emotions in organizations

The emphasis on the rational actor that persists today in organizational studies and practice also impacts the norms that have developed associated with the expression of emotion. Rational decision making suggests that emotions play no role in how decisions are made in organizations, yet organization members often are driven by how they feel about others and the organization.

Another aspect of emotions in organization is what emotions are okay to express and what must be hidden--the emotional labor the authors of the text discuss in Chapter 3. While the organizational norms associated with the expression of emotion are culturally-bound, the growth of transnational corporations has blunted some of the impact of local cultural practices on the organizations in which they're embedded. Norms may also vary with the type of organization. For example, in the hospices I studied, expressing joy, happiness, sadness, and grief were quite accepted. Providing comfort to others in difficult times was common. Crying, especially in response to a patient's death, was considered normal behavior. Expressing anger was not as accepted, however.

The study of emotions in organizations is fairly recent and still hasn't received much attention. This likely stems from the dominance of the machine metaphor in our understanding of organization. Even later metaphors such as organizations and organisms, organizations as brains, and organizations as political systems ignore the role of emotion in everyday organizational life.