The California Condition and Productivity

It’s said that misery loves company. Here’s an interesting insight:

28 Oct 2013
The Australian
RACHEL FEINTZEIG

http://bit.ly/pg3ul
Aspects of a worker’s disposition can, in fact, be contagious, according to Sigal Barsade, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “People literally catch emotions from one another like a virus,” she says. Her research has found that the least-contagious emotional state is one marked by low-energy and sluggishness. The most contagious is a calm, relaxed state — which she nicknamed “the California condition”. People with similar emotional temperaments work best together, Barsade says. If a manager is trying to get a stressed-out worker to brighten up, the best strategy is to surround the with lots of cheerful, energetic people.