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Humor is an abundant and valuable, yet unfortunately underutilized, resource in organizations. When effectively wielded, humor has been proposed as a “managerial tool” that can be used to achieve positive organizational outcomes. Using Affective Events Theory and the Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotions as a theoretical base, the authors attempt to test this proposition of humor being used as a managerial tool by conceptualizing a link between manager's use of humor and the consequent build up of resilience in employees in the long run.

Interest in servant leadership has grown exponentially over the past decade as evident in the surge of academic- and practitioner-oriented publications on the subject. While prior research has shown that servant leadership leads to citizenship behavior, no study has explored the ethical pathway as the underlying influence process despite the fact that servant leadership is an ethical approach to leadership. On the basis of social learning theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine psychological ethical climate as a key mediator between servant leadership and citizenship behavior.

Survey data were collected from 123 leader–follower dyads from eight high-performing firms listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange, and analyzed using multiple regression analysis.

The results showed that the relationship between servant leadership and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) (both for OCBI and OCBO) is mediated by psychological ethical climate.

This study demonstrates the value of using a servant leadership approach in order to foster a psychological ethical climate and increase OCBs. As such, the authors highlight the importance of a systematic approach to develop servant leaders in organizations.

This research contributes to the understanding of the ethical mechanism that explains the relationship between servant leadership and follower outcomes. Drawing on social learning theory, the findings show that servant leaders are ethical climate architects through their role modeling behaviors and interactions with followers.

The chapters in this volume are drawn from the best contributions to the 2008 International Conference on Emotion and Organizational Life held in Fontainebleau, France. (This bi-annual conference has come to be known as the “Emonet” conference, after the listserv of members). In addition, these referee-selected conference papers were complemented by additional, invited chapters. This volume contains six chapters selected from conference contributions for their quality, interest, and appropriateness to the theme of this volume, as well as seven invited chapters. We again acknowledge in particular the assistance of the conference paper reviewers (see appendix). In the year of publication of this volume, the 2010 Emonet conference will be held in Montreal, Canada, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Academy of Management, and will be followed by Volumes 7 and 8 of Research on Emotions in Organizations. Readers interested in learning more about the conferences or the Emonet list should check the Emonet website http://www.emotionsnet.org.

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to introduce readers to augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR) and provide examples of some of the latest ways that researchers and practitioners are applying these digital technologies to emotions-related topics. This chapter also suggests some aspects of these technologies that emotions researchers and practitioners consider taking advantage of in their own work.

Design/Methodology/Approach – The chapter draws on the first author's experience developing and implementing AR, MR, and VR for serious games applications. Examples are also drawn from recent publications in the area.

Findings – The chapter discusses the features and differences between AR, MR, and VR and some of the most popular off-the-shelf tools for researchers and practitioners. It also presents reliable and valid ways these digital technologies have been applied and can be applied.

Practical implications – Practically, this chapter provides a state-of-the-art overview of what AR, MR, and VR offer to researchers and practitioners interested in better understanding, supporting, and addressing phenomenon involving human emotion.

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to introduce readers to the basic concepts and terminologies associated with the digital age, give examples of how customer service and services generally are changing as a result of digitalization, describe how emotions are being captured and used in digital communications, illustrate how people are using digital means to manage their own and workers' emotions and well-being, consider how the digital age is changing the future of services, workers, and communication between customers and organizations, and discuss some of the implications for emotions scholars and practitioners.

Design/Methodology/Approach – A literature review of recent publications on the digital age and its implications for services, work, workers, and emotions research and management.

Findings – The review covers seven areas: (1) What the digital age/economy/world is, (2) how customer service (including self-service) and services generally have changed as a result of digitalization, (3) how emotions are captured and used in social robots and digital communications, e.g., emoticons, (4) how people are using digital means (e.g., “self-tracking” and “wearables”) to manage their own emotions/feelings/well-being, (5) what some of the implications of the digital era are for emotions scholars and practitioners including methodology, (6) how people are saying the digital age will change the future of work, workers, relationships between customers and organizations, and learning, and (7) the ethical and well-being imperatives that researchers, practitioners, governments, and businesses must proactively and responsibly meet.

Practical Implications – Practically, the chapter provides information useful to five types of readers: (1) those who have emerging digital literacy or who consider themselves to be low digital natives, (2) those who are interested in understanding how customer service and services are changing because of digitalization, (3) those interested in understanding ways in which Artificial intelligence and digital tools are being used to capture and manage emotions, (4) those interested in learning how work is changing because of Industry 4.0, and (5) emotions scholars and practitioners interested in the implications of the digital world for their research and practice.

To overcome the shortcomings of diversity training programs, the purpose of this paper is to conceptualize an organizational diversity-learning framework, which features an organizational intervention for employees’ joint decision-making process with other employees from different statuses, functions, and identities. Borrowing key principles from the diversity learning (Rainey and Kolb, 1995); integration and learning perspective (Ely and Thomas, 2001; Thomas and Ely, 1996), and the key practices informed by deliberative democratic theories (Thompson, 2008), the authors develop a new organizational diversity learning framework for behavioral, attitudinal, and cognitive learning at workplaces. They conclude with directions for future research.

This paper first presents an overview of key shortcomings of diversity training programs in relation to their group composition, design, content and evaluation. Second, it borrows the key principles of diversity learning (Rainey and Kolb, 1995); integration and learning perspectives (Ely and Thomas, 2001; Thomas and Ely, 1996), and the key practices informed by deliberative democratic theories (Thompson, 2008) to delineate the organizational diversity learning framework. Third, it presents a table of the approach contrasted with the shortcomings of diversity training programs and discusses practical and theoretical contributions, along with directions for future research.

This paper conceptualizes an organizational diversity-learning framework, which features an organizational intervention for employees’ joint decision-making process with other employees from different statuses, functions, and identities.

The organizational diversity learning framework developed in this paper provides an inclusive diversity learning paradigm in which diversity learning rests in the experience of the learner. As stated by experiential learning theory, this framework encourages workers to heuristically learn about diverse perspectives in a psychologically safe environment, to reflect on different perspectives, and to create a new awareness about learning from others. As the participants learn to apply new repertoires for interacting with others in their daily work interactions (e.g. listening to different perspectives shared by unfamiliar social group members), it proposes that their behaviors may create a ripple effect, changing other colleagues’ attitudes, behaviors, and thinking patterns on working with diverse coworkers.

This paper provides detailed instructions for practitioners to facilitate diversity learning. It highlights a few key practical implications. First, the framework provides a method of organization-wide diversity learning through intersecting networks within the workplace, which is designed to reduce the elitist organizational decision making that mainly occurs at the upper echelon. Second, unlike other stand-alone diversity initiatives, the framework is embedded in the organizational decision-making process, which makes employees’ learning applicable to core organizational activities, contributing to both employees’ diversity learning and organizational growth. Third, the framework provides a preliminary model for transferring employees’ diversity learning in daily work operations, nurturing their behavioral learning to interact with different social groups more frequently at work and inclusive of their colleagues’ perspectives, feelings, and attitudes.

Workforces across nations are becoming increasingly diverse, and, simultaneously, the gap and tension between demographic representation in the upper and lower echelons is widening. By joining with other scholars who have advocated for the need to move beyond diversity training programs, the authors developed the organizational diversity learning framework for meaningful co-participation of employees with different statuses, functions, and identities. By inviting minority perspectives into the organizational decision-making process, top managers can explicitly send a message to minority groups that their perspectives matter and that their contributions are highly valued by the organization.

There has not been a conceptual paper that delineates the diversity inclusive decision-making process within a workplace. The authors established the organizational diversity learning framework based on the diversity learning, organizational diversity integration and learning perspectives, and deliberative democracy practices. The proposed framework guides organizations in structural interventions to educate employees on how to learn from multiple perspectives for better organizational decision making.

Wilfred J. Zerbe is a professor of organizational behaviour and dean of the Faculty of Business Administration at Memorial University of Newfoundland. His research interests focus on emotions in organizations, organizational research methods, service sector management, business ethics, and leadership. His publications have appeared in books and journals including The Academy of Management Review, Industrial and Labour Relations Review, Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Psychology, Journal of Services Marketing, and Journal of Research in Higher Education.