The emotional dimension of organisational work when cultural sponsorship relationships are dissolved

Abstract

The emphasis of current research into cultural sponsorship has been on understanding the key factors required for successful sponsorship relationships and also understanding the causal factors of relationships ending prematurely or relationships fading. This paper considers the importance of the interpersonal ties that develop between the employees of the sponsoring and the sponsored organisation. Then, by utilising research on the ending of business relationships and drawing on Fiske's (1992) Relational Models Theory with its extension into the discussion of 'taboo trade-offs', the paper examines the nature and management of emotions when such sponsorship relationships end. We find that boundaryspanning agents employ behavioural and cognitive defence mechanisms to ameliorate pressures faced at this time, which are evidenced in their attempts to resist management calls to end the relationship.

Managing in conflict: How actors distribute conflict in an industrial network

“…At the very least, this introduces a bias in conflict to feature 'as experienced' and to affect, emotion or in Jehn and Mannix's (2001) typology, relationship. We found little evidence of the conflicts being played out in terms of emotions and critical threats to the continuation of business relationships (Halinen & Tähtinen, 2002;Mele, 2011;Ryan & Blois, 2010;Salo, Tähtinen & Ulkuniemi, 2009). …”

“…While recognizing inter-organizational issues, behavioral researchers concentrated on organizing within business firms. In addition, durable relationships are forms of organizing that support small groups, as with projects (Vaaland & Håkansson, 2003) and interpersonal trust, bonds and emotions (Ryan & Blois, 2010). The lesson from this review, not fully developed in business-to-business research, is that conflict is likely to be a pervasive condition of business activity, encompassing relationships and resources, experienced by actors as events in the course of their business activities or tasks.…”

“…Bargaining and the ending of relationships have been strong features in established research into conflict (Harrison, 2004;Salo, Tähtinen & Ulkuniemi, 2009;Ryan & Blois, 2010;Tähtinen & Blois, 2011). In our setting of a network with a small number of actors it is hard to escape or end relationships.…”

“…IMP researchers' work on conflict is often from the perspective of managing and possibly ending relationships (Halinen & Tähtinen, 2002;Vaaland & Håkansson, 2003;Harrison, 2004;Mele, 2011;Ryan & Blois, 2010;Tähtinen & Blois, 2011). This approach can form the basis of further contributions by drawing on understandings of resource interactions and relationships (Håkansson & Waluszewski, 2002;Baraldi, Gressetvold & Harrison, 2012).…”

The process of evaluating business to business relationships facing dissolution: An SME owner manager perspective

“…Indeed, when these relationships face dissolution they are in need of evaluation by OMs to either dissolve the relationship or repair it (Ring & Van de Ven, 1994;Tähtinen & Vaaland, 2006). Although research has brought new insights to the dissolution of relationships (Halinen & Tähtinen, 2002;Hocutt, 1998;Ryan & Blois, 2010), the main purpose has not been on how B2B relationships facing dissolution could be evaluated to assess the value of the relationship (Dirks, Lewicki, & Zaheer, 2009;Vidal, 2006). When considering business relationships that are facing dissolution, Tähtinen and Vaaland (2006) go some way to provide an understanding of the reasons why OMs should attempt to repair the relationship.…”