Chapter 6 Complexity theory and affect structure: a dynamic approach to modeling emotional changes in organizations

Yan Li; Neal M. Ashkanasy; David Ahlstrom

doi:10.1108/S1746-9791(2010)0000006010

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Research on Emotion in Organizations

ISSN: 1746-9791
Series editor(s): Neal M. Ashkanasy, Wilfred J. Zerbe and Charmine E. J. Härtel

Subject Area: Organization Studies

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Chapter 6 Complexity theory and affect structure: a dynamic approach to modeling emotional changes in organizations

Document Information:
Title:	Chapter 6 Complexity theory and affect structure: a dynamic approach to modeling emotional changes in organizations
Author(s):	Yan Li, Neal M. Ashkanasy, David Ahlstrom
Volume:	6 Editor(s): Wilfred J. Zerbe, Härtel Charmine E. J., Ashkanasy Neal M. ISBN: 978-0-85724-177-1 eISBN: 978-0-85724-178-8
Citation:	Yan Li, Neal M. Ashkanasy, David Ahlstrom (2010), Chapter 6 Complexity theory and affect structure: a dynamic approach to modeling emotional changes in organizations, in Wilfred J. Zerbe, Härtel Charmine E. J., Ashkanasy Neal M. (ed.) Emotions and Organizational Dynamism (Research on Emotion in Organizations, Volume 6), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.139-165
DOI:	10.1108/S1746-9791(2010)0000006010 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Article type:	Chapter Item
Abstract:	To reconcile theoretical discrepancies between discrete emotion, dimensional emotion (positive vs. negative affect), and the circumplex model, we propose the bifurcation model of affect structure (BMAS). Based on complexity theory, this model explores how emotion as an adaptive complex system reacts to affective events through negative and positive feedback loops, resulting in self-organizing oscillation and transformations between three states: equilibrium emotion, discrete positive and negative emotion in the near-equilibrium state, and chaotic emotion. We argue that the BMAS is superior to the extant models in revealing the dynamic connections between emotions and the intensity of affective events in organizational settings.