ABSTRACT
Tracy (chap. 4) and Putnam’s (chap. 5) focus on expression of feelings as a part of organizational decision making opens fertile ground for exploring the role of emotion in organizational communication, and in social interaction more generally. Their chapters present a convincing case that the issue of emotion has been neglected and even seen as antithetical to the communication characteristic of organizational life. In this essay we extend their argument in two directions, the persuasive and the cultural. We first build on the observation of both Putnam and Tracy that the separation between “irrational” emotion and reasoned argument constitutes a false dichotomy, by further exploring the suasory power of expressions of emotion in Corporation: After Mr. Sam. We then expand on this observation by exploring the culturally situated nature of both organizations and emotion itself. We conclude by proposing that expressions of feelings are persuadable, as well as persuasive; they are constrained by, and interpreted within, norms and premises for communication in particular groups of people, in this case an organization deliberating its future within a particular historical and social context.
