Emotional Labor

"Emotional Labor among Paralegals" by Jennifer Pierce is centered around the phrase "emotional labor." After reading the article the reader discovers that the phrase "emotional labor" refers to when an employee has to push their feelings aside in order to please or influence their boss or clients. Emotional labor also consists of two components which are difference and caretaking. According to Goffman, (as cited by Pierce) deference is "a type of ceremonial activity which 'functions as symbolic means by which appreciation is regularly conveyed to the recipient" (129). Nevertheless, care taking is when the paralegal attends to the attorneys needs and assumes a "mother" role by being pleasant and giving reassurance.

In The Managed Heart Hochschild focuses on emotional labour: managing one 's emotions in the work place because it is one 's job to do so. While she touches on some benefits of emotion management, her book focuses on the dangers of losing one 's true self when one 's employer can control how one feels. Her main subjects are bill collectors and flight attendants, both are expected to have extreme (and opposite) emotions on the job.

The findings presented in the current study support and extend upon those of previous studies (e.g. Laird,1974) and reflect that facial expression mediates the quality of an individuals emotional experience. However, the findings of the current study demonstrate that the facial feedback hypothesis can also be applied to an additional context and thus, strongly suggesting that facial movement can initiate emotion within an individual.

Although originally written in 1983, The Managed Heart is still an up to date look at an interesting concept: combining emotional feelings with the work one does. At first glance, the notion that emotions may have an impact on one’s work environment seems almost a non-issue. However, Hochschild is not saying that; rather, Hochschild looks at the effect of emotions in the workplace, but also the interaction of those emotions with the work itself. The author’s interest in this topic began at an early age, 12, when she recounts an event in her life: her parents, part of the U.S. Foreign Service, entertained diplomats. Hochschild describes the question that came to her mind as she looked up into the smiling face of a

Both A.R Hochschild in “Exploring The Managed Heart” and William Davies in “All Happy Workers” argue that managers are too focused on their employees’ public emotions rather than their private feelings, therefore revealing a lack of empathy for their employees’ emotions. In “Exploring The Managed Heart” Arlie Russel Hochschild addresses the issues of corporations being more concerned with worker’s emotions than their feelings. Employees’ have to suppress their feelings in order to produce proper body language to consumers; Hochschild defines this as “emotional labor” therefore, workers unconsciously integrate their private feelings with their public feelings which can cause the workers to feel drained from their genuine feelings (7). Hochshild

Interaction is an important concept in sociology, and it has been studied from multiple different perspectives. Both Erving Goffman and Arlie Hochschild have made notable contributions to the sociological study of interaction. According to Erving Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, interaction can be explained through a dramaturgical model. Within the dramaturgical model, interactions are portrayed as performances, as if a particular social environment is a stage, and the people in that social environment are actors (Goffman). Erving Goffman’s sociological interpretation of interaction is extended by Arlie Hochschild in her piece Feelings Management. Hochschild focuses specifically on performances that are put on in the workplace. Acting in the workplace has become a necessity in the service industry because in many cases, people must act warm and welcoming in order to keep their jobs. This method of acting happy and upbeat in the service industry is called emotional labor. However, as Hochschild explains, emotional labor can cause a strain on service workers, especially when they must act cheerful, even when they feel upset and distressed. The discrepancy between a person’s true emotions and their feigned emotional state is known as emotive dissonance. Continued emotive dissonance can lead to spillover, in which a person’s true emotions come out because they can no longer hold back these emotions. Though emotional labor began in the workplace, Hochschild

It is also essential for us to find the “appropriate” emotion during work. If we cannot find the emotional boundaries between appropriate and inappropriate, we might face either underinvolvement or overinvolvement (Skovholt & Rønnestad, 2003, p.50). Although the human service career is rewarding, doesn't mean it's going to be easy. Every day we need to face clients with different issues, and our daily day is highly possible be emotional draining because of struggling individuals. Learning how to control our emotion inside or outside of our workplace is one of the important lesson in our career life. In addition, our unfinished business in our life could definitely make things difficult. Maintain wellness is important for every human service professional. We all know that unfinished personal concerns can limit the helper’s ability to build a working alliance with a client, that’s why we need to attend other counseling and understand how to help ourselves before we help

During my time at the soup kitchen, I had to utilize emotion management when dealing with people and situations in which it would have been inappropriate for me to react in the way that I would otherwise have wanted to. Emotion management is the act of obeying “feeling rules” and responding appropriately to situations (Brym and Lie 2012:77). For example, when a homeless man came into the soup kitchen and started to dance and shout instead of calmly sitting down and eating his meal, I courteously asked him to sit down and to try not to disturb the other guests of the establishment. Regardless of any initial emotions of fear, annoyance, or confusion, I had to respond appropriately to the situation by controlling my emotions and engaging in acceptable behavior. I especially had to utilize emotion labor, which is distinguished

Emotional labour could qualify as an additional work effort for employees since it entails them to perform under a specific mood or appearance in addition to the regular work they render. Meanwhile, fast-paced service industries are generally composed of job roles that require working at a rapidly changing and demanding environment such as restaurants and other hospitality services. While emotional labour is a major requirement for this industry, it also becomes an issue since both concepts does not necessarily align well. More importantly, since emotional labour appears as an extra effort for employees, it causes a strain in performance.

“Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and manage our emotions and those around us, therefore, this quality gives individuals a variety of skills, such as the ability to manage relationships, navigate social networks, influence and inspire others. Every individual possesses different level, but in order for individuals to become effective leaders, they will need a high level of emotional intelligence. In today’s workplace, it has become a highly important

While labor can and is often seen as work that is done physically, it is also seen as an act which necessitates using mind and soul. Depending on the area in which an individual works, it can lean towards using all three – body, mind, and soul – to be successful. It is at this point that Emotional Labor (Hochschild, 1983) begins to take its place in the work environment. Emotional Labor is using self to perform work where an employee creates a pleasant atmosphere by giving good customer service. The ability to use self as a means to perform better on the job may have larger implications than we know of. This paper will look at different ideas which contribute to Emotional Labor as a workplace construct and the effects it has on the

In contrast with the past workplace challenges and organizational behavior, there is a necessity to understand ourselves and others. Sometimes the stress and prestige can cause an adverse impact on one’s position in the workplace. The ability to deal with our emotions while working effectually with others and at the same time, performing the organization’s expectations are in high demand. Since the employees are an asset, and the organization is expecting a return on their investment, understanding how emotions work and how it impacts one’s capacity is indispensable in accomplishing organizational goals. In the workplace, people often have to work with each other. So the handling of relationships and interacting with others becomes the key to the success of the organization. Managers need to have a combination of skills and abilities such as the strength of will, awareness of self, empathy for others and sensitivity toward others internally and externally. Before one can handle others emotions he/she must first learn to lead themselves. So the question become, how is this done? Coleman’s theory suggest that this can be done through emotional intelligence which is the ability to create, build and maintain viable relationships (Coleman, 1998, p. 14). No one wants to follow the leadership of a person who cannot manage his/her emotions. Let’s look together at three business CEO’s personal backgrounds and use of emotional intelligence. The top chief emotions officers in the U.S.

In our everyday lives, we are constantly interacting with other individuals. These interactions have an effect on our emotions. We have to learn how to identify and deal with these emotions because they have a direct effect on how we deal with issues at work. Individuals can work their way through this process by becoming aware of the importance of emotional intelligence.

This paper is aimed at evaluating my own emotional intelligence while subsequent parts of the paper will discuss how this emotional intelligence affects other aspects of human life like business, religion and politics. In this part of the paper, I will reflect on and demonstrate the skills and the knowledge needed to enable one to accurately see and understand the emotional strengths, weaknesses and nuances of other workers at the workplace.

Attitudes and emotions in the workplace are extremely important because they dictate job performance. The emotions that people go through are something that cannot be avoided; however, they can be manipulated. Managers, leaders, CEO’S of companies learn to do this by experience and training. They manipulate employee’s emotions with the purpose of achieving better performance and satisfy an organization’s goals. Although people have always had different emotions, the notion that managers need to care for employee’s satisfaction and happiness is newly implemented in the workplace. In this paper, I will be explaining the impact of attitudes in the workplace, how mood, emotions, attitudes and behavior affect job performance and I will implement the point of view of the CEO of the Defense Commissary Agency, Mr. Joseph Jeu.