In their article, Brief and Weiss review the studies on job satisfaction that were carried out throughout the 20th century (most of them were conducted in the 1930s and 1990s). One of the most important things mentioned in the article is the study which found out that attempts to make employees not show their emotions lead to bad memorization of information (Brief and Weiss 298). This finding is of significance because it is a common practice in firms to require their workers suppress their emotions (Brief and Weiss 298), and, therefore, a solution to this issue needs to be found if the productivity of employees is to be increased. Besides, most of the other mentioned findings (e.g. that engaged leaders encourage followers, whereas hostile ones are likely to negatively affect performance; or that good mood improves helpfulness, lowers aggression, and facilitates creativity (Brief and Weiss 289, 294)) seem to directly follow from common sense. The finding that the suppression of emotions impairs memory is not obvious, and that makes it one of the most interesting things mentioned in the article.
Works Cited
Brief, Arthur P. and Howard M. Weiss. “Organizational Behavior: Affect in the Workplace.” Annual Review of Psychology 53 (2002): 279-307. Print.