than judgements
are essential to emotions.
James-Lange theory: William James, in the article 'What is an Emotion?', argued that emotional
experience is largely due to the experience of bodily changes. The Danish psychologist Carl
Lange also proposed a similar theory at around the same time, so this position is known as the
James-Lange theory. This theory and its derivatives state that a changed situation leads to a
changed bodily state. As James state that we feel sad because we cry, angry because we strike,
afraid because we tremble, and neither we cry, strike, nor tremble because we are sorry, angry,
or fearful, as the case may be.
Neurobiological theories: Based on discoveries made through neural mapping of the limbic
system, the neurobiological explanation of human emotion is that emotion is a pleasant or
unpleasant mental state organised in the limbic system of the mammalian brain.
Emotions are thought to be related to activity in brain areas that direct our attention, motivate
our behavior, and determine the significance of what is going on around us.
Cognitive theories: There are some theories on emotions arguing that cognitive activity in the
form of judgements, evaluations, or thoughts is necessary in order for an emotion to occur. Such
cognitive activity may be conscious or unconscious and may or may not take the form of
conceptual processing. It has also been suggested that emotions (affect heuristics, feelings and
gut-feeling reactions) are often used as shortcuts to process information and influence behaviour.
Out of various cognitive theories like Perceptual theory, Affective Events Theory, Cannon-Bard
theory, Two-factor theory and Component process model, the most important is Affective
Events Theory. Let us understand it.
10.1.1 Affective Events Theory

Affective Events Theory (AET) is a model developed by organisational psychologists Howard
M. Weiss and Russell Cropanzano to identify how emotions and moods influence job
performance and job satisfaction. According to the AET, environmental exigencies generate
"affective events" that cause emotional reactions in organisational members which, in turn,
determine members' attitudes and behaviours. The model increases understanding of links
between employees and their emotional reaction to things that happen to them at work.
Work events model includes hassles, tasks, autonomy, job demands, emotional labor and uplifting
actions. These work events affect employees positively or negatively. Employee mood
predisposes the intensity of their reaction. This emotional response intensity therefore affects
job performance and satisfaction. Furthermore, other employment variables like effort, leaving,
deviance, commitment, and citizenship, are affected.
AET shows that the individual behaviour in organisations is not always a controlled, deliberate,
purely cognitive process, as it is often described. Rather, we contend that the moods and emotions
that managers experience in response to positive and negative workplace events have a significant
affect on strategic decision-making processes and ultimately, organisational-level outcomes.

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