Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-kw2vx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-04T15:19:19.054Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

18 - Affective Climate in Teams

from Part III - Workplace Affect and Interpersonal and Team-Level Processes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2020

By
Nuria Gamero  and
Vicente González-Romá
Edited by
Liu-Qin Yang ,
Russell Cropanzano ,
Catherine S. Daus  and
Vicente Martínez-Tur
Liu-Qin Yang
Affiliation:
Portland State University
Russell Cropanzano
Affiliation:
University of Colorado
Catherine S. Daus
Affiliation:
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Vicente Martínez-Tur
Affiliation:
Universitat de València, Spain
Get access

Summary

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on the collective affective experiences of work teams. Affective climate (affective experiences shared by team members) has become an important factor in understanding how teams work and the results they produce. Many efforts have been dedicated to identifying the processes through which this collective phenomenon emerges and its antecedents and consequences. In this chapter, we review the literature on affective climate. We begin by addressing what affective climate is, how it is described, and the mechanisms explaining how team members share affect. We follow up by describing emergence processes of affective climate in teams and reviewing its antecedents and consequences. Next, we dedicate a section to examining the dynamic nature of this phenomenon. We conclude by noting some emerging areas of research in the affective climate literature.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Workplace Affect , pp. 244 - 256
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ashkanasy, N. M., & Härtel, C. E. (2014). Positive and negative affective climate and culture: The good, the bad, and the ugly. In Barbera, K. M. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of organizational climate and culture (pp. 136–152). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Barsade, S. G. (2002). The ripple effect: Emotional contagion and its influence on group behavior. Administrative Science Quarterly, 47, 644–675.Google Scholar
Barsade, S. G., & Gibson, D. E. (1998). Group emotion: A view from top and bottom. In Grenfeld, D, Manmix, B, & Neak, M (Eds.), Research on managing groups and teams (pp. 81–102). Stanford, CT: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Barsade, S. G., & Gibson, D. E. (2012). Group affect: Its influence on individual and group outcomes. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 119–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barsade, S. G., & Knight, A. P. (2015). Group affect. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 2, 21–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barsade, S. G., & O’Neill, O. A. (2014). What’s love got to do with it? A longitudinal study of the culture of companionate love and employee and client outcomes in a long-term care setting. Administrative Science Quarterly, 59, 551–598.Google Scholar
Barsade, S. G., Ward, A. J., Turner, J. D., & Sonnenfeld, J. A. (2000). To your heart’s content: A model of affective diversity in top management teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 45, 802–836.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartel, C., & Saavedra, R. (2000). The collective construction of work group moods. Administrative Science Quarterly, 45, 197–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bramesfeld, K. D., & Gasper, K. (2008). Happily putting the pieces together: A test of two explanations for the effects of mood on group-level information processing. British Journal of Social Psychology, 47, 285–309.Google Scholar
Brown, K. G., & Kozlowski, S. W. (1999). Dispersion theory: Moving beyond a dichotomous conceptualization of emergent organizational phenomena. Klein (discussant) symposium, “New perspectives on higher level phenomena in industrial/organizational psychology,” presented at the 14th Annual Meeting of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Atlanta, GA.Google Scholar
Byrne, D. (1971). The attraction paradigm. New York, NY: Academic.Google Scholar
Chan, D. (1998). Functional relationships among constructs in the same content domain at different levels of analysis: A typology of composition models. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 234–246.Google Scholar
Chi, N. W., Chung, Y. Y., & Tsai, W. C. (2011). How do happy leaders enhance team success? The mediating roles of transformational leadership, group affective tone, and team processes. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41, 1421–1454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Choi, K., & Cho, B. (2011). Competing hypotheses analyses of the associations between group task conflict and group relationship conflict. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32, 1106–1126.Google Scholar
Cole, M., Walter, F., & Bruch, H. (2008). Affective mechanisms linking dysfunctional behavior to performance in work teams: A moderated mediation study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 945–958.Google Scholar
Collins, A. L., Jordan, P. J., Lawrence, S. A., & Troth, A. C. (2016). Positive affective tone and team performance: The moderating role of collective emotional skills. Cognition and Emotion, 30, 167–182.Google Scholar
Collins, A. L., Jordan, P. J., Troth, A. C., & Lawrence, S. A. (2014). The impact of team emotional intelligence on team affect, conflict and performance: A preliminary analysis. British Academy of Management Conference Proceedings. London, UK: British Academy of Management.Google Scholar
Collins, A. L., Lawrence, S. A., Troth, A. C., & Jordan, P. J. (2013). Group affective tone: A review and future research directions. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34, S43–S62.Google Scholar
Cronin, M. A. (2015). Advancing the science of dynamics in groups and teams. Organizational Psychology Review, 5, 267–269.Google Scholar
Cropanzano, R., & Dasborough, M. T. (2015). Dynamic models of well-being: Implications of affective events theory for expanding current views on personality and climate. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 24, 844–847.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Rivera, J. (1992). Emotional climate: Social structures and emotional dynamics. International Review of Studies on Emotions, 2, 197–218.Google Scholar
Doherty, R. W., Orimoto, L., Singelis, T. M., Hatfield, E., & Hebb, J. (1995). Emotional contagion: Gender and occupational differences. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 19, 355–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duffy, M., & Shaw, J. D. (2000). The Salieri Syndrome: Consequences of envy in groups. Small Group Research, 31, 3–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekman, P. (1973). Darwin and facial expression: A century of research in review. New York, NY: Academic.Google Scholar
Elfenbein, H. A. (2006). Team emotional intelligence: What it can mean and how it can impact performance. In Druskat, V, Sala, F, & Mount, G (Eds.), The link between emotional intelligence and effective performance (pp. 165–184). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Fisher, C. D. (1986). Organizational socialization: An integrative review. In Rowland, K. M. & Ferris, G. R. (Eds.), Research in personnel and human resources management (Volume 4, pp. 101–145). Greenwich, CT: JAI.Google Scholar
Gamero, N., González-Romá, V., & Peiró, J. M. (2008). The influence of intra-team conflict on work teams’ affective climate: A longitudinal study. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 81, 47–69.Google Scholar
George, J. M. (1990). Personality, affect, and behavior in groups. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, 107–116.Google Scholar
George, J. M. (1995). Leader positive mood and group performance: The case of customer service. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 25, 778–794.Google Scholar
George, J. M. (1996). Group affective tone. In West, M. A. (Ed.), Handbook of work group psychology (pp. 77–94). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
George, J. M., & Brief, A. P. (1992). Feeling good – doing good: A conceptual analysis of the mood at work–organizational spontaneity relationship. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 310–329.Google Scholar
George, J. M., & Brief, A. P. (1996). Motivational agendas in the workplace: The effects of feelings on focus of attention and work motivation. In Cummings, L. L. & Staw, B. M. (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (pp. 75–109). Greenwich, CT: JAI.Google Scholar
George, J. M., & King, E. B. (2007). Potential pitfalls of affect convergence in teams: Functions and dysfunctions of group affective tone. In Mannix, E. A., Neale, M. A., & Anderson, C. P. (Eds.), Research on managing groups and teams: Affect and groups (Volume 10, pp. 97–123). Greenwich, CT: JAI.Google Scholar
Gibson, D. E., & Schroeder, S. J. (2003). Who ought to be blamed? The effect of organizational roles on blame and credit attributions. International Journal of Conflict Management, 14, 95–117.Google Scholar
González-Romá, V., & Gamero, N. (2012). Does positive team mood mediate the relationship between team climate and team performance? Psicothema, 24, 94–100.Google Scholar
González-Romá, V., Gamero, N., Fortes-Ferreira, L., & Peiró, J. M. (2010). Enabling formalization, collective mood, and team performance: Testing a dynamic mediated longitudinal relationship. Comunication presented to the 27th International Congress of Applied Psychology, Melbourne, Australia.Google Scholar
González-Romá, V., Peiró, J. M., & Tordera, N. (2002). An examination of the antecedents and moderator influences of climate strength. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 465–473.Google Scholar
González-Romá, V., Peiró, J. M., Subirats, M., & Mañas, M. A. (2000). The validity of affective workteam climates. In Vartiainen, M, Avallone, F, & Anderson, N (Eds.), Innovative theories, tools, and practices in work and organizational psychology (pp. 97–109). Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe & Huber.Google Scholar
Grawitch, M. J., Munz, D. C., & Kramer, T. J. (2003). Effects of member mood states on creative performance in temporary workgroups. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 7, 41–54.Google Scholar
Hareli, S., & Rafaeli, A. (2008). Emotion cycles: on the social influence of emotion in organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior, 28, 35–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatfield, E., Cacioppo, J., & Rapson, R. L. (1994). Emotional contagion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hentschel, T., Shemla, M., Wegge, J., & Kearney, E. (2013). Perceived diversity and team functioning: The role of diversity beliefs and affect. Small Group Research, 44, 33–61.Google Scholar
Hmieleski, K. M., Cole, M. S., & Baron, R. A. (2012). Shared authentic leadership and new venture performance. Journal of Management, 38, 1476–1499.Google Scholar
Ilies, R., Wagner, D. T., & Morgeson, F. P. (2007). Explaining affective linkages in teams: individual differences in susceptibility to contagion and individualism–collectivism. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1140–1148.Google Scholar
Jackson, S., & Joshi, A. (2004). Diversity in social context: A multi-attribute, multilevel analysis of team diversity and sales performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25, 675–702.Google Scholar
Jones, E. E., & Kelly, J. R. (2009). No pain, no gains: Negative mood leads to process gains in idea-generation groups. Group Dynamics, 13, 75–88.Google Scholar
Kaplan, S., LaPort, K., & Waller, M. J. (2013). The role of positive affectivity in team effectiveness during crises. Journal of Organizational Behaviour, 34, 473–491.Google Scholar
Kelly, J. R. (2003). Mood and emotion in groups. In Hogg, M & Tindale, S (Eds.) Blackwell handbook in social psychology, Volume 3: Group processes (pp. 164–181). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Kelly, J. R., & Barsade, S. G. (2001). Mood and emotion in small groups and workteams. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 86, 99–130.Google Scholar
Kelly, J. R., & Spoor, J. R. (2006). Affective influence in groups. In Forgas, J. P. (Ed.), Affect in social thinking and behavior (pp. 311–325). New York, NY: Psychology.Google Scholar
Kirton, M. J., & McCarthy, R. M. (1988). Cognitive climate and organizations. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 61, 175–184.Google Scholar
Klep, A., Wisse, B., & Van der Flier, H. (2011). Interactive affective sharing versus non-interactive affective sharing in work groups: Comparative effects of group affect on work group performance and dynamics. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41, 312–323.Google Scholar
Knight, A. P. (2011). Mood at the midpoint: How team positive mood shapes team development and performance. In Toombs, L. A. (Ed.), Proceedings of the 71st Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, San Antonio, TX: Academy of Management, https://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2011.65869176Google Scholar
Knight, A. P., & Eisenkraft, N. (2015). Positive is usually good, negative is not always bad: The effects of group affect on social integration and task performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100, 1214–1227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kooij-de Bode, H. J., Van Knippenberg, D., & Van Ginkel, W. P. (2010). Good effects of bad feelings: Negative affectivity and group decision-making. British Journal of Management, 21, 375–392.Google Scholar
Kozlowski, S. W. (2015). Advancing research on team process dynamics: Theoretical, methodological, and measurement considerations. Organizational Psychology Review, 5, 270–299.Google Scholar
Kozlowski, S. W., & Klein, K. J. (2000). A multilevel approach to theory and research in organizations: Contextual, temporal, and emergent processes. In Klein, K. J. & Kozlowski, S. W. (Eds.), Multilevel theory, research, and methods in organizations: Foundations, extensions and new directions (pp. 3–90). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Loignon, A. C., Woehr, D. J., Loughry, M. L., & Ohland, M. W. (2019). Elaborating on team-member disagreement: Examining patterned dispersion in team-level constructs. Group and Organization Management, 44, 165–210.Google Scholar
Maimone, F., & Sinclair, M. (2010). Affective climate, organizational creativity, and knowledge creation: Case study of an automotive company. In Zerbe, W. J., Ashkanasy, N. M., & Härtel, C. E. J. (Eds.), Emotions and organizational dynamism (Volume 6, pp. 309–332). Bingley, UK: Emerald.Google Scholar
Marks, M. A., Mathieu, J. E, & Zaccaro, S. J. (2001). A temporally based framework and taxonomy of team processes. Academy of Management Review, 26, 356–376.Google Scholar
Mason, C. M., & Griffin, M. A. (2003). Group absenteeism and positive affective tone: A longitudinal study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24, 667–687.Google Scholar
Mason, C. M., & Griffin, M. A. (2005). Group task satisfaction: The group’s shared attitudes to its task and work environment. Group and Organization Management, 30, 625–652.Google Scholar
Menges, J. I., Walter, F., Vogel, B., & Bruch, H. (2011). Transformational leadership climate: Performance linkages, mechanisms, and boundary conditions at the organizational level. Leadership Quarterly, 22, 893–909.Google Scholar
Pescosolido, A. T. (2002). Emergent leaders as managers of group emotion. Leadership Quarterly, 13, 583–599.Google Scholar
Phillips, K., & Lount, R. (2007). The affective consequences of diversity and homogeneity in groups. In Mannix, E, Neale, M, & Anderson, C (Eds.), Research on managing groups and teams (Volume 10, pp. 1–20). Greenwich, CT: JAI.Google Scholar
Prado, C., Gamero, N., & Medina, F. J. (2018). Leading teams with emotional intelligence. Seville, Spain: University of Seville Press.Google Scholar
Rafaeli, A., & Sutton, R. I. (1989). The expression of emotion in organizational life. Research in Organizational Behavior, 11, 1–42.Google Scholar
Reicher, A. E., & Schneider, B. (1990). Climate and culture: An evolution of constructs. In Schneider, B (Ed.), Organizational climate and culture (pp. 5–39). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Rhee, S. Y. (2007). Group emotions and group outcomes: The role of group–member interactions. In Mannix, E. A., Neale, M. A., & Anderson, C. P. (Eds.), Research on managing groups and teams (Volume 10, pp. 65–96). Greenwich, CT: JAI.Google Scholar
Schneider, B. (1987). The people make the place. Personnel Psychology, 40, 437–453.Google Scholar
Seong, J. Y., & Choi, J. N. (2014). Effects of group-level fit on group conflict and performance: The initiating role of leader positive affect. Group and Organization Managament, 39, 190–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sevastos, P., Smith, L., & Cordery, J. L. (1992). Evidence on the reliability and construct validity of Warr’s (1990) well-being and mental health measures. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 65, 33–49.Google Scholar
Sutton, R. I. (1991). Maintaining norms about emotional expression: The case of bill collectors. Administrative Science Quarterly, 36, 245–268.Google Scholar
Sy, T., & Choi, J. N. (2013). Contagious leaders and followers: exploring multi-stage mood contagion in a leader activation and member propagation (LAMP) model. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 122, 127–140.Google Scholar
Sy, T., Cote, S., & Saavedra, R. (2005). The contagious leader: Impact of the leader’s mood on the mood of group members, group affective tone, and group processes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 295–305.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tanghe, J., Wisse, B., & van der Flier, H. (2010). The formation of group affect and team effectiveness: the moderating role of identification. British Journal of Management, 21, 340–358.Google Scholar
To, M. L., Ashkanasy, N. M., & Fisher, C. D. (2017). Affect and creativity in work teams. In Salas, E, Rico, R, & Passmore, J (Eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of the psychology of team working and collaborative processes (pp. 441–457). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Totterdell, P. (2000). Catching moods and hitting runs: Mood linkage and subjective performance in professional sport teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 848–859.Google Scholar
Totterdell, P., Wall, T., Holman, D., Diamond, H., & Epitropaki, O. (2004). Affect networks: A structural analysis of the relationship between work ties and job-related affect. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 854–867.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tsai, W., Chi, N., Grandey, A. A., & Fung, A. (2012). Positive group affective tone and team creativity: Negative group affective tone and team trust as boundary conditions. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33, 638–656.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Kleef, G. A., & Fischer, A. H. (2016). Emotional collectives: How groups shape emotions and emotions shape groups. Cognition and Emotion, 30, 3–19.Google Scholar
van Knippenberg, D., Kooij-de Bode, H. J. M, & van Ginkel, W. P. (2010). The interactive effects of mood and trait negative affect in group decision making. Organizational Science, 21, 731–744.Google Scholar
Walter, F., & Bruch, H. (2008). The positive group affect spiral: A dynamic model of the emergence of positive affective similarity in work groups. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, 239–261.Google Scholar
Warr, P. B. (1990). The measurement of well-being and other aspects of mental health. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63, 193–210.Google Scholar
Weiss, H. M., & Cropanzano, R. (1996). Affective events theory: A theoretical discussion of the structure, causes and consequences of affective experiences at work. In Staw, B. M. & Cummings, L. L. (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Volume 18, pp. 1–74). Greenwich, CT, and London, UK: Elsevier Science/JAI.Google Scholar
West, B. J., Patera, J. L., & Carsten, M. K. (2009). Team level positivity: Investigating positive psychological capacities and team level outcomes. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30, 249–267.Google Scholar
Williams, K. Y., & O´Reilly, C. A. (1998). Demography and diversity in organizations: A review of 40 years of diversity research. In Staw, B. M. & Cummings, L. L. (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Volume 20, pp. 77–140). Greenwich, CT: JAI.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×