Beyond the emotional work event : social sharing of emotion in organizations

Abstract: "Every day people experience hassles and joys at work. Consequently, research on emotion in organizational settings has tended to focus on these "as they occur" and "as they are managed". However, not only do people experience emotional events at work they may also talk about these events to their colleagues or intimates. And this verbal sharing of emotion may occur as well in everyday work life as it does in turbulent times or after extraordinary events… Thus begins the journey my dissertation. On the following pages I will introduce the reader to the theory of the Social Sharing of Emotion - i.e. the experiencing of an emotional event, the mental rumination upon it and, finally, telling others about it - with a view to knowledge sharing, narratives and social networks at work. In five articles the role of social sharing of emotion in humor at the workplace, collective memory, strategic change, decision making and change management will be untangled. "