Continuous change on the factory floor: exploring emotions and references to time in antenarratives shared amongst slaughterhouse workers

Purpose This study explores the role of emotions expressed by blue-collar workers in antenarratives of the past, present and future when making sense of organizational life amidst continuous change at a Danish slaughterhouse. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on focus group interviews. An antenarrative approach is used to analyze the fragmented, nonlinear, incoherent and unplotted stories. Findings Sensemaking of the past, present and future sparked competing emotional antenarratives between workers with varying seniority; however, in general, the antenarratives revealed that feeling powerless, insignificant and unappreciated colored the workers' sensemaking of continuous change in all time frames. Also, more so than expressing resistance to ongoing changes, or uncertainty of the future, the workers' sharing of antenarratives was a polyphonic, sensemaking process in which the workers negotiated and shared understandings of their work lives through time, where the past is mostly viewed with nostalgia and the future is viewed with dread. Practical implications An awareness of emotions expressed in shared antenarratives of the past, present and future can be of value to managers. Especially forward-looking antenarratives that are colored by emotions rooted in the past and present have the potential to influence future processes of organizing. Originality/value This paper contributes new knowledge and a nuanced understanding of the central role played by emotional antenarratives, linked to different tempi, in workers' shared sensemaking of continuous change.