The power of phenomenology in examining how organisational members give meaning to emotions

Antoniadou, Marilena ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4025-035X and Crowder, Mark (2019) The power of phenomenology in examining how organisational members give meaning to emotions. In: SAGE Research Methods Cases Part 2. SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781526495594

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Abstract

Phenomenology has been a fertile source of inspiration for researchers working in a range of fields, such as psychology, psychoanalysis, and nursing. However, there has been little explicit engagement of the methodology by management scholars. This article discusses the implications of undertaking phenomenological research into emotions in organizations. This is a powerful tool that seeks to explore how organizational members subjectively experience and give meaning to certain emotions. A phenomenological study is used as an example to illustrate how the scope of phenomenology is suitable and timely in exploring significant events that illuminate the meaning that professionals give to their organizational emotions. This approach can be regarded as a methodological contribution to knowledge, as phenomenological studies in management are rare, particularly within under-researched contexts such as higher education. The case concludes with a discussion on the implications for employing phenomenology as an opportunity for developing new insights within current and popular bodies of organizational research.