Hrm/531 Week 4 Assignment
Business Issue After being deployed for six months with three months left in the tour, emotions in my organization are intensified, while moods tend to be those of boredom or stress. These factors greatly affected a recent issue I had with my supervisor. A company safety training day was mandated in order to decrease safety violations; the problem was that the training had to be attended by everyone at the same time. The company consists of four different elements, all on different schedules. The requirement to conduct the training in the middle of the day interfered with my subordinates’ sleep schedules and mission preparation time. Consequently, from the start of the training, my subordinates and I were frustrated and upset.
Halfway …show more content…
through the training, my supervisor’s counterpart allowed some members to leave for lunch since their mission would force them to miss dinner. My supervisor confronted me angrily for letting the group leave, even though I explained the situation. In turn, I became angry due to his misdirected emotions, combined with the frustration of the entire situation in general. My personal feelings and actions following the confrontation can be explained by the affective events theory and emotional intelligence.
Affective Events Theory (AET) Definition. The affective events theory is a model that proposes that events that occur in the workplace, influence workers’ emotions and ultimately, their job performance and job satisfaction (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Another suggestion of the theory that applies to the business issue, is that specific emotional events are truly a culmination of multiple emotional events. Application to business issue. This single event caused me to have an elevated emotional level, which in turn impacted my job performance negatively. As a supervisor myself, my daily job consists of continually facilitating teamwork by helping my subordinates see the big picture, relating their efforts to the team’s goals, and preventing clashes between members of the team (Fischer, n.a.). Since a person’s emotional state alters how they interpret a situation (LeBlanc, McConnell, & Monteiro, 2015), I was unable to see the importance of the training event and convey the big picture to my subordinates. Therefore, my job performance significantly decreased due to my emotions. As James 1:19-20 teaches “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires (NIV)”. Because everything we do is in the glory of His name, becoming angry prevented me from performing my job to the fullest of my abilities and living the righteous life He desires. In order to overcome my frustration, I had to rely on my emotional intelligence to regain a normal state.
Emotional Intelligence.
Definition. James 1:19-20 warns of the negatives effects of anger, but also teaches to take the time to evaluate emotions and the events that cause these emotions. The lessons taught by this verse are the foundations of emotional intelligence, which is understanding and managing personal emotions, as well as the emotions of others (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Emotional intelligence is a vital factor in my job. If managed correctly, emotions can be an effective tool to gather information in order to make decisions and to provide effective leadership (LeBlanc, McConnell, & Monteiro, 2015). Application to business issue. Despite my initial reaction of anger, I attempted to evaluate the situation in order to avoid the negative effects and capitalize on the positive. The first stage was to recognize the emotions I was feeling and to determine the cause of the emotions. My general upset mood and negative emotions could be attributed to emotional contagion. Not only was my supervisor angry, but many of my subordinates participating in the training were as well (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Additionally, I realized that my supervisor’s anger was not directed at me, but instead at the miscommunication between him and his
counterpart.
Subsequently, making this realization helped me control my emotional response so I could effectively perform my job. Even though I could have become jaded towards the group and the training, I was able to manage my emotions in order help my subordinates understand the importance of the training and how it fit into the organizational goals, thus keeping the covenant with the group as a leader (Fischer, n.a.).
Halfway …show more content…
through the training, my supervisor’s counterpart allowed some members to leave for lunch since their mission would force them to miss dinner. My supervisor confronted me angrily for letting the group leave, even though I explained the situation. In turn, I became angry due to his misdirected emotions, combined with the frustration of the entire situation in general. My personal feelings and actions following the confrontation can be explained by the affective events theory and emotional intelligence.
Affective Events Theory (AET) Definition. The affective events theory is a model that proposes that events that occur in the workplace, influence workers’ emotions and ultimately, their job performance and job satisfaction (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Another suggestion of the theory that applies to the business issue, is that specific emotional events are truly a culmination of multiple emotional events. Application to business issue. This single event caused me to have an elevated emotional level, which in turn impacted my job performance negatively. As a supervisor myself, my daily job consists of continually facilitating teamwork by helping my subordinates see the big picture, relating their efforts to the team’s goals, and preventing clashes between members of the team (Fischer, n.a.). Since a person’s emotional state alters how they interpret a situation (LeBlanc, McConnell, & Monteiro, 2015), I was unable to see the importance of the training event and convey the big picture to my subordinates. Therefore, my job performance significantly decreased due to my emotions. As James 1:19-20 teaches “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires (NIV)”. Because everything we do is in the glory of His name, becoming angry prevented me from performing my job to the fullest of my abilities and living the righteous life He desires. In order to overcome my frustration, I had to rely on my emotional intelligence to regain a normal state.
Emotional Intelligence.
Definition. James 1:19-20 warns of the negatives effects of anger, but also teaches to take the time to evaluate emotions and the events that cause these emotions. The lessons taught by this verse are the foundations of emotional intelligence, which is understanding and managing personal emotions, as well as the emotions of others (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Emotional intelligence is a vital factor in my job. If managed correctly, emotions can be an effective tool to gather information in order to make decisions and to provide effective leadership (LeBlanc, McConnell, & Monteiro, 2015). Application to business issue. Despite my initial reaction of anger, I attempted to evaluate the situation in order to avoid the negative effects and capitalize on the positive. The first stage was to recognize the emotions I was feeling and to determine the cause of the emotions. My general upset mood and negative emotions could be attributed to emotional contagion. Not only was my supervisor angry, but many of my subordinates participating in the training were as well (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Additionally, I realized that my supervisor’s anger was not directed at me, but instead at the miscommunication between him and his
counterpart.
Subsequently, making this realization helped me control my emotional response so I could effectively perform my job. Even though I could have become jaded towards the group and the training, I was able to manage my emotions in order help my subordinates understand the importance of the training and how it fit into the organizational goals, thus keeping the covenant with the group as a leader (Fischer, n.a.).