Navigating Distress: Exploring How People Make Sense of Negative Emotions in Everyday Workplaces

Abstract

Emotional distress is a common occurrence in ordinary workplaces. Recent reports suggest that one in four members of the workforce are suffering from psychological distress, and that one in six are suffering from clinical levels of depression or anxiety. Much of the research on workplace distress focuses on the causes and consequences of distress, as well as the stable characteristics of individual employees that impact their ability to cope with distress in the workplace. However, less attention has been paid to both organizational and interpersonal factors that can help mitigate employee suffering, as well as the behaviors that employees engage in to make sense of, and move forward from, their distress. Additionally, while there is a body of research that investigates the experience of change and resilience in the aftermath of adversity in the workplace, these have all been conducted in the context of inherently traumatic occupations, such as the military or emergency services. Unfortunately, little research investigates this process in the context of “ordinary” work. In an effort to gain greater insight into these questions relating to distress at work, we invited scholars studying this phenomenon within organizations. Together, these scholars shed light on distress in the context of ordinary work, including how suffering emerges in organizational contexts, as well as the types of behaviors that employees engage in to recognize, make sense of, and communicate about their own and others’ distress in interpersonal or organizational settings. These processes are vital for both alleviating distress and creating healthy organizational cultures. Navigating Employee vs. Client Needs Within Trauma-Supportive Organizations Presenter: Solomiya Draga; U. of Toronto Presenter: Rachel Lise Ruttan; U. of Toronto A Relational Perspective on Sharing Suffering in Organizations Presenter: Ashley Elizabeth Hardin; Washington U. in St. Louis Presenter: Kristina Marie Workman; Cornell U. Presenter: Liza Yasemin Barnes; U. of Colorado, Boulder Presenter: Jane E. Dutton; U. of Michigan Self-Other Asymmetries in Expressions of Sympathy Presenter: Rachel Lise Ruttan; U. of Toronto Presenter: Sora Jun; U. of Texas at Dallas Presenter: Katherine Ann DeCelles; U. of Toronto Deriving Purpose from Storytelling After Close Brushes with Death Presenter: David Montgomery Long; College of William and Mary Presenter: Jason Colquitt; U. of Notre Dame Presenter: Rachel Burgess; U. of Georgia Presenter: Kevin W. Rockmann; George Mason U. Leading with Depression and Anxiety Presenter: Sally Maitlis; U. of Oxford