Managing Emotions in the Workplace and During a Time a Crisis

Every day, we express our emotions through words, intonation, body language, and other physical actions. Not only are emotions a crucial part of communication, how we manage our emotions when communicating is equally important.  In this blog post, I will discuss emotional management in the workplace and the importance of emotions in an organization’s crisis communication strategy.

We all experience a variety of positive and negative emotions in the workplace. When things go well at work, we feel positive emotions such as happiness, excitement, pride, gratitude, etc. In contrast, when things do not go well or as expected, we can feel anger, frustration, uneasiness, etc. It is perfectly acceptable to allow yourself to feel these emotions. However, we must be aware that negative emotions spread like wildfire in the workplace and can create a toxic environment.

Five emotions that can be hard to control in the workplace are: “frustration; worry or insecurity; anger;  feeling “down”; and dislike (Fisher as cited in Bakken, 2011). Learning how to control your negative emotions is key and can lead to a more positive and productive work environment. So how do we effectively manage our emotions at work?

According to the author of Emotions at Work, Elizabeth Bakken, we should handle our problems before they escalate and overpower us (2011). By not addressing issues that upset you right away, you allow your negative emotions to “to slow burn and keep festering” (Ilfeld, 2016), this can lead to uncontrolled emotional outbursts in the workplace. Some other emotion management strategies that Bakken (2011) recommends are:

• Handle hard to control feelings in work-appropriate ways. Take a moment to analyze what brought on your emotions and think of steps you can take to diffuse a situation if it happens again in the future.
•  Remember how you handle a previous issue in the workplace. Make a note of what has worked for you in the past and use it in a similar situation if necessary.
• Use your organization’s employee assistance program. Speaking to a professional will help you get an outside opinion on the issue at hand and help you with emotion management.

Emotions also play a key role in crisis communication. When an organizational crisis occurs, it can spark outrage and anger from the public (Van der Meer & Verhoven, 2014). Research by Paz-Soldan (2018) shows that “the publics’ initial emotions will be triggered or intensified by a process of online emotional contagion.”  Moreover, social media can expose an organization to a higher volume of negative dialog, and how an organization chooses to handle a crisis can help or hinder their recovery. Let us look at the crisis case studies of Fed Ex and Domino’s Pizza.

FedEx Case Study: During the busy holiday season, a Fed Ex driver threw a customer’s package containing a computer monitor over the fence instead of delivering it the right way (Capozzi & Rucci, 2013). The incident was caught on video and uploaded to YouTube causing an organizational crisis (Capozzi & Rucci, 2013).

FedEx responded swiftly, issuing both a video and a written response (Capozzi & Rucci, 2013). The video response can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOhwZHHwWng. After watching the video apology, I think the Senior VP, FedEx Express U.S. Operations, Mike Thornton III handled the response with sincerity. He conveyed emotions such as regret, disappointment, concern for the customer, and embarrassment for the employee’s actions. His body language also suggested that he was being open and honest. For example, he made direct eye contact with the video camera and his hand gestures displayed passion and conviction. Furthermore, he had good voice intonation. 

Domino’s Pizza Case Study: In 2009, one Domino’s employees filmed and narrated a YouTube video of another employee deliberately contaminating delivery orders with bodily fluids (i.e. sneezing directly on a pizza, wiping mucus on the food, etc.) (Capozzi & Rucci, 2013). Bloggers found the video online and reported to a “subsidiary of Consumer Reports, which posted the video to their website” (Capozzi & Rucci, 2013).

 Domino’s store owner and the corporate office did not find out about the video until almost two days later. Also, the response was issued one day after they found out about the video (Capozzi & Rucci, 2013). The video response can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dem6eA7-A2I. After watching the response video, I think Patrick Doyle conveyed sincerity, regret, disgust, shame. In addition, he expressed concern for public safety, the individual franchise owner, and Domino’s employees. Also, he had good voice intonation and his body language conveyed conviction and passion through his head movements and hand gestures.

There are a couple of improvements that could have been made to Domino’s crisis communication strategy. First, they should have responded the same day instead of waiting until the next to release their statement. Lastly, the angle that the video was filmed at was off-putting. Throughout the video, it looks like the Doyle is not making eye contact. However, after re-watching the video, I realized that it was being filmed off-centered, presumably to capture part of the Domino’s logo in the background.

It is important to show the authentic and sincere emotions when handling crisis communication. When an organization's crisis communicator shows emotions such as shame, and regret, it reflects positively on their reputation (Van der Meer & Verhoven, 2014). Furthermore, when a spokesperson tries to remain emotionless when delivering a message, emotions can unintentionally come out in your body language, which can alert others that you are “hiding something” (Ilfeld, 2016).

References

Bakken, E. (2011). Emotions at work. Retrieved from University of Notre Dame: https://hr.nd.edu/assets/52816/emotionsatwork.pdf

Capozzi, L., & Rucci, S. (2013). Crisis management in the age of social media. New York: Business Expert Press, LLC. Retrieved from https://moodle.drury.edu/pluginfile.php/933981/mod_resource/content/1/Case%20study%20in%20crisis%20com%20.pdf

Emotions in the workplace. (2017). [Image] Retrieved from https://www.changeboard.com/article-details/13738/being-emotional-in-the-workplace/

Ilfeld, J. (2016). Emotions at work: Needless or neccessary? . Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2016/06/06/emotions-at-work-needless-or-necessary/#37629916917b

Paz-Soldan, M. (2018). Getting emotional: Emotions' role in crisis communication. Retrieved from Institute for Public Relations: https://instituteforpr.org/getting-emotional-emotions-role-in-crisis-communication/

Van der Meer, T., & Verhoven, J. (2014). Emotional Crisis Communication. Public Relations Review, 40(3), 526-536. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.03.004