Why a leader with a bad mood can be good for business | Scientific Management

Why a leader with a bad mood can be good for business Scientific Management

Scientific Management

Great management tips from business researcher. Best practices, scientifically tested and proven
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Study Abstract:

Journal of Applied Psychology Copyright 2005 by the American Psychological Association
2005, Vol. 90, No. 2, 295–305 0021-9010/05/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.90.2.295

The Contagious Leader: Impact of the Leader’s Mood on the Mood of Group Members, Group Affective Tone, and Group Processes

Thomas Sy - California State University, Long Beach
Ste´phane Coˆte´- University of Toronto
Richard Saavedra - University of Michigan

The present study examined the effects of leaders’ mood on (a) the mood of individual group members, (b) the affective tone of groups, and (c) 3 group processes: coordination, effort expenditure, and task strategy. On the basis of a mood contagion model, the authors found that when leaders were in a positive mood, in comparison to a negative mood, (a) individual group members experienced more positive and less negative mood, and (b) groups had a more positive and a less negative affective tone. The authors also found that groups with leaders in a positive mood exhibited more coordination and expended less effort than did groups with leaders in a negative mood. Applied implications of the results are discussed.
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Scientific Management

Great management tips from business researcher. Best practices, scientifically tested and proven


Why a leader with a bad mood can be good for business
Leadership, Teams
26 January 2010

Business managers and leaders have to worry about a seemingly innumerable number of things – hiring, firing, motivating the troops, etc. Add to the list mood. And a leader can’t simply assume he or she needs to try and be in a good mood all the time – research shows that there are different benefits that come from a happy leader and from a grumpy leader.

Mood is contagious. How those around us feel affects how we feel, and subsequently act. This is especially true of leaders – how they feel affects what their followers do.

Proof of this comes from this study. Undergraduates were put into teams and told that they had to construct a small tee-pee. One team member was given a pamphlet that had general instructions on how to put together the tee-pee and was allowed to read it for five minutes. Then that person was either put into a good mood (by watching some David Letterman) or a poor mood (by watching part of a depressing documentary). This person then had to verbally instruct his/her team on how to put together the teepee. Also, all other team members were blindfolded.
The results?

If the leader was put into a good mood by David Letterman, then not only was the rest of the group in a better mood, but their work was more coordinated – they worked better together as a team. Feeling good in general probably made the team members feel better about each other – and made it easier to work together.

If the leader had been put into a bad mood, this created a poor mood in followers, but increased the effort of the group. The researchers theorized that the followers interpret the leader’s bad mood as proof that they are not getting enough done, and so ramp up their effort.

So does this mean you should fake a bad mood whenever you want your team to work harder? Probably not. If you are caught (or even thought to be) faking emotions, it could easily affect your relationship with your team.

A better solution is to be conscious of your mood, and how it affects your team.

If you are in a bad mood, but your team is doing well, then you might want to tell them that your mood has nothing to do with them. But if poor effort is the cause of your poor mood, it may not be something you want to hide. And if you want a little more teamwork and coordination in your team, it’s just a good late-night monologue away.

Access Original Post: http://www.scientificmanagementblog.com/2010/01/26/why-a-leader-with-a-bad-mood-can-be-good-for-business/

Access Study: http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/~scote/SyetalJAP.pdf

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http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.