AUGUST 6-8, 1998
San Diego State
University
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, CA
92182-4611
USA
sponsored by the San Diego State University Foundation
Welcome to the First Conference on Emotions in Organizational Life. The role that emotions play in organizational life is an exciting new area of research, and at this conference you will find on display a broad selection of leading edge research in this area. I hope that the conference will prove to be successful for you, and that you are able to leave the gathering with renewed enthusiasm, some valuable new research colleagues, and a bag full of ideas.
The twenty-six papers and two roundtable discussion sessions were selected from forty-one submissions and cover areas including control, expression, display and consequences of emotion in the workplace. Plans are proceeding for a selection of the papers to be published in an edited book. Hopefully, I will be able to give a clearer indication of the status of this project during the conference.
The idea of trying to organize organizational scholars working on the emotions field originally hatched at a dinner in Cincinnati during the 1996 Academy meeting. The dinner was attended by the participants in a Symposium that I chaired at that meeting, entitled "Emotions in the work place: Not just skin deep". Present at the dinner were, in addition to myself, Sigal Barsade, Anat Rafaeli, and Michael Pratt. Blake Ashforth and Russell Cropanzano were the other participants in the symposium and contributed useful ideas.
By early 1997, the e-mail discussion group Emonet was under way, and Wilf Zerbe and Charmine Härtel agreed to help me with the conference papers and editing the book. Gavin Nicholson joined me shortly after as Research Assistant, and is the person responsible for the Emonet web page. Wilf, Charmine, and Gavin have all contributed substantially to putting together the conference program and book proposal. Wilf was also assisted by Research Assistant Chryssa Sharp.
The idea of a conference was canvassed extensively on Emonet in the early months of 1997, with a decision eventually to run the meeting prior to the 1998 Academy meeting in San Diego. At that stage, everyone agreed that the conference was a good idea, but I had absolutely no idea as how we could actually execute the idea. Then I received a fateful e-mail from Doug Pugh offering to assist with the local organizing. I am sure that Doug had no idea what he was letting himself in for. In the end, it has all come together, and every one of us owes a considerable debt of gratitude to Doug for his efforts. I must also thank the San Diego State University Foundation for providing the infrastructure for the Conference.
The response to the call for papers has been fantastic: over forty papers. Together with the forty papers submitted for the Journal of Organizational Behavior Special Issue (that I am guest editing with Cynthia Fisher), this response is absolutely overwhelming.* It is truly gratifying to see that our field is so alive. I am especially indebted to the team of thirty-nine reviewers who so competently completed their reviews in time for us to make our decisions about the conference papers (see next page). Unfortunately, there was limited space in the program and some had to miss out. I must stress that the decision in many cases was a difficult one, and I do encourage all those who missed out to continue their work in this exciting new field.
In conclusion, I want to emphasize that I view our activities as collective undertakings. During the conference, there will be many opportunities for us to consider where the future of our group. What level of organization should we be seeking? What activities should we be planning? Who are the best people to lead these activities? Please feel free to raise all issues of concern with your colleagues. We face an exciting and challenging future. So let’s get on with it.
Best wishes,
Neal Ashkanasy
*In total, seventy different papers were submitted to the conference and Special Issue combined.
Program Chairs: Neal Ashkanasy, Wilf Zerbe, Charmine Härtel
Program Committee: Stephane Côté, Veronika Kisfalvi, Mara Olekalns, Trisha Shinner, Yochi Cohen-Charash, Russell Cropanzano, Cynthia Fisher, Julie Fitness, Don Gibson, Marjukka Ollilainen, Douglas Pugh, Richard Riordan, Dave Schmidt, Susan Schneider, Larissa Tiedens, Richard Varnes, Kevin Lowe, Courtney Hunt, Kristi Lewis, Willem Mastenbroek, Sue Stafford, Howard Weiss, Julie Wolfram-Cox, Alicia Grandey, Helen Lawson Williams, Jamie Calahan, Francis Huy, Sigal Barsade, John Basch, Dave Cotting, Ron Humphrey, Michael Edwardson, Dianne Layden, Lynn Bowes-Sperry, Manuel Pontes, Leslie Stager-Jacques, Lyndall Strazdins,