Organizing Feeling: A relational constructionist inquiry of hospice work

Abstract

The narratives of hospice workers are analyzed to come to a relational constructionist understanding of emotions in organizing. In a theoretical discussion it is argued that emotions can be understood as emergent in ongoing process. This new concept of emotion is labelled feeling. Using literatures form ethics of care as a framework for analysis, the second part of the thesis gives a detailed description of how feeling is enabled and limited in organizing processes of hospice work. In the last part, the concept of feeling is related to literatures on compassion in organization. Based on the narrative analysis it is argued that the meaning of compassion as it is used in current literatures can be expanded.