What does emotion have in common with the harsh world of business? Isn't this a bit of an antithesis?

Stockbrokers often refer to the market sentiment. The London Times reported on 24 July 1999: "A heavy fall in water stocks threw a dampener on the depressed London market as investors fled the sector ahead of the publication next week…". The New York Times reported on the same day: "Wheat prices saw a boost in sympathy with the increase in corn and soybeans." Quite often emotive words (such as depressed and sympathy) are used to describe the market movements. Moreover, it is even required from companies who are in the process of negotiating a merger or an acquisition, to issue a cautionary notice to shareholders. This practice intends to prevent impulsive buying or selling of shares and therefore stabilise the value of the shares. The fact of the matter is that the market sentiment (emotion) is so powerful in determining the value of shares that it is carefully tracked and managed.

Unfortunately, this focus on emotion or sentiment is often neglected when it comes to the management of human resources of organisations. This is particularly inexplicable if one looks at the current business environment in which continual transformation and rapid learning are required to stay ahead of the competition. Managing the market sentiment ensures worthy share prices, and by the same token, managing emotions in organisations leads to a worthy business.

Let's take a closer look at what the concept of emotion actually means. The following list of emotions is generally accepted as the core or primary emotions: joy, interest, surprise, fear, anger, distress, contempt, disgust, and shame. The word emotion originates from the Latin word, "emovere", which means to move out. Moreover, if one digs a bit deeper and explores the word (e)motive, it is described as: "An emotion, desire, physiological need, or similar impulse that acts as an incitement to action." Emotions are therefore the primary motivational systems of humans that if correctly managed, can mobilise a workforce into action.

So what are the emotions that employees may experience in the course of their employment? During a merger, managers in several key departments estimated that people's effectiveness had fallen by 50 percent. Anxiety rises and motivation falls. People feel disorientated and self-doubting. They are resentful and self-protective. Energy is drained away from work into coping tactics. Displaced employees experience fright, worry, anxiety, anger, and hostility - emotions that can be all-consuming, and that can lead to avoidance, aggression and immobilisation. In other words, the value of company stock, according to the market sentiment is very, very depressed, and the market is waiting in anticipation for the company announcement on how to turn this gloomy trend around!

The essence of the drama discipline has to do with the expression of emotions through storytelling. For playwrights and actors, emotions and feelings are the tools of their trade. Moreover, actors on stage are able to verbalise and act out the thoughts, assumptions and beliefs of the characters they represent. No other communication, training or development tool such as presentations, workshops, lectures, video conferencing and training courses can provide learning on emotive level (and influence mental models) to the extent that drama or a theatre production achieves.

Emotions can never exist in isolation. An emotion occurs when there are certain biological, certain experiential, and certain cognitive states which all occur simultaneously. According to Gestalt psychology, images are perceived as a pattern or a whole rather than merely as a sum of distinct component parts. The context of an image or event plays a key role. A theatre production, with a story line that creates the context, can present a comprehensive picture of the current situation within which employees find themselves. Theatre therefore provides a mirror, on cognitive and emotive level, that helps employees to understand what they think, feel and want. Moreover, it prepares employees for the future by, for example, showing different courses of action, and the consequences and impact of these behaviours or actions.

Another element of theatre is that it allows employees to discharge pent-up emotions by watching and experiencing the theatre performance. Sadness is, sadly enough, often not allowed in the world of business and if characters on stage grieve about (for example) departed colleagues due to downsizing, and also accept the loss, it goes a long way to mobilise those employees who are still angry at management. On the other hand, humour also helps to release repressed tensions. People laugh when something is unexpected or so taboo that it shocks their senses. The experience of being shocked in this way can cause tension to be released in the form of laughter. Laughter is a way of releasing nervous energy because it provides relief and self-gratification, and renders potentially damaging conflicts harmless.

Pro-actively managing emotions of human resources by using drama methodology in the world of business is not based on a gentle, kind-hearted and humanist rationale, but is simply based on good business practice. How efficiently are you applying this practice?