We do get terribly enthusiastic about everything! Performing emotion rules through parody

Abstract

This paper adopts a performational approach to critical sensemaking to explore how organisational members enact innovation-related emotion rules through the performance of parody. The approach was motivated more by induction than deduction. During an action-research study in a small service company, humour, teasing, and laughter occurred in a workshop organised for the company. On close examination of the videotaped workshop data, it was noticed that parodic performances were used to make critical sense of the innovation-related emotion rules and power relationships within the company. Analysis of this study shows in detail how, through parodic and imitative performances, the leader and employees constructed three emotion rules – show your emotions, show your enthusiasm, and show your criticism in a nice way – that are set by the leader to promote innovation practice within the company.