Chapter 9: Negative Emotion Positive Outcomes: A Study of Construction Project Managers

Emotions are with us, wherever we are, and that surely implicates the workplace as well. We may attempt to leave them at the office entrance upon arrival at work, like the old-fashioned time cards inserted into the attendance recorder, but oftentimes it does not work. Their potent influence on our behavior is simply too prevalent to be neglected—especially at work when we compete for resources and status through interactions with others. Several influential reviews are a testimony to this effect (e.g., Barsade & Gibson, 2007).

Indeed, this potency extends to the realm of leadership as well, a process which tends to be imbued with emotion (George, 2000). One prominent stream of research suggests that positive leader emotion is conducive to achieve beneficial follower outcomes (Bono & Ilies, 2006). In congruence with this, George (1996) contends that “leaders who feel excited, enthusiastic, and energetic themselves are likely to similarly energize their followers,” while she also draws attention to the contrary, for “leaders who feel distressed and hostile [are] likely to negatively activate their followers” (p. 84). Empirical evidence for the latter is accumulating, such as Starratt and Grandy’s (2008) study on young workers’ experiences of abusive leadership or Lewis’s (2000) laboratory study on how followers react to negative emotional expression of leaders.