Emotion Work and Emotion Space: Using a Spatial Perspective to Explore the Challenging of Masculine Emotion Management Practices

Based on two years of fieldwork and over 100 interviews, we analyze mixed martial arts fighters’ fears, how they managed them, and how they adopted intimidating personas to evoke fear in opponents. We conceptualize this process as “managing emotional manhood,” which refers to emotion management that signifies, in the dramaturgical sense, masculine selves. Our study aims to deepen our understanding of how men’s emotion work is gendered and, more generally, to bring together two lines of research: studies of gendered emotion management and studies of emotional identity work. We further propose that managing emotional manhood is a dynamic and trans-situational process that can be explored in diverse settings.

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Let’s Look at This Another Way: How Supervisors Can Help Subordinates Manage the Threat of Relationship Conflict

Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies ◽

10.1177/1548051817750545 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 25 (3) ◽

pp. 368-380 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Chase E. Thiel ◽

Jennifer A. Griffith ◽

Jay H. Hardy ◽

David R. Peterson ◽

Shane Connelly

Keyword(s):

Conflict Management ◽

Management Practices ◽

Conflict Theory ◽

Emotion Management ◽

Management Theory ◽

Relationship Conflict ◽

Negative Events ◽

Field Sample ◽

Team Processes

Despite decades of scholarly and practitioner attention on conflict management, few studies have addressed the important role that supervisors play in managing relationship conflict (RC). The current research addresses this gap by investigating the use of supervisory interpersonal emotion management in helping subordinates manage perceptions of RC. Examining RC through a threat framework, we propose that when individuals perceive RC in their workgroup, they are less likely to identify with their group and more likely to withdraw from the group in ways that affect critical team processes, both of which have performance implications. Furthermore, we propose that supervisors can mitigate the consequences of perceiving RC by encouraging subordinates to reappraise past negative events that contribute to such perceptions. Using a field sample of 917 employees, we tested and found support for these predictions. This research primarily has implications for conflict theory, RC management theory, and RC management practices.

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