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WEDNESDAY, Nov. 23 (HealthDay News) --by -- Robert Preidt
Updated: Nov 23rd 2010

Work teams who openly express their negative feelings share more information, have greater solidarityand are better at solving complicated analytical problems, a new studyhas found.

Many businesses and organizations want employees to limit negative emotions and only show positive ones. But a study from the Netherlandssuggests that isn't always the right strategy.

Participants were shown cheerful or sad films and then monitored as they worked together on difficult decision-making tasks. Groups who saw asad film and then talked about it before they started their task didthe best on their assignment.

Dutch researcher Annefloor Klep also gave certain groups the impression thatthere was a problem with their relationships. If the members of thesegroups talked about these problems, they quickly put them aside andworked as a team on their task.

The study also found that sharing positive emotions can help with creative tasks, especially if team members are sure about theirfeelings. However, a team handled analytical tasks better if its membersshared negative emotions.

Sharing emotions can benefit teams that often work together over long periods of time, Klep concluded.