Organizational behavior scholars have long recognized the importance of a variety of emotion-related phenomena in everyday work life. Indeed, after three decades, the span of research on emotions in the workplace encompasses a wide variety of affective variables such as emotional climate, emotional labor, emotion regulation, positive and negative affect, empathy, and more recently, specific emotions. Emotions operate in complex ways across multiple levels of analysis (i.e., within-person, between-person, interpersonal, group, and organizational) to exert influence on work behavior and outcomes, but their linkages to human resource management (HRM) policies and practices have not always been explicit or well understood. This chapter offers a review and integration of the bourgeoning research on discrete positive and negative emotions, offering insights about why these emotions are relevant to HRM policies and practices. We review some of the dominant theories that have emerged out of functionalist perspectives on emotions, connecting these to a strategic HRM framework. We then define and describe four discrete positive and negative emotions (fear, pride, guilt, and interest) highlighting how they relate to five HRM practices: (1) selection, (2) training/learning, (3) performance management, (4) incentives/rewards, and (5) employee voice. Following this, we discuss the emotion perception and regulation implications of these and other discrete emotions for leaders and HRM managers. We conclude with some challenges associated with understanding discrete emotions in organizations as well as some opportunities and future directions for improving our appreciation and understanding of the role of discrete emotional experiences in HRM.

Introduction

Interest in emotional phenomena in organizational contexts and has increased exponentially over the last 30 years. This diverse and growing area of research has considered a variety of emotional variables and processes in the workplace such as the influence of positive and negative affect on attitudes and behavior, theories, measurement, and correlates of emotional intelligence, emotional labor and how to manage emotions, and others (see reviews by Barsade & Gibson, 2007; Brief & Weiss, 2002; Joseph, Jin, Newman, & O’Boyle, 2015; Shockley, Ispas, Rossi, & Levine, 2012). Responding to calls for research to examine the complexities of emotions beyond positive/negative valence and high/low arousal, emotion scholars have recently begun investigating the causes and consequences of discrete or specific emotions like happiness, anger, fear, guilt, pride, and interest (e.g., Hu & Kaplan, 2015; Kish-Gephart, Detert, Treviño, & Edmondson, 2009; Michie, 2009). Functionalist perspectives on discrete emotions suggest that all emotions have benefits and that specific feeling states arise from cognitive appraisals of the environment regarding the relevance and importance of a situation and one’s ability to respond to and cope with situational demands (Baumeister, Vohs, DeWall, & Zhang, 2007; Keltner & Gross, 1999; Lazarus, 1991; Roseman, Spindel, & Jose, 1990; Scherer, 1984; Smith & Ellsworth, 1985). Discrete emotions are central to basic human experience and are felt every day in workplaces around the globe. While much research has focused on relating basic positive and negative affective states to work attitudes and behavior, there are still many compelling questions about discrete emotions in the workplace and how they relate to human resource management (HRM). For instance, should selection systems incorporate assessments of discrete trait and/or state emotions or their intensity? Do assessments of discrete emotions have unique effects apart from personality assessments? Do emotions influence how and what people learn in training? In what ways do emotions influence formal and informal employee voice? Addressing these and other questions requires additional theoretical and empirical examination of the role of discrete emotional experiences in HRM policy and practices.