The Benefits of Emotional Labour

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

Noah utilizes the restaurant chain Pret A Manger for forcing its employees to be happy, and to make sure their customers are more than satisfied with their visit to the restaurant. He states how this job produces “emotional [labor] because the worker doesn't create or even necessarily sell a product or service so much as make the customer experience a positive feeling” (1). Again, this is a prime example that depicts how emotional labor is essential to the employees’ profession. He relates to both of the authors, Hochschild and Davies, when he mentions how “emotional labor” in the work place has become an increasing problem because of the link between mental health and productivity (2). Hochschild argues that companies are focused on employees’ emotions rather than their feelings, and Davies argues that if employees’ go to work unhappy then capital gain will decrease. Pret A Manger employees’ are given a set of rules known as “Pret Behaviours” that require their employees’ to be happy, efficient, and courteous (2). As a result the list of requirements Pret employees’ have to abide by has rendered all of their happiness into their profession just to make sure they can retain their job and the company compiles capital gain (2). As a result, Noah focuses on how employees’ have to preform emotional labor as apart of their profession even if it means performing false friendliness towards the customers. Like both Hochschild and Davies, Noah concludes that “emotional labor” is becoming innate to most professions today. Since, “emotional labor” is disseminating to jobs today workers’ have to learn how to cope with “emotional labor”

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

In “Exploring the Managed Heart” by Arlie Russel Hochschild and “All the Happy Workers” by William Davies, the authors agree that the emotions of employees are influenced by corporations in order to increase profit, but while Davies suggests workers can resist this phenomenon, Hochschild argues that employees will be affected, even in their private lives. Hochschild uses the term “transmutation,” which is the blending of a worker’s private and public life, to show how corporation’s requirements for “emotional labor” affect the employee’s personal lives (15). To support how corporations are effecting workers personal lives, Hochschild states “transmutation of an emotional system to convey that what we do privately often, unconsciously, to feelings...

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 workers at the deli chain Pret A Manger is used as a prime example of this by Timothy Noah in his article “Labor of Love.” Noah’s article builds primarily off the work of Arlie Hochschild, who defined “emotional labor,” which is is when employees must "induce or suppress” emotions in order to make the customer "experience a positive feeling" (1-2). According to Noah, Pret’s employees are extreme examples of “emotional laborers,” as they must follow set “Pret Behaviors” at all times. These rules of behavior make positivity and smiling mandatory, and subsequently all Pret workers must not only serve customers food, but also cater to their emotions (2-3). If employees fail to uphold their happy facade they face repercussions, often in the form of withheld bonuses (3). Noah states the stress to perform to these standards at all times makes the employees into “enthusiasm cops,” watching and enforcing these emotional behaviors onto one another, and as Noah puts it, “further constricting any space for a reserved and private self” (3). It is in this way that Pret manipulates its own workers into doing extra work (emotional labor and the enforcement of it) without extra

In the last decade of the 20th century, many researchers became involved in in-depth analyses of the causes and consequences of specific emotions and moods at work and several theories were proposed to explain emotions in the work place and one of these theories is the affective events theory. AET is a model developed by organisational psychologists, Weiss and Cropanzano in 1996 to explain how emotions and moods influence job performance and job satisfaction, Thompson and Phua (2012). The model explains the linkages between employees' internal influences (e.g., cognitions, emotions, mental states) and their reactions to incidents that occur in their work environment that affect their performance, organisational commitment and job satisfaction. The theory proposes that affective work behaviours are explained by employee mood and

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

Arlie R. Hochschild’s “Exploring the Managed Heart,” and William Davies “All the Happy Workers,” both argue that emotions generated at work are blending into employees’ private lives, showing the extent of corporate control over employees emotions. Hochschild illustrates corporate control of employee emotion when she discusses the personal testimony of a flight attendant and her inability to shed the enthusiasm required on the job once she was home (4). This inability as Hochschild states is “[a] deeper extension of the professional smile is not always easy to retract at the end of the work day,” she suggests that the emotions fostered at work are not easily shed once it is time to clock out (4). With such a high demand for emotional labor

Ashkanasy, N. M., Zerbe, W. J., & Härtel, C. E. (2002). Managing emotions in the workplace. ME Sharpe. Retrieved March 21, 2017 from https://books.google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=&id=nUiRnxzD68UC&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=N.+M.+Ashkanasy,+C.+E.+J.+Hartel,+and+W.+J.+Zerbe+(eds.),+Emotions+in+the+Workplace:+Research+Theory+and+Practice+(&ots=S-KCim_1_h&sig=4JpsB9u67hD6nObcHRAD_F5t2hE&redir_esc=y#v=onePage&q=N.%20M.%20Ashkanasy%2C%20C.%20E.%20J.%20Hartel%2C%20and%20W.%20J.%20Zerbe%20(eds.)%2C%20Emotions%20in%20the%20Workplace%3A%20Research%20Theory%20and%20Practice%20(&f=false

Over half (59%) of all job separations were voluntary while 41% were involuntary, including firings (17%), temporary job endings (14%), and layoffs (10%) according to the study “Reasons for job separations in a cohort of workers with psychiatric disabilities.” Findings of current study in Science International. 27.4 (Aug. 31, 2015): From Academic OneFile, implies that management leadership plays significant role in improving the level of employee job engagement banking sector. Thus, management plays a crucial role in the employee’s ability to bond and engage in their jobs. According to Ashforth and Humphrey (1993) and Hochschild (1983), there are numerous emotional labor tactics. We fixated mainly on surface and deep acting. Surface acting involves the modification of emotional expressions without feeling that emotion (Hochschild,

“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

Affective Events Theory is recognising different factors that cause employees’ emotional reactions on their work and how the emotional reactions influence the employees’ job performance (Greenberg, 2011). This theory helps employers to understand employees’ moods and emotions at workplace. Affective Events Theory examines the impacts of work-related incidents on emotional reactions and the following consequences for attitudes and behaviour (Russell-Bennett, Hartel & Beatson, n.d.). Ashkanasy (2002) stated that Affective Events Theory is the collection of a sequence of positive or negative affective events that turns to positive or negative affective states. If there is a negative affective event and turn to negative affective states, it will threaten attitudinal states and behavioural reactions of employees (Ashkanasy, 2002). This theory also clarifies as an approach of counterbalancing judgment-based theories of work attitudes and behaviours (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996).

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.