"Affective events" are defined as emotion-evoking events deriving from the work environment, with subsequent effects on employee attitudes and behaviour, and ultimately impacting all levels of organisational effectiveness and performance.
At the individual level, employees are subject to moment-by-moment 'hassles and uplifts' that determine the way they act, feel and perform. Further more, individuals differ in their general "trait affect" and their ability to deal with emotions ("emotional intelligence"). When organisational members interact with one another, and also with clients and customers, they engage in "emotional labour", where they must actively manage their emotional expressions. In groups, the phenomenon of "emotional contagion" is manifest, where one member's mood is transferred to other group members. Across the totality of the organisation, "affective climate" can affect the behaviour and attitudes of organisational members.
The research program encompasses many different aspects of this model, including research into stress management, the role of intuition, emotional expression, leadership, inter-personal interactions, and making database queries.
Researchers in the program are currently involved in a number of projects funded by grants from the Australian Research Council and other funding sources.
