Similarly to the linguistic turn in the social sciences, studying of organizational strategies from the discursive point of view has become popular today (Liu & Maitlis, 2014). However, the impact of emotions on strategizing processes is seldom investigated, even though emotions are important in discourse. Therefore, it is paramount to fill in this gap; Liu and Maitlis (2014) address it via studying strategic conversations during seven top management meetings.
Statement of Purpose or Aims
The aim of the study by Liu and Maitlis (2014) was to investigate the relationship between the patterns of emotions demonstrated by the participants of top management strategy meetings, on the one hand, and the manner in which the top managers offered, considered, and assessed strategic questions and problems, as well as how they made or delayed making decisions pertaining to these questions and problems, on the other hand (p. 203).
Literature Review
The scope of the literature review includes the research of various strategizing discourses. According to the literature, demonstrations of emotions often provide considerable contributions to the discourse when it comes to the meaning of the latter, sometimes even determining the meaning of the uttered words (as cited in Liu & Maitlis, 2014). Thus, it is pivotal to take the emotional context in account while studying the strategizing process. Studies taking emotions in account are few, but it is known that top team emotions are crucial in strategy meetings (as cited in Liu & Maitlis, 2014).
Methodology
The methodology for the study by Liu and Maitlis (2014) is determined by the utilization of a discursive lens, which assumes that the meaning of phenomena is constituted within various discursive practices. It is similar to the linguistic turn in humanities, which recognized the importance of language in the process of creation of meanings. This paradigm is useful because the authors investigate how meanings created within meetings influence strategic decision-making process.
Methods
The authors carried out non-participant observation while studying strategizing process in meetings of top management team in a mid-sized Canadian computer game company (Liu & Maitlis, 2014). The meetings were video recorded; data from seven meetings was employed.
Analysis and Results
The researchers utilized the method of microethnography. They conducted repeated examinations and analyses of video recordings of the meetings; the examination was divided into five main stages, each of which went deeper into analyzing the emotional displays of the participants of the meetings (Liu & Maitlis, 2014). The displayed emotions were coded by the researchers, along with the strategizing practices employed in the meetings. The authors then scrutinized the interplay between the emotions and strategizing processes, and elaborated the relationships between them. It was found out that five main strategizing processes were used in the company, and they corresponded to five different types of emotional dynamics. This allowed for organizing the emotional dynamics into a system, according to the criterion of issue urgency, and for identifying a link between emotional dynamics and the process of strategizing (Liu & Maitlis, 2014). The following emotional dynamics correlated to strategizing processes were discovered: “energetic exchange,” “amused encounter,” “unempathic interaction,” “recurrent confrontation,” and “depleting barrage”; in the latter three processes, there was little reconciliation between the team members, and they drove the managers apart, whereas the first two processes drew the team members together (Liu & Maitlis, 2014, pp. 213-215, 224).
Ethical Issues
There are several ethical issues related to the article by Liu and Maitlis (2014). For instance, the researchers recorded some confrontations between team members, and published their analysis. Some angry and rude phrases were quoted word-to-word in the article. However, the authors preserved the anonymity of the participants, which means they should not be recognized by third parties.
Dissemination and Policy Relevance
The results of the study were disseminated by publishing them in the Journal of Management Studies, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal. These results are relevant because they may provide insights into the manner in which emotions should be managed and channeled during team meetings in order to make the latter more effectual.
Reference
Liu, F., & Maitlis, S. (2014). Emotional dynamics and strategizing processes: A study of strategic conversations in top team meetings. Journal of Management Studies, 51(2), 202-234. Web.