The Faculty of Business and Informatics this week hosted a research seminar entitled 'Emotion in the Organisation: a multilevel perspective', presented by Professor Neal Ashkanasy.

Neal Ashkanasy is Professor of Management in the Business School at the University of Queensland, and Research Director for the Faculty of Business, Economics, and Law. He has a PhD in Social and Organisational Psychology from UQ and his research in recent years has focused on emotions in organisational life.

He has published in many leading journals, including the Academy of Management Review and the Journal of Management.

Professor Ashkanasy outlined some of the latest developments in the applications of emotions in organisational settings. He is also the regional representative of ANZAM, for which faculty of Business and Informatics is hosting the annual conference in December.

Recent years have seen an upsurge of interest in the study of emotions in organizations. Research, however, has been hampered by the ephemeral nature of emotions, and a lack of an integrated multi-level model. Professor Ashkanasy described how he has tacked this problem. In particular, he set out the theoretical basis of a five-level model of emotions in organisations. In his presentation, Professor Ashkanasy described the model, including recent findings in neuroscience that underlie the experience, perception, and communication of emotion. He also presented the results of studies conducted to date on some of the components of the model and concluded with a discussion of implications of the model for research and practice.

Professor Ashkanasy was also guest speaker at the Australian Institute of Management; June lunch function where he discussed some of the intriguing new research that examines both emotional intelligence and the broader issue of emotion, which has been shown to play a powerful role in workplace settings. He demonstrated that this research has a potential for many practical applications in organisations, including selection, performance management, training, and specialist areas such as customer service.

Pictured, left Professor Neal Ashkanasy and above with CQU's Head of Management, Lee Di Milia