Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T11:12:57.078Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How emotional climate in teams affects workplace effectiveness in individualistic and collectivistic contexts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Charmine EJ Härtel  and
Xiao-Yu Liu
Charmine EJ Härtel
Affiliation:
UQ Business School, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Xiao-Yu Liu
Affiliation:
Business School, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Despite a prolific research literature on the question of what makes teams effective, the literature is still limited on the role that team level emotions play in this process. In this article, we argue that the construct of workgroup emotional climate (WEC) provides a useful perspective from which to examine this matter. Following a discussion of the importance of considering emotions in organizational studies generally and team research, specifically, we draw on evidence of cultural differences in emotional experience and expression to develop a model explicating how cultural orientation can impact on the relationship between WEC and workgroup effectiveness. The model presented in the paper represents a significant development in our understanding of the role of cultural differences, specifically the influence of the individualism–collectivism identity orientation, in WEC and its relationship to workgroup effectiveness. Future directions for research and practice arising from the model are also presented.

Keywords

team effectivenesscross-cultural teamsemotions in teamsworkgroup emotional climateworkgroup effectivenessemotions in groups
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , July 2012 , pp. 573 - 585
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2012

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., Härtel, C. E. J., & Zerbe, W. J. (2000). Emotions in the workplace: Research, theory, and practice. In Ashkanasy, N. M., Härtel, C. E. J., & Zerbe, W. J. (Eds.), Emotions in the workplace: Research theory, and practice. Westport, CT: Quorum Books/Greenwood Publishing Group.Google Scholar
Barrick, M. R., Bradley, B. H. & Colbert, A. E. (2007). The moderating role of top management team interdependence, implications for real teams and working groups. Academy of Management Journal, 50(3), 544–557.Google Scholar
Barsade, S. G., Brief, A. P. & Spataro, S. E. (2003). The affective revolution in organizational behavior, the emergence of a paradigm. In Greenberg, J. (Ed.), Organizational behavior, the state of the science. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Brief, A. P., & Weiss, H. M. (2002). Organizational behavior: Affect in the workplace. Annual Review Psychology, 53, 279–307.Google Scholar
Brislin, R. W. (1980). Translation and content analysis of oral and written material. In Triandis, H. & Berry, J. W. (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
Cheung, G. W., & Rensvold, R. B. (1999). Testing factorial invariance across groups: A reconceptualization and proposed new method. Journal of Management, 25(1), 1–27.Google Scholar
Cohen, S. G., & Bailey, D. E.(1997). What makes teams work, group effectiveness research from the shop floor to the executive suite. Journal of Management, 23(3), 239–290.Google Scholar
Diener, E., Scollon, C. K. N., Oishi, S., Dzokoto, V., & Suh, E. M. (2000). Positivity and the construction of life satisfaction judgments: Global happiness is not the sum of its parts. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1, 159–176.Google Scholar
Diener, E., & Suh, E. M. (1999). National differences in subjective well-being. In Kahneman, D., Diener, E., & Schwarz, N. (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Druskat, V. U., & Wolff, S. B. (2001). Group emotional intelligence and its influence on group effectiveness. In Cherniss, C. & Goleman, D.D., (Eds.), The emotionally intelligent workplace: How to select for, measure, and improve emotional intelligence in individuals, groups, and organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Eid, M., & Diener, E. (2001). Norms for experiencing emotions in different cultures: Inter- and intranational differences. Journal of Social and Personality Psychology, 81, 869–885.Google Scholar
Ekman, P. (1972). Universals and cultural differences in facial expressions of emotion. In Cole, J., (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Ekman, P. (1980). The face of man: Expressions of universal emotions in a New Guinea village. New York, NY: Garland STPM Press.Google Scholar
Elfenbein, H. A., & Shirako, A. (2006). An emotion process model for multicultural teams. In Mannix, B., Neale, M., & Chen, Y. R. (Eds.), Research on managing groups and teams: National culture and groups (pp. 263–297). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Elliott, A., Chirkov, V., Kim, Y., & Sheldon, K. (2001). A cross-cultural analysis of avoidance (relative to approach) personal goals. Psychological Science, 12, 505–510.Google Scholar
Fineman, S. (2000). Emotion in organizations (2nd ed.). London, England: Sage.Google Scholar
Fisher, C. D., & Noble, C. S. (2004). A within-person examination of correlates of performance and emotions while working. Human Performance, 17, 145–68.Google Scholar
Fredrickson, B. L., & Losada, M. F. (2005). Positive affect and the complex dynamics of human flourishing. American Psychologist, 60, 678–686.Google Scholar
Fujimoto, Y., & Härtel, C. E. J. (2004). Culturally specific prejudices: Interpersonal prejudices of individualists and intergroup prejudices of collectivists. Cross-Cultural Management: An International Journal, 11(3), 54–69.Google Scholar
Gudykunst, W. B., Matsumoto, Y., Ting-Toomey, S., Nishida, T., Kim, K. S., & Heyman, S. (1996). The influence of cultural individualism–collectivism, self construals, and individual values on communication styles across cultures. Human Communication Research, 22, 510–543.Google Scholar
Guzzo, R. A., & Dickson, M. W. (1996). Teams in organizations, recent research on performance and effectiveness. Annual Review of Psychology, 47, 307–338.Google Scholar
Härtel, C. E. J. (2008). How to build a healthy emotional culture and avoid a toxic culture. In Cooper, C. L. & Ashkanasy, N. M. (Eds.), Research companion to emotion in organization. Cheltenham, England: Edwin Elgar.Google Scholar
Härtel, C. E. J., Gough, H., & Härtel, G. F. (2006). Service providers' use of emotional competencies and perceived workgroup emotional climate predict customer and provider satisfaction with service encounters. International Journal of Work Organization and Emotion, 1(3), 232–254.Google Scholar
Härtel, C. E. J., Gough, H., & Härtel, G. F. (2008). Work group emotional climate, emotion management skills, and service attitudes and performance. Asia-Pacific Journal of Human Resource Management, 46(1), 21–37.Google Scholar
Härtel, C. E. J., Zerbe, W. J., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (2005). Organizational behavior: An emotions perspective'. In Härtel, C. E. J., Zerbe, W. J., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (Eds.), Emotions in organizational behavior. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Heine, S. J., Lehman, D. R., Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1999). Is there a universal need for positive self-regard? Psychological Review, 1064, 766–794.Google Scholar
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Hofstede, G. (1995). The business of international business is culture. In Jackson, T. (Ed.), Cross-cultural management (pp. 150–165). Oxford, England: Butterworth Heinemann.Google Scholar
Ilgen, D. R., Hollenbeck, J. R., Johnson, M., & Jundt, D. (2005). Teams in organizations: From input-process-output models to IMOI models. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 517–543.Google Scholar
Karasawa, M. (2001). Nihonnjinnni okeru jitano ninnshiki: Jikohihan baiasuto tasyakouyou baiasu [A Japanese mode of self-making: Self criticism and other enhancement]]. Japanese Journal of Psychology, 72(4), 198–209.Google Scholar
Katzenbach, J. R., & Smith, D. K. (1993). The wisdom of teams: Creating the high performance organization. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Kemper, T. D.(1978). A social interactional theory of emotions. New York, NY: Wiley.Google Scholar
Kiffin-Petersen, S. (2004). Trust: A neglected variable in team effectiveness research. Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management, 10(1), 38–53.Google Scholar
Kitayama, S., Karasawa, M., & Mesquita, B. (2004). Collective and personal processes in regulation emotions: Emotion and self in Japan and the United States. In Philippot, P. & Feldman, R. S. (Eds.), The regulation of emotion. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Kitayama, S., & Markus, H. R. (1999). Yin and yang of the Japanese self: The cultural psychology of personality coherence. In Cervone, D., & Shoda, Y., (Eds.), The coherence of personality, social cognitive basis of personality consistency, variability and organization. New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Kitayama, S., Markus, H. R., & Kurokawa, M. (2000). Culture, emotion, and well-being: Good feelings in Japan and the United States. Cognition and Emotion, 14(1), 93–124.Google Scholar
Lee, A. Y., Aaker, J. L., & Gardner, W. L. (2000). The pleasures and pains of distinct self-construals: The role of interdependence in regulatory focus. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(6), 1122–1134.Google Scholar
Levine, R., Sato, S., Hashimoto, T., & Verma, J. (1995). Love and marriage in eleven cultures. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, 26, 554–571.Google Scholar
Lewis, C. C. (1995). Educating hearts and minds. New York, NY: Cambridge Press.Google Scholar
Lutz, C. (1988). Unnatural emotions, everyday sentiments on a micronesian atoll and their challenge to western theory. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self, implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224–253.Google Scholar
McGrath, J. E. (1964). Social psychology: A brief introduction. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
Mesquita, B. (2001). Emotions in collectivist and individualist contexts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 68–74.Google Scholar
Mesquita, B., & Karasawa, M. (2002). Different emotional lives. Cognition and Emotion, 16(1), 127–141.Google Scholar
Mesquita, B., & Walker, R. (2003). Cultural differences in emotions: A context for interpreting emotional experiences. Behavior Research and Therapy, 41(7), 777–798.Google Scholar
Mumby, D. K., & Putnam, L. A. (1992). The politics of emotion: A feminist reading of bounded rationality. Academy of Management Review, 17(3), 465–486.Google Scholar
Pirola-Merlo, A., Härtel, C. E. J., Mann, L., & Hirst, G. (2002). How leaders influence the impact of affective events on team climate and performance in Rand teams. Leadership Quarterly, 13(5), 561–581.Google Scholar
Paterson, J. M., & Härtel, C. E. J. (2002). An integrated affective and cognitive model to explain employees' responses to large-scale change. In Ashkanasy, N. M., Härtel, C. E. J., & Zerbe, W. J. (Eds.), Managing emotions in a changing workplace. New York, NY: ME Sharpe.Google Scholar
Porter, R. E., & Samovar, L. A. (1998). Cultural influences on emotional expression: Implications for intercultural communication. In Anderson, P. A. & Guerrero, L. K. (Eds.), Handbook of communication and emotion: Research, theory, applications, and contexts. New York, NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ralston, D. A., Gustafson, D. J., Cheung, F., & Terpstra, R. H. (1993). Differences in managerial values: A study of US, Hong Kong and PRC managers'. Journal of International Business Studies, 24(2), 249–275.Google Scholar
Ralston, D. A., Holt, D. H., Terpstra, R. H., & Kai-Cheng, Y. (2008). The impact of national culture and economic ideology on managerial work values: A study of the United States, Russia, Japan, and China. Journal of International Business Studies, 39, 8–26.Google Scholar
Rosaldo, M. Z. (1984). Toward an anthropology of self and feeling'. In Shweder, R. A. & LeVine, R. A. (Eds.), Culture theory essays on mind, self, and emotion. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Scherer, K. R., & Wallbott, H. G. (1994). Evidence for universality and cultural variation of differential emotion response patterning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66(2), 310–328.Google Scholar
Scollon, C., Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2004). Emotions across cultures and methods. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35, 304–326.Google Scholar
Smith, E. R., Seger, C. R., & Mackie, D. M. (2007). Can emotions be truly group level? Evidence regarding four conceptual criteria. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(3), 431–446.Google Scholar
Sonnemans, J., & Fridja, N. (1995). The determinants of subjective emotional intensity. Cognition and Emotion, 19(5), 483–506.Google Scholar
Staw, B., Sutton, R., & Pelled, L. (1994). Employee positive emotion and favorable outcomes at the workplace. Organization Science, 5(1), 51–71.Google Scholar
Suh, E., Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Triandis, H. C. (1998). The shifting basis of life satisfaction judgments across cultures, emotions versus norms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(2), 482–493.Google Scholar
Triandis, H. C. (1995). Individualism and Collectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Triandis, H. C. (2001). Individualism–collectivism and personality. Journal of Personality, 69, 907–924.Google Scholar
Triandis, H. C. (2004). The many dimensions of culture. Academy of Management Executive, 18(1), 88–93.Google Scholar
Triandis, H. C., McCusker, C., Betancourt, H., Iwao, S., Leung, K., Salazar, J. M., … Zaleski, Z. (1993). An etic–emic analysis of individualism and collectivism. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, 24, 366–383.Google Scholar
Triandis, H. C., & Suh, E. M. (2002). Cultural influences on personality. Annual Reviews of Psychology, 53, 133–160.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. Research in Organizational Behavior, 18, 1–74.Google Scholar
Zohar, D., & Luria, G. (2005). A multilevel model of safety climate, cross-level relationships between organization and group-level climates. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, 423–433.Google Scholar