Chapter 4 Case Incident 1

IS IT OKAY TO CRY AT WORK?

I. Study/Analysis
Study Questions:
1. What factors do you think make some organizations ineffective at
managing emotions?
Some factors that make some organizations ineffective at managing
emotions

could

managers

dont

understand

psychology,

or

the

organization does not offer programs such as anger management to

employees. Emotions are strong feelings directed at someone or something
(Organizational Behavior, page 98). Some managers do not have any
experience handling employees emotions, or they may not know how to
approach any issues dealing with emotions. Understanding emotions is
important for organizations and managers to understand, because
detecting emotions can lead to creating an effective environment. So I
think organizations should offer employees a training session or show a
video on how to manage emotions in the workplace, and to have
guidelines on how to manage emotions in the organization. Handling
emotions in the workplace will create a positive atmosphere, and will
improve production in the organization.

2. Do you think the strategic use and display of emotions serve to

protect employees, or does covering your true emotions at work
lead to more problems than it solves?
I think the use of strategic use and display of emotions serve to protect
employees for a reason, and that even though you cover your true
emotions in certain situations its best for the organization. Displayed
emotions are those that the organization requires workers to show and
considers appropriate in a given job (Organizational Behavior, page 109).
To have a job you are sacrificing your emotions, and your mental and

physical abilities to fulfill your obligations to an organization. Displayed

emotions are a way for employees to reflect on their organization, and
having rules for emotions is one way to control employees in a positive
way for the organization.
3. Have you ever worked where emotions were used as part of a
management style? Describe the advantages and disadvantages of
this approach in your experience.
I worked at the hospital in Nome before, and displayed emotions are
important in healthcare. So I guess emotions were used as part of a
management style, because you are required to dress appropriately and
be courteous. The advantage of using emotions as part of a management
style is important in healthcare, because you want patients to feel
comfortable and welcome. I dont see any disadvantages.

4. Research

shows

that

acts

of

co-workers

(37

percent)

and

management (22 percent) cause more negative emotions for

employees than do acts of customers (7 percent). What can Lauras
company do to change its emotional climate?
I think Lauras organization needs to recognize that displayed emotions
are handled poorly, and to have managers control employees who arent
displaying appropriate emotions in the workplace. Research suggests that
in U.S workplaces it is expected that we should typically display positive
emotions like happiness and excitement, and to suppress negative
emotions like fear and anger (Organizational Behavior, page 110). Having
rules for displayed emotions are important, and managers need to be
serious when it comes to performance evaluations.

Chapter 4 Case Incident 2

BECOMING A FACIAL DECODER
II. Background
Paul Ekman is a psychologist known for his study about facial
expressions, where facial expressions reveal true emotions. Researchers
have distinguished real smiles (so called Duchenne smile) from fake
smiles. Ekman and his associates have developed methods to detect other
emotions suchas anger, disgust and distress. They call their method as
Facial Action Coding System (FACS).
FACS has been used to study the facial expressions of CEOs and found
that they vary dramatically not only in their Duchenne smiles but also in
the degree to which they display positive versus negative facial
expressions.
III.

Study/Analysis

Study Questions:
1. Most research suggests we are not very good at detecting lying, and
we think were much better than we dare. Do you believe FACS
would help improve your ability to detect lying in others?
In our day to day endeavor, whether in business, at school or even at our
own homes we are bound to judge other peoples intention through their

actions. We carry on judgments that determine whether people around

us are lying or not.
There are some jobs that require judgments whether the person is lying
or not, such as Police Officers, Detectives and Lawyers (Seager, 2004). It
may came to a surprise that even these professionals sometimes are not
as good in detecting deceptions and lying. According to the study
conducted by Feeley & Young (1998), people are not that good in
detecting lies. Thus in order for us to give accurate and sound judgment
sometimes we need considerable amount of time to weigh things out
before coming up into a decision.
The study of Ekman, Sullivan & Frank (1999) revealed that only a very
small percentage of professionals achieved accuracy of judgments in
determining who was lying and the higher accuracy rate, individual
abilities within those groups still varied.
Facial Action Sytem(FACS) is a system to taxonomize human facial
movements based on the system developed by a Swedish anatomist CarlHerman Hjortsjo and was later adopted by Paul Ekman and Wallace
Friesen. Today FACS are being used by investigators, psychologist and
behavioral scientists in their work in order to know the exact movements
categorize by facial behaviors based on the muscles that produce them.
FACS is the most widely used and versatile method of measuring and
describing facial behaviors. Ekman and Friesen examined video tapes of
facial behaviors to identify specific changes occurred with mascular
contractions and how best to differentiate one from another. Ekman and
Friesen published a manual with video supplements on how to used
FACS which later aid investigators on their judgement to determine if the
suspect is lying or not.
I do personally believe that FACS would really help in improving our
ability to detect lie. FACS is not just based on human assumptions, but
its a product of years of research and application of science and
psychology in order to determine human behavior through facial
expression. With proper training and education, an individual could
increase its ability to determine truth from lies through the aid of FACS.

2. Do you think the information in this case could help you tell
whether someones smile is genuine?
If we are going to apply the basic principles of FACS, and used it craftily
to determine whether a persons smile is fake or not, its most likely that
we could come up with correct judgment. The reason why FACS was
developed was in order to aid people in determining human behavior
through facial expression. But for ones to use FACS correctly, he needs
extensive training to be able to apply its techniques.
3. Is your impression of the facial expressions of the eight business
leaders consistent with what the researcher found? If not, why do
you think your views might be at odds with his?
After searching for the pictures of the eight mentioned CEOs and judge
there facial expression based on my own assumptions without any
knowledge of facial behaviors and FACS. My views are somewhat different
from what the researcher found out. Maybe it is because I judge those
CEOs based on first impression, based on how they project themselves
in front of the camera. We all know that being a CEO, they should appear
appealing to the public. Let us take for example Apples CEO Steve Jobs,
he has 48% positivity rating base on Hills analysis, yet we cannot deny
the fact that he has a charming charisma and personality in front of the
public, despite of his actual rude and harsh personality in front of his
employees. Yet despite of his bad attitudes sometimes, still people
patronizes Jobs ideas of innovations.
4. One research study found peoples ratings of the positive affect
displayed in CEOs faces have very little correlation to their
companys profits. Does that suggest to you that Hills analysis is
immaterial?
Hills analysis is not immaterial, its just that there is no significant
relationship between the degree of positivity of a CEO in relation to
companys profit. A company might be doing well in terms of business
even if it had a CEO with a very low positive rating.

Just in the case of Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, a multinational

software and Hardware Company. He got the lowest rating of 0%
positivity yet the company that he founded is doing well. In fact Larry
Ellison is the second richest tech billionaire next to Bill Gates according
to Forbes. Most of his fortunes came from the stocks he owned at Oracle.
It doesnt matter if the CEO does not display positive attitude as long as
they could deliver the quality service they provide to their customer.
What the customer wants is the value of the service they acquired. Just
like what Apple Computers when Steve Jobs was the CEO, he doesnt
care if he hurts his employee due to his bad temper and sarcasms
because sometimes fear could unleash the employees full potential and
the end result is that it could deliver quality ideas and products that the
consumers deserve to have.
5. Assuming you could become better at detecting the real emotions in
facial expressions, do you think it would help your career? Why or
why not?
Assuming that I become better at detecting real emotions of people
around me especially at my workplace, I think it could be beneficial in
my career. For this I could be able to determine what the real intentions
of my colleague also my boss. I could respond to any circumstances that
may arise that involves my career. Being emotionally sensitive is a good
tool to rise at the corporate world and as well at different fields. In the
21st century having a high IQ is not enough, one must also posses high
EQ to be able to cope up with the diverse environment at the workplace.
IV. References
Seager, P. B. (2004). Detecting Lies: Are You As Good As You Think You Are?
Forensic Update, 77, 5-9.
http://www.slideshare.net/dberglu/detecting-deception.
http://www.academia.edu/419290/The_Business_Case_for_Corporate_Social_
Responsibility_A_Review_of_Concepts_Research_and_Practice.

http://lifetrainingonline.com/blog/how-to-detect-lies.htm.