Even though group mood has a significant impact on organizational functioning, there is no typology available to describe distinct group moods. We propose that designing products and services to facilitate beneficial group mood experiences requires a granular and experience-oriented understanding of the phenomenon. This article introduces an initial typology of eight group moods using a componential approach. The typology was generated via an exploratory study designed to identify aspects and qualities of group mood experienced in professional settings. We observed real-life meetings of five small workgroups. Group mood perceptions were self-reported in situ and later described collectively in a group session. By categorizing the group mood qualities in participants’ descriptions, we developed eight group mood types. This typology aims to facilitate a granular understanding of the group mood phenomenon for designers (practitioners and researchers). We envision this overview of eight group moods as the first step toward developing a systematic knowledge of group mood in the field of design.

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This working paper presents an artistic inquiry into the embodiment of group mood through the human expression of dance. The starting point was a previously developed typology of eight distinct group moods. The collaborative inquiry involved choreographers, dancers, and artists for music, filming, costumes, make-up and set design. The result is a set of eight dance video clips, each representing a specific type of group mood. As a next step, we will explore how these video clips can be useful (1) as a form of holistic, multimodal, and appealing knowledge communication, and (2) as representations that can guide further theorizing and hypothesis development about the nature of group mood. The presented work serves as a case that explores and demonstrates the value of artistic inquiry in the domain of experience research.@en