Constance Noonan Hadley
Organizational Behavior PhD
Dissertation Chair: Prof. J.R. Hackman
The Social Processing of Positive and Negative Emotions in Work Groups
The current study is part of a growing area of interest in organizational behavior research: emotions in work groups. It provides an exploratory investigation of the social processing of positive and negative emotions among work group members. Social processing of emotion is defined as interactions combining the disclosure of an emotion from a worker to one or more coworkers and the interpersonal exchange that ensues. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 34 human service participants who varied in personal and organizational characteristics. The interviews generated 71 detailed case examples of client-evoked emotional experiences, including 55 cases that included social processing among coworkers (18 positive and 37 negative in emotion valence). The data were coded and analyzed inductively regarding the role and nature of social processing interactions.
Findings indicate that from the individual perspective, social processing interactions facilitate a sense of emotional equilibrium and environmental mastery. From the group perspective, social processing interactions facilitate bonding and morale, as well as the dissemination of knowledge and skill among group members. A sense of validation and appropriate level of negativity are two conditions that support the fulfillment of these roles.
Dimensions of social processing interactions include those related to the client event (content, nature), the emotional disclosure (target, amount, nature), and the interpersonal exchange (nature, content). A comparison of positive and negative emotional experiences on these dimensions indicates that positive emotions are experienced more easily than negative emotions, but they are disclosed and processed relatively less readily within the work group.
Two core dimensions that distinguish the most common forms of social processing interactions are the number of coworkers included (one or multiple) and the level of planning involved (low or high). The four general forms of social processing interactions are: close colleague chat, specialist consultation, peer group chat, and work group consultation. The conditions that influence the form of the interaction include the level of opportunity associated with the context and the level of motivation associated with the individual. Based on the findings regarding the role and nature of social processing interactions, a theoretical framework and implications for research and practice are presented.
