0‘UNCOMFORTABLE KNOWLEDGE ’ MANAGEMENT: THE IMPACT OF EMOTION ON ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING

This paper focuses on an aspect of organisational learning that has not been extensively developed- the impact of emotion on organisational learning. Despite the acknowledgement that emotion plays a significant part in organising, this is still ‘uncomfortable knowledge ’ within organisations. The study of emotion in organisations can be seen as an important part of the development of both theory and practice in the psychology and organisation development ‘discipline ’ of organisational learning. The paper argues that attention to the emotional dynamics of organising, and to the links between emotion and organisational politics, will increase the possibilities for understanding organisational learning, at an organisational level of analysis. Awareness of the impact of emotion on organisational learning can be developed through an investigation of two areas. First, organisational learning is more than a product of organisational responses to individual learning. Emotion contributes to a broader understanding of systemic learning. Second, emotion is important to strategic aspects of organisational learning. There is a link between the emotional and the political within organisations. The paper contains a discussion of these themes using brief case examples to illustrate and develop the issues. Address for correspondence