In a recent study entitled “Boys, don’t cry: Gender and reactions to negative performance feedback,” the authors explored on how feedback provider assesses the reactions of employees towards negative feedback (Motro & Ellis, 2017). Specifically, the authors wanted to assess the role that gender plays in processing these reactions. Feedbacks are necessary for the organizational setting. This process allows the employees to understand how the organization assesses their performance through their supervisors. The goal of feedback is to offer criticism—either positive or negative, to employees help them improve their performance. However, receiving feedback is often a representation of an affective event on the part of the employees (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996). This observation is particularly true when employees receive negative feedback. Among the typical responses to negative feedback include frustration, anger, and disappointment (Motro & Ellis, 2017). In some instances, employees who receive negative criticisms respond by crying as a normal outburst of emotion. While this reaction is frequently observed among women, the researchers of the study “Boys, don’t cry” were interested in how men respond to negative criticism and whether crying was among the typical way that male employees respond when they receive negative feedback.
Furthermore, considering that we live in a paternalistic society where male hegemony is typically embraced, crying as a reaction among men is not always generally welcomed. It is interesting to find out why men would respond this way (i.e., cry) when they receive a negative assessment of their performance. The need to understand the motivation and probable cause why men would overlook the male machismo concept and express their emotions in a non-conventional way becomes a subject of interest for many researchers.
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Motro and Ellis (2017) believe that crying as a reaction to negative performance feedback may have a significant effect on both the employee and the feedback provider. This hypothesis was formulated that while crying may merely come as a form of surprise or an insult on the part of the employee, the feedback provider may perceive this as something different. This perception may, later on, affect how the feedback provider views the employee. In which case, the feedback provider may see this response as a form of weakness, or disagreement with the supervisor or the feedback provider’s opinion and assessment.
In the study, the researchers pointed out that while crying is a normal reaction to negative behavior, society has a different view crying in the context of sex difference. Thus, crying might be viewed as socially unacceptable behavior based on what gender exhibits this reaction. Motro and Ellis (2017) cited several studies which claimed that social norms and pressure discourage men from crying, while it does the opposite for their female counterparts who are allowed and encouraged to cry. This can be viewed as a form of a stereotype that is typically seen and observed in organizations. Psychologists have argued the benefits of crying as a form of releasing emotional pressure. Some studies revealed that crying is healthy for individuals who are experiencing pain, grief, and negative emotions (Sawada, Matsuo & Hashimoto, 2012; Becker, Conroy, Djurdjevic & Gross, 2017). Another study published in 2017 on the topic of crying at work stated that the response of observers on people who cries at work tends to vary depending on the organizational culture and the observer’s personal beliefs (Becker, Conroy, Djurdjevic & Gross, 2017). Others might look kindly on people who cry as a natural reaction to that emphatic reaction. However, seeing a male employee cry is very extraordinary that is why is not taken normally.
Reference
Becker, W., Conroy, S., Djurdjevic, E., & Gross, M. (2017). Crying Is in the Eyes of the Beholder: An Attribution Theory Framework of Crying at Work. Emotion Review , 10 (2), 125-137. DOI: 10.1177/1754073917706766
Motro, D., & Ellis, A. (2017). Boys, don’t cry: Gender and reactions to negative performance feedback. Journal of Applied Psychology , 102 (2), 227-235. DOI: 10.1037/apl0000175
Sawada, T., Matsuo, K., & Hashimoto, I. (2012). Psychological effects of emotional crying in adults: Events that elicit crying and social reactions to crying. The Japanese Journal of Psychology , 82 (6), 514-522. DOI: 10.4992/jjpsy.82.514
Weiss, H., & Cropanzano, R. (1996). Affective events theory: A theoretical discussion of the structure, causes and consequences of affective experiences at work. Research in Organizational Behavior , 13 , 1–74.
