21 Emotions as social entities: interpersonal functions and effects of emotion in organizations

Introduction The field of organizational behavior has undergone an ‘affective revolution’ (Barsade et al., 2003), with growing interest in the functions and influence of emotions in different organizational contexts (Ashkanasy et al., 2000; Fineman, 2000; Brief & Weiss, 2002; Lord et al., 2002). More and more, emotions are recognized as relevant to organizational life on multiple levels and in different contexts, including interactions between individuals (Rafaeli & Worline, 2001) and between or within groups (Kelly & Barsade, 2001; Bartel & Saavedra, 2000) and organizations (Huy, 1999). Studies of emotion in organizations have focused primarily on the antecedents and consequences of affective reactions. A notable example of this trend is the idea of ‘affective events theory’ (AET) suggested by Weiss and Cropanzano (1996) and followed up in subsequent research (e.g., Fisher, 2002; Grandey et al., 2002). The underlying logic of AET is that emotions influence behavior, so that the emotions experienced by an individual while performing a particular task influence that individual’s performance in subsequent tasks. In line with AET, scholars have considered the influence of individual affect on different aspects such as behavior, motivation, creativity, and interpersonal judgments (Forgas & George, 2001). Work on group emotion similarly suggests that the emotional tone within a group is critical to the performance of individual group members and of the group as a whole (Bartel & Saavedra, 2000; Kelly & Barsade, 2001; Barsade, 2002). Likewise, Huy’s (1999) analyses connect organizational-level affect to successful organizational change. These lines of research, for the most part, share a focus on how people’s emotions shape their behavior, whether from the perspective of the individual alone or as part of a group.