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Emotional states
In the first element you looked at different emotional responses, particularly
your own, which might occur in the workplace. Your emotional responses will
differ to those of your colleagues because we all have different personalities
and emotional strengths and weaknesses. Something that motivates you,
a production deadline for example, may not evoke the same drive from an
employee on the production line that is paid minimum wage and performs the
same repetitive tasks on a daily basis. Likewise, something that concerns the
same production line employee, such as needing to request time off for a childs
medical appointment, will not concern you at all. That employee may be worried
about having to go to your office and ask for time off and this may affect her
behaviour towards others on the production line (she might snap at them or
ignore them because she is pre-occupied with the trip to your office), or it might
affect her performance and ability to do her job properly because she is nervous.
The emotions she is experiencing are potential causes of conflict which you may
very well have to resolve before she has even made it into your office to ask the
question that has caused all the problems.
As a manager, you need to be able to recognise the emotional strengths and
weaknesses of others within your team and the emotional states that they
produce. An emotional state is actually two separate concepts. The state we are
in determines how we perceive something that is happening to us or around us
which results in the emotion we feel towards it. The emotion we feel to the same
stimulus may be completely different depending on the state we are in.
WORKBOOK | 2017 YOUNG RABBIT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PACIFIC COLLEGE
BSB51915 DIPLOMA OF LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT & BSB61215 ADVANCED DIPLOMA OF PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE_V1.5
23
For example, a colleague plays a practical joke on you by hiding your lunch box.
After a productive and lucrative meeting with a new client that has ensured you
treble your sales targets half way through the month, you probably wont care
about the hidden lunch box and may be amused when you find it later in the day
in your filing cabinet when you are looking for something else. However, after a
tough meeting with your manager about falling sales figures when you need to
attend another meeting on the other side of town for which you are running late?
A different emotion altogether.
You will often find that the subsequent response is determined by the emotional
state of the individual and will also vary according to the state. With the lunch
box example, the response in the happy emotional state might be that the
individual who has had his lunch box hidden goes out and buys the whole office
lunch as a celebration of the trebled sales. The response from the stressed
individual is most probably going to be one of anger or aggression.
Emotional states
There are more emotional states than you might have imagined. This selection is
not exhaustive.
Emotional cues
An emotional cue is basically a sign that gives an indication as to the emotional
state of an individual. It is generally a non-verbal movement of a part of the body,
usually involuntary, unintentional and unconscious.
Generic emotional cues include:
f Facial expressions
f Body movement
f Tone of voice.
Facial expressions include:
f Smile joy, happiness, amusement, affection, confidence, enthusiasm, to
embarrassment, euphoria, gratitude, mania, nostalgia, optimism, pride,
shyness
f Frown agitation, anxiety, bitterness, frustration, hate, rag, suspicion, worry,
confusion
f Blink agitation, anxiety, apprehension, guilt, vulnerability, mania, rage
f Raise eyebrows doubt, hope, shock, suspicion
f Widen eyes apprehension, helplessness, hope, mania, optimism, shock,
terror, vulnerability
f Facial flushing agitation, embarrassment, guilt, rage, shame, shyness
f Down turned mouth depression, disappointment, grief, loneliness,
remorse, vulnerability
f No expression ambivalence, apathy, boredom, calm, patience.
Body movements include:
f Fist pump enthusiasm, euphoria, joy
f Throat-clear uncertainty, apprehension
WORKBOOK | 2017 YOUNG RABBIT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PACIFIC COLLEGE
BSB51915 DIPLOMA OF LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT & BSB61215 ADVANCED DIPLOMA OF PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE_V1.5
25
Activity 2.1
1. Identify the possible emotional states that you might encounter in your co-
workers.
2. For each of the emotional states you identified, suggest possible associated
emotional cues.
Individualist cultures encourage the importance of power and autonomy and are
much more overt with their emotions and facial expressions.
Individualist cultures include:
Activity 2.2
1. What are the six basic emotions that studies have proven are universal in
all cultures?
2. Identify all of the different cultures within your workforce and state
whether each could be considered collectivist or individualist.