The Smile Factory Case Study

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

At the psychological level, stressful and poor working conditions can cause continuing feelings of humiliation, insecurity and worthlessness. Not having a secure understanding of the future can cause large amounts of anxiety and futility that roots high levels of fatigue from day-to-day life, therefore making everyday coping difficult. Individuals who experience high levels of prolonged stress often attempt to relieve these pressures by adopting unhealthy coping behaviours; for example, the excessive use of alcohol, smoking, and

The purpose of this paper is to examine the inter-relationship of incivility and toxicity, how bullies are able to become toxic managers, and how they are allowed to develop in a toxic organization. We also analyze the development of organizational pain and how toxin handlers deal it with. Finally, we hope to assess if there is any validity to claims that ‘Generation Z’ is responsible for the recent prevalence of workplace toxicity.

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

Disneyland was Walt Disney’s dream of a theme park that would be, in his words, “The Happiest Place on Earth”. Walt understood too well that the people that were hired would need to be taught how to create that elusive atmosphere. He called on Van France to assist him in creating what has become a world renowned training program. This program taught their employees, or “cast members”, to achieve the ultimate result, a “good show”.

Developing work attitudes is by reducing imprudence that was between the hourly workers and their mangers and increasing job satisfaction and organizational commitment. It is clear that workers at this motor company have the lowest job satisfaction in order of various negative influences that impact their life. First, mangers at this company did not treat their employees as a human, they treat them as machines, that should rich the demand by the end of the day, and called them by numbers not their name. Second, workers have intrinsic value, extrinsic value, and ethical values that ford would not respect. Third, Stressful work without any reward and the work environment that was not save, clean, or regulated at the plant. Finally, week bonds between mangers and workers that create week work energy and losing trust between employees as results the work has turned down frequently. In addition, at Ford Motor Company the physical and psychological

In this “The Smile Factory: Work at Disney” case study, it clearly point out the power of organizational cultures that created by Disney itself. Organizational culture includes the values and assumptions that shared among whole organization. This culture is very important in improving employee motivation and company performance. It makes the companies operate smoothly and directs every employee toward “right” direction within organization. Every

Depersonalization occurs when employees become emotionally detached from those around them because of stress with limited or no resources available to assist the employee in coping. One of the biggest contributors to depersonalization is burnout by employees that leads to a decrease in job satisfaction, employee performance, and turnover. Conservation of resources theory (COR) addresses how burnout develops and the effects it has on an employee’s job performance. Burnout often develops because of limited work resources while attempting to keep up with work demands. This addresses the fourth hypothesis where employees with higher levels of depersonalization will more than likely engage

I am writing to you to inform you I will be terminating my treatment at Clear Smiles Orthodontics, effective immediately.

Welcome to the happiest place on earth, otherwise known as hell. Imagine entering a place where the air smells like fresh homemade cookies, the lush green trees are shaped like animated characters, and the sidewalks are always squeaky clean. The employees or “cast members” appear to be clean-cut, happy, wholesome, all-American people. This is the image Walt Disney World provides for its guests. But what goes on behind the scenes at Disney? Until a person has worked for the “big mouse” she won’t be able to understand the torture that can go on for employees. I’ve been in that Disney “cult,” part of the “wonderful world of Disney.”

For instance, Jason Felix, a Human Resources Technician with College of the Desert describes his thought after having dealt with a rude applicant over the phone, “while physical labor is no walk in the park, dealing with people can leave you just as drained, if not more, and it can take longer to regain your emotional stability” (J. Felix, personal communication, January 30, 2017). After having been cut off, yelled at, and harangued, Jason had to still go about his day as if nothing happened. The use of good customer service in the face of disrespect is reminiscent Karl Marx writes, “the realization of labor appears as a loss of reality for the worker”. It is not the real person who is being polite but the person created for the work environment that is required to be polite. With this in mind, having to create an atmosphere of happiness when one isn’t feeling happy could result in the depersonalization of happiness with the self (Herpertz et al, 2016). The problem then turns into the employee not knowing whether they are actually happy or is only so used to being happy. How does the employee then adjust to the “real world” outside of the workplace? In A Managed Heart by Arlie Russell Hochschild, she speaks with airline attendants who must always create a positive space for passengers, their smiles being of most value to the company. One flight attendant interviewed is quoted saying, “Sometimes I

The first theory which is applied by Walt Disney Company is employee engagement. According to Dana Wilkie (2014a), it is named as the happiest place on the world. Naveenshahi (2013) said that Disney often focuses on people and creates a happy environment for their employees and makes them loyal to the company. To achieve the high engagement of employees, they hire and train the employees, create enthusiasm through communication and always put people at first. Walt Disney has a well-being employee engagement as there are some examples show that employees often put customers at the first place, work hard on their jobs. Mr. Kurlin who is one of the cast members picked up a thrown coffee cup while he was walking towards his working place even though

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).

According to Elkin and Rosch (1990) workplace related stress in a major problem in the U.S. and it creates a major expense for corporations. Koeske, Kirk, and Koeske (1993) indicate that all jobs have some level of stress but jobs that are in the human services have additional stressors because they “derive from intense involvement in the lives of others”. (p.319). They also refer to the type of stress experienced by individuals working in human services as “burnout” (Koeske, Kirk, and Koeske, 1993, p.319). Another factor that can influence our stress level is how we handle life’s demands. There are different ways of reacting to the situations we face every day of our lives. We have all heard of expressions such as ‘road rage’ and ‘going postal’. These are terms that we have come to identified with violent reactions to stressors caused by situations all of us face every day. How many of us have experiences in the road that

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.