Emotionality and Change
Incorporating emotions into our theorizing on change is important because emotional perspectives explain dynamics that cannot be easily explained with purely cognitive or structural theories. At the individual level, people take various actions, such as eating unhealthy food or shouting at their spouse, due to an emotional impulse, even though they are cognitively aware of their harmful consequences. At the organizational level, communication patterns between different organizational groups can be influenced by how the groups feel toward one another, rather than by rational considerations of what is best for the organization as a whole or even in the best interests of a particular group (e.g., Vuori and Huy 2016a). The goal of the research on emotionality and change is to increase understanding of how change triggers emotions and how those emotions influence change-related behaviors and influence change outcomes. The practical benefit of such a theory is that it helps leaders to manage change in ways that generate change-enabling rather than change-resisting emotions.