Introduction
The following paragraphs will describe a fragment, explain the fragment, link it to relevant data and finally provide a conclusion. The fragment chosen for this assignment is “A number of theorists have echoed the negative effects of emotion labor. For instance, researchers have argued that maintaining a culturally prescribed happy face can lead to emotional numbness and that suppression of feelings negatively affects organizational relationships.” derived from an article by Tracy (2000), this short excerpt introduces us to the drawbacks of emotional labor, which will be further elaborated in this paper. Emotional labor can be described as “the management of feelings to create a publicly observable facial and bodily display” (Mumby,
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According to the mentioned article, emotion labor can be very demanding and therefore have various negative effects, such as emotional numbness, but also burnouts and depersonalization. According to Hochschild, by engaging in emotion labor, one’s ‘real self’ is being pushed further inside, which makes it harder to access on the long term (Tracy, 2000). This clash between the real self and required feelings is called ‘emotional dissonance’. People exposed to emotional dissonance have two strategies to choose from, says Hochschild (1983). The first being ‘surface acting’ (SA), which means that one modifies his/her physical emotional display to align with display rules, so faking and hiding emotions, which often leads to burnout and depression. The second strategy is ‘deep acting’ (DA), this is a way in which one modifies his/her internal feelings to be consistent with display rules, by focusing on the positive aspects of the situation, for example. Deep acting may be harder, but eventually leads to less emotional dissonance and its negative effects …show more content…
For example, when emotional labor ends up in satisfied customers and high tips, a waitress, in this case, may experience feelings such as pride of one’s skills, but also a sense of control over influencing the customer in a way that ends in a positive interaction (Pugliesi, 1999; Rafaeli & Sutton, 1987). When emotion labor, either surface acting or deep acting has a positive outcome, this decreases negative feelings that could result in a burnout for example (Hochschild, 1983). Deep acting, or modifying one’s internal feelings, ultimately leads to someone feeling better, which is a positive consequence in itself, also this genuine good feeling reflects on the customers, resulting in customer satisfaction and rewards such as a tip (Rafaeli & Sutton, 1987). Apart from the personal positive effects, emotional labor also has positive consequences for the company as a whole. When all employees in an organization, abide by the ‘display rules’, this will most likely have a positive effect on the customer’s experience. When customers have a positive experience in a place, such as a restaurant, one is likely to give a good review, which might lead to recruiting more guests, and more guest means more money coming into the organization (Rafaeli & Sutton, 1987). Even though there are some positive consequences, the negative outweigh the positive on the long term, as various research has shown that
Over time, this dull pain can erode the self-confidence and passion of even the strongest people, which in turn, affects their spouses and children and friends in subtle but profound ways… Though it may be difficult to quantify, the dissatisfaction of employees has a direct impact on productivity, turnover, and morale, all of which eventually hit a company’s bottom line hard,” (p. ix –
The key success to any business transaction is customer satisfaction. A customer always demands the best service and in return offers the company their loyalty. The key to this; great customer service. Smile at the customer, speak to them with a polite tone, and adjust your body language to make it friendly and approachable; all these are related to the concept of emotional labour. Emotional labour proposes that in order to ensure customer satisfaction is achieved, it is vital for “managers or employers to regulate or manage employee’s behaviour or emotional expressions to ensure service quality” (Chu 2002). The concept of emotional labour was first developed by Arlie Hochschild, who was an organizational sociologist. Hochschild stated that if an employee was employed in a service field, then it would be required from the employee to “to display specific sets of emotions (both verbal and non-verbal) with the aim of inducing particular feelings and responses among those for whom the service is being provided”(Hochschild 1983).
The situation in which I will be referring to throughout this essay is a family dinner celebrating my brother’s engagement to his fiancé whom my mother approves of but my father does not. The works of Arlie Hochschild on emotional work will be used to analyze the situational context. Arlie Hochschild is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley whose area of interest is in how individuals manage their emotions and perform emotional labor in places that require control over one’s character such as their workplace. Her work suggests the idea that emotion and feeling are social. In this Hochschild (1983) means that there are rules to how we feel in every situation such as birthday parties and trying to stay happy at them or funerals and being expected to express emotions of grief. An individual may engage in emotional work by changing their affective state to match the feeling rules of the situation, Hochschild (1983) refers to this as two concepts: surface acting and deep acting.
Van Goozen, Stephanie H. M. (ed.). Emotions: Essays on Emotion Theory. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, Hillsdale, N.J., 1994
Mary Ellen Guy and Meredith Newman’s research article, “Sex Segregation and Emotional Labor,” attempted to figure out if emotional labor had any influence on why women get paid less than men in the workplace. The discussion section of the article states that emotional labor is one of the causes to lower wages for jobs held primarily by women. Jobs that require the emotive work are thought to better fit women because it requires expressions of care and nurturing, and even though those jobs are tremendously important in our society, they are not given enough credit or pay. This source is credible because it is a peer reviewed journal which means that many experts had an influence in the material discussed and in the publishing of the article.
Hochschild, undertakes the sociological study of emotional labor in the work force. She analyzes how worker’s feelings in the service industry are exploited for profit by employers and how workers are thought to modify their emotions to a set of rules not just as a surface performance, but on a deeper and emotional level with the customers intimate emotional life. To understand Hochschild’s views, we first need to understand the three types of labor to which she introduces in her studies: emotional labor, management and work, with each having a different meaning. Hochschild defines emotional labor as, “the management of feeling to create a publicly observable facial and bodily display; it is sold for a wage and therefore has exchange value”
Introduction Emotional Labor (EL) is defined “as managing emotions through surface or deep acting by following organizational display rules in return for a wage.” (Hochschild 1983). Task performance and strategy is increased through EL and it has impact on administration of service. Strategies displayed by frontline staffs in service roles may increase bad outcomes by activating negative idea like emotive dissonance and self-alienation.
I am a very independent person who likes her space and can be very stubborn at times. When I know I have plans I usually stick to them even when I am not feeling up to them. I can easily but on a fake smile and pretend I am having fun, when in reality I am really tired and just want to be at home. This here is an example of emotion work that I often face. I will force myself to have a good time at a party, even when I am not feeling up to it. There is not just one time this has happened to me, there are multiple times when this example of emotion work has applied to me. The feeling rules of this situation is that when you are out socializing at a party or get together with friends or family you should be having fun and not being that one sitting
Rosen, L. D., Cheever, N. A., Cummings, C., & Felt, J. (2008). The impact of emotionality and
Stephen L. Fink (1992). "The Species of High commitment to workplaces. Greenwood Publishing Group. Weiss, H. M., & Cropanzano, R. (1996). Affective events theory: A theoretical discussion of the
During the late 1960s, air stewardess had the connotation that they are not just for providing food and beverage service. The advertisements of airline industries had made the flight attendants highly eroticized and an object of aesthetic and sex appeal. Needless to say, most of the passengers expected to be presented with feminine bravado (Tiemeyer, 2007). Almost all of the airlines had the female-only policy when hiring flight attendants. By 1960s, the population of males in the industry of flight attendants were just four percent.
The term “Emotional Labor” was first coined by Arlie Russell Hochschild (1983) in her book titled ‘the managed heart”. She defined emotional labor as “the management of feeling to create a publicly observable facial and bodily display; emotional labor is sold for a wage and therefore has exchange value”. This definition explained that a person will suppress his or her inner emotions and deliberately
“Labour’s realization is its objectification. In the conditions dealt with by political economy this realization of labour appears as loss of reality for the workers; objectification as loss of the object and object-bondage; appropriation as estrangement, as alienation.” (71-72) In reading the portions on “Estranged Labour” and “The Power of Money in Bourgeoise Society,” I found Marx’s writing to be quite compelling but also incredibly applicable to other fields outside of political economy. I could not help but be reminded of the famous playwrights George Bernard Shaw and Bertolt Brecht whose works were profoundly influenced by Karl Marx’s work.
Emotional labor can happen in two forms; surface acting and deep acting. Surface acting is to perform expected emotions not truly felt by the individual; deep acting requires self regulation for inner feelings and thoughts to stimulate the desired emotion to appear therefore it is associated with increased customer satisfaction and positive service evaluation. (Kogovsek et al.,2014). Emotional labor has been identified as a job stressor for employees who are demanded to suppress their emotions as a must to act more
They defined emotional labour as “the act of displaying appropriate emotion (i.e., conforming with a display rule)”, hence the main goal of engaging in emotional labour, by expressing what are considered appropriate emotions in the workplace, is to participate in a method of impression controlling for the organization (Zapf, 2002). When comparing Ashforth and Humphrey’s (1993) perspective with Hochschild’s (1983), it may be concluded that the former is more focused on the act of expressing an emotion rather than the control of an individual’s feelings before engaging in a specific behaviour. In fact, this perspective does not give much importance to the emotional regulation methods of surface and deep acting as source of ill-being in the workplace, since when employees engage in emotional labour it may not signify that they are doing a conscious