What are we Missing? A Study of the Affective and Collective Dimension of Workrelated Stress

This PhD thesis seeks to expand the current understanding of work-related stress by highlighting the often-overlooked affective dimensions of collective processes in work environments. It introduces the concept of organisational atmosphere (Jørgensen, 2019; Julmi, 2017a) to explore how affective experiences of the work situation employees find themselves in shape their relations with each other and with the physical environment around them. In addition, Hartmut Rosa's resonance theory (2019) is used to explore the relationships between employees, their work and physical workplace, and the purpose and values of the workplace. The study is based on a qualitative, phenomenological field study of an engineering organisation conducted over a period of three months.
The study addresses four key research questions to understand what promotes or inhibits the development of work-related stress. First, it examines how resonant atmospheres are experienced through active engagement between employees and their environment. It shows that in specific organisational spaces, employees have affective experiences that support material-, social- and existential resonance (Rosa, 2019), which supports their well-being and reduces stress. Second, the study examines how resonant atmospheres are altered by acceleration and instrumentalisation. These processes create negative affective experiences that undermine material resonance (i.e. the connection to the quality of work) and existential resonance (i.e. professional identity). Initially, social resonance (i.e. connection to colleagues) compensates for these losses, but over time it weakens, leading to affective dissonance (Hemmings, 2012) and increased dissatisfaction. Thirdly, the research highlights the critical role that First Tuning Forks play in preventing the development of alienation and work-related stress. First Tuning Forks are employees who perform affective labour (Hardt, 1999) to maintain resonant atmospheres and curb alienation. They do this by maintaining social resonance even when the other types of resonance begin to falter. But this affective labour is taxing, leading to exhaustion and a gradual reduction of their affective labour and, in some cases, an escalation of dissonance-creating activities. Finally, the ever-increasing acceleration and instrumentalisation leads to a resonance collapse and alienation, where employees lose their connection to work quality, professional identity and social relationships, among other things. Despite this, the alienation is not a permanent state, as the First Tuning Forks restore resonance as soon as they regenerate their energy and can once again perform their affective labour. This cyclical process illustrates how the breakdown of resonance contributes to the development of work-related stress.
The study concludes that a more nuanced understanding of work-related stress can be gained by considering the atmospheric dynamics of the work environment. By recognizing the subtle shifts in meaning and the temporal displacements caused by the inertia of organisational atmospheres, managers can better support efforts to maintain resonance in the workplace and address the underlying factors that promote work-related stress.