You Bastard: A Narrative Exploration of the Experience of Indignation within Organizations
David B Sims*
Cass Business School, London, UK
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
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Abstract |
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Our patience with forming interpretations and reinterpretations of others'
behaviour is not unlimited. The time comes when we lose interest in trying to
understand, and conclude that another person is behaving in a way that is simply
unacceptable. This paper explores the narratives that go with immoderate indignation,
even for those best versed in the idea that they should attempt to understand the
perspective of the other. The paper offers a reflexive comment on the difficulty of
analysing such a topic, on the grounds that the phenomenon under discussion can
debilitate analytic writing. Three narratives are discussed in which one person was seen
as behaving in a despicable way by others. The description and analysis of the
narratives are used to offer a narrative understanding of the process by which some
people become indignant with others. It suggests a narrative construction of how sense
is made of indignation, particularly in cases where two narratives come up against each
other. It concludes by considering how the process of being indignant can produce
conflicting emotions of joy and guilt for those involved.
Key Words:
narrative, indignation, emotion, storytelling, sensemaking
