Organizations, learning, and emotion

In this chapter, the authors identify some of the main organizational learning discourses in which emotion has established a foothold and indicate some of the core insights that it has provided, mainly linked to the theories of emotional labor and socially constructed emotions. They then explore in greater detail the emotional dimension of learning, both in classroom settings and in organizations more generally, developing some of Fineman's earlier arguments regarding the politics of learning. While acknowledging the significance of the socially constructed aspect of emotions, they emphasize that not all emotions can be easily accommodated, contained, or managed in organizations and not all learning can be safely guided towards enhancing organizational objectives. They suggest that learning evokes powerful emotional responses, positive and negative, ranging from excited curiosity to fear of failure and humiliation, and that many of these emotions may be traced to childhood experiences. In this connection, they examine transference as a powerful psychological process through which such experiences can resurface in later life, especially when people encounter intense authority relations individually or in groups. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the emotional dynamics present in two indispensable aspects of learning, criticism, and caring. They argue that criticism is a vital feature of feedback without which learning is impossible, but emphasize that criticism must be balanced by an ethic of care which supports learning and acts as a container for those emotions that may inhibit or incapacitate the learning process.