THE ORGANISATION OF DISAPPOINTMENT ANNETTE CLANCY A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Bath School of Management May 2012 COPYRIGHT Attention is drawn to the fact that copyright of this thesis rests with the author. A copy of this thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that they must not copy it or use material from it except as permitted by law or with the consent of the author. This thesis may be made available for consultation within the University Library and may be photocopied or lent to other libraries for the purposes of consultation. Yesterday is not a milestone that has been passed, but a daystone on the beaten track of the years and irredeemably part of us, within us, heavy and dangerous. We are not more weary because of yesterday, we are other, no longer what we were before the calamity of yesterday Samuel Beckett, Proust Yes, I don’t know why, but I have never been disappointed, and I often was in the early days, without feeling at the same time, or a moment later, an undeniable relief Samuel Beckett, The Complete Short Stories 2 Table of contents Table of contents ........................................................................................................ 3 Table of tables ............................................................................................................. 6 Table of diagrams ....................................................................................................... 6 Dedication ................................................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... 8 Abstract ....................................................................................................................... 9 1 Summary ................................................................................................................ 10 2 Overview of thesis ................................................................................................. 15 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 15 Overview of theory ................................................................................................................ 15 Methodology and design ...................................................................................................... 16 Overview of core category, core concern and subcategories .................................. 17 Format of thesis ...................................................................................................................... 20 3 Literature review ................................................................................................... 22 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 22 Overview of literature review chapters ......................................................................... 22 A note on terminology .......................................................................................................... 24 3.1 Philosophical and scientific perspectives on emotion ..................................... 26 Challenges in presenting theories of emotion ............................................................. 26 Perspectives on emotion ..................................................................................................... 28 Natural science and emotion .............................................................................................. 29 Positive and negative emotion .......................................................................................... 30 Challenges to the naturalistic view .................................................................................. 31 The social construction of emotion: a contemporary philosophical view .......... 33 Problems with social constructionism ........................................................................... 36 Summary and conclusion .................................................................................................... 37 3.2 The politics of emotion ....................................................................................... 39 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 39 Overview of the chapter ....................................................................................................... 39 Historical perspective .......................................................................................................... 41 The emergence of a political agenda ............................................................................... 43 The emotional watershed of the 1980s .......................................................................... 45 Polarised emotions ................................................................................................................ 47 The politics of positivity: emotion and control ............................................................ 49 Emotional Intelligence ......................................................................................................... 53 Problems with Emotional Intelligence and the bottom line .................................... 55 Emotional Labour .................................................................................................................. 57 Summary and conclusion .................................................................................................... 61 3.3 Psychoanalysis, emotion and organising .......................................................... 62 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 62 A note on terminology .......................................................................................................... 63 Sigmund Freud ........................................................................................................................ 65 3 Freud and emotion ............................................................................................................... 70 Freud and groups .................................................................................................................. 71 Melanie Klein .......................................................................................................................... 72 Wilfred Bion ............................................................................................................................ 75 Psychoanalysis and organising ......................................................................................... 81 Social defences against anxiety ........................................................................................ 82 The political effects of fantasy .......................................................................................... 84 Summary and conclusion ................................................................................................... 87 4 Methodology .......................................................................................................... 90 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 90 Philosophical assumptions ................................................................................................ 90 Ontology ................................................................................................................................................. 91 Realism and relativism .................................................................................................................... 92 Epistemology ........................................................................................................................................ 94 Objectivism ........................................................................................................................................... 94 Subjectivism: constructivism and social constructionism ............................................... 95 Interpretivism ...................................................................................................................................... 97 What is Grounded Theory? ................................................................................................ 99 The role of existing theory in a Grounded Theory study ................................................ 101 Emergence of Grounded Theory ................................................................................................ 102 Elements of Grounded Theory ................................................................................................... 105 Coding ................................................................................................................................................... 106 Constant comparative analysis .................................................................................................. 107 Theoretical sampling .....................................................................................................................