Most companies don’t realize how central emotions are to building the
right culture. They tend to focus on cognitive culture: the shared
intellectual values, norms, artifacts, and assumptions that set the
overall tone for how employees think and behave at work. Though that’s
incredibly important, the authors’ research shows that it’s only part of
the story. The other critical part is emotional culture, which governs
which feelings people have and express at work. Barsade and O’Neill have
found that emotional culture influences employee satisfaction, burnout,
teamwork, and even “hard” measures such as financial performance and
absenteeism. So when managers ignore or fail to understand it, they’re
glossing over a vital component of what makes organizations tick, and
their companies suffer as a result. By not only allowing emotions into
the workplace but also consciously shaping them, leaders can better
motivate their employees. This article describes some of the ways
emotional culture manifests at work—for instance, in the form of joy,
companionate love, and fear—and the impact it can have in a range of
settings and industries. It also suggests ways of creating and
maintaining an emotional culture that will help you achieve your
company’s goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]