The Concept of Emotional Labour - Assignment Example

The Concept of Emotional Labour Introduction This project entailed conducting a research that aimed define the concept of emotional labor by describing, explaining and discussing perspectives on the concept in both general and different workplace settings. The limited field research was an attempt to assess various understandings and experiences in different work settings by analysing the findings from the research. Workers were generally asked to rate their job satisfaction as well as satisfaction with workplace environments on a scale of 1-10 and also how they are expected to present themselves to customers. The focus was on taxi drivers, law enforcement officers and public school teachers, from which two participants in each category were interviewed. These categories were chosen because the employees are faced with unique challenges as presented by the extremely diverse types of customers or clients they handle. Emotional Labor: Psychological Stress in the Workplace For the purpose of this project, emotional labor was defined as the requirement for employees to control their behavior in order to display prescribed and appropriate emotions while working (Wikipedia 1). Further, the study showed that, apart from public school teachers, the law enforcement officers and taxi drivers often work more hours than those they socialize with family and friends. These extra hours still require emotional labor, deprive employees of their personal freedom and may lead to psychological personality problems. This is the cost they need to pay in order to leave an impression on the clients that they were genuinely happy to serve them rather than only performing a job. While such projected enthusiasm in most jobs may only be viewed as a means of earning additional tips, the chosen categories demand that proper emotional responses be obligatory aspects of conducting duty (Vecchio 262). Characteristically, the project also found that emotional labor is more critical in the type of attitude management expected in the low-wage sector. The chosen categories are all in the service industry. Emotional labor is an integral characteristic of human behavior and this project viewed it from the perspectives of deep acting and surface acting. In surface acting, employees display emotions without actually feeling those emotions by masking the negative ones they actually feel such as sadness, annoyance and anger. In deep acting, employees will display the actual emotions they feel or use past emotional experiences to encourage themselves display their real emotions that they may otherwise not have felt (Hocschild 1). This is mainly because feelings are social and, even as the study observed, brought out by the interactions employees experience with others. According to Battistina (1), emotional labor essentially deals with the feelings of other people, and the core component of this dealing is regulating emotions. In the service industry, the employees must be courteous to customers regardless of how they are treated by the customers, even if such treatment could often be negative. When employees are required to manage their emotions in such negative treatment and remain courteous to clients, it could result in work stress. Mainly due to the concept of surface acting, the work stress often leads to heart disease, hypertension and even aggravates cancer. Consequently, this will result in employees being alienated from their own emotions and suffering burnouts (Brook 19). Interviews The interviews were based on a questionnaire designed to determine the satisfaction levels of employees with their jobs and workplace environments. It also aimed to establish whether there is a structured way of conducted (and if so, how?) that the employees are expected by their employers to display towards clients. Finally, the study also questioned about stress. More specifically, the stress subject was guided by the concept of deep and surface acting of emotional labor. The taxi-driving job is arguably among those that require the highest levels of emotional labor. Out of the two drivers interviewed, they both assert that they are committed to ensuring their clients are satisfied. Further, they said that as a fundamental requirement in their industry, they must avoid any kind of conflict with clients even if the clients provoked. However, they also confessed that up to 40% of their colleagues had problems keeping up with the concept of emotional labor, often resulting in loss of business and even employment. Some passengers are rude, others are stubborn when it comes to paying and others are even violent, especially late night drunkards. Yet, the driver is expected to push himself beyond the normal emotional limits for the sake of earning a living. One of the two interviewees admits to having been treated for emotional, psychological and medical problems related to the job. Even self-employed taxi drivers are not spared the stress associated with emotional labor. For the law enforcement officers, their predicament not only needs a delicate balance between real personal feelings and emotional labor, but also the long hours they are often required to work and the risk of exposing themselves to harm. The nature of law enforcing fundamentally implies encounters with those who break it. Yet, the officers are expected the approach their subjects with courtesy and only use force when reasonably provoked or in self-defense. Usually, their reaction may come a bit too late, which means that the harm would already have been inflicted. According to one of the interviewees, since they are also humans, their emotional balance must also be balanced with the natural fear they have for their own safety. Although not a common occurrence in the Western world, one of the interviewees, a senior officer, admitted that cases of police officers opening fire on their colleagues and then killing themselves are on the rise in Asia and Africa. Sadly, some of these actions are triggered by issues such as altering the times on the duty rooster by as little as 30 minutes. This can only be attributed to mental fatigue, burnout and lack of job satisfaction due to suppressed emotions over a while. On their part, teachers are faced with a unique problem. Their main job is to impart knowledge on their students. However, apart from having to deal with genuine cases of students with learning challenges and require patience, they also have deal with those that have acquired unbecoming behavior. One interviewee admitted that most of the times it is not the students’ mistake or making that they act the way they do but, rather, the manner and environment in which they were brought up. All the same, the teachers are expected to be friendly even to the extent of acting as the student’s parents for the time they spend with them in school. However, sometimes what they get in return gets as bad as violence from the students. Since they involve voice-to-voice and face-to-face contacts with the clients they deal with, the participants from these chosen work categories not only need to be polite but also friendly to their clients. Only the senior police officer who spends most of his time in the office holding meetings or coordinating activities expressed job and workplace environment satisfaction. The taxi driver said that fines from breaking traffic rules were affecting his income, yet they all happen when he is extremely exhausted or under pressure to suppress his emotions in front of a client. The junior police officer said that they are sworn to service and the nation comes even before his family when called to duty, an assertion supported in Work Less, Live More? Critical Perspectives on Work and Organizations (Cohen 108). That does not contribute to either job or workplace satisfaction and builds up stress. Generally, it can be said that the concept of emotional labor does not entitle employees to their own feelings while on duty. Summary and Conclusion Since service can be viewed as the performance of labor to benefit others, successful service will be determined by emotional labor (Mann 209). This is evident every time the workers alter their outward behavior such as emotions, body language and verbal cues in order to conform to ideals. However, this study shows that in the categories of jobs that require emotional labor, acting will also be mandatory. Essentially, this means locking out personal life and the real emotions that life situations are imposing on an individual. When such genuine emotions are suppressed for the sake of public appearance and earning a living, at the expense of social life, the individual cannot claim to be satisfied with the job and workplace environment. Law enforcers may be assigned to a variety of duties, but the teachers’ and taxi drivers’ jobs remain largely manual and repetitive. The quality that must be instilled in such employees is patience (Battistina 1). It is recommended that they are afforded adequate balance between work and family life. Although they will still be subjected to emotional labor, the aspect of surface acting will be reduced as they will tend more towards deep acting. Surface acting will only cause stress since the true feelings are bottled up, with the possibility of culminating in health and psychological issues. While it is acknowledged that clients will often have high and unrealistic expectation, employers must also acknowledge that their employees will only function optimally up to a certain level (Payne 351). Hence, that dictates the significance of continued training, counseling and de-briefing in an attempt to attack and mitigate stress. Works Cited Battistina, Costantino. What is Emotional Labour? . 2014. Web. Brook, Paul. “The Alienated Heart: Hochschild's 'Emotional Labour' Thesis and the Anticapitalist Politics of Alienation.” Capital and Class 98.3 (2009): 3-27. Print. Cohen, Rachel. Work Less, Live More? Critical Perspectives on Work and Organizations. London: Palgrave, 2008. Print. Hocschild, Arlie. “Feeling Around the World”. Context Magazine. . 2008. Web. Mann, S. “People-Work: Emotional Management, Stress and Coping.” British Journal of Guidance and Counseling 32.1 (2004): 205-221. Print. Payne, Jonathan. “Emotional Labour and Skill: A Reappraisal.” Gender, Work and Organization 16. 2 (2009): 348-367. Print. Vecchio, Robert P. Organizational Behavior (4th ed). Harcourt College Publishers, 2000. Print Wikipedia. Defining Emotional Labour. . 2014. Web. Read More