Impact of Emotion and Motivation on Workplace Performance - Essay Example

Emotions have a strong impact on all activities of an individual in a workplace. Unlike traditional thinking which contends that only cognition – conscious reasoning – influences a person’s decisions and attitudes, modern neuroscience has proven that emotions, too, play a major part in organisational behaviour of an employee (McShane & Glinow, 2006, p. 67). The satisfaction that a person derives from the job depends on the emotional experiences in the workplace. For instance, people who derive positive emotions in the workplace tend to develop a favourable approach towards their performance resulting in increasing their level of output, which in turn means rewards and promotions.

These are the things that most employees are always looking for since such things will help them attain whatever goals they have set for themselves.  In business enterprises, management often uses the behaviourist theory of operant conditioning to motivate employees. Promotions and rewards for excellent performance, no doubt, motivate people to give their best, but their positive impact is more in the short run. This is because in the long run, rewards will instill a competitive environment among employees, and they ‘destroy intrinsic motivation by reducing work to an economic transaction’ (Strickler, 2006, p. 27). Research proved that it is communication and frequent meetings between employees and management that act as motivational drivers for better performance (Aini et al., 2012, p. 240).

According to one research, goal setting can be a strong motivational factor for employees as it can improve average performance by 16 percent, and when monetary rewards are attached to goal setting, then average performance can be enhanced by more than 40 percent (Lumenburg & Ornstein, 2007, p. 111). In conclusion, it can be said that lack of motivation can cause emotional stress for employees resulting in poor performance. Employees with strong motivation will respond more to the organisation’s goals and will work with integrity towards the attainment of those goals.

Comments on Blogs http://psud7c.wordpress.com (How emotions affect our eating habits) It is without any doubt that emotions have a strong influence on eating habits of people. However, it cannot be exclusively concluded whether positive or negative emotions lead to higher consumption of food. Research showed that people, who are consciously indulging in restricting their food consumption for various reasons, eat more when experiencing negative emotions like fear and anxiety. The result is opposite in case of people who are not dieting, which