May 1, 2008
12:00 - 1:00pm EST
Professor Teresa Amabile
“Best Days and Worst Days at Work: How They Matter for Organizational Performance” 

Does it matter whether people have a good day or a bad day at work? Our research discovered that it matters a great deal. Over three calendar years, my colleagues and I collected nearly 12,000 daily work diaries from 238 professionals on 26 creative project teams in seven companies in three industries. We found that people’s "inner work life" - their hidden emotions, motivations, and perceptions of the organization, its leaders, the work, their coworkers, and themselves - was dramatically affected by the events unfolding around them at work. Inner work life not only influenced these individuals, but it also influenced their performance – creativity, productivity, commitment to the work, and collegiality. In this chat, I will describe which work events are particularly important in making for “best” and “worst” days, as well as implications for managers, individuals, and organizations.