Emotions in Social and Cultural Spaces and Their Role in Meaning-Making

This chapter brings into focus how emotions occupy discursive spaces in organizational settings. It is argued that emotions play a significant role in meaning-making at both collective and individual levels. Effective meaning-making, which matters, is an outcome of an intricate interaction between the happenings at individual and collective levels. It has the potential to shape immediate experiences as well as subsequent behaviors. Drawing on empirical data from two empirical studies in organizational settings, the role of emotions in determining future interactional outcomes is examined. The meaning-making function of emotions has the potential to give rise to forces that could lead to change or maintain the status quo.