The following concepts are key to my reading of the discourse and used and developed as tools in my research practice. I recognise the vast scope and complexities of the discourse of my area of research, in addition to the struggles to express the emotion of finding out about emotion; therefore I cannot develop each of the concepts in great depth but will attempt to use them to construct my whole subjectivity in relation to emotion. I live, research and write holding the post-structural paradox of the existence of the self with the impossibility of writing the self by using the key voices from the literature, notably Hillman, Foucault and Merleau-Ponty, to see a pathway that is alive with the self and the other in dialectical buoyancy.
2.11.1 The inner-self and interiority
From the works of James Hillman (e.g.1972) I draw on the concept of inner-self to mean the connection between the thinking and feeling inside me. My inner-self works in reflexive practice with the “outer-self” – the way I am in relationship with others. My inner and outer selves are in constant interplay, and I hypothesise that it is this that, in relationship with emotion, develops my reflexive experience and the embodiment of emotion in my self. As I discover the relationship with emotion I describe my
interiority as the inner-self embodied with emotion and cognised by the mind. Whilst I
seek improvement in connecting workers with emotion in their work, I do not see emotion as a thing to be counted; rather, as Hillman (1960, p.265) puts it, emotion is a “two-way bridge, uniting subject and object”.
2.11.2 Emotion as energy
At the beginning of my research I sensed that emotion could not be adequately
described by models, least of all emotional intelligence. My intuition gave me instant sensations of movement that, through engaging with Hillman’s work, I now
conceptualise as coming from the subjective-objective gap between the power of the organisation and our subjectivity. Energy is needed to power the movement across this divide and is experienced as an external – internal tension. I see this as something to do with my inner-self processing, storing and releasing emotion. This is a product of my relationship with emotion, sensed as a movement within me that occurs viscerally in the present tense of events and on reflection afterwards.
2.11.3 Subjectivity
The concept of subjectivity lacks a distinctive theory. In a Foucauldian analysis (e.g. 1973) it is often regarded as the outcome of power and knowledge operations. However, I conceptualise it by aligning with Badiou’s (1988 and 1998) view that the subject relates to and can work with emotion, thoughts and actions as an agency forging its own power. In assembling these aspects of my concept of subjectivity I move away from the subject being conscious or subconscious but simply conceive that we can engage it in a knowing process but cannot finally know it. In this I take heed of Whitehead’s (1978) emphasis on experience and grasping that our subjectivity is alive and constant and can be sensed as a source of power for work, life and personal
transformation. Foucault’s idea of subjectivity moved away from generalisation in his later works calling for individuals to use their ability to act on the potential for human liberation – and get involved with their solutions.
2.11.4 Power
With support from Foucault I see the concept of power as both objective and subjective in its creation and sensing or receiving. In the organisation power is objectified in rules, processes and controls and in hierarchical divisions of rank, while being socially collectivised and delivered in the micro-politics of groups. The power of our
subjective selves I conceive as a relationship with emotion that can be learned and developed.
2.11.5 Ideas
I hypothesised that emotion at work was directly connected to innovation and ideas. I saw the creative process as the crux of how I motivate myself at work and in thinking about how to do work, so it was natural to me to include this link in my literature review. Bergson (1911) introduces the notion of emotion being part of the mental, intellectualised state of innovation. This notion is fundamental to my intuitive starting point as given in Chapter 1.
Hillman (1992,p.125) sees our capacity for ideas as occurring in our “inner space” and increasing as emotion is drawn out of us and we act on it. I feel and experience this in my own way but a challenge will be knowing how to connect this personal
phenomenon with others, and convey and explore this in the research within the organisational power base.
2.11.6 Ideation
Foucault’s later works moved away from calling for mass or collective action for change in power struggles; rather, his belief in the power of the subjective individual and the central importance of the idea of imagination offered a new direction for emotion research. Here I make a connection with James Hillman (1992) and his view that, for change or transformation to happen, ideas and action need to emerge through an ’ideation’ process, and this emotional process can move and connect us with the world. Ideation was a term first used by Klein (1967) to mean the process by which an affect can bring meaning beyond the sensory experience.