Impact of Sadness and Anxiety on Individuals-Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: What Is The Impact Of Sadness And Anxiety On Individuals? Answer: Introduction Several studies reveal that an estimated five percent of the working population have emotional disorders linked to depression or anxiety (Sanderson Andrews, 2006). There is evidence that these disorders impair the ability of individuals to perform better at work (Lagerveld et al., 2010). Ashkanasy, Zerbe Hrtel (2000) notes that in most cases, people a to think so much about work at the expense of those people with emotional problems, or thinking rationally and in unemotional economic terms concern the interaction between the people and the organization. In a study conducted by Westen, Burton Kowalski (2006), it is noted that though not some people experience emotional problems, everybody experience varied emotions, in fact, various and different emotions in a single day. Several perspectives have explored how emotions influence decision-making (Brief Wiess, 2002). Critical Review This review intends to assess the potential impact of depression and anxiety on how people make decisions and interactions that are critical to organizational behavior. As such, this review is focused on differences in sadness and anxiety experienced by many workers, instead of emotional disorders. This review starts by giving an outline of theories about emotions and moods, specifically sadness and anxiety which affects the decision-making and judgments of individuals in an organization. Further, the review intends to examine the effect of sadness and anxiety on interpersonal interaction, interpersonal perception, and decision-making. Relevant Theories Numerous psychological theories posit that when individuals feel anxious or sadness, it impairs their judgment, decision-making, and evaluation regarding affect-congruent direction (Bower, 1991). In this regard, the decisions made will be related to the general valence of an individual's mood (Clore Gasper, 2000). Evidence has shown that when people are sad, they tend to make bad or negative decisions. For instance, if a company offers a reward, an individual who is sad can view it in a negative manner as opposed to a happy person (Forgas George, 2001). The affect-congruent factors that are used to evaluate how a result is valued may influence employees decisions to pursue rewards in an organization (Vroom, 1964). The affect-congruency perspective has an inherent limitation because it effectively makes an assumption that every emotion of similar valence, for example, sadness and anxiety leads to same outcome (Raghunathan Pham, 1999). Studies done by Learner, Small Loewenstein (2004) have negated this assertion by revealing that disgust and sadness have varied impact on an individual regarding decisions made for economic reasons. Gino, Brooks Schweitzer (2012) argued that anger and anxiety have varied effects on how people acquire and use of advice to inform their decisions. Thus, if affect-congruity denoted an overall effect, as posited by Mayer, Gaschke, Braverman Evans (1992), then all bad moods ought to lead to similar outcomes. There are other theories that explain the how decision-making is influenced by sadness and anxiety. The Different Affect Different Effect model, posits that that sadness and anxiety lead to various ways of thinking, that ends up in different outcomes in a similar situation as far as decision-making is concerned (Ragunathan Corfman, 2004). The DADE argues that when individuals feel anxious, they get motivation to be keen to the surrounding and avoid eminent risks and threats (Maner et al., 2007; Raghunathan Corfman, 2004). According to Eysenck, Payne, Santos (2006), there is need to worry about a threat or something that is about to go wrong somewhere. Unfortunately, when people feel sad, it means that something bad has already happened (Essence et al., 2006). As a result of this, based on DADE, people are motivated to be happy again and strive to seek pleasure and results instead of paying attention to threats and risks. While affect-congruity maintains that sadness and anxiety strongly affect the outcome of a particular decision, the DADE model posits that anxiety and sadness affect the outcome in different measures and direction. Several theorists have that anxiety affects an individuals information-processing capacity because they often focus much of their attention on negativity hence ending up with inadequate cognitive resources (Darke, 1988; Eysenck, 1992). Evidence suggests that sadness and anxiety might interfere with an individuals ability meaningful judgments (Mui, Heilman, Houser, 2008). Recent studies have proposed that when individuals experience anxiety, they get the motivation to counteract the limitations placed on their cognitive resources (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos Calvo, 2007). An issue that arises out of this argument is that the additional effort meant to overcome these cognitive limitations is more often questionable. This is so particular in circumstances where the task is m entally demanding such as a complex decision-making. Some scholars have argued against the notion that anxiety impairs decision-making and information-processing by positing that sadness may as well contribute to enhanced decision-making and information-processing (Bless, 2001). There are also scholars who support the arguments of the DADE model by arguing that sadness signals to think deeply whenever there is something happening or about to happen a so as to fix it (Lerner et al., 2004). Darke (1988) argues that whereas sadness limits an individuals information-processing, (Bless, 2001) sadness does not. Forgas (2002) opines that sadness motivates thorough, deep, and analytical information-processing. Impact of Anxiety on Interpersonal Perception Interaction among people in an organization is very crucial. Additionally, efficient communication and prudent interpersonal decision-making promote smooth running of an organization (Ivancevich, Konopaske Matteson, 2011). It suffices to point out that there are several ways sadness and anxiety systematically affect interpersonal interactions, decisions, and perception in an organizational contexts. People have been found to engage in negative evaluation of their colleagues, and this is consistent with the arguments of affect-congruity (Forgas, 1990). On the contrary, some findings have shown marked inconsistency. In a study done by Lambert, Khan, Lickel Fricke (1997) sad people showed a positive evaluation of their colleagues at work. Sad people are believed to focus more on negative thoughts and hence influence the decisions that they make (Forgas, 1995). Furthermore, in circumstances where people develop an accurate impression of others, the deep thinking by sad individuals may lead to a less accurate evaluation on a second guess (Ambady Gray, 2002). Anxiety leads to inaccurate decisions and biased judgments as one may rely heavily on stereotypes (Curtis Locke, 2005, 2007). The influence of sadness and anxiety on interpersonal perception has far reaching consequences on work-performance and decision-making. Decisions made by the human resource management may be influenced by sadness and anxiety (McCarthy Goffin, 2004; Nguyen Ryan, 2008). The attitude and fair judgment of colleagues by their abilities and inabilities may be biased (Forgas Bower, 1987). Suffices to mention is the fact that chronic depression and anxiety that leads to incessant negative or stereotypic evaluations and expectations leads to negativity in an organization (Ivancevich et al., 2011). Impact of Sadness and Anxiety on Negotiation Ivancevich et al. (2011) point out that bargaining and negotiation are crucial in every organization for better results. Negotiation is a kind of decision-making that entails proper planning and preparation; all which are necessary for attaining optimum mutual result in an organization (Ivancevich et al., 2011). Several types of research have examined the impact that sad and anxious people have on negotiation and the results. It is vital to point out that these studies have unanimously agreed that both sadness and anxiety affect negotiation negatively. Studies on sadness have revealed that it reduces cooperation and subsequently, raises the level of competition during negotiations (Forgas, 1998). Forgas (2002) that sadness leads to pessimism hence the difficulties in negotiations. In this regard, pessimistic people of lack the self-drive to create specific negotiation plans and often exhibit high expectations in a negotiation process (Forgas, 1998). Anxiety also affects negotiation process and performance (Brooks Schweitzer, 2011). Anxiety is believed to enhance peoples desires to accept deals that are offered to them while sad people are associated with reduced deal-making. According to Brooks Schweitzer (2011), anxiety influences an individuals first offers because will tend to give a lower initial offer during negotiations. Studies have shown motivation that underlies poor negotiation performance is understood in the context of the external environment and the individual. According to Forgas (1998), the influence of sadness on negotiation is purely driven by pessimism as a result of negative ideas. On the other hand, anxiety influences negotiation through a reduction in self-confidence (Brooks Schweitzer, 2011). Effect of Sadness and Anxiety on Requests and Advice It is worth noting that requests and advice are critical in interpersonal interaction in an organization because they enhance information acquisition for making informed decisions (Gino et al. 2012). Some studies have revealed that sadness and anxiety influence how individuals seek advice and make requests in an organization. How people frame their requests and seek for advice can influence others in the organization as they determine whether or not the actions are valid (Yukl, Seifert Chavez, 2008). Requests ought to be direct and polite as this makes it easier for one to get what one wants with relative ease (Forgas, 2002). Numerous studies have shown that sadness has an influence on framing of a request (Forgas, 1999a, 1999b). The mood is associated with the enhanced extent to which individuals come up with polite and elaborate, but requests that are less direct (Forgas, 1999a, 1999b). This assertion is consistent with the DADE model where individuals who are sad get the motivati on to seek for pleasure (Ragunathan Corfman, 2004; Ragunathan, Corfman Pham, 2006). Given this, such individuals avoid unpleasant interactions with impolite (Forgas, 1999a). This behavior shows that there is often avoidance of unpleasant interactions which results in a wider effect on organizational behavior. According to Behfar, Peterson, Mannix, Trochim (2008), such effects may be felt in times of conflict resolution and management in an organization. There is a plethora of literature that shows that sadness may lead to a situation where people fail to make a request but anxiety enhances individuals propensity to seek for advice or advice others in an organization (Gino et al., 2012). Numerous of research conducted by Gino et al. (2012) on the multidimensional analysis on how anxiety influences advice-seeking behavior, they found out that anxiety increases the tendency to seek advice. Risky Decisions According to Bernstein (1996), good perception and risk management is paramount in contributing to proper organizational functioning. It is worth noting that there is the need to calculate risks as to come up with improved production, making huge profits, and acquisition of a bigger market share (Bernstein, 1996). On the other hand, when employees in an organization ignore risks, negative consequences are bound to be experienced (Bernstein, 1996). Given this, it is vital for employees tasked with making decisions to be accurate in their judgments. The ability to make a sound judgment is affected by sadness and anxiety due to biases. As it was pointed out, Ragunathan et al. (2006) note that the DADE model opines that anxious people are synonymous with risk avoidance. Epstein (1998) points out that in this context, risks are construed to challenges, opportunities, or threats. There is sufficient evidence that anxiety causes individuals to avoid risks as a result of the perception of risk as threats (Eysenck, Mogg, May, Richards, Mathews, 1991). Furthermore, anxiety has been linked the perception of risks as more like in an organization or their private lives. Gasper Clore (1998) noted that people who suffer from anxiety often believe that unpleasant events are likely to occur always. MacLeod Rutherford (1992) argues that anxiety can redirect peoples attention to potential threats. This view is countered by (Matthews, Panganiban Hudlicka, 2010) who contend that this situation does not always take place in the work environment and decision-making circumstances. Most recently, there are studies that have examined how anxiety influences decision-making more so on the risk-sensitive work environment. Anxiety has been associated with risky decisions. This is in contrast to the common notion that anxiety contributes to risky decision-making. Effect of Sadness and Anxiety on Economic Decisions It is imperative to note that making the prudent financial decision is a determinant of success in any organization. It suffices to point out that affective state may have the influence on such decisions. There are studies that have supported the notion that sadness and anxiety can impact on economic decisions that are set to be made in popular behavioral economic realms. Learner et al. (2004) showed that sadness reverses the endowment effect. According to Kahneman, Knetsch Thaler (1990), endowment effect has described a state in which an individual proposes lower buying price as compared to the selling price for the same product. This view is contradicted by Learner et al. (2004) that indicate that sad people lowered selling prices of their products while increasing the buying price. There are studies that effectively linked anxiety to loss-framing. Anxious people appear will rather take the risk so as to avoid losses instead of waiting to make profits or gains (Belsky Gilovich, 1 999). It suffices to mention that anxiety increases loss-framing effect (Kahneman Tversky, 1979; Hartley Phelps, 2012). Reducing the effect of Mood Several studies have pointed out the dimension and magnitude of the negative effects of sadness and anxiety on decision-making and organizational behavior. As a result of this, it is imperative to seek for solutions to reduce the effects of sadness and anxiety on performance and organizational growth. Going by the available literature, there are two main strategies that can be applied in reducing the negative effects of sadness and anxiety on performance and organizational growth. In the first place, all interventions are often aimed at stress reduction in an organization contribute a lot to less sadness and anxiety because stress can lead to these moods (Cotton, 1995). Secondly, Clore et al. (2001) argues that increasing self-awareness among people is said to be a strategy in reducing sadness and anxiety which have the negative impact on decision-making and judgment. Schwarz Clore (1983) argues that in circumstances where individuals are made to know specific reasons that make them feel they way they do, they may deem it not relevant at all and consequently expunge it. Conclusion There is a plethora of empirical literature on the impact of anxiety and sadness on the organizational behavior. From the ensuing discussion, it is very clear that sadness and anxiety have great influence on organizational behavior. Anxiety and sadness have been determined to affect judgment and decision-making within an organization. Further, there is sufficient evidence that people in one way or another experience changes in their mood. It is worth noting that every organization is competing to be productive. 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