“Emotional Labor” on the Job

Emotional Labor is defined as the process of managing one’s emotional expressions and their emotions as part of the job in which they are involved.  This can be considered very helpful in a job situation, but also very dangerous to one’s health.  According to Dr. Grandey, instructor of psychology at Penn State University, “it is simply important to recognize that in some jobs, employees may be facing situations where they need to ‘fake’ their emotions, and that is a stressful aspect of the job” (McKnight 45). http://web3.infotrac.galenet.com. Employees cannot express their true feels in any way. “In the United States, waitpersons are expected to project a particular kind of friendliness accompanied by broad smiles, self-introductions by broad smiles, self-introductions, and explicit references to be willing to serve” (Cheney, Christensen, Zorn, & Ganesh, 2004, p. 68).  That part is easy, if the employee has nice customers.

The stressful part for the employee comes when dealing with obnoxious or consistently complaining customers.  The emotional labor part comes in heavily when this happens, because the employee still had to remain calm and helpful, even though inside they may want to punch the customer!

Sometimes the stress is so high on the job, due to hiding one’s emotions that the employee may have to get revenge somehow “Studies of airline attendants reveal not only corporate expectations for their behavior but also some creative strategies of resistance—like ‘accidentally’ spilling coffee on the lap of an obnoxious customer (Cheney, Christensen, Zorn, & Ganesh, 2004, p. 68). 

A very important fact tied into emotional labor is framing.  For example, if a news caster comes on the late night news and the first thing the public sees is him/her smiling, the viewers are given the feeling that the story about to be reported upon is a happy one.  When more upsetting news is given, the news caster usually has a more serene look accompanied by a serious tone.  People in the reporting business are often cautioned not to become involved, but remain neutral and only state the facts.  They must, though, keep a smile on their faces no matter what happens.  For example, if a reporter is very close to a bomb going off in Iraq, he is still to remain smiling and calm.

In the article, “The Managed Heart” Barbara Brown Taylor states that Hochschild, author the book The Managed Heart, “estimates that one-third of American workers today have jobs that require and demand some form of emotional labor. From the sales associate who is trained to make a good first impression to the physician who is coached on bedside manner, many of us learn how to manage out hearts in the workplace ( Taylor 1).

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However, for a person to keep his job, he must control his emotions to the employer’s requirement and satisfaction.  Emotional labor is crucial to employers, but often it is destroying to the employee.

Yet, “much of what workers do on the job entails the management of emotions in their interactions with others. The display of emotions or the use of feelings to accomplish their tasks is central to their role performance. Goffman (1959) was among the first researchers to observe that behaviours are guided by the ‘invisible hand’ of norms for appropriate behaviour or expectations that are established by organizations” (Brotheridge 1). http://136.176.200.72:81/attach/11030386.pdf?sid=NgZj/eikErQ&mbox=INBOX&charset=escaped_unicode&uid=33&number=2&filename=11030386.pdf

         Emotional labor  "when performed at its best, like fine background music, . . . goes unnoticed.  Unbeknownst to the client, it facilitates interaction and elicits a desired response, contributing to productivity. . .  and achieving the goal." (Guy, 2004, p. 2).  Employees who perform emotional labor are often compared to actors and actresses by researchers. 

In conclusion, there are both advantages and disadvantages to emotional labor.  When your husband or wife comes home from the job, and they seem a little cranky, it might be just the overload of emotional labor they experienced during the day when they could not respond to it.  Now they are able to.  Studies are just now beginning on individuals to determine the effects of emotional labor in the workplace.

REFERENCES

Cheney, George, & Christensen, Lars, & Zorn, Theodore, & Ganesh, Shiv.(2004).

     Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalization. Long Grove, IL: Waverly

      Press, Inc.

Grandey, Alicia A. (2000 July 14). Emotional Labor’s Consequences [Electronic 

      version]. McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, 18, 45 & 48.

Guy, Mary Ellen, & Newman, Meredith.  ( 2004 My/Je) Women’s Jobs, Men’s Jobs: Sex

       Segregation and Emotional Labor [Electronic version] Public Administration Review

      (Washington, D. C.).  64 no.3, 289-98.      

Taylor, Barbara. (1998 Nov. 4). The Managed Heart [Electronic version]. The Christian

     Century, 15, 1035.

Brotheridge, Celeste M., & Lee, Raymond T. ( 2003). Developing and Validation                                  of the Emotional Labour Scale [Electronic version]. Journal of Occupational and Organization Psychology, 76 , 365-379.