Managerial Emotionality in Chinese Factories

Authors

Kathleen J. Krone, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Ling Chen, University of OklahomaFollow
Diane Kay Sloan, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Llinda M. Gallant, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

8-1997

Citation

Management Communication Quarterly 11:1 (August 1997), pp. 6–50.

doi: 10.1177/0893318997111002

Comments

Copyright © 1997 Sage Publications. Used by permission.

Abstract

Managerial emotion may be experienced and handled differently when reason and emotion are understood to be continuously (e.g., Eastern cultures) rather than dichotomously (e.g., Western cultures) related. Using a social constructionist perspective, this study investigated emotionality among directors from 48 different factories in the People’s Republic of China. Social, moral, and material/economic situations were identified as sources of pleasant and unpleasant managerial emotional experience. Thought-feeling continuities were identified in how the managers described their emotional experiences. Both pleasant and unpleasant emotions were experienced very intensely and were managed in ways that both conformed to and departed from cultural ideals. Managerial emotions appeared to be best handled by thinking through them rather than by venting or suppressing them.