Introduction
?There are numerous organisations operating in same environment, producing same product, catering to the same market and facing the same challenges yet some are highly successful while others fight for their survival. What makes them successful or failure is the decisions they take. A single right decision can make an organization at the same time, a single wrong decision can break the organisation. Decision making, in short, is a major activity in organisational life as its outcomes are crucial for the survival of an organisation. Success and failure of any organisation depends on not only the decisions they make but to a camiseta liverpool blanca large extent how they make the decisions.
?Role of Emotion in Decision making????????????????
Decisions do not exist by themselves they are made by people who are not only ‘thinking' but also ‘feeling beings. Despite this, over the years the emphasis has been on rationality and cognition and on ways of diminishing the influence of subjectivity and emotions while making decisions. It was assumed that emotions could seize decision making process, thus leading to poor decisions. As a consequence, emotions were considered as a disruptive force in rational thought and adaptive action(Bernstone et.al.1993).However, unlike the past where emotions were typically considered outside the purview of a rational analysis, emotions are increasingly recognized for the role they play in decision making.
?This shift perhaps, was due to the finding of a researcher named Antonio Damasio. Damasio (1994), drew this finding from patients with specific lesion. Some patients who have suffered damage in their frontal lobes became emotionally flat and lost their ability to make, while retaining other cognitive functions. From the analysis of these patients, Damasio (1994) concluded that they were unable decision making due to lack of emotions. Antonio Damasio (1994) has described vivid examples of this lack of rationality in his book "Descartes Error". He argued that emotions actually promote rational behaviour in situation of indeterminacy. He showed that emotions allow us to avoid potentially problematic choices because we have a feeling or a hunch that something about the choice is not worthwhile. Without this feeling, we might not notice
?Contrary to the popular notion that decision makers are very rational and logical in their approach while taking decision, they do not always follow logically optimal path or conform to organisationally defined rationality. Since they have to be contended with the information at hand and as there are too many possible alternatives for them to evaluate, therefore rationality is subjective and bounded. Relevant informations, therefore can be missed and hunches, preferences and gut feelings might play an important role in decision making process (Fineman, 1993).
In decision making process both cognitions and emotions play an important role. If cognitions help us in generating ideas, emotions allow us to decide, what is worth thinking about what is not. Emotions also help us in deciding what is appropriate and inappropriate. Emotions block ideas which are irrational when both time period and our ability to test all possible alternatives is limited .They allow us to act in a manner which is compatible with long term interest. When stakes are high and rational headed person is asked to make decision, he frequently becomes lost as to what decision he /she should take. When making decision at initial stage the decision maker has many rational thoughts with only a small amount of emotions. But when it comes to make a decision finally we find that ratio of rational to emotional thoughts is reversed. This intelligent and rational person changes into different person. He may not show his emotion, but his action or tone of voice however may provide a clue.By saying "I've got to think over it" or "It's not a bright idea". The decision maker shows that? she/he is not only thinking but also a feeling being. When executives are asked to make decision that involves significant considerations, risk and more importantly their honour and when their reputation and image is at stake then they are bound to use emotion in deciding.
?Reason and emotion, therefore, act as two complimentary systems in human brain for making decision. When it is important to get the answer right and we have a lot of time at our disposal, we can use the slow and tried method of reasoning things through. When we have little time and information or it is not simple but a complex decision that needs to be made, we use emotions to decide.
?Research indicates that emotion in decision making has been viewed as alternating between two contrasting positions. At one pole, researchers assume (often implicitly) that emotions camiseta liverpool blanca are primarily impediments to adaptive action. According to view, emotions disorganize or interrupt current thought and disrupt ongoing behaviour. Emotion related thought processes are seen as lacking the direction and principled orderliness of reason (Dewey, 1985; Hebb, 1946; Mandler, 1984).Emotional expressions from anger to proclamation of love are seen as reflecting the more uncontrollable side of human nature that threatens the social order.
?At the other pole, theorists assume that emotions function in an organized and useful ways. Emotions are reliable guides to action and help in sustaining the harmony and continuity of social interaction and relationships. Emotions, according to this view,prioritize and organize the ongoing the individual's adjustment to the demands of the physical and social environment (Darwin,1872 & Ekman,1992).Emotions often act a tiebreaker in decision? involving high degree of indeterminacy by enabling us to focus on the salient features of the situation(Nutt,1984).Thus emotion can facilitate as well as hinder the decision making process and whether they would facilitate or hinder would depend on a large number of factors like nature of decision, environment and organisational constraints.
?In most of the studies emotions have been categorized into two types- the positive emotions and the negative emotions. Studies have concentrated on how positive and negative emotions influence decision making in terms of processes and outcomes. Frank and Hirshlefer(1993) ,suggest that negative emotions such as anger, serve to enhance credibility of threat, while positive emotions such as love and affection ensures credibility of cooperation in decision process. Similarly whereas negative emotions can result in a limited search for new alternatives and less vigilant use of information, positive emotions can increase or enhance active generation of ideas such as inference making, productive thinking and facilitate the assimilation of information in decision making process( Ansoff,1965;Andrews,1980;Porter,1998).
?Contrary? to the popular assumption that, positive emotions would always? facilitate decision making and negative would hinder it , the effect of? positive and negative emotions on decision making process have not always been parallel or symmetrical. Negative emotions lead to more thorough treatment of information. People who are sad or depressed seek and consider more information and process persuasive messages more thoroughly. In contrast, positive emotions lead to reduction of deliberative or systematic processing of information. People, who are in positive mood tend to prefer the use of heuristics and decisional shortcuts and base their judgment on stereotypes.
?Thus both positive and negative emotions have both positive and negative implication. In order to maximize the positive aspects and minimize the negative aspects, organisations employ a variety of mechanism to neutralize emotions at workplace. These mechanisms aim either at preventing emotions from arising in the first place or to safely control these emotions when they arise. Hence organisations adopt strategies like feeling rules and emotionalized zones.
?Feeling rules play an important role in determining the nature of the decision process. Decisions like, layoff, demotion and dismissal are governed by feeling rules prevalent in the organisations. These decisions can be emotionally taxing; decision maker may feel guilt for the loss of someone's job or livelihood. If such feelings are allowed to persist, then, there would be no layoff or suspension in the organisation. Feeling rules probably keep in check the personal feelings of individuals. Decision makers are not expected to feel compassionate, guilty, ashamed or sad as they may act as an obstacle in taking decision. Managers become impersonal and justify their actions by giving explanations like "It was for organisation's survival", "I was just doing my job". Feeling rules help decision maker to adjust his focus and prioritize his preferences. When there is emphasis on being loyal towards organisation, the decision maker, may not mind taking decision, which involves, lying, fraud and deceit. On the other hand rigid feeling rules may prevent employees from airing their true feelings about various policies and decisions. Even when s/he expresses his/her discontent s/he might do so in low voice or mellowed tone and once his/her idea is rejected s/he might not take it up again. As a consequence the employee is likely to accept the suggestions or decisions of the MD even though s/he does agree with him.
?Since organisations do not allow or encourage expression of emotions like fear, uncertainty and apprehension, it creates problem at not only during the process but also during the implementation stage and when the decision is being evaluated as being good or bad. When doubts, fears, anger and apprehensions are not encouraged or even entertained, it might prevent the decision maker from expressing his /her genuine views or prevent him/her from expressing anything at all. Suppression of apprehension and fear might force the decision maker either to take decision which he himself does not approve of or lead to half hearted commitment towards the decision taken. So when such decisions backfire the decision maker does not feel guilty or responsible for the decisional outcome as he feels that he had already expressed his fear in decisional phase but the organisation went ahead with the decision, ignoring or downplaying his fear or apprehensions.
?What is needed, therefore that organisations become sensitive towards the emotions of the employees. It should be able to acknowledge and appreciate the significance of the emotions expresses by its employees's, understand why that emotion has surfaced and do something by which that emotions gets overcomed. For example if? employee expresses fear towards a decision , organisation should try to understand why he/ she is expressing that emotion and by clarifying or giving patient? hearing help employees to overcome his/ her fear.
?If organization is emotional sensitivity, it would bind people more deeply than shared beliefs and ideas. There would be enhanced commitment and loyalty towards the decision taken. Emotional sensitivity, therefore, becomes important as it might help in minimizing the conflicts, miscommunications during the decision making phase and protect organisations from making poor or wrong decisions.
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