Respond to (2) colleagues D2 W6

Prior to preparing your response to two (2) of colleagues, pay particular attention to the following Resources:

Emotions At Work: Needless Or Necessary? (forbes.com)

The Four C’s of Emotions - “See attachment”

Emotional Incompetence or Gender Based – “See attachment”

Respond to at least two (2) of your colleagues' in one or more of the following ways:

· Share an insight about what you learned about emotional intelligence from having read your colleagues’ postings and discuss how and why your colleague’s posting resonated with you professionally and personally.

· Seek additional clarity or ask your colleague a question, with accompanying context that will help your colleague to think more critically or broadly about the importance of leadership in balancing emotions withim an organizational culture.

· Offer an example, relate to a leader’s role in balancing emotions, from your experience or observation, which validates or differs from what your colleague discussed.

· Offer specific suggestions that will help your colleague build upon his or her ability to balance emotions in a effort to continuously improve his or her leadership skills within an organizational culture.

· Share how something your colleague discussed related to emotional balance changed the way you consider your own leadership ability.

· 3 – 4 paragraph response per each colleagues

· No plagiarism

· APA citing

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1st Colleague – Natasha

Discussion 2 - Week 6

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Natasha Mills 

Reveal or Conceal?

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An organization’s culture plays a critical in people’s ability to display their emotional reactions (Chiaburu & Gray, 2008). Sujit’s company is an example of a corporate culture where expressing one’s emotions translates to adverse implications. Whereas such a culture is acceptable or unifying in certain workplace environments, Sujit’s case presents one where the employees desire a space where they can express their emotional triggers, as well as reactions.

Despite the potential consequences of opening up, it is wise for Sujit to reveal his concerns to the superiors during the meeting. Hiding his emotions may play out well for Sujit in the short-term by helping him keep his job, but it will be detrimental in the long-term by impacting the productivity and performance of the employees and, ultimately, that of the business. Therefore, Sujit should reveal his concerns to avoid the layering of issues and the eventual need to repair several cracks in relationships in the future while they could just work on the current issue (Llfeid, 2016).

The right approach for Sujit to effectively communicate the concerns that he and his team have about the changes in operations is to find the right language. Sujit can achieve this by finding the right emotional tone that effectively addresses the situation by first building a rapport that fosters collaboration and convinces his superiors to engage (Llfeid, 2016). This approach will offer emotional safety that will enable Sujit and his superiors to disagree and address the concerns productively.

At the same time, revealing emotional concerns through the right language is one of the strategies that leaders can use to assess and improve emotional and managerial competence. “As individuals and corporations strive to assess and improve managerial and especially emotional competence, understanding how these terms are manufactured, connected, and utilized for practical purposes can illuminate (and help to eliminate) situations in which construals about emotional competence privilege some individuals over others in organizations” Chiaburu & Gray, 2008, p. 295).

The firm’s culture at Sujit’s company does not provide a space for emotional reactions, which can be interpreted as the “boys don’t cry” school of thought (Lfeid, 2016). This school of thought argues that work is a place of rational or logical thought where emotional thinking is unacceptable. Hence, by raising the emotional concerns ailing his team and him, change in the organisation's culture is possible, just as losing his job is.

For instance, adopting the right emotional tone and finding safe ways to disagree with the superiors productively may help the superiors see the potential impacts of the current situation if left unaddressed, and choose to enact changes. As a result, the bosses and the entire company may resort to addressing the existing emotional triggers, which in this case involve all the four categories, including context, challenges, communication, and community, and create a positive work environment (Callahan, 2008).

I underwent a similar experience during my early professional years. I worked under a department that was understaffed, and most of the time, we would find ourselves overworked and under a lot of pressure. However, I felt more overwhelmed because this was my first job, which I did not want to lose. This aspect, combined with the fact that none of my team members ever showed that they were overwhelmed, led me to bottle my emotional reactions and adapt to the work environment.

After learning what I know about emotional situations, I would have approached my immediate supervisor to express how I felt. This is because the issues kept layering to the point that I had to quit that job when I could not take it anymore (Llfeid, 2016). Maybe this approach would have changed things since every member of our department felt the same, just that they never raised it, and at my time of departure, one other member of the department left for the same reasons.

Leaders have great potential in balancing the emotions of their teams and influencing organizational cultures. This can be achieved through finding emotional triggers within and outside the organization and creating a space that allows productive emotional reactions (Llfeid, 2016). As a result, addressing emotional triggers creates a positive work environment that then forms part of the organization’s culture. Balancing organizational emotions and culture leads to increased productivity and the success of the organization, thereby highlighting the importance of attaining this balance.

 

Callahan, J.L. (2008). The four C’s of emotion: A framework for managing emotions in organizations. Organization Development Journal, 26(2), 33-38.

Chiaburu, D.S., & Gray, B. (2008). Emotional incompetence or gender-based stereotyping? The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 443(3), 293-314.

Llfeid, J (2016, June 6). Emotions at work: Needless or necessary? Forbes. Retrieved from:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2016/06/06/emotions-at-work-needless-or-necessary/?sh=5a00420c917b

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2nd Colleague – Ryan

Discussion 2 - Week 6Top of Form

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The corporate doom and gloom of chewing up employees and spitting them out is written within Sujit’s storyline. Given the short backstory and cultural anomalies, we must assume that this business is within a country not bound by familiar labor laws which would protect whistle-blower type scenarios. Given that, it would still be wise to step up and say something. In my opinion, standing up for your fellow human will always outweigh the profit and grind of demoralizing a workforce. Callahan (2008) illustrates one of the key components within the four C’s as being Community (Callahan, 2008 p.36), which in my definition represents the group of individuals that are working with Sujit.

In offering suggestions to Sujit, a calm, collective, and well-thought-out approach would be best. MindTools (n.d.) illustrates frustration usually occurs when you feel stuck or trapped, as well as offering suggestions of stop and evaluate, find something positive about the situation, and remember the last time you felt frustrated (MindTools, n.d.) which all lead to suggestive conversation tempo with his supervisor.

In offering suggestions to change the culture of the organization, the change will only happen with a well-presented case to managers (decision makers) with factual emotionally controlled and delivered information. Controlling emotional response and displaying emotional intelligence helps people better develop their own capabilities for dealing with feelings in the workplace (Callahan, 2008 p.38).

My own experiences in dealing with cultural issues recently revealed itself after I bought my last business. The workforce was mentally abused and treated very poorly. The previous owner did not have any regard for work-life balance, and I found myself faced with battered employees whom either 1) adapted and appreciated the new environment, or 2) doubted the sincerity and looked for fault in every action waiting for failure to further exacerbate the I told you so mentality. Chiaburu (2008) illustrate emotional competence in similar standing as a management truism (Goleman 2002 & Chiaburu 2008 p. 293.), which until this article, I called adulting. I came into a multi-generational business with a work force born between 1942 and 2003, all of which were battered employees. I fought hard and adulted in every conversation to keep the workers engaged, pacified, and show the truism of my intent. Sadly, out of 35 employees, three chose the doubt of sincerity.

In my opinion, leaders balance the entire organization with emotional intelligence. That is, active leaders. What I mean is; I have conversations with my co-workers all the time. If I am off, they know it and the tone of our meeting is customized to avoid angst. It is not genuine and waste everyone’s time. It is important to wear your smile and keep engagement, morale, and trust at the highest priority of a well-functioning team. Murphy (2017) cautions fake emotions and focus on being genuine (Murphy, 2017), which are wise words in my own findings of organizational tempo.

References:

Callahan, J. L. (2008). The Four C’s of Emotion: A Framework for Managing Emotions in Organizations. Organization Development Journal, 26(2), 33–38.

Chiaburu, D. S., & Gray, B. (2008). Emotional Incompetence or Gender-Based Stereotyping? The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 44(3), 293–314.  https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886308316704

Ilfeld, J. (2016, June 6). Emotions at work: Needless or necessary? Forbes. Retrieved from  https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2016/06/06/emotions-at-work-needless-or-necessary/?sh=f854808917bb    

MindTools. (n.d.). Managing your emotions at work. Retrieved from  https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCDV_41.htm

Murphy, M. (2017, May 14). If you have to fake emotions at work, research shows you’re probably going to be miserable. Forbes. Retrieved from  https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2017/05/14/research-shows-that-if-you-have-to-fake-your-emotions-at-work-youre-probably-going-to-be-miserable/?sh=2dd7b06523df

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