Emotions,Values,and Methodology: Contributing to the Nature of the World We Live In Whether We Intend To or Not

Abstract

This commentary supports Gail Whiteman’s suggestion that the field of organizational research and its community of practice would be strengthened if researcher emotions were acknowledged in organizational research. I go further and argue that emotions and values underpin all the professional choices made even by purportedly objective organizational researchers. Unless we acknowledge the values and emotions behind our choice of topics and include them in our focus, we cannot accurately apprehend the nature of the human artifacts we study nor yield knowledge that accurately describes them. Most importantly: absent the values and emotions dimensions, we cannot hope for organizational studies to be relevant to the problems faced by our organizations and institutions today.