Collaborative identity work – on how colleagues’ ‘other emotion management’ contributes to employees’ identity work

Abstract

Employees in contemporary work life are increasingly guided by ideas of ‘personal development’ and of having a challenging and developing work life (Bovbjerg 2001; Hirschhorn 2003). However, when such ideals are sought realized, it happens not merely by consulting a coach or courses in ‘personal development’. Such identity work also takes place within relationships of peers/colleagues that involve ‘other emotion management’, since individuals’ change of identity depends on others’ contributions to manage negative and positive emotions. Consequently, the article analyses identity as an emotionally involving issue from an ‘other emotion management’ perspective (Erickson 1997; Thoits 1996), which theorizes the conditions of this activity and its different forms/techniques. It does so, by responding to the following three main questions: Firstly, what characterizes existing research into identity and emotion, and how does it engage with the issue of how colleagues/peers manage each others emotions? The brief answer is that it has not done so, and this review section concludes by emphasizing the need for a more pro-active ‘other emotion management’ perspective, which concentrates particularly on the role of positive emotion in individuals’ creative identity work. Secondly, what does ‘other emotion management’ involve, and how is it significant for understanding the issue of individuals’ identity work. One main point to the questions is to emphasize, that other emotion management is a condition for realizing identity efforts. ‘Other emotion management’ can be moulding the emotions of the other in ways that contribute to his or her identity pursuits. This perspective differs significantly from the theoretical recognition perspective which does not theorize emotions as managed actively in the interaction of individuals. Thirdly, which new research issues can be formulated on the basis of the presented alternative approach to the issue of emotion and identity? One out of three different issues outlines the question of empirically investigating peers’ ‘other emotion management’ in order to assess what it means with respect to their identity work. The article’s main contribution is to further develop the theoretical understanding of the relationship between emotion and emotion management and identity work by introducing the perspective of ‘other emotion management’, and on the basis of this framework formulate new challenges for research into emotions in work life.