Dealing with emotions in the workplace.

• Position: Your Life - Brief Article

How do employees expect their coworkers to manage their emotions? According to researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia, many employees do not want their coworkers to express any type of strong emotion--positive or negative.

Michael Kramer and Jon Hess, professors of communication, surveyed employees from a variety of different occupations and asked them to describe situations at work where emotions were managed "appropriately" or "inappropriately." They found that workers felt the sole "appropriate" way to manage negative emotions on the job was for employees to hide or "mask" their emotions. Positive emotions need to be expressed in moderation as well, according to those surveyed.

Employees expect others to hide negative emotions in order to maintain what they call "professionalism." They also expect coworkers to react to positive ones by not...