On the Costs and Benefits of Emotional Labor - a Meta-Analysis of Three Decades of Research by Hlsheger et al - Article Example

Running head: MANAGING PEOPLE JOURNAL ARTICLE ANALYSIS Managing People Journal Article Analysis [Writer’s name] [Institution’s name] Managing People Journal Article Analysis Introduction In order to completely understand a certain issue in the any field it is important that one analyzes and reds articles reading that particular field of study. This paper is based on an article regarding emotions in the work place. The article has been analyzed to provide a complete understanding of the issue at hand. Article Evaluation On the costs and benefits of emotional labor: A meta-analysis of three decades of research. Hülsheger, Ute R.; Schewe, Anna F.; Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Vol 16(3), Jul, 2011. pp. 361-389. The authors of this article are Hülsheger, Ute R.; Schewe, Anna F. it is based on the topic of emotions in the work place. The title is on the costs and benefits of emotional labor: A meta-analysis of three decades of research. The paper has been selected from Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Vol 16(3) and it’s year of publication is 2011. The article is based on the notion that management of emotions has become part of organizational rules and occupational norms because organizational decision makers as well as employees believe that the expression as well as suppression of certain emotions. Since the article highlights the main factors of role of emotions in the workplace. The authors evaluate the Deep Acting, Surface Acting, and Emotion–Rule Dissonance in the workplace. The article revolves around the theory given by Arlie Russell Hochschild (1983). As per the article the theory stated that “Emotional labor has consequently become part of many individuals' daily work despite the potential detrimental effects for employees' psychological health (Hochschild, 1983)” Here it is noted that the importance of emotions in a work place is extremely essential. Employees have to have anew set of situations everyday and thus, emotional labor becomes a part of their daily lives. If they are not provided with an emotionally stable environment then it may affect their psychological health. It may also be noted that the article gives special importance to the employee’s emotional state for further progress. Other important points which may be interesting to analyze was that Bono and Vey (2005) highlighted the fact that this field of study could not yield proper results during a meta-analysis. Yet it may be noted that a lot of research was successful in the past years. However, it may be noted that their observation was not wrong, as studies involving behaviour is usually unreliable especially when it comes to Meta analysis. This is due the fact that there may be a lot of confounding variables playing an important role here. An interesting part of the article may be the two strategies which highlight emotions regulation in work place which are surface and deep acting. Both seem to be the main jest of emotional labor. According to Gross (1998) Deep acting includes both the perception and processing of cues which become the onset of emotional reactions. Here it may be noted that such reactions are quite natural and also quite intense. They may play and important role in emotions in the workplace this element of the article may have highlighted something really important in the study of emotions in the work place. Another interesting element of the article is Surface acting, according to Grandey, (2000)”it is a response-focused form of emotion regulation that is applied when the emotion has already developed”. Here the employee tends to find ways to hide his/ her emotional expressions. People who are going through such a phase usually use suppression or they fake their emotions. Emotion–rule dissonance is another important element studied in the article, this phenomenon according to Abraham ( 1999) is based on person-role conflict which result due to incongruence among emotions that which the employee is genuinely feeling and emotions that are necessary by exhibit rules and resulting in an distasteful state of anxiety. All three above mentioned phenomena leads to emotional wellbeing of the employees. While the researcher of this study were designing their hypothesis in regarding the relationship of the before mentioned themes of emotional labor with well-being and performance outcomes importance was also given to the theoretical models of emotional labor. The article heighted various methods by which the relationships of surface and deep acting with well-being and performance outcomes may be studied. One such method is Ego-depletion. According to Richard and Gross (1999) deep acting does not need a lot of cognitive resources as compared to surface acting. This notion is based on two assumptions, that is that deep acting is like to reassessment and that the reappraisal methods utilized in deep acting weaken mental resources at the exact moment when the emotions begins . As a result according to Totterdell and Holman (2003) it has been concluded that deep acting utilizes lesser resources as compared to surface acting. Another method highlighted in the article was felt in authenticity in which surface acting; there is no inconsistency among felt and displayed emotions at the time the staff is involved in deep acting. Once employees utilize deep acting strategies they can uphold their genuine emotions. Thus it may be said that the article suggests that there may be a negative relationship among surface acting and emotional well-being of the employee but the relationship among deep acting and well-being maybe considered as a positive one. Yet another method highlight in the article is authenticity of the emotion display. As per this method according to Van Kleef (2009) Emotion as Social Information Model is an important model here as it that emotional displays give other around important information and also has an effect on the way they behave. But still the way an emotion is expressed may be different, some are fake and some are genuine. Only authentic emotional expressions involve the appropriate cues that provide vital social functions and include the desired effects on people around. The study was hence based on a meta-analysis in which there was a differentiation between two different aspects of well-being, specifically those factors which effected personal ill-being and job-related aspects of well-being. While analyzing personal aspects of ill-being, the authors considered different indicators which have been previously studied in researches regarding emotions in workplace and which may also highlight various aspects of it: The burnout aspect of emotional fatigue, depersonalization, and no personal achievement; psychological strain; and psychosomatic problems . The study was based on four hypotheses the first one was : “Hypothesis 1: Surface acting displays a positive relationship with indicators of personal ill-being that is, (a) emotional exhaustion, (b) depersonalization, (c) lack of personal accomplishment, (d) psychological strain, and (e) psychosomatic complaints.” Apart from the factors mentioned in the hypothesis the article even studied job satisfaction and organizational attachment. The second hypothesis studied in the article was: “Hypothesis 2: Surface acting displays a negative relationship with indicators of job-related well-being, that is, (a) job satisfaction and (b) organizational attachment.” In consequence, in the article the researchers did not hypothesize to find a relationship among deep acting and factors related personal ill-being. However, for a better in-depth analysis, the researchers choose to analyze the relationships meta-analytically. “Hypothesis 3: Surface acting displays a negative relationship with performance outcomes, that is, (a) task performance, (b) emotional performance, and (c) customer satisfaction.” “Hypothesis 4: Deep acting displays a positive relationship with performance outcomes, that is, (a) task performance, (b) emotional performance, and (c) customer satisfaction.” This hypothesis was based on the notion of the relationship of emotion–rule dissonance with well-being and performance. In which Rafaeli and Sutton (1987) theory is used that emotion–rule dissonance is a type of person-role conflict, a variance among an individual's personal values and requirements and precise organizational or responsibilities of the job. “Hypothesis 5: Emotion–rule dissonance displays a positive relationship with indicators of personal ill-being, that is, (a) emotional exhaustion (b) depersonalization, (c) lack of personal accomplishment, (d) psychological strain, and (e) psychosomatic complaints. Hypothesis 6: Emotion–rule dissonance displays a negative relationship with indicators of job-related well-being, that is, (a) job satisfaction and (b) organizational attachment. Hypothesis 7: Emotion–rule dissonance displays a negative relationship with performance outcomes, that is, (a) task performance, (b) emotional performance, and (c) customer satisfaction.” These hypothesis have been based on notion of a mediated process model of emotional labor. This based on Rubin et al. (2005) theory which states that when people are in situations in which the felt emotions do not match naturally with display rules either exhibit their true feelings and neglect the rules of conduct in the workplace or they turn towards surface or deep acting so that they can act according to the prescribed set of rules. Hypothesis 8: The link between emotion–rule dissonance and indicators of personal ill-being, that is, (a) emotional exhaustion (b) depersonalization, (c) lack of personal accomplishment, (d) psychological strain, and (e) psychosomatic complaints, is partially mediated by surface acting. Hypothesis 9: The link between emotion–rule dissonance and indicators of job-related well-being, that is, (a) job satisfaction and (b) organizational attachment, is partially mediated by surface acting. Hypothesis 10: The link between emotion–rule dissonance and performance indicators, that is, (a) task performance, (b) emotional performance, and (c) customer satisfaction is partially mediated by surface acting. These hypotheses were based on the notion of Potential Moderating Influences. As per the study according to Van Hemert (2003).in meta-analyses, moderators can be present at different levels of study, at the study level, sample level, and at the cultural level. The researchers considered all the mentioned levels. In the study at the study level, publication status could have moderated the observed relationships. At Publication status the researchers made use of published an unpublished research papers. At the sample level, the researchers studied the kind of interaction which took place amongst the workers of the organization. Apart from these even cultural differences is considered as moderator as it effects emotions in work place and its relationship with well-being and performance outcomes. The method used in study was basically meta analysis done based on secondary data , which made it a qualitative research . The researchers selected literature regarding the hypothesis from various online journals PsycARTICLES, PsycBooks, PsycINFO, PSYNDEXplus, Social Sciences Citation Index, medline, EconLit, ERIC, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Organizational Health Psychology, Journal of Vocational Behavior. After this they were. They used a random-effects model and used the method recommend by Hunter and Schmidt (2004) to incorporate effect sizes statistically. The results showed that in Hypotheses 1 and 2 positive relationships of surface acting with indicators of personal ill-being and job-related well-being . While hypotheses 3 and 4 showed negative relationship between the two. Hypotheses 5 and 6 also showed negative relationships with the personal ill-being and job-related well-being. Even hypothesis 7 showed a negative relationship. Hypothesis 8 9, and 10 were tested by means of regression and the Results as a result confirmed Hypotheses 8 and 9. Hypothesis 10 could only be hypothesis turned out to be null as surface acting proved to have no relationship with task performance . The above results may be analyzed it be noted that surface acting and emotion–rule dissonance turned out to have a negative relationship with employee well-being. This maybe due to the fact that the deep acting seemed to have practically no or a weak relationship with well-being outcomes while resulting in positive associations with performance outcomes. Thus, by the results it was quite clear the article gave a complete understanding of how emotion–rule dissonance and surface acting are harmful to both well-being and performance outcomes. As compared to it deep acting tends to be a better option. It yields positive performance with both thus, showing that it may be better for employees take up this option. The article may also be analyzed in the light of the view that emotional impairment and burnout does not come from having a good emotional work environment. without a doubt, organizations must thus try to stop their staff from utilizing surface acting and encourage deep acting. For this they must find out o which employees utilize surface acting and why as well as when. References Abraham, R. (1999). The impact of emotional dissonance on organizational commitment and intention to turnover. Journal of Psychology, 133, 441–455. Bono, J. E., & Vey, M. A. (2005). Toward understanding emotional management at work: A quantitative review of emotional labor research. In C. E.Hartel, W. J.Zerbe, & N. M.Ashkanasy (Eds.). Emotions in organizational behavior (pp. 213–233). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Publishers. Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Hunter, J. E., & Schmidt, F. L. (2004). Methods of meta-analysis. Correcting error and bias in research findings (2 Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Rafaeli, A., & Sutton, R. I. (1987). Expression of emotion as part of the work role. Academy of Management Review, 12, 23–37. Richards, J. M., & Gross, J. J. (1999). Composure at any cost? The cognitive consequences of emotion suppression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 1033–1044. Richards, J. M., & Gross, J. J. (2000). Emotion regulation and memory: The cognitive costs of keeping one's cool. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 410–424. Rubin, R. S., Staebler Tardino, V. M., Daus, C. S., & Munz, D. C. (2005). A reconceptualization of the emotional labor construct: On the development of an integrated theory of perceived emotional dissonance and emotional labor. In C. E. J.Härtel, W. J.Zerbe, & N. M.Ashkanasy (Eds.). Emotions in organizational behavior (pp. 189–211). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Van Hemert, D. A. (2003). Cross-cultural meta-analyses. In Online readings in psychology and culture(Unit 2, chap. 12). ( http://orpc.iaccp.org) International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology. Van Kleef, G. A. (2009). How emotions regulate social life: The emotions as social information (EASI) model. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 184–188. Read More