Understanding emotion and emotionality in a process of change

TLDR

The study argues for moving beyond a rational‑vs‑emotional dichotomy, proposing that rationality and emotion are fused and interdependent, especially when viewed through identity, attachment, and behavior during organizational change. The authors investigate how emotion and emotionality should be conceptualized within the psychodynamics of organizational change. They propose tentative strategies for managing identity‑related behaviors that arise during change. They find that the extent of organizational identification determines whether employees exhibit identity dislodgement behaviors or grieving‑like responses.

Abstract

Aspects of the psychodynamics of organisation change are explored and in particular how emotion and emotionality should be conceived. A case is made to go beyond the dichotomous world of “rational” versus “emotional” and develop a greater appreciation of how the rational and the emotional can be “fused” or act in a co‐existent and co‐dependent fashion where one cannot be understood in the absence of the other. Read through the optic of identity, acts of so called rationality may simply be an expression of a deeper, albeit unconscious realm – psychodynamics in which emotion and emotionality are significant. It is through the optic of identity that the individual’s attachment to the organisation is described and the meaning of behaviour in the midst of change is canvassed. It is noted that, depending upon the degree of identification with the organisation, one encounters behaviours that reflect dislodgement of identity and those more commonly associated with the processes of grieving. Some tentative strategies are advanced in managing these behaviours.