Transforming Cold Corporations: Dr. Quy Huy's Emotional Revolution in Business

In the corporate world emotions are often hidden behind a facade of cold professionalism. It is all about numbers, targets, and deadlines, leaving little room for emotional acknowledgment. Expressing emotions or even having them is often seen as a sign of instability, suggesting an inability to handle the demands of a corporate job.

Dr. Quy Nguyen Huy?is an influential change thinker who has challenged and changed this attitude through pure scientific inquiry. He has been leading the shift towards prioritising emotions and demonstrating how to blend them with organisational operations.

Known for his groundbreaking work, Dr. Huy has authored over 80 studies on strategic change, executing strategies, and fostering innovation, shaking up the conversation in the field.

Who is Dr. Quy Huy?

Dr. Quy Nguyen Huy has been a strategy professor at INSEAD since 1998, making significant contributions to strategy execution. His research blends social-emotional factors with organisational processes. Dr. Huy has penned over 80 works focusing on strategic change, strategy execution, and organisational innovation.

Graduating with distinction in Engineering from McGill University in 1978, Dr. Huy worked for 16 years in various managerial roles within large IT firms in North America. Initially an electrical engineer, he later became a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), gaining expertise in systems and software engineering, sales and marketing, and corporate finance.

Ranked among the top 2 percent of most cited scientists in Business & Management, Dr. Huy's work has been cited over 10,000 times on Google Scholar, shaping discussions on strategy execution and change.

Major Contributions

Dr. Huy's research on middle managers, featured in the Harvard Business Review as a "Breakthrough Idea for Today's Business Agenda," is eye-opening for individuals and organisations alike. Let’s focus on two of his influential studies:

• Emotional Capability and Emotional Intelligence

His article,?“Emotional capability, emotional intelligence, and radical change”?published in 1999, examined how emotions affect significant changes in organisations. It highlights that emotional intelligence and a company's ability to manage emotions (emotional capability) both impact the success of major changes.

The article compares individual emotional management to organisational emotional management. For example, an empathetic person understands others' feelings, while a company with strong emotional experiencing recognises and accepts various emotions about a change, making informed decisions based on this understanding.

• Emotional Balancing and Radical Change

In?“Emotional balancing of organisational continuity and radical change: The contribution of middle managers.”, Dr. Huy explores how middle managers balance emotions when implementing new plans. He identifies two types of managers: pushy and supportive.

Pushy managers focused on immediate compliance with new plans, disregarding employees' emotions, while supportive managers cared about employees' emotional responses and provided help to ease transitions.

Surprisingly, neither type was successful alone. Teams with only pushy managers struggled with implementation, and those with only supportive managers made little progress. Success came from balancing both approaches, similar to the 'good cop, bad cop' dynamic.

Dr. Huy and his colleagues also introduced the concept of "emotional aperture,"?highlighting the importance of recognising diverse emotions within groups and their impact on organisational change. Their studies showed how middle managers' group-focused emotions can influence strategy execution, sometimes leading to resistance against top management.

They also explored how emotions like fear impact decision-making during innovation and change, affecting organisational success or failure. Huy's research underscores the need to consider both individual and collective emotions in understanding organisational behaviour and outcomes.

Emotions are inextricably intertwined with work. That's what makes us human. Dr. Huy's research highlights the deep intertwining of emotions with organisational dynamics, leadership, and strategic management.

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