In the context of an exploratory case study of an interorganizational dispute between the BBC and the UK Government, this article develops a conceptual framework through which the interplay of emotion, sensemaking and virtuality in disputes can be better understood. One contribution of the article is reconsideration of the general relationship between emotion and sensemaking. It is suggested that emotions as temporary social roles complement sensemaking itself, enabling plausible accounts to be constructed when there would otherwise be no socially acceptable bridge between beliefs and behaviour. A second contribution is appreciation of the difficulties for virtual communication arising from the capabilities for review and replication of messages which it affords, so that discourse is explicit, irrevocable and potentially public. When, particularly across the lines of a dispute, communications are contentious this can lead to sensemaking through behavioural commitment and the evocation of justifying beliefs; or it can lead to emotional dynamics justifying communication as passion or obviating the need to attend to other's responses. The ar ticle reflects on implications for the development, escalation and resolution of disputes.
Averill, J.R. Anger and aggression : An essay on emotion. New York: Springer-Verlag , 1982.
3.
Averill, J.R.Studies on anger and aggression: Implications for theories of emotion . American Psychologist, 1983, 38, 1145—60 .
4.
Barsade, S.G.The ripple effect: Emotional contagion and its influence on group behavior . Administrative Science Quarterly,2002, 47, 644—75 .
5.
BBC Radio website [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio], accessed 2004.
6.
Blum, L.A.Friendship, altruism and morality. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul , 1980.
7.
Boczkowski, P.J. & Orlikowski, W.J.Organizational discourse and new media: A practice perspective. In D. Grant , C. Hardy , C. Oswick & L. Putnam (Eds), The Sage handbook of organizational discourse. London: Sage , 2004, pp. 359—77.
8.
Breu, K. & Hemingway, C.J.Making organisations virtual: The hidden cost of distributed teams . Journal of Information Technology, 2004, 19, 191—202 .
9.
Brown, S.D. & Lightfoot, G. Presence , absence , and accountability : E-mail and the mediation of organizational memory. In S. Woolgar (Ed.), Virtual society? Technology, cyberbole, reality. Oxford: Oxford University Press , 2002, pp. 209—29.
10.
Carlson, J.R. & Zmud, R.W.Channel expansion theory and the experiential nature of media richness perceptions . Academy of Management Journal, 1999, 42, 153—70 .
Chesbrough, H.W. & Teece, D.J.When is virtual virtuous? Organizing for innovation . Harvard Business Review, 1996, 74, 65—73 .
13.
Clark, H.H. & Brennan, S.E.Grounding in communication. In L.B. Resnick , J.M. Levine & S.D. Teasley (Eds), Perspectives on socially shared cognition. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association , 1991, pp. 127—49.
14.
Coffey, A. & Atkinson, P.Making sense of qualitative data: Complementary research strategies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage , 1996.
15.
Cramton, C.D.The mutual knowledge problem and its consequences for dispersed collaboration . Organization Science, 2001, 12, 346—71 .
16.
Currie, G. & Brown, A.D.A narratological approach to understanding processes of organizing in a UK hospital . Human Relations, 2003, 56, 563—86 .
17.
Daft, R.L. & Lengel, R.H.Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design . Management Science, 1986, 32, 554—71 .
18.
Davidow, W.H. & Malone, M.S.The virtual corporation: Structuring and revitalizing the corporation for the 21st century. New York: HarperCollins , 1992.
19.
de Rivera, J.A structural theory of the emotions. New York: International Universities Press , 1977.
20.
de Rivera, J.The structure of emotional relationships. In P . Shaver (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology, volume 5: Emotions, relationships, and health. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage , 1984.
21.
de Rivera, J. & Grinkis, C.Emotions as social relationships . Motivation and Emotion, 1986, 10, 351—69 .
22.
DeSanctis, G. & Monge, P.Introduction to the special issue: Communication processes for virtual organizations . Organization Science, 1999, 10, 693—703 .
El-Sawad, A. , Arnold, J. & Cohen, L. ` Doublethink': The prevalence and function of contradiction in accounts of organizational life . Human Relations, 2004 , 57, 1179—203 .
25.
Fineman, S.Organizations as emotional arenas. In S. Fineman (Ed.), Emotion in organizations. London : Sage , 1993, pp. 9—35.
26.
Fineman, S.Emotional arenas revisited. In S. Fineman (Ed.), Emotion in organizations, 2nd edn. London: Sage , 2000, pp. 1—24.
27.
Fiol, C.M. & O'Connor, E.J.Identification in face-to-face, hybrid, and pure virtual teams: Untangling the contradictions . Organization Science, 2005, 16, 19—32 .
28.
Fleming, J.H.Multiple audience problems, tactical communication, and social interaction: A relational-regulation perspective. In M .P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology , Vol. 26. New York: Academic Press , 1994, pp. 215—92.
29.
Friedman, R.A. & Currall, S.C.Conflict escalation: Dispute exacerbating elements of e-mail communication . Human Relations, 2003, 56, 1325—47 .
30.
Furst, S.A. , Reeves, M. , Rosen, B. & Blackburn, R.S.Managing the life cycle of virtual teams . Academy of Management Executive, 2004, 18, 6—20 .
31.
Gioia, D.A. & Mehra, A.Sensemaking in organizations by Karl E. Weick . Academy of Management Review, 1996, 21, 1226—30 .
32.
Government Press Briefings archive [http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page1866.asp ], accessed 2004.
33.
Greenberg, D.N.Blue versus gray: A metaphor constraining sensemaking around a restructuring . Group & Organization Management, 1995 , 20, 183—209 .
34.
Griffith, T.L. , Sawyer, J.E. & Neale, M.A.Virtualness and knowledge in teams: Managing the love triangle of organizations, individuals, and information technology . MIS Quarterly, 2003, 27, 265—87 .
35.
Gristock, J.J.Knowledge management meets the virtual organisation in the newspaper industry . In R . Mansell (Ed.), Inside the communication revolution: Evolving patterns of social and technical interaction. Oxford: Oxford University Press , 2002, pp. 85—109.
36.
Hatfield, E. , Cacioppo, J.T. & Rapson, R.L.Emotional contagion. New York: Cambridge University Press , 1994.
37.
Helms Mills, J.Making sense of organizational change. London: Routledge , 2003.
38.
Hinds, P.J. & Bailey, D.E.Out of sight, out of sync: Understanding conflict in distributed teams . Organization Science, 2003, 14, 615—32 .
39.
Hinds, P.J. & Mortensen, M.Understanding conflict in geographically distributed teams: The moderating effects of shared identity, shared context, and spontaneous communication. OrganizationScience, 2005, 16, 290—307 .
40.
Hutton, B.Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly. London: House of Commons , 2004.
Jarvenpaa, S.L. & Leidner, D.E.Communication and trust in global virtual teams . Organization Science, 1999, 10, 791—815 .
43.
Kanawattanachai, P. & Yoo, Y.Dynamic nature of trust in virtual teams. Journal of Strategic InformationSystems, 2002, 11, 187—213 .
44.
Kelle, U.Theories as heuristic tools in qualitative research. In I . Maso , P. Atkinson , S. Delamont & J.C. Verhoeven (Eds), Openness in research: The tension between self and other. Assen , The Netherlands: Van Gorcum , 1995, pp. 33—50.
45.
Krauss, R. & Fussell, S.Mutual knowledge and communicative effectiveness. In J. Galegher , R. Kraut & C. Egido (Eds), Intellectual teamwork: Social and technological foundations of cooperative work. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum , 1990, pp. 111—46.
46.
Kristof, A.L. , Brown, K.G. , Sims, H.P. & Smith, K.A.The virtual team: A case study and inductive model. In M .M. Beyerlein , D.A. Johnson & S.T. Beyerlein (Eds), Advances in interdisciplinary studies of work teams, volume 2: Knowledge work in teams. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press , 1995, pp. 229—53.
47.
Lazarus, R.S.Thoughts on the relations between emotion and cognition . American Psychologist, 1982, 37, 1019—24 .
48.
Magala, S.J.The making and unmaking of sense . Organization Studies, 1997, 18, 317—38 .
49.
Maitlis, S.The social processes of organizational sensemaking . Academy of Management Journal, 2005, 48, 21—49 .
50.
Mangham, I.L.Emotional discourse in organizations. In D. Grant , T. Keenoy & C. Oswick (Eds), Discourse and organization . London: Sage , 1998, pp. 51—64.
51.
Mannix, E.A. , Griffith, T. & Neale, M.A.The phenomenology of conflict in distributed work teams. In P. Hinds & S. Kiesler (Eds), Distributed work. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press , 2002, pp. 213—33.
52.
Marshak, R.J. , Keenoy, T. , Oswick, C. & Grant, D.From outer words to inner worlds . Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 2000, 36, 245—58 .
53.
Martins, L.L. , Gilson, L.L. & Maynard, M.T.Virtual teams: What do we know and where do we go from here?Journal of Management, 2004, 30, 805—35 .
54.
O'Leary, M. , Orlikowski, W. & Yates, J.Distributed work over the centuries: Trust and control in the Hudson's Bay Company, 1670—1826. In P. Hinds & S. Kiesler (Eds), Distributed work. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press , 2002, pp. 27—54.
55.
Panteli, N.Discursive articulations of presence in virtual organizing . Information and Organization, 2004, 14, 59—81 .
56.
Parkinson, B.Ideas and realities of emotion. London: Routledge , 1995.
57.
Parkinson, B.Emotions are social . British Journal of Psychology, 1996, 87, 663—83 .
58.
Parkinson, B.Untangling the appraisal—emotion connection . Personality and Social Psychology Review, 1997, 1, 62—79 .
59.
Parkinson, B. , Fischer, A.H. & Manstead, A.S.R.Emotion in social relations: Cultural, group, and interpersonal processes. Hove: Psychology Press , 2005.
60.
Pelzer, P. Contempt and organization : Present in practice — ignored by research . Organization Studies, 2005, 26, 1217—27 .
61.
Prime Minister's Question Time archive [http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page306.asp ], accessed 2004.
62.
Roseman, I.J. & Smith, C.A.Appraisal theory: Overview, assumptions, varieties, controversies. In K.R. Scherer , A. Schorr & T. Johnstone (Eds), Appraisal processes in emotion: Theory, methods, research. New York: Oxford University Press , 2001, pp. 3—19.
63.
Salancik, G.R.Commitment and the control of organizational behavior and belief. In B .M. Staw & G.R. Salancik (Eds), New directions in organizational behavior . Chicago, IL: St Clair Press , 1977, pp. 1—54.
64.
Salancik, G.R. & Pfeffer, J.A social information-processing approach to job attitudes and task design . Administrative Science Quarterly,1978, 23, 224—53 .
65.
Samra-Fredericks, D.Managerial elites making rhetorical and linguistic `moves' for a moving (emotional) display . Human Relations, 2004, 57, 1103—43 .
66.
Sarker, S. & Sahay, S.Implications of space and time for distributed work: An interpretive study of US-Norwegian systems development teams. EuropeanJournal of Information Systems, 2004, 13, 3—20 .
67.
Selsky, J.W. , Spicer, A. & Teicher, J. ` Totally un-Australian!': Discursive and institutional interplay in the Melbourne Port dispute of 1997—98 . Journal of Management Studies, 2003, 40, 1729—60 .
68.
Shrivastava, P. , Mitroff, I.I. & Alvesson, M.Nonrationality in organizational actions . International Studies of Management & Organization, 1987, 17, 90—109 .
69.
Sims, D.Between the millstones: A narrative account of the vulnerability of middle managers' storying . Human Relations, 2003, 56, 1195—211 .
70.
Sims, D.You bastard: A narrative exploration of the experience of indignation within organizations . Organization Studies, 2005, 26, 1625—40 .
71.
Solomon, R.C.The passions. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday , 1976.
72.
Stearns, P.N. & Knapp, M.Historical perspectives on grief. In R. Harré & W.G. Parrott (Eds), The emotions: Social, cultural and biological dimensions. London: Sage , 1996, pp. 132—50.
73.
Walker, H.The virtual organisation: A new organisational form ? International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 2006, 3, 25—41 .
74.
Watt, S.E. , Lea, M. & Spears, R.How social is Internet communication? A reappraisal of bandwidth and anonymity effects. In S. Woolgar (Ed.), Virtual society? Technology, cyberbole, reality. Oxford : Oxford University Press , 2002, pp. 61—77.
75.
Weick, K.E.Technology as equivoque: Sensemaking in new technologies. In P.S. Goodman & L. Sproull (Eds), Technology and organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass , 1990, pp. 1—44.
76.
Weick, K.E.Sensemaking in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage , 1995.
77.
Weick, K.E. & Roberts, K.H.Collective mind in organizations: Heedful interrelating on flight decks . Administrative Science Quarterly,1993, 38, 357—81 .
78.
Weick, K.E. & Sutcliffe, K.M.Hospitals as cultures of entrapment: A reanalysis of the Bristol Royal Infirmary . California Management Review , 2003, 45, 73—84 .
79.
Weick, K.E. , Sutcliffe, K.M. & Obstfeld, D.Organizing and the process of sensemaking. OrganizationScience , 2005, 16, 409—21 .
80.
Yin, R.K.Case study research: Design and methods, 2nd edn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage , 1994.
