Our introduction explains the theme of this edited volume, namely, an exploration of workplace emotion from a social functional perspective in relation to societal ‘talk about emotion’. We examine conditions under which they can be at odds with, as well as reinforce each other in organizations, and occasions when both practices can occur simultaneously. Our hope is that this focus injects fresh theoretical and practical momentum into understanding how our talking about emotion can generate changes in emotion-eliciting events over time and place, which in turn can influence various causes, expressions, and consequences of emotions at work. This introductory chapter (and subsequent chapters) shed further light on the ramifications for social functional accounts of emotion, especially in the context of work environments. We also briefly foreshadow chapter contents in alphabetical order by emotion (i.e., awe, anger, boredom, envy, fear, happiness, pride, sadness, schadenfreude, and shame) and conclude with possible directions for future research.