We learn many things through our own experiences and that is said to be the best way to learn. My learning during the summer internship process for the year 2010 is the title of this blog; ‘Moods are Contagious’. Till the summer internship process I was hardly aware of it, or it might be that I was too damned bothered with my own self that I stopped observing things happening around me. This title of this ever since then was stuck in my mind mainly because of one reason; that I was not selected by one of the big four audit firms on the grounds that I’m not very chirpy and excited and they wanted students who can shrill at the top of their voice when they are excited and happy. The reason as cited by one of the recruiters being that ‘moods are contagious’. That particular firm was rather looking at students who get excited when happy and pass that mood onto the other employees in the office. Happy place to work! Well, I hold a different attitude till date trying to question that phrase and critic it for the simple reason that I neither get excited when I’m happy nor depressed when I’m sad.
My belief is that being excited and depressed are two extreme states of emotions. In either case a person is bound to express strong emotions into the surroundings and these moods being contagious; there is equal probability that both strong emotions are contagious. In my view again, people are of two types; one type are those who show extreme emotions either extreme joy or extreme sadness, and the other type being calm and composed. The second type is either happy or sad with any kind of situation happening in their lives. So therefore this kind is neither very excited at workplace not very depressed due to any reasons. For them everything is normal and nothing can deviate from normality.
A closer look into both types of personalities may reveal the following insights
A person belonging to type one is good for the organization (as said by the recruiter) but only at times when the organization is going through the path of roses (good times) or when they have achievable targets with good amount of time left for the targets to be achieved. At times when the condition is bad, this type person is bound to suffer along with the organization, what would be his first step? I say that his first step would be to panic and get depressed assuming that the sky is about to fall only on him. This is not my assumption, but a fact that a person who is expresses strong emotions of excitement when happy would also express strong emotions at the times of adversity. This person expresses all kinds of emotions (excitement and depression are the two emotions under discussion here). So therefore, this kind of personality may not do much wonders at bad times faced by the company. Neither can that person have control over him as he is into a habit to express everything not can he be a source of motivation at this time to other employees as organizations do not want that. They why is it that organizations look for people with unbalanced emotions?
If we look at the second type person, he is never into the habit of expressing anything, be it sadness or happiness. Very high and very low targets do not make much of a difference to him and he tries to be a slow and steady horse. This person is not much of use when the organization is doing perfectly well as he cannot further motivate his surroundings as he hardly expresses anything except a downtrodden/smiling face. During adverse times, he knows how not to express his adverse emotions and may even know how to balance that emotion as he has been doing that all his life. He can be a good motivator at these times as he maintains his calm and remains composed all times. This kind of people may be adding value at adverse times.
The present business condition as we all know is neither too harsh to bring upon adversities, nor is it too good that CEO can take a month-long holiday to the Bahamas or Maldives. It’s an entirely complex situation with traits of both good and bad weather. In this kind of situation what kind of employees do organizations need? Too much expressive or too much composed? Or should the organizations adopt to a 50:50 ratio of both these kinds so that each have their share to play at both conditions?
Well, I really don’t know the answer myself.
I like your take on contagious moods. In my experience people who express extreme emotions tend to be more of a liability than asset. However, your recruiter may be looking for a breed of people who who have a positive, rather than 'neutral' aura. People who keep the momentum high when the going is good, and who can raise the morale when the going is rough. Basically they express themselves (constructively) in both situations.
ReplyDeleteYeah Shweta, i totally agree, but at the same time if you look at any recruitment, majority of the people who get rejected are those stable ones (from my personal experience). These stable players find it hard to get through, but ultimately it is them who reduce the attrition rates of the company with a consistent above average performance (above average performance is just an assumption but proved true by many research scholars).
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