Cayla Baluyot

Raj Singh/Shayne Bradshaw

BUS 107 Section 221
18 August 2016
E- Portfolio # 2
Reference: https://hbr.org/2009/11/why-repressing-emotions-is-bad-for-business
In Why Repressing Emotions is Bad for Business, Daniel Shapiro elucidates why
emotional investment creates value for the organization during both the good times and the bad.
According to the author, communication and conflict arise from five predictable concerns, which
are appreciation, affiliation, autonomy, status, and role. To illustrate this theory, the author
compares and contrasts two employees who had been laid off under different circumstances:
Employee A was laid off because of economic constraints without advance notice. In addition,
the manager did not show any appreciation for her many years of loyalty; therefore, Employee A
felt disconnected and abandoned, which caused her to sue the company. On the other hand,
Employee B was also laid off for similar reasons; however, the manager showed positive
emotions by addressing the five core concerns through properly explaining the situation, offering
networking contacts, and telling the employee that he will be rehired when the economy booms
again. Consequently, Employee B left the company in a positive aspect. These two situations
demonstrate how investing emotionally on employees create value by increasing trust and
promoting satisfying and enduring agreements between the organization and employees. Aside
from being low-cost, this method produces more value for the organization during good times
and does a better job of overcoming the bad.
Emotional investment is related to Organizational Behavior because emotions affect job
attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, my supervisor should care about this article because the lack

of display of emotions reduces the effectiveness of both managers and employees. As we have
studied, fostering positive emotions at works can lead to better decision-making, creativity, and
motivation, thus creating value for both the company and employees. In addition, when
managers care about how employees feel, they can better predict their behavior in the workplace.
One thing we can take away from this article is the importance of communication. For instance,
in times of tough economic situations, when both the manager and the employee understand each
others perspectives and emotions, (reasons for termination for the managers side and financial
and emotional impact for the employees side) there would be less miscommunication and
conflict arising from the situation.