NTERNATIONAL R EVIEW OF I NDUSTRIAL AND O RGANIZATIONAL P SYCHOLOGY 2005 significantly more positive and skilled behaviors and fewer negative,

244 I NTERNATIONAL R EVIEW OF I NDUSTRIAL AND O RGANIZATIONAL P SYCHOLOGY 2005 significantly more positive and skilled behaviors and fewer negative,

unskilled behaviors both in themselves and in their partners than sad people. Interms of the AIM, these effects occur because affect-primin g influences the kinds of interpretations, constructs, and associations that become available as people evaluate intrinsically complex and indeterminate social behaviors in the course of substantive, inferential processing. In the workplace, therefore, the same manager may form a more or less positive impressionof anemployee’s performance based onmood state at the time of the performance review.

In addition, the way in which positive or negative feedback is interpreted or received by the employee may be influenced by concurrent mood state. Forgas and Moylan (1991) studied the impact of people’s mood on percep- tions of current events and found a mood-congruent effect, such that people in a negative or sad mood perceived social events more negatively than people ina positive mood. This research suggests that ambiguous performan ce feedback may be perceived more negatively and depreciatively by an em- ployee ina negative mood thana positive mood. Research onthe impact of performance feedback on organizational performance demonstrates that negative or depreciatory feedback leads to decreased motivation, job dis- satisfaction (Bailey & Thompson, 2000), and decreased self-efficacy (Baron, 1988). Thus, the mood state of the manager while formulating performance feedback, and of the employee receiving the performance feedback, has potentially significant implications for organizational functioning.

Affective Influences on Request Strategies

A second interpersonal exchange that is of particular relevance to adaptive functioning in workplace settings occurs when employees make requests, including downward (supervisor-initiated), upward (employee-initiated) requests, and lateral requests (employee to employee). When formulating a request, the individual must phrase their request with care so as to maximize the likelihood of compliance by being assertive or direct, yet avoid the danger of giving offence by being too direct, or aggressive (Gibbs, 1983). Requesting is a common interpersonal exchange in organizations that has potentially important outcomes for an individual’s ability to achieve workplace goals. For example, if a certainsoftware package must be used to complete a project, and the employee cannot install or use the software, completion of the job depends upon the successful request of help from an informed colleague. Similarly, if photocopies are needed urgently for an important meeting and there is a line at the photocopier, the individual must request that they move straight to the front of the line. In this respect, the way in which people formulate requests is strategic: if a request is made inan impolite manner, a colleague will be less likely to comply with the request than if it is carefully formulated and enacted.

245 Blum-Kulka, Danet, and Gherson (1985) point out that the choice of

E MOTION IN O RGANIZATIONS

requesting strategy is determined by the way in which the speaker assesses the degree of threat or opportunity involved. As we discussed above, it is the function of affective responses to situational cues to inform the actor of situational demands. As such, as demonstrated by Forgas (1998a, 1999), people in a positive affective state adopt a more confident and direct request- ing style, which is congruent with their positive interpretation of situational demands. This result can also be explained by the affect-priming theory, which would suggest that, as a result of positive affect, there would be a greater availability of positively valenced thoughts and associated memories in the individual’s assessment of the interpersonal encounter.

In addition, consistent with the AIM, Forgas (1999) found that affect infusion effects were greater when the request situation was more difficult, complex, or unconventional. Negative mood resulted in significantly more polite, elaborate, and cautious requests than did positive moods. In the work- place, therefore, it may be hypothesized that new or novice employees will be more susceptible to the effects of their temporary affective states onthe formulation of requests. Consequently, to the extent that the AIM gener- alizes to the workplace, it would be expected that novice employees would express polite, vigilantly constructed requests in a negative affective state, and less thoughtful, unprofessional, and even offensive requests in a positive affective state. Experts, onthe other hand, may be more resistant to the effects of mood on their request formulations as workplace request situations would be preformed through experience.

Affective Influences on Negotiation