Emotional Logic and Decision Making: The Interface between Professional Upheaval and Personal Evolution (1st English ed.)

Citation

Bullock, J. (2006), "Emotional Logic and Decision Making: The Interface between Professional Upheaval and Personal Evolution (1st English ed.)", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 27 No. 5, pp. 416-418. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730610678016

Emotional intelligence became an area of focus within the domain of management science with the dawning of the new century. Emotional Logic and Decision Making: The Interface between Professional Upheaval and Personal Evolution responds to the need for substance and actionable theory amid myriad self‐help and conceptual books available. Drawing on extensive research in the areas of decision management and organizational behavior, Bourion's central premise is that emotional production is the sum of the felt emotions plus the meanings attached to these emotions. Depending on the situations and the emotions they evoke, individuals are either reinforced or stabilized. Memory records patterns of situations, emotions, and associated meanings over the long term, forming the basis of emotional logic. Research and analysis into these patterns has provided insight into how this emotional production affects motivation, knowledge acquisition, and behavior.

The scope of this book centers on six classifications of emotional production inherent in situations that are gratifying, aversive, hierarchical, irreversible, or involve success or failure. For example, a situation that is difficult, but gratifying may lead to a sense of euphoria or the feeling of competence, or a situation that is deteriorating and becoming an ordeal may result in fear, worry, stress, or a feeling of being threatened. Particularly to management development applications, situations linked to an intermediate hierarchical status – being obligated to a member of the organization while needing the job to earn a living – may lead to anxiety and inhibition of feelings of dependence, powerlessness, abandon, or alienation.

The structure of Emotional Logic and Decision Making provides resources on multiple levels. Bourion begins by explaining the relevance of emotional logic to management applications such as decision making, motivation, productivity, performance, and evaluation of management candidates. He then describes the theoretical foundation for emotional production and explains psychological models relevant to derivations of emotion leading the behavioral outcomes. This sets the stage for individual chapters detailing the nature of emotional production for each classification: gratifying situations involving acquisition of “know how”; aversive situations filled with challenge and self‐doubt; hierarchical situations requiring obedience; irreversible situations; situations involving failure; and situations involving success. Each chapter describes the situation and highlights relevant research on point to create a framework for approaching emotional production. Each chapter concludes with a concise overview summarizing important points and concepts which can easily be employed also as a preview to help readers unfamiliar with the concept of emotional logic grasp fundamental concepts to pave the way for enhanced comprehension. The book also includes case studies suitable for use in a classroom or organizational training and development program and an extensive bibliography for those who wish to explore this fascinating concept further.

Readily apparent strengths of Emotional Logic and Decision Making include its strong research orientation and cogent explanations of theory and application in management settings. Bourion interjects excerpts of relevant scenarios from research, highlighting each category of emotional production to help the reader grasp the situational focus of each chapter. Self‐assessment questionnaires engage the reader by creating an individual basis and framing the relevant context to promote personal relevance for the interplay of emotional production and decision making. As is true with many strengths, they can also be viewed as weaknesses in that some of the narrative may seem to be overly technical or scholarly to casual readers, possibly resulting in some of the more complex intellectual concepts being difficult to understand.

Emotional Logic and Decision Making is appropriate for professional in human resources, organizational behavior, management, communications, and psychology, as well as students and educators interested in these disciplines. Suitable for individual study and personal exploration of emotional production, the book is equally well suited for utilization in management courses at the college level or for organizational management programs. Managers seeking to understand better the motivation and behaviors of subordinates in various situations can gain a wealth of knowledge from Emotional Logic and Decision Making that may be beneficial in charting their course of action to improve productivity, morale, and job performance. Finally, researchers interested in emotions in workplace settings will find it an invaluable reference.

Emotional Logic and Decision Making: The Interface between Professional Upheaval and Personal Evolution is a fascinating and enlightening book that shed light on how individuals respond to intense and meaningful situations by acquiring knowledge and know‐how to make them better suited to succeed when facing these situations in their career. It is highly recommended for anyone interested in learning more about emotional intelligence.