Transforming Information Uncertainty into Employee Well-Being and Resilience

Abstract

Abstract This chapter focuses on what organizations and their leaders can do to facilitate employee well-being and resilience when faced with chronic uncertainty, and offers an unexpected source: ambivalence, defined as the simultaneous experience of opposing orientations toward an object or target. The authors argue that ambivalence can trigger sensemaking, which in turn motivates individuals to reach out to others to help cope, thus mitigating the effects of uncertainty. Such sensemaking is most likely to occur when organizational cultures promote the feeling and expression of emotional ambivalence rather than simply positive emotions (e.g., “look on the bright side”). By focusing on emotional ambivalence, this chapter challenges Western notions of what good business leaders are and what they should do when faced with informational uncertainty. The authors argue that ambivalence is an under-appreciated and valuable resource for producing resilience in times of chronic uncertainty. Perhaps most importantly, the authors introduce the concept of organizational cultures of emotional ambivalence. In doing so, the authors question the overwhelming focus on “cultures of positivity” found in much business press.