‘And what did you do about my emotions during Covid‐19?’ Making sense of negative emotions at work through institutional logics and Critical Systems Heuristics

Elena Tavella

Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 2023, vol. 40, issue 6, 836-852

Abstract: The literature on Covid‐19 has demonstrated that frontline workers use different coping strategies and engage in sense‐making to address negative emotions. However, we know little about the underlying process of sense‐making. Thus, this paper uses institutional logics to investigate how sense‐making of negative emotions is enabled and constrained. This analysis draws on a diary written by a nurse at an Italian hospital, which represents an account of the emotions experienced by medical staff. The analysis identifies a set of enablers and disablers of sense‐making, as well as, the patterns that alleviate and intensify frontline workers' emotions. Based on these findings and evidence of the Covid‐task force at Papa Giovanni XXIII hospital in Bergamo, Italy, this paper illustrates Critical Systems Heuristics as a means to address the disablers of sense‐making through participatory conversations that consider different institutional logics.

Date: 2023
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