Managerial Mood Work: Generating Coordination in Creative, Time-Pressured Settings

Abstract

Much of the literature on coordination engages it as a phenomenon driven by presence of certain facilitating structures, like plans or roles, or arising from members’ past work. In some contexts, however, supplementary mechanisms may be required. We argue that in creative, time-pressured settings, generating coordination relies on managers’ purposeful emotion-based manipulation of group moods, which we term managerial mood work. Our argument builds on the observation of stage preparation of Paris fashion shows. We see such shows as particularly valuable empirical exemplars, in that they include time-pressured technical preparations with both creatively complex and simple outcomes, enabling comparison. This allows us to show how managers purposefully generate coordination in creative, time-pressured settings via three mechanisms: countering the group mood to trigger coordination, calibrating the group mood to progress coordination forward and settling the group mood to signal temporary resolution to coordination. Our contribution is a conceptualization of managerial mood work as a supporting mechanism for coordination in creative, time-pressured settings, adding to understanding of the role of emotions and group moods in coordination, and of managers as their facilitators.