A Funny Thing Happened!

The Management of Consumer Emotions

in Service Encounters
Karen Locke
Graduate School of Business Administration, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23185

T his article integrates a diverse set of ideas to provide a new perspective on emotional displays as
part of organizational behavior. Data are gathered on the micro interaction processes and
emotions displayed during professional medical service encounters. A model for the types of
emotions displayed and how they are managed is presented.
Richard L. Daft

Abstract The account provided in this paper has several implica-

This paper examines the interplay between emotions ex-
pressed by patients and their families (consumers) and those
expressed and recruited by physicians (service providers) in
the pediatrie department of a subspecialty medical setting.
Detailed observations made during a year of fieldwork
demonstrate that physicians enacted comedie performances
in response to patient families' negative emotions. These
comedies are a vehicle for the display and generation of fun:
incompatible with the anxiety, fear, and despondence patient
families typically bring to medical encounters. They further
invite a move to positive emotions because the performances
themselves are cues for optimism. Four comedies were iden-
tified, selectively presented by physicians at various emo-
tional junctures in the service delivery process. Sociability
comedy is initiated as physicians and patient families first
come face-to-face, and it invites the former to like and feel
comfortable with the performing physicians. Mastery comedy
induces feelings of reassurance in families at the moment
when physicians lay hands on the patients' bodies. Ostenta-
tious Celebratory comedy promotes feelings of joy as it marks
treatment successes while carefully modulated Magical per-
formances bid for resilience at those times when patient
families find it difficult to be hopeful about the medical
prognosis.
The positive feelings engendered by these comedies likely
expedite physicians' and patient families' dependence on each
other. For example, liking, feeling comfortable with,
and reassured with their physicians will make patient families
less likely to hesitate about cooperating with the diagnostic
and treatment procedures the former suggest. Reciprocally,
confident of these feelings, physicians can be assured that
families will continue in the service relationship and follow
through with their medical recommendations.
tions for the study of organizational emotions and of service
encounters. For example, the emotional exchanges described
in this paper underscore the appropriateness of understand-
ing clients as co-participants in the service process because
the emotional displays of physician providers arise in re-
sponse to various feelings that clients bring to encounters.
Additionally, where previous studies of emotion in service
encounters highlight the relationship between providers'
emotional displays and client satisfaction, this study suggests
the emotions that prevail in service encounters influence
client cooperation with the service delivery process. And,
they may be important to the quality of services generated.
{Emotion Management; Service Encounters; Comedy;
Humor; Qualitative Research)
The literatures on organizational emotions and service
management have an overlapping interest in the affect
that occurs in face-to-face encounters between service
providers and consumers. For example, much research
on organizational emotions has focused on the display
of positive feelings by employees who hold boundary
spanning positions in service organizations (Ash t984,
Hoehschild t983, Peters and Waterman 1983, Peven
1968, Sutton and Rafaeli 1988, Van Maanen and Kunda
1989). While, in the service management literature, the
display of positive emotions is viewed as central to
service providers' roles (Czepiel et al. 1985a, Suprenant
and Solomon 1987) and to the formation of con-
sumer satisfaction (Czepiel et al. 1985a; Oliver 1994,
Parasuraman et al. 1985, Westbrook 1987).

1047-7039/96/0701 /0040/$01.25
Copyright © 1996. Institute for Operations Research
40 ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/ Vol. 7, No. I, January-February 1996 and the Management Sciences
KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happenedl
Both literatures suggest that displays of positive
emotions to consumers result in "encore gains"(Rafaeli
and Sutton 1987, p. 32) for organizations. Accordingly,
scholars in these areas have focused attention on the
measures organizations take, or should take, to ensure
that desired emotions are reliably expressed by their
employees (Ash 1984, Bowen and Schneider 1988,
Hoehschild 1983, Komaki et al. 1980, Schneider 1980,
Sutton 1992, Van Maanen and Kunda 1989). These
efforts cast consumers as inactive recipients of organi-
zationally constructed emotions; this is a typification
that contrasts with an emerging understanding of con-
sumers as co-participants in service encounters. In-
creasingly, consumers and service providers are seen in
mutual terms, whether as co-makers of expressed emo-
tions or co-producers of service. A few studies in the
literature on organizational emotions demonstrate a
social and reciprocal dimension to the affect expressed
in interactions between service providers and con-
sumers. For example, emotions expressed by service
providers are determined in part by tacit agreements
reached between them and consumers (Sutton and
Rafaeli 1988), by consumer attributes such as gender
(Rafaeli 1989a), and by consumers' expressed emotions
(Rafaeli 1989b).
Similarly, in the service management literature, the
focus of attention is shifting to interactions between
service providers and consumers which are increasingly
framed in reciprocal, mutual terms (for example, as a
"game between persons" (Bell 1973)). This perspective
on the consumer as co-actor is evident in conceptions
of service encounters as social occasions characterized
by interdependence between providers and consumers
(Czepiel 1990, MeCallum and Harrison 1985, Solomon
et al. 1985). It is apparent in formulations of con-
sumers as "partial employees" in the service delivery
process (Bowen 1986, Guiry 1992, Mills and Moberg
1982) whose behavior needs to be shaped so they can
productively contribute to the creation of services
(Bowen 1986, Bowen and Schneider 1988, Larsson and
Bowen 1989, Mills and Morris 1986). And, it is notice-
able in studies which document consumer influence on
the service delivery process (Rafaeli 1989a, Schneider
and Bowen 1985, Schneider et al. 1980, Parkington and
Schneider 1979, Rafaeli 1989b, Whyte 1973).
While both literatures share this contrasting per-
spective of consumers as co-participants, they have yet
to be integrated along this line. While the emotion
management literature recognizes that consumer at-
tributes, including their expressed emotions, affect the
emotional displays of providers, there has been little
explicit exploration of the emotional expressions of
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VOI. 7, No. 1, January-February 1996
providers as they relate to the emotional expressions of
consumers during the generation of services.' Simi-
larly, while the service management literature acknowl-
edges the need to manage consumer behavior in order
to create services, consumers' emotional behavior re-
mains largely unconsidered. This, despite indications
scattered in other literatures that service providers
engage in expressive displays in response to the emo-
tions of their consumers and that the quality of services
generated (as perceived by providers) is affected by
consumer emotions. For example. Barley (1983a, 1983b)
describes efforts of funeral directors to manipulate the
demeanor of the funeral scene to protect the quality of
their service in light of the negative emotions their
clients bring to the encounter. Others contend that
when physicians' expressions of positive emotions gen-
erate similar feelings in anxious patients, the latter are
more likely to comply with medical advice (Cieourel
1985, Denison and Sutton 1990, Korsch et al. 1968).
Also, psychotherapy clients who lose their emotional
comportment are described as disrupting encounters
and placing increased burdens on service providers
(Denison and Sutton 1990, Joffe 1978).
This paper pursues this perspective on consumers as
co-participants in service encounters and extends the
points of integration between the literatures on service
management and organizational emotions by examin-
ing various ways in which the emotions expressed by
service providers and those expressed by consumers
relate to each other and to the delivery of service.
First, it identifies four types of comedie performance
that are selectively presented by providers in response
to various negative emotions that consumers bring to
service encounters. These comedie performances are a
robust medium for the expression and generation of
fun which intervenes in consumers' negative emotions
and, in lieu, recruits more positive feelings. I argue
that these displays are enacted to influence consumers
to feel positively towards their service providers, and,
consequently, to dispose them to cooperate more read-
ily in the creation of services. Second, it offers a
framework for understanding how comedie perfor-
mances facilitate a transformation to organizationally-
desired feeling states. Third, it examines this issue in a
subspecialty medical institution. Interactions between
consumers and providers in this context differ from the
relatively casual and transient exchanges usually stud-
ied by researchers in the areas of emotion and service
management, for example, banks (Schneider et al. 1980,
Schneider and Bowen 1985), convenience stores
(Rafaeli 1989a), supermarkets (Rafaeli 1989b), and
restaurants (Whyte 1973). Here, service is delivered
41
KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happened]
over the course of multiple encounters distributed over
a relatively long period, and the service delivery pro-
cess is highly interactive, requiring reciprocal input
from physicians and client families (Mills and Morris
1986, Larsson and Bowen 1989).
In the next section, I develop a framework for un-
derstanding comedy and the way in which it is able to
recruit organizationally-desirable emotions. Following
a description of the methods used in data collection
and analysis, I then describe the various forms of
comedie performance encountered in the setting, giv-
ing my account of the transformation from negative to
positive emotions they wrought. Finally, I discuss the
implications of these findings for structuring service
encounters in this and other settings.
A Framework for Understanding
Comedy and Its Ability to Recruit
Favorable Feelings
Comedie Performances Delineated
These presentations are here described as comedie
performances for a number of reasons. First, they are
conceptually related to humor in that they share the
idea of specialized framing (Bateson 1956, 1976, 1980;
Fry 1963) and creation of a distinct positive mood
(Eastman 1936, Fry 1963, Sehaeffer 1981). Yet, they
form a more inclusive category than humor because
many of the performances reported are not organized
around a punch line (Fry 1963) and include no verbal-
izations. For example, a physician who makes an en-
trance wearing a stethoscope with a dozen fuzzy ani-
mals clinging to it is engaging in a comic act. His
display signals that he is behaving in jest, and it re-
cruits smiles and laughter. However, the display is not
oriented towards any end point and nothing is said; it
concludes when the physician chooses to begin medical
questioning. Second, conceiving of them as comedies
underscores these performances' staged character;
there are actors, scripts, and a public audience. These
displays are presented to the organization's clients in
its public space, cued by the latter's negative feelings
evident in various scenes during the service delivery
process. This contrasts with existing reports on organi-
zational humor in which instances of humor and joking
take place amongst organizational members away from
public scrutiny (e.g., Coser 1959, Coombs and Gold-
man 1973, Linstead 1985, Pogrebin and Poole 1988,
Roy 1959-1960). Finally, the hallmark of comedy is its
sense that "all is well" (Leech 1968); describing these
42
displays as "comedie" underscores their optimistic
quality.
Emotions: Revealing Bodily Sensations and Malleable
Social Constructions
Following Kemper, emotions are understood to be
"responses to outcomes of social interaction" (1978,
p. 80) which are evaluative, "essentially positive or
negative in nature, involving direct somatic (and often)
cognitive components" (1978, p. 47).^ As "somatic"
evaluations which are either gratifying or aversive,
emotions are bodily feelings that reveal preferences
(Zajonc 1980), conveying information to individuals
about the nature of their current psychological situa-
tion (Clore and Parrott 1991). Positive feelings signal
that "all is well," while negative feelings signal the
converse (Schwarz and Bless 1991).
On the other hand, as "responses to outcomes of
social interaction," emotions are pervaded by social
life; they are, to a degree, social constructions,
amenable to social influence by situational variables
(Hoehschild 1983, Kemper 1978, Shott 1979).^ Conse-
quently, the emotions individuals feel may be influ-
enced by shaping the interpretations they make of their
circumstances. Furthermore, neither obtaining inter-
pretations nor emotions is parsimonious. One event
can give rise to a variety of emotions, depending on
what aspects of it are focused on and what aspects are
overlooked (Frijda 1986). Influencing the facet of a
situation attended to may have a bearing on which
emotions will be felt in instances when several emo-
tions might be appropriate (Katz 1980). To illustrate
with a schematic discrepancy model of labeling emo-
tions (Katz 1980), a negative emotion (fear) may be-
come a position emotion (joy) via a shift in focus from
negative to optimistic cues. Fear is described by the
paradigm:
My child is sick, I do not want my child to be sick,
but now I feel my child will continue to be sick.
While joy is described by the paradigm:
My child is sick, I do not want my child to be sick,
and now I know my child will no longer be sick.
Given the discrepancy between desired and expected
outcomes common to both paradigms, negative emo-
tions are occasioned by a focus that maintains this
discrepancy, whereas positive emotions are occasioned
by a focus that resolves it. Thus, a strong influence may
be exerted on which emotions (positive or negative) are
experienced by managing the contextual cues that op-
erate in a situation. Positive feelings may be inspired
by directing attention to encouraging cues while the
converse are engendered by a focus on negative cues.
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VOI. 7, No. 1, January-February 1996
KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happened]
Indeed, research on emotion in cognitive psychology
attests to the situational manipulability and inducibility
of feeling states, both in the laboratory (Delp and
Sackheim 1987, Larsson and Ketelaar 1991, Salovey
and Birnbaum 1989, Schachter and Singer 1962) and
field settings (Forgas and Moylan 1987).
Comedy's Ability to Manage Emotions
Comedie performances manipulate consumer emotions
because they have the potential both to work on feel-
ings and to influence the meaning made of circum-
stances (that, in turn, influences which emotions will be
experienced). They do not oblige consumers to experi-
ence positive emotions, however, they do solicit them.
Several studies of humor hint at the ability this genre
of interactions has to manage emotions; however, its
role in this regard has been limited to diminishing pent
up negative feelings. For example, it is described as a
generalized venting mechanism which removes exces-
sive negative emotions (Coser 1959, Coombs and Gold-
man 1973, Fox 1959, Kahn 1989, Palmer 1983, Pogre-
bin and Poole 1988, Roy 1960) and as creating a safe
and acceptable space for the expression of specific
negative feelings such as hostility, criticism and anger
(Bradney 1957, Coser 1959, Coombs and Goldman
1973, Fox 1959, Linstead 1985, Palmer 1983). In con-
trast, the framework presented here expands the ca-
pacity of comedy, making it a more robust manager of
organizational emotions than the above studies indi-
cate. Comedie performances manipulate positive as
well as negative feelings.
How Do Comedie Performances Work on Feelings?
For a comedie performance to succeed as such, it is
necessary that parties achieve the emotional state of
being "in fun."The expression and confirmation of this
distinct positive mood are central to these perfor-
mances. Building on Eastman (1936), there are two
components to this feeling state, as your own experi-
ence (as audience or actor), in various forms of comedy
and humor will testify. The first is an emotional postur-
ing or display of being "in fun." In this state, individu-
als become emotionally oriented towards the possibility
of jollity. Smiles may play on their lips, however, the
feelings are not committed. They remain equivocal and
able to move to laughter, to disgust, to anger, or
nowhere. The second emotional state is consummatory
as the movement towards positive feelings is fulfilled.
Positive feelings are committed; they are visible and
palpable, and laughter occurs. Service providers'
comedie performances, then, allow them to display
and, perhaps, feel the emotional state of fun. Because
this state is contagious (Frijda 1986), its display entices
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VOI. 7, No. 1, January-February 1996
the intended consumer audience to become similarly
emotionally oriented, and perhaps to experience a mo-
ment of fun with its accompanying laughter.
Furthermore, these displays of fun have the poten-
tial to intervene in negative emotions because an orien-
tation towards fun entails a "detachment from pre-
viously mobilized concerns" (Frijda 1986, p. 52).
Eastman's (1936) second law of humor underscores
this:
The second law is that when we are in fun a peculiar shift of
values takes place. Pleasant things are still pleasant, but
disagreeable things, so long as they are not disagreeable
enough to "spoil the fun" tend to acquire a pleasant emo-
tional flavor (p. 3).
Participation in the fun of a comedie episode may
interrupt prevailing negative feelings, replacing them
with a more positive emotional orientation. And, the
experience of a positive feeling state suggests to con-
sumers that all is well, that they may generally feel
optimistic about their situation.
How Do Comedie Performances Influence the Meaning
Made of Situations? The contrived status of these
performances, that is the framing via voice quality,
smiles, body movement, etc., that "this which is about
to unfold is 'not to be taken seriously'" (Handleman
1974; Fry 1963; Sutton-Smith 1979; Bateson 1956,1976),
affords the performance an opportunity to underscore
the particular positive feeling state displayed and
elicited. The status as contrivance operates not only
with regard to the script or content but also to the
identity of the players. To illustrate, when providers
such as physicians portray themselves as "silly," be-
cause they are visibly engaged in a performance, their
"non-silly" selves are also present and able to silently
comment on the immediate situation. The silly and
serious are juxtaposed, and the physicians' choice to be
silly under these circumstances communicates that, in
the moment, the situation is well in hand. Dixon un-
derscores this in his discussion of the use of humor by
military leaders in threatening situations. He suggests
that it carries the message, "if she or he can joke, then
she or he is evidently not afraid; therefore there is
nothing to fear" (1980, p. 282). In this way, comedie
performances may serve as a contextual clue that "all
is well." and intimate that enjoying a moment of fun is
fitting at this time. As such a contextual indicator,
these performances prompt a more optimistic interpre-
tation of the obtaining situation and reinforce the
appropriateness of a variety of positive feelings.
In summary, comedie performances are adept at
recruiting positive feelings in their intended consumer
43
KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happened]
audience. They express and generate fun which inter-
venes in consumers' negative emotions and recruits in
their stead a more positive emotional state. And, the
bodily sensations characteristic of positive emotions
signal to consumers that "all is well." Reciprocally, the
fact of these performances—conveying that at this
time it is okay to engage in silliness—makes them a
contextual indicator that a more positive interpretation
of the prevailing situation is warranted. To the extent
that comedies incline consumers to focus on these
performances as optimistic cues, they invite a more
favorable interpretation of the service situation that, in
turn, reinforces the appropriateness of a variety of
positive emotions. Additionally, while the feelings en-
gendered may be transitory, to the extent that residues
linger and are available for recollection, they may
influence consumers to positively perceive personnel
(Forgas 1991, Forgas and Bower 1987, Kaplan 1991,
Zajonc 1980) and the service circumstances (Bower
1991, Forgas 1991). Certainly, such experiences may
favorably dispose consumers to go along with the ser-
vice providers' recommendations.
Research Setting and Methodology
Research Site
The setting for the study was the pediatrie department
of a large tertiary care metropolitan hospital. The
department's medical personnel included 19 physi-
cians, 15 residents, and 6 clinic nurses, while 4 medical
receptionists, 13 secretaries, 2 wordprocessors and an
administrator comprised the support staff. All depart-
ment members were part of the study, however, the
research focused on the physicians, the majority of
whom were pediatrie subspecialists. Subspecialty areas
represented included pediatric-oncology, pediatric-
cardiology, pediatrie neurology, pediatric-gastroenter-
ology, pediatric-nephrology, pediatric-surgery, and pe-
diatric-intensive care. During the year prior to the
study, the department saw approximately 17,000 pa-
tients in clinics.
The patients were usually referred to this institution
by their primary care physician, and they suffered from
severe, frequently life-threatening, diseases such as
leukemia, congenital heart problems, kidney failure,
and epilepsy. These diseases required aggressive treat-
ments and ongoing medical attention. The period dur-
ing which client families were generally involved with
the institution varied from approximately six months in
pediatrie cardiology to more than a decade in pediatrie
oncology. Typically, patients and their families were
44
seen in outpatient clinics for diagnosis, were admitted
to the hospital for surgery and/or in-bed treatment (in
some cases several in-hospital treatments were re-
quired). They, then, received subsequent treatments
and were monitored as outpatients. Outpatient visits
usually began on a weekly basis and progressed gradu-
ally until patients returned only for annual checkups.
During this time, client families would be asked to
consent to several phases of treatment and to adminis-
ter various therapies in the home.
Data Gathering
Data gathering focused on investigating behavior that
might fall under the rubric of playfulness and its poten-
tial relevance to the work of providing medical care.
Early in this process, the theme of emotion manage-
ment became salient and was also pursued in data-
gathering efforts. Data were collected during a year of
full-time fieldwork. I gained access to the setting via
two faculty members who were known in the institu-
tion. They introduced me to the chairman of the de-
partment from whom I secured permission for the
study. My identity as a researcher was disclosed to all
organization members (Lofland and Lofland 1984).
Visits to the site were as follows: during the first five
months of the study, I was present three times a week;
following a three-week break over the holidays, I was
present five days a week for nine weeks over a four
month period (during this time of intensive involve-
ment, I became a member of a client family over an
additional two week period when a close relative be-
came a patient in pediatrie oncology and underwent
surgery); in the final two months of the study, I was
present approximately two days each week. A variety
of data sources were used:
1. Participant Observation. This was the primary
data gathering method. During the first five months, all
occupational groups—both medical and support—were
observed and my field notes documented various as-
pects of their work lives, including the great variety
present in the setting's interactional landscape. During
the second six month period, my attention focused on
the physician group and the detailed documentation of
episodes of playfulness in their interactions, including
routine exchanges with client families. I observed nine
physicians, at least one from each of the seven subspe-
cialty areas.'' This group were constantly on the move,
and I accompanied them to clinics, the surgery pavil-
ion, specialized treatment centers, hospital wards, the
ICU, formal conferences, and their offices. During the
first phase of the study, the site visits lasted from six to
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VOI. 7, No. 1, January-February 1996
KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happened]
eight hours. In the second phase, the research day
began when the physicians' did, usually at 7:00 a.m.
and ended when the work was done, usually 10 to 12
hours later.
Note-taking began in the morning and continued
throughout the day; recording was ongoing and de-
tailed the words, actions, and displayed emotions of
the day. Field notes were carefully read and omissions
were filled in each evening. They were then typed up
that night and in the days between site visits. The field
notes yielded descriptions of comedie informal interac-
tions which had been recorded, verbatim, as they oc-
curred in context.
In addition to these observations, casual interviews
were also conducted (Lofland & Lofland, 1984). This
involved asking questions during everyday contacts, for
example with physicians walking from the clinic to the
hospital ward, with nurses at the end of the day, with
secretaries waiting for physicians to arrive in the morn-
ing, or with client families waiting in the examining
room while physicians left to take an important phone
call. These data augmented data gained by systematic
observation and became a part of the day's field notes.
It is relevant to note that it is normal and routine at
a teaching hospital to have observers accompany physi-
cians and for individuals to read and take notes. Chart-
ing occurs throughout the day, at nursing stations, in
examining rooms with patients, and in the office. Con-
sequently, the researcher was able to read, and impor-
tantly, write, as physicians, and often residents or visit-
ing students, read and wrote.
2. Semi-structured Interviews. Early in the study, 43
semi-structured interviews were conducted with mem-
bers of the department (The residents were excluded
as they had just arrived at the institution). These
interviews were more like guided conversations than
question and answer sessions (Lofland and Lofland
1984), and were designed to yield descriptive informa-
tion (Spradley 1979) about the department and the
work. The following topics were covered: members'
work histories in the department, the typical work day,
highs and lows of the work, personal qualities and
behaviors necessary to succeed in the work, the depart-
ment as a place to work, and changes that had oc-
curred. These were all taped with the permission of the
interviewees and provided insights into department
members' perceived experience of their work world.
The conversations ranged in length from half an hour
to over two hours and yielded over 300 pages of typed
notes.
3. Participation as Part of a Client Family. As previ-
ously mentioned, during the study, a brother-in-law
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VOI. 7, No. 1, January-February 1996
was diagnosed as having an oncological problem that
required surgery. During this time, I accompanied him
and other family members during all visits to the insti-
tution. The insights gained from this role reversal were
incorporated into the field notes.
4. Written Materials. A variety of written materials
were gathered. These included department reports,
treatment protocols, educational materials for client
families, and patient education documents from na-
tional support agencies such as the Cancer Society.
Data Analysis
My analysis simultaneously pursued two questions: what
was being accomplished by these comedie episodes,
and, how could 1 understand their apparent variety?
To ensure that the emerging perspectives were empiri-
cally grounded, I used an iterative process travelling
back and forth between the data, other sources of
potential insight (relevant literature, the perspective of
colleagues, analogous interactions in different settings)
and the emerging interpretations. I generated broad
themes and categories which were tested, narrowed, or
abandoned by repeatedly returning to the data (Glaser
and Strauss 1967). One of the initial hunches devel-
oped in the field was that the observed interactions
positively impacted the feeling tone of the setting.
Taking a cue from existing literature (e.g.. Coombs and
Goldman 1973, Fox 1959, Palmer 1983), I speculated
that these exchanges provided a mechanism to vent off
the negative emotions that were endemic to the setting.
However, when I returned to the data, a number of
considerations—for example, episodes were enacted
even when patients were visibly doing well and physi-
cians often spoke of the importance of certain positive
feelings—led me to revise this premise. I began to
think of these episodes as a means not only to inter-
vene in negative emotions but also to engender positive
feeling. Further reading of the literatures on emotions
and humor (e.g., Dixon 1980, Eastman 1936, Frijda
1986, Goodman 1986, Schacter and Singer 1962) sug-
gested those processes outlined in the previous section
by which this emotional intervention might be accom-
plished.
In a parallel process, I conducted a more systematic
analysis of each comedie performance to map the vari-
ety in the episodes. Differences in the episodes sug-
gested that similarities and differences could be
mapped via the following categories: verbal content or
what was said or acted, elaborateness or degree of
ostentation, duration or how long they lasted, location
or where they took place, and the feelings displayed.
Multiple copies of each episode were made and sorted
45
KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happened]
within and across these categories. As the same
episodes began to be similarly grouped, some comedie
patterns emerged. For example, one grouping con-
tained verbal content and actions that included mock
abuse of the patient, loud and showy vocalizations and
actions; they lasted several minutes and included dis-
plays initially characterized as triumphant. Consistent
with the first premise deseribed above, I speculated
that these performances provided physicians the op-
portunity to express aggression and hostility towards
their patients. However, a closer inspection of the data
revealed that they were enacted most intensely with
those patients that physicians described as their fa-
vorites. This suggested that positive feelings played a
central role in these episodes. A later examination of
where in the treatment process each episode occurred
helped to clarify the categories and reinforced the
sense that these episodes were proactive attempts at
emotion management that were incorporated into
physicians' work scripts (Abelson 1976, Solomon et al.
1985).
Attending to other forms of regularity in the field
notes also helped to point to differences in the perfor-
mances. For example, noticing the frequency with which
the phrase, "Walking into," appeared as a prefix to a
number of episodes helped to shape a group in which
there was little consistency in content. And this partic-
ular grouping was reinforced by considering similarities
between it and the exchanges of laughter that col-
leagues from different departments of the university
engaged in as they gathered for an important meeting.
In this way, the four comedies performed in the setting
emerged.
Throughout data gathering and analysis, debriefing
sessions were conducted where colleagues, some of
whom were familiar with the setting, took on the role
of devil's advocate. They challenged, probed and of-
fered alternative conceptions to the ones I proposed.
This forced me to pose their challenges and alternative
models to the data set to examine whether they held
up to scrutiny.
Before describing the comedie performances, it is
worth noting that an aspect of everyday life in this
organization which is normally in the background and
taken for granted has been put center stage for the
purposes of my analysis. Similarly, the technology of
delivering medicine which is normally figural has been
relegated backstage.
Varieties of Comedie Performance
Sociability comedy. Mastery comedy. Celebratory com-
edy and Magical comedy are the four performances
46
that were reliably initiated by physicians in response to
feelings of patient families at various junctures in the
service delivery process. They are listed in Table 1,
which outlines the location of each in the service
delivery process, its behavioral characteristics, the
emotions of client families prior to the comedy, and
the emotions the performance recruits.
The comedies presented in Table 1 are presented
roughly in order of appearance in the service delivery
drama. Sociability comedy takes place in the opening
scene of the drama between physicians and client fami-
lies, both in their first encounter at the institution and
when the service delivery process is reconstituted at
each subsequent visit. Client families enter the en-
counter with some anxiety and fear about what they
will learn about the course of their children's illness.
Sociability comedy is characterized by a generally brief
performance initiated at the onset of face-to-face con-
tact. By far the most prevalent form, it usually occurs
when individuals first see each other at the beginnings
of consultations and routine clinic visits, on rounds,
and as physicians and client families cross paths in
hallways. Sociability comedy is usually quite fleeting,
and it is acted with hardly a break in the work stride.
The script of such encounters is highly variable, serving
as a vehicle for the exchange; however, some sugges-
tion of familiarity is often present.
Mastery comedy takes place between doctors and
client families during clinic encounters as physicians
perform a medical exam or procedure. Given the client
families' concerns and fears about how their children
will respond to physicians' physical investigations, this
comedy arises at the dramatic moment when physicians
"lay hands" on patients' bodies. This comedy is specific
and localized. Its essence lies in physicians being able
to act as if they are "just playing" with the children
when they are in fact conducting medical procedures.
Celebratory performances are enacted at high points
in the medical drama. Responsive to client families'
ongoing anxiety about the course of illness, this com-
edy is occasioned by achievement markers in the diag-
nostic and treatment process. It usually unfolds with
exaggerated gestures, its content includes specific ref-
erences to the diagnostic and treatment process, and
its exuberance often builds during the performance as
physicians and client families underscore that their
wishes have been granted in the optimistic outlook for
their children's recovery.
In contrast. Magical comedy is constituted at low
points in the medical service drama in the deliberate
effort to draw into a moment of fun and lightness
members of client families in whom the troublesome
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VOI. 7, No. 1, January-February 1996
KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happened]

Table 1 Comedie Performances: Their Location, Behaviorai Characteristics, and the Emotions They iVIanage

Emotion Recruited in
Client Family During
Location of Comedy in Emotion Present in Client and Immediately
Variety Treatment Process Behavioral Characteristics Family Prior to Comedy Following Comedy

The Beginning of Service Encounters • Generally fleeting A range: from mildly anxious • Affability
Sociability • Initial tace-to-tace contact in • Occurs without breaking work to anxious • Liking / Comfort
Comedy patient visits or in chance stride from mildly fearful
encounters in hallways • Content variable to tearful

The During Routine Procedures • Contact with patient's body A range: from mildly anxious • Liking / Comfort
Mastery • Physical exam of patient • Content Variable to anxious • Reassurance
Comedy from mildly fearful
to fearful

The During High Points in • Progresses in dramatic styie with A range: trom neutral • Joy
Celebratory Treatment Process exaggerated gestures to anxious
Comedy • Attainment ot achievement • Content refers back to treatment from neutral
markets in treatment process to fearful

The During Low Point in • Movements and tone are muted • Despondence • Reassurance
Magical Treatment Process • Target carefully monitored • Resilience
Comedy • Poor or insignificant progress • Explicit attempts made to engage
made in treatment target
• Content variable

feeling of despondence is indicated. Frequently, some
form of disengagement is evident in target individuals,
and the content of this performance is designed to
elicit their involvement in the comedie episode. Magi-
cal comedy is generally characterized by close interper-
sonal proximity, careful monitoring on the part of
performing physicians, and a contained and modulated
affective display.
A richer and more detailed account of each comedy
follows that explores the transformation from negative
to positive emotions made possible by each perfor-
mance and gives an account of its impact on the service
delivery process.
As Table 1 indicates, anxiety, fear, and despondence
are the expressed negative emotions that the comedies
respond to in this service setting. Table 2 uses Katz's
(1980) schematic discrepancy framework to detail these
emotions that arise as client families are confronted
and occupied with the unwanted fact of their children's
illness, are uncertain and/or doubtful about positive
outcomes, and concerned about the physical invasions
demanded by medical protocols.
Data from multiple sources (archival materials, in-
terviews with physicians, as well as from participant
observation) indicate that feelings of anxiety and fear,
in particular, were not only expressed by client fami-
lies, they were understood to be a given in this setting.
The comment, "You have to assure Mom and Dad
that their child is not going to die!" made after
Dr. Rose had examined a healthy four year old clearly
underscores physicians' sensitivies to client families'
negative emotions. Another indication of their sensitiv-
ity and responsiveness to negative feelings was the
common practice of informing physicians when pa-
tients or their families were "down." A typical re-
sponse to such information was, "We've got to visit
Franchesca this evening, she's down in the dumps."
(This comment was made by Dr. Douglas to a resident
after his nurse had called.) The intensity of client
families' negative feelings, however, did vary. For ex-
ample, in a first time visit or when important diagnostic
tests were to be conducted and/or the results received,
families obviously would be anxious and fearful. On
the other hand, in follow up encounters when the
treatment regime was progressing well, less anxiety was
evident.
Table 3 describes the positive emotions—liking,
comfort, reassurance, joy, and resilience-—that are re-
cruited by the various comedies. The importance of
these feelings to client families' ongoing participation

ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VO1. 7, No. 1, January-February 1996 47

KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happened]

Table 2 Client Families' Negative Feeiings

Source of Data
Archival Participant
Negative Feelings* Materials Observation Interviews

Anxiety and Fear:

Regarding Course of illness
I do not have a well child. I
want the doctor to make my
child well.
Anxiety
(I don't know if the doctor can
make my child well).
Fear
(I see / feel the doctor may not
make my child well).
Conference statement on neu-
rofibromatosis authored by
physician which includes coun-
selling recommendations; "Is-
sues to be addressed include
anxieties of the disorder's
course and fear of possible dis-
figurements and of deveoping
other severe complications."
Grandmother stops Dr. Morris
in the hospital hallway and asks,
"She is going to be alright isn't
she, doctor?"
Father in clinic as Dr. Roberts
examines his son: "Is he doing
Okay?"
Dr. Riley: "The family requires a
whole different level of
communication with the parent
being able to make sense to
the child about what's going on
and being able to explain to the
parents who are probably
scared to death.

Regarding Technology:
My child may suffer. Patient Support Documents: Father in response to Dr. Mor- Dr. Morris: "We have to do
I do not want the doctor to hurt "As more is learned about ris' recommendation for radia- some pretty nasty things to
my child treating children with cancer, tion: "...we're [my wife and I] them [the children]. It's no fun
more is also being understood trying to think of the best to be poked at; it's no fun to go
Anxiety
about such treatment's effects, here... almost lethal dose of through some of the painful
(I don't know if the doctor will radiation... without a shadow
both short- and long-term, and procedures."
hurt my chid.) whether it's worth the pain and of a doubt."
Fear agony youngsters have to
(I see / feel the doctor may hurt endure to be cured." A 6 year old boy flinches and
my child.) cries as Dr. Hughes examines
him. Seated, his mother leans
forward, extending her left hand
towards her son. Her body still
in a sitting position, she is out
of the chair.

Despondence:
I do not have a well child. I
want the doctor to make my
child well.
(I see/feel the doctor won't be
able to make my chid well; how
can I bear this?)
None noted Grandmother to nurse: "I'm not Dr. Michael: "Frequently you
iike my daughter... I'm not get presented with situations
strong enough..." where you can't do anybody
any good."
Secretary questions nurse fol-
lowing disclosure of pessimistic
test resuits: "How are Kenny's
parents doing?" Nurse:
"They're real down right now."

* Statements in parentheses indicate the client family's focus during these negative emotions; the discrepancy between desired and expected
outcomes is maintained.

in the medical service is indicated by excerpts from
interview and field data presented in this table.
Sociability Comedy
This comedy initiates contact with client families in the
medical encounter. Its name is derived from Simmel's
discussion of sociability as directed towards "nothing
but the success of the sociable moment, and, at most, a
memory of it" (Simmel 1950, p. 45). The fun generated
by this comedy is responsive to the anxiety and fear
present in client families at the beginning of their
encounters with physicians. It interrupts these negative

48 ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VOI. 7, No. 1, January-February 1996

KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happened]
Table 3 Positive Emotions Desired in Ciient Famiiies and the Comedies that Recruit Them
Positive Feelings*
Uking and Comfort:
I do not have a well child
I want the doctor to make my child
well.
(I like the doctor.)
(I feel comfortable with the doctor.)
Reassurance
I do not have a well child.
I want the doctor to make my child
well.
I see/feel the doctor can make my
child well.)
My child may suffer.
I do not want the doctor to hurt my
child.
(I see/feel the doctor won't hurt my
child.)
Joy
I do not have a well child.
I want the doctor to make my child
well.(I see/feel the doctor did make
my child well.)
Resilience
I do not have a well child.
I want the doctor to make my child
well.
(I see / feel the doctor cannot make
my child well I can bear this.)
* Statements in parentheses indicate the client family's focus during these positive emotions; the discrepancy between desired and expected
outcomes is resolved.
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VOI. 7, No. 1, January-February 1996
Source of Data
Recruiting Comedies Interviews
Sociability Comedy None Noted
Mastery Comedy
Celebratory Comedy Dr. Hughes: It's really impor-
Mastery Comedy tant ... having your promises (in a
Magical Comedy manner of speaking) [promises are
never made to the family] that Johnny
is going to get better. Just give us a
few days, and watch Johnny get
better."
Mastery Comedy None Noted
Celebratory Comedy Dr. Hughes: "And, Johnny does get
better."
Dr. Smith: "Success...you can just
see the happiness in the parent's
eyes. You can't see it so much in the
kids; but you know they are feeling
better."
Magical Comedy Dr. Michael: "There are those
diseases that you can do nothing for
the patient. And, you're really treat-
ing the parents and helping them
live with the situation."
Dr. Brown: "Sometimes you get
presented with situations where you
can't do anybody any good. What
you can do is make the bad stuff a
little more bearable."
Participant Obseivations
Father in first family, " . . . s h e was
diagnosed four months ago... we
were over at [another institution] and
we came here for a second opinion."
Father in second family. "We really
like Doctor Morris." Father in first
family, "Yeah, we're real comfortable
with him... ."
In hallway following uneventful exam
of child. Dr. Rose turns to researcher
and with right index finger pointed
for emphasis stated, "You have to
assure Mom and Dad that their child
is not going to die."
Dr. Morris to Mother: "I'll do the
spinal while he is receiving radiation,
that way he'll be under and won't feel
a thing."
Following performance:
Bending forward to bring his face
closer to a mother seated on a
mattress on the floor of a hospital
room. Dr. Morris gently shakes his
pointed index finger at her and says,
"See, I told you so!" (Her child's
white blood cell count is back up.)
Dr. Roberts comments to an 18 year
old girl, Anne, seated on the
examining table. "Even your legs are
more the same size." Anne, "Yeah,"
Dr. Roberts, "You didn't believe me,
did you?" (Anne grins broadly.)
None noted
49
KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happened]
emotions and recruits a more positive orientation to
the service situation. This optimistic outlook is rein-
forced by the fact of the comedy taking place; engaging
in such behavior signals that the medical process is well
in hand, and positive feelings associated with such an
outlook are encouraged. In one variation, a mother
and her teenage son are waiting behind the closed door
of the examining room.
The door to the examining room opens. Pausing in the door-
way, Dr. Brown, well over six feet tall, grins broadly at the
client family as he makes his entrance. Around his neck, he
wears a stethoscope which has over a dozen toy animals
clinging to it. (Smiles from the son and daughter and laughter
from the mother.) He walks over to the desk at the far end of
the room, his right holding the patient's chart, sits down,
opens the chart and, still smiling, begins, "So, what can I do
for you?"
Via the Sociability comedy, not only are positive feel-
ings generated, but also the focus of attention is shifted
to the liking and comfortable feeling that is experi-
enced at the beginning of the service encounter
between Dr. Brown and this client family. Thus, as
Table 3 indicates, the client family's focus is moved
from the negative (I don't know if the doctor can make
my child well) to the positive (I like and feel comfort-
able with this doctor).
In another example, one physician (whose perfor-
mances were generally more elaborate than those of
his colleagues) regularly would play "peek-a-boo" with
client families at the door to the examining room. In
this instance, a family with their 19 year old son is
waiting to see the doctor. The young man sits on the
examining table with his legs dangling over the side; he
faces his seated parents on the opposite side of the
room. It is their first visit. Dr. Morris consults in the
hallway with his nurse who has weighed, measured,
and briefly examined the young man.
Dr. Morris' right hand clasps the door knob. He opens the
door slowly, gradually inserts only his head and right shoulder
into the room. Rapidly, the head and shoulder retract into the
hallway, the hand pulling shut the door. The young man's
mouth opens in a half smile as he exchanges a questioning
glance with his parents. As his father's shoulders rise, perhaps
signalling, "Search me!" the door is pushed open again, very
slowly. Now only a forehead and pair of widened eyes appear
before quickly disappearing back into the hallway (laughter
from everyone in the examining room). All eyes in the examin-
ing room are now fixed expectantly on the door.
This peek-a-boo cycle is repeated another two times: the
young man and his parents stare at the door, their mouths
held open in anticipatory grins; the door opens; the physician's
head appears; and, it withdraws into the hallway as the family
50
laugh out loud. When next the door opens (for the fifth time),
he walks into the room, extends his right arms, announces
"Hi, I'm Dr. Morris," and shakes everybody's hand.
As Dr. Morris shakes the hand of the smiling and
laughing family members, their meeting has taken on a
"hail fellow well met" quality. And, the good feelings
generated by him in this episode of fun, palpable to the
client family, become a part of their experience and
understanding of this service encounter. The peek-a-
boo game was tightly scripted. And, while the number
of times Dr. Morris' head would appear varied from
one to four, it was replayed time and again by this
physician. Others in the setting, however, improvised
their Sociability performances. The following example
demonstrates how material for the performance is im-
provised and attests to the desirability of having a
comedie presentation to deliver at the moment physi-
cians and client families come into contact;
A nurse walks into the nursing station after putting the
patient and family into a room for a follow-up visit. She says
to Dr. Riley, "He (the 11 year old patient) says he's just
perfect. Mom says the only thing wrong with him is his lips."
And, she laughs. But instead of responding with the antici-
pated laugh. Dr. Riley looks askance, so she prompts, "Can't
shut up!"Dr. Riley laughs this time and affirms, "I like that!"
The nurse's prompt resolves the confusion as to the
meaning of her comment, and the desired response
and emotional display from the physician is delivered.
He then picks up this line and uses it to renew ac-
quaintances with the young boy and mother waiting for
him in the examining room.
Walking into the examining room. Dr. Riley, grins broadly,and
says, "I've just got to see this perfect k i d . . . got some trouble
with his lips though I hear!" (laughter from everyone).
Here the performance is brief. The comic line is a
throw-away, delivered without the doctor breaking
stride as he enters the room and takes his seat to begin
the consultation. Yet, the familiarity intimated in the
comment about the child's mouthiness suggests that
this encounter exemplifies an informality and absence
of reserve characteristic of encounters between parties
who feel comfortable with each other. This perfor-
mance is analogous to a ritualized greeting that allows
Dr. Riley to reengage his relationship with this client
family on a warm and familiar note despite the time
that has elapsed since their previous encounter
(Goffman 1967, 1971).
The fun induced in the client family by Dr. Riley
overrides their negative feelings and helps them to feel
that "all is well' in their obtaining service from him.
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VOI. 7, No. 1, January-February 1996
KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happened]
Feeling this way reinforces their liking for and comfort
with him a their service provider and intimates that the
good feelings will prevail throughout the treatment
process. Additionally, the client family's playing their
part in the production by laughing responsively hints to
Dr. Riley that they are a group he can work with to
deliver the service.
Mastery Comedy
As was the case with Sociability comedy, the emotion
evident in client families prior to the Mastery comedy
can vary from mildly to quite anxious and fearful. The
routine procedures required by medical technology at
best invade personal privacy and at the worst cause
considerable pain. With younger children, especially,
the moment of the physical exam is an anxious one. It
is also anxiety-laden for their parents, who anticipate a
negative response, including some tears, from their
children in response to the necessary prodding, poking
and looking. Often, as physicians approached children,
their parents would visibly stiffen in their seats. The
fun expressed through Mastery comedy intervenes in
this negative state and replaces it with pleasure. Expe-
riencing pleasure as the doctor examines their children
further invites client families to feel at ease and reas-
sured. To illustrate. Dr. Roberts examines a little girl.
As he listens to her chest with the stethoscope, she
begins to get fidgety and cranky.
His eyes grow large and his mouth opens wide as he asks, "Is
your breakfast in there?" His right hand is making eontaet
with her tummy. The little girl laughs. He continues, his right
hand now tiekling her, "I'll find your breakfast!" (The pace of
his words and his hand quickens.) He now pokes her bellybut-
ton and asks, "Shall we take it out?"The little girl wriggles on
the examining table—her small hands trying to intercept that
of the physieian—and amidst her giggles squeals, "Nooo!"
(Wide smiles from Mom and Dad). The physician continues to
poke her belly, thwarting her defensive attempts, "If I take it
out, will your breakfast fall out?" Still squirming—her hand
shielding her bellybutton—she calls out insistently, "Yes!"By
now her parents are laughing too. There is no further contact
with the abdomen.
In a matter of moments, the child's abdomen and
internal organs have been palpated without her realiz-
ing it. In any other setting, an observer of the proceed-
ings would conclude that man and child were just
having fun.
The word "mastery" indicates the adroit and sure
way in which Dr. Roberts neutralizes this child's (and,
of course, the parents') fears and anxieties and gains
her cooperation in physical exams. The smoothness
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VOI. 7, No. 1, January-February 1996
and swiftness with which this comedy proceeds and the
apparent sleight of hand with which an abdominal
exam is obscured by a search for breakfast are sugges-
tive of his high level of expertise. Goffman's (1959)
discussion of performances designed to convey person-
ally confirming qualities indicated Mastery comedy can
be understood as a stylized expression of competence
that is compelling because it is incorporated into a
routine component of the medical process. These sug-
gestions of compentency help this client family to feel
reassured about his skills. Additionally, the ability to
elicit laughter both from the child and the parents,
creating a moment of fun at one of the focused points
of anxiety and fear in the medical setting, suggests that
Dr. Roberts can be relied upon to make the experience
as physically and emotionally painless as possible. As
the parents participate in the laughter, a shift in emo-
tion occurs; they let go of some of their negative
feelings. Laughing repeatedly as the physician prods
their child, they have literally relaxed and become
comfortable with their child in his hands. Concern that
the physical demands of medical technology may cause
pain (I see/feel the doctor may hurt my child) is
replaced with assurance that, in this instance at least, it
will not (I see/feel the doctor will not hurt my child).
These new emotions, elicited as Dr. Roberts plies his
trade, invite the client family to feel more comfortable
and assured about him and the medical process.
Furthermore, the status of the performance (includ-
ing the identity of the ludic physician) as a contrivance
underscores the appropriateness of feeling assured and
at ease. And, it further facilitates the shift in focus to
more positive expectations. Dr. Roberts' performance
communicates the message, "I am the silly doctor who
is just fooling around, but I am also the masterful
physician who while fooling around has the medical
process well in hand, so you can relax." Again, parents
and child can more easily feel reassured and comfort-
able. Not only are the hands that examined their
child's belly technically skilled, they can also turn her
cries into squeals of laughter. These hands have a
unique talent for working with their child. They can
help the parents with the child's and their own fearful-
ness about medical technology because they have just
done so. They have replaced tension with laughter and
ease. And, reciprocally. Dr. Brown can be assured of
their comfort with and assurance in him as their service
provider, expressed in their visible delight in the Mas-
tery comedy.
These positive feelings are underscored in the fol-
lowing example.
51
KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happened]
In elinie. Mom and Dad sit quietly (Mom's hands clasped in
her lap) while a physician approaches a four year old boy
playing on the floor. The physician, preparing to examine him,
predictably puts a small "Ernie" puppet on his index finger,
vocalizes like Donald Duck, and playfully jabs him on the
nose, inviting him to do the same to the puppet. Laughing, the
boy attempts it. Looking on, his mother turns to the grinning
father and says, "You like that don't you!" The physician
turns, grinning broadly as the father nods. (They all laugh
together.) The physician continues playfully poking and vocal-
izing.
The mother offers verbal confirmation of the power of
this performance to solicit good feelings.
The potential impact of this and Sociability comedy
are emphasized when one considers a first-time en-
counter at the medical institution. Here, the task facing
physicians is to orchestrate encounters in which client
families are comfortable disclosing personal informa-
tion, giving up their children's bodies for examination
(and perhaps invasive procedures), expressing their
concerns and fears, and are favorably disposed to act-
ing on physicians' sometimes drastic recommendations.
(For example, "I'd like to see if we can get her into
surgery this afternoon.") And, to do all this the first
time they meet! The fun generated by these comedie
performances in first encounters intervenes in client
families' negative feelings of anxiety and fear. And, the
sense that "all is well," cued by both the experience of
this positive emotional state and by the comedy func-
tioning as a contextual indicator that the situation is
well in hand, invites client families to shift to a more
optimistic focus, along with its commensurate emo-
tions. Feelings of liking, comfort, and reassurance are
engendered, feelings which likely expedite each party's
dependence on the other. For liking, feeling comfort-
able with, and reassured about particular physicians,
client families arguably will less likely hesitate about
cooperating with the diagnostic and treatment proce-
dures they suggest. Reciprocally, confident of these
feelings, physicians can be assured that families will
continue in the service relationship and follow through
with their recommendations. Then, in continuing visits,
the production of these comedie episodes reconstitutes
each encounter in emotionally positive terms, securing
the client families' continued positive orientation to-
wards compliance with the treatment process.
Celebratory Comedy
Client family feelings may be neutral prior to the onset
of this performance (having already come quite far in
the treatment regime); however, in some circum-
52
stances, such as waiting for blood counts in oncology or
creatinine levels in nephrology, anxiety and/or fear
certainly may be present. Celebratory comedy is en-
acted at high points in the medical process. It surfaces
at the conclusion of a treatment episode, or, since
treatment is frequently a recurring process in patients
with chronic illness, along the way as treatment mile-
stones are achieved. Consequently, it both commemo-
rates this phase of the treatment journey and marks its
success. Feelings of joy are recruited by underscoring
the treatment's triumph.
Relative to the previous comedies, the vocalizations
and physical movements present in these performances
are noticeably louder and more exaggerated. Even for
this group of physicians, the boisterousness achieved in
these episodes constitutes a departure from their typi-
cal professional mien. Often the apparent deviation
from role behavior was mirrored by client families. As
such. Celebratory comedy takes on the character of a
ritualized "time out" (Van Mannen 1986); it provides
the appropriate dramatic stage for a conspicuous cele-
bration of medical achievements and expression of
"real" feelings (Van Maanen and Kunda 1989). Not
surprisingly, the fun displayed in these performances is
amplified; any lingering negative feelings are replaced
with joy about the outcome (I see/feel the doctor
did/shall make by child well). To illustrate:
Dr. Roberts finishes an examination of a 13 year old young
man who, following 5 years of dialysis, has had a kidney
transplant and is doing well. He begins wrestling with him on
the examination table and jokes about taking him back, "Now
the dialysis girls said they'd have the machine ready for
y o u . . . . " Josh, laughing and wrestling back, yells out insis-
tently, "Nooo!"Roberts continues his exaggerated threats. He
pushes Josh back down on the examining tabie, "Lie you
d o w n . . . , " he playfully punches him in the stomach, "Make
you puke " Again, Josh howls out, "Nooo!" between the
laughter. Mother is watching and laughing along.
That is all behind him now, and they can all laugh and
joke about it, making fun of the treatment procedures
that previously were no fun at all. The joy is under-
scored when, in this performance. Dr. Roberts portrays
himself as mean and cruel, beating up on his patient.
He is the one that did all those nasty things to Josh, yet
in acting as if he is a monster, he also acknowledges
that he is aware of the pain that Josh went through,
that he is responsible for his recovery, and that he is
thrilled to see him doing so well. The contrived rough
handling allows Dr. Roberts to emphasize the appro-
priateness of feeling joyful. There is no need to treat
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VOI. 7, No. 1, January-February 1996
KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happened]
the child carefully and gently; he is doing so well that
he can be roughly thrown about. And, the Celebratory
performance brings this actuality to the center of ev-
eryone's attention.
The burden of client families' anxiety and fear are
reflected in their eagerness to respond to the invitation
to feel joyful delivered by Celebratory comedy. Relief
and joy are strongly expressed in this father's response
to its performance, a response outside that usually
included in the client family role.
In the climax of the performance. Dr. Morris strides into the
hospital room, his right hand brandishing the "Neutropenic
Precautions" sign that had been taped to the hospital door.
[The sign is a reminder to hospital staff to take all precautions
against infection because white blood counts are very low]. He
bows and presents it to the father. He and the mother, both
laughing, clap their hands. After a few minutes the father
leaves the room.
When he reappears, he has the sign taped to his chest. He
lopes into the room, then extending both arms about his head
and snapping his fingers, he dances around Dr. Morris. When
he completes the circle, he pulls the taped sign from his chest,
tears it into tiny pieces, and tosses them into the air.
The symbol of his daughter's vulnerability (and of his
fears) is torn up and cast aside. While this encounter
by no means marks the end of treatment, the recovery
of her white blood cells indicates that there is reason
for continued hope that "all is well." And, the client
family is eager to feel this way.
The good feeling generated in this comedie perfor-
mance has a carry-over effect. For the client family, it
intimates that their assurance of Dr. Morris' abilities
was warranted. With their feelings of optimism elicited
and heightened in this performance, they have every
reason to continue to cooperate with his treatment
suggestions, reassured that his accomplished hands will
carry their child through the next phase in the medical
process. Clearly, this reassurance of Dr. Morris' ability
to cure supports the client family's continued compli-
ance. For Dr. Morris, the family's expressed joy affirms
their commitment to him. Moreover, it is likely that the
family in the next room has overheard the episode;
they too have been audience to this display of triumph.
Magical Comedy
Very different in tone than the previous comedies.
Magical comedy is performed when client families feel
there is little hope in the prognosis. The designation of
this comedie performance owes much to Goodman's
(1986) use of the word "magic" to describe the trans-
formation in emotions that Alvin the taxidriver wrought
on him and his mother en route to the hospital where
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VOL 7, No. 1, January-Fehruary 1996
his father was due to undergo surgery for a life-threa-
tening illness. Referring to Table 2, the negative emo-
tion that occasions this comedy is characterized as
despondence. The performance progresses until there
are indications that the oppressive feelings evident in
client family members have been interrupted and dissi-
pated. An illustration takes places during rounds in the
ICU. A six month old baby has been in the ICU
receiving chemotherapy for nearly a week. Today, his
X-ray indicates the tumor is shrinking; this is the first
positive sign. Yet, his parents are unresponsive to this
news.
In the cubicle. Dr. Morris physically examines, then, standing
in silence with both hands resting on the crib rail, looks
intently at the baby, Brian (Pause). He switches his gaze to
Mom and Dad, standing beside each other on the opposite
side of the crib. They are silent; their gazes fixed on their son.
Dr. Morris' eyes move back and forth between the baby and
Mom and Dad. (The silence persists.) "He looks better,"
asserts Dr. Morris, looking at Mom and Dad. (Pause) His
voice now softer and more tentative, he asks, "Does he look
better to you?" Dad says nothing. Mom sighs and shrugs her
shoulders. Their eyes haven't moved from their son. Dr.
Morris continues to stand looking at Mom and Dad.
Now he walks around the crib to Mom's left side, both
hands clasped behind his back, and joins their gazing at the
baby. He extends his right arm and places his hand on Mom's
right shoulder. As he does so, Brian starts moving his arms
and kicking his legs. In a stronger tone he encourages, "Look!
He wants to get out; he wants to play." His face becomes more
animated as his right arm pulls Mom close to him and away
from Dad. His voice changes to a loud exaggerated whisper
and his face takes on the mien of a child caught misbehaving,
"He's looking at us!" Mom shakes her head, trying not to
yield, but her lips slowly break into a smile. And, after a brief
pause, she joins in the play of being caught in mischief, "He's
saying, 'Who's that strange man with his arm around my
M o m . . . that's not my Dad!"'Dad too is smiling.
Dr. Morris now goes on to encourage, addressing Brian
directly "Come on now, Buddy. We've got footballs to learn to
throw... (Mum and Dad nod, affirming his encouragement)
we've got raspberries "
In this example. Dr. Morris's arm is around Mom's
shoulder both as an act of support and to facilitate his
attempt to draw her out of despondence. She has
responded indifferently to his assertion that Brian is
looking better, her shoulder shrug and sigh indicating
the oppression of her feelings of fear and doubt and
her preoccupation with the lack of hope in his situa-
tion. By attempting to draw her into his muted display
of fun, as when he says the baby is looking at "us," he
tries to interrupt and dissipate her affective burden.
With his arm around her shoulder, it is almost as if he
53
KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happened]
is trying to physically pull her out of her burdensome
feelings into a less despairing stance. Typical of Magi-
cal comedy, the affect is very modulated. The line
which Dr. Morris might in other instances deliver with
more exaggerated drama, is here restrained. Indeed,
given the way that Mom and Dad feel, more dramatic
and stylized expressions of fun would be inappropriate.
Yet, it is performed, and the client family's negative
emotional posture has been mitigated.
The emotional intervention is also supported by the
message Dr. Morris is sending. The juxtapositioning of
his identity as a serious professional with that of a silly
doctor indicates that in his professional judgment, "all
is well," and, he invites the family to feel reassured. In
this way. Dr. Morris suggests there is some room to
feel hopeful and that Mom and Dad should focus their
attention on the optimistic signs. He does this as he
simultaneously attempts to intervene in the despon-
dence that makes it difficult to feel optimistic.
Additionally, the fact of having participated and
shared in a few moments of fun helps to generate a
sense of resilience in the client family by reinforcing
that they have the spirit to withstand pain and to enjoy
a moment of life in the face of such circumstances (I
see/feel the doctor won't be able to make my child
well, but I can bear this). In a tertiary care hospital,
treatment successes are not assured. In the face of this,
resilience, or a reconciliation with unwanted outcomes
becomes the emotion appropriate to seeing through
the medical service. In their response to the Magical
comedy, this client family has expressed two emotional
stances consistent with receiving medical service under
these conditions: that they can be hopeful and, if
necessary, that they have the emotional resilience to go
on, no matter what.
Magical comedy's ability to interfere with feelings of
despondence and to engage withdrawn members of
client families is evident in the comments of a seven-
teen year old young man. DJ had come into clinic for
his biweekly check up feeling "down" because a friend
had died of cancer the previous week. According to his
mother, he was saying, "All I can think is I'm next."
Following an episode of Magical comedy in which
Dr. Morris had used a long brightly colored fuzzy tube
to coax DJ into a game of catch to draw him out of his
withdrawn stance. Dr. Morris was called out the exam-
ining room.
As he leaves the room to take the call, DJ is smiling. He turns
to the researcher and says, "Dr. Morris is great... he always
meets you right where you're at. He knows how to talk to
you . . . it always makes me feel better." [When Morris returns
he and DJ talk about his friend.]
54
DJ's smiling response and his comments confirm the
efficacy of the Magical comedy in drawing him out of
his feelings of despondence.
Discussion and Implications
In this account, several issues that concern emotions in
service encounters emerge. The findings underscore
the appropriateness of understanding clients as co-
participants in the service process because the emo-
tional displays of providers arise in response to various
feelings that clients bring to encounters and, they are
intended to influence their ongoing participation in the
delivery of service. Providers in this setting apparently
understand that clients' emotions may impede or facili-
tate their contribution to the service delivery effort.
Consequently, they vary their displays, and the feelings
they attempt to recruit, in response to specific negative
feelings expressed by clients over the course of the
service delivery process. Future research may profit by
a more systematic examination of the interaction be-
tween emotional expressions of clients and providers
and their effects on the quality of each party's contri-
bution to the service delivery effort.
The predictability of the performances implies that
these comedies may be a means to script an emotional
comportment in consumers that conforms with provider
expectations for facilitative consumer conduct. Though
they deal with client emotional behavior, these expres-
sive presentations do parallel the enactment of "service
scripts" (Solomon et al. 1985, Suprenant and Solomon
1987) that educate consumers to their appropriate con-
sumer role. These comedies are an intriguing example
of mechanisms developed by providers in this setting to
ensure clients provide desired inputs to service encoun-
ters (Schneider and Bowen 1985, Kelley et al. 1990,
Mills and Morris 1986). Further, as dramatic devices,
they lend credence to the relevance of the dramatic
metaphor as a means to understand and, perhaps,
control encounters (Grove et al. 1992).
This study also raises a number of questions, for
example, about considerations that impacted the effec-
tiveness of these comedies. As indicated in the text, the
performances in this setting varied in the extent to
which they were "canned" or "improvised," and dis-
played some variation depending on the performing
physician. Did some physicians use only improvised
material? If they did, did it make them more effective
emotion managers because clients experienced the per-
formances as more spontaneous? If my experience as
researcher and as member of a client family reflects
that of other client family members, it suggests that the
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VOI. 7, No. 1, January-February 1996
KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happened]
emotional effectiveness of the performance was not
determined so much by the material as by the perform-
ers. For example, Drs. Roberts and Morris used both
"canned" and "improvised" material, yet the reader
will probably have gathered that they were very com-
pelling performers. Indeed, though I witnessed the
"peek-a-boo" game dozens of times, I still looked for-
ward to it and enjoyed its performance. However, I
obviously could not determine whether Eastman's
(1936) consummatory state of fun had been achieved
after each performance in other client family members
with other physicians. Consequently, I am unable to
make definitive statements about the factors that con-
tributed to achieving this state. Other studies might
endeavor to do this. They may also explore what state
client emotions move to if the performance only
achieves Eastman's first phase and/or if the perfor-
mance fails to achieve even this? Goffman (1961) sug-
gests that if an attempt to generate desired feelings
fails, it may make participants uneasy about the rela-
tionship. If this is the case, there is certainly a risk
attached to these performances.
Another question of concern is whether these per-
formances represented individual or organizational
tendencies; however limitations in the data make it
difficult to make broad statements about this. For
example, all physicians were observed engaging in So-
ciability and Mastery comedies, indicating that these
performances had evolved into an organization level
phenomenon. While fewer physicians were observed
engaging in Celebratory and Magical performances,
other considerations make it difficult to conclude that
these represented individual tendencies. First, the un-
even observation periods for different physicians may
have precluded these performances from being noted
in those observed for shorter periods. Certainly, Dr.
Morris engaged in all of the comedies, but he was
observed for the longest time. Second, encounters that
generate high and low points in the treatment process
are a subset of all encounters. Thus, conditions for the
Magical and Celebratory comedies were underrepre-
sented relative to conditions that occasioned the other
comedies. Third, and most interesting, the availability
of high points and low points in unevenly distributed
across subspecialties. For example, the treatments of-
fered by neurology are ongoing and relatively undra-
matic, usually the use of drugs to control chronic
and/or slowly deteriorating conditions. This sharply
contrasts with oncology where multiple, discrete, and
often dramatic treatments (e.g., excision surgeries,
transplants, radiation therapies, drug therapies, etc.)
are prescribed. This raises an interesting question for
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VOI. 7, No. 1, January-Fehruary 1996
future research that more systematically investigates a
number of physicians in a variety of subspecialties. If
the diagnostic and treatment technologies of some
subspecialties are more likely to put clients on an
emotional roller coaster, does it suggest that physicians
in those areas need to be more adroit and competent
emotion managers than their colleagues in other sub-
specialties? And, to the extent that they do engage in
comedie behavior, would their performances be more
elaborate? The example offered by Dr. Morris cer-
tainly piques the interest in this regard.
Given the reported facility of this expressive vehicle,
it is appropriate to consider the possible uniqueness of
this dramatic form to this particular setting. Is there a
relationship between the presence of children in this
setting and the comedie performances this study de-
scribed? Arguably, the centrality of children greatly
facilitated the emergence of these forms of interaction.
Certainly, it shaped the content of some of the come-
dies: peek-a-boo is a child's game. The issue of whether
analogous behavior might be found in adult settings is
an empirical question; this study suggests that it should
be investigated. Perhaps, in adult-centered settings,
other "grown up" forms of theatrical display may be
used to generate positive feelings; perhaps perfor-
mances would be more verbal and less physical? Yet,
more "adult" performances may, in fact, diminish the
efficacy of these presentations. The comedies per-
formed in the presence of children and their adult
guardians represented the lowest common denomina-
tor for displays of fun. The threat-rigidity hypothesis
(Staw et al. 1981) intimates that other forms of expres-
sive display which require considerable cognitive pro-
cessing may have difficulty engaging adults who are
preoccupied with anxiety and fear. This suggests that it
may be profitable to investigate the relative efficacy of
different vehicles for generating fun in light of differ-
ences in the type and intensity of clients' negative
emotions.
Finally, if we allow that some form of comedie
performance might have been present in this service
setting if children were involved, in other words if it
had been an adult department, how generalizable might
similar performances be to encounters in other service
organizations? A tertiary care medical institution is
distinguished by the emotional density of its environ-
ment. There are few other organizations in which is-
sues of life and death are played out on a daily basis.
Nevertheless, a number of other characteristics of this
setting may serve as indicators for where else re-
searchers might look for forms of or substitutes for
these comedie presentations. These include: compara-
55
KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happened]
tively protracted service relationships where the service times in the ongoing service relationship, performances
is directed and delivered in relatively brief dispersed
encounters, complex situations where the outcomes of
service are uncertain but consequential, and a degree
of emotional density. These characteristics make for
service delivery encounters which are recurrent, haz-
ardous, and emotionally dense. Each of these will be
considered in turn.
In many other service settings, service providers and
consumers are engaged with each other over a long
period, yet their encounters are comparatively brief
and scattered over time. In this setting, actual contact
time with physicians rarely exceeded 20 minutes, yet
the duration of service was frequently measured in
years. Other extended recurring service relationships
include: (1) professional/client relationships, such as
those between psychotherapists, lawyers, accountants,
consultants, and their clients, (2) more casual service
relationships, for example between clients and in-
surance sales personnel and physicians and drug
representatives; and, (3) intraorganizational service
relationships, for example between human resources or
information systems and other departments. For all of build the resilience they need to continue to work
these service providers, the time between encounters
with a particular client is filled with engagements with
other clients on other matters, yet their clients' satis- service providers in one organization respond to the
faction and continued cooperation with them arguably
depends on the degree to which they feel comfortable
with the provider and feel that they are personally
being taken care of. Variations of Sociability and Mas-
tery comedies might allow for the encounter to be
constituted on emotionally positive terms each time
service providers and clients come into contact. In-
deed, Goffman's discussions of greeting rituals (1967,
1971) and of self-confirming performances (1959) sug-
gest that the use of these comedies to establish socia-
bility and competency may be found in many more
casual encounters, for example, in client contacts with
insurance sales personnel.
In many professional service relationships, the tasks Endnotes
in which providers and chents are engaged are rela-
tively complex, clients do not have the training to
determine the professional's competence (Rouse 1991),
and uncertain outcomes are of the utmost conse-
quence. The vulnerability this creates makes these ser-
vice encounters potentially hazardous for clients and
uncertain for providers. For example, how is a client
family of a child with leukemia to respond to a blood
count of 7 following radiation therapy? And, similar
conditions exist when consultants are hired to bring
about major organizational changes or when lawyers
are engaged to file or defend suits. At appropriate
56
analogous to the Mastery comedy and Celebratory
comedy, which underscore provider expertise and posi-
tive service achievements, recruit and may maintain
existing feelings of reassurance and comfort in clients,
thereby reinforcing their continued cooperation.
Finally, emotional density is also a feature of en-
counters between divorce or probate lawyers and their
clients and between some educators and students ob-
taining advanced professional degrees. When clients
feel strong doubts about achieving desired outcomes
(for example, finishing the dissertation or winning an
appeal of a legal ruling) a form of Magical comedy may
provide the affective leverage to intervene in those
negative feelings that cause clients to withdraw their
engagement and cooperation in the service endeavor.
Additionally, a variation of Magical comedy may be
found in other more widespread organizational scenar-
ios, for example, in mentoring relationships as a men-
tor tries to help a protege through a challenging situa-
tion, or, indeed, in downsizing situations. In the latter
case, this comedy may help organization members to
productively.
In conclusion, this ethnographic study reveals how
negative emotions experienced by their clients.
Comedie displays of fun are used to recruit an emo-
tionally positive orientation towards them in order to
expedite cooperation with their treatment delivery rec-
ommendations. Furthermore, clients' displays of posi-
tive emotions recruited by providers signal to them that
they can be reasonably assured of ongoing cooperation.
Acknowledgements
The author thanks Karen Golden-Biddle, Hayagreeva Rao, Ron
Sims, the anonymous reviewers at the Academy of Management's
Organizational Behavior Division and at Organization Science for
their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.
There is one study, not in a service setting (Sutton 1992), which
describes how bill collectors vary their displayed emotions in re-
sponse to the feelings expressed by debtors.
^The literature on emotions is huge and diverse. And, perhaps the
approach taken here belies this fact. For the interested reader,
Averill's (1992) metatheoretical analysis offers one perspective on
varieties of approaches taken to understanding this topic,
'while the three sociologists mentioned agree that social factors play
a role in determining emotions, there are also serious disagreements
among them. For example, Kemper uses a narrower definition of
social factors (Kemper 1978, 1981).
All physicians except the pediatrie oncologist, Dr. Morris, were
observed for from 3 to 10 days. (Differences in the proportion of
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE/VOI. 7, No. 1, January-February 1996
KAREN LOCKE A Funny Thing Happened]
time physicians allocated to seeing patients in the department ac-
counted for this range.) As a close relative became one of his
patients for two weeks, data were gathered on Dr. Morris' interac-
tion with patients for a total of three weeks in this phase.
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