emotional labor is often called being polite, it is a near universal part of every job and of life. Nevertheless, the level to which individual performances makes a meaningful difference. An individual can “deep act” in a manner that is still related with one’s core values and beliefs at work (“Yes, the customer is being patronizing, but I empathize with her and care about solving her problem”) or “surface act” (“I’ll be nice, but deep down I’m really spitting nails”). There are two distinguishing strategy for emotional labor: the deep acting and the surface acting. Surface acting is modifying the displayed emotion while the deep acting involves altering actual emotional state. Research show that engaging to emotional labor leads to poor health,
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.
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...
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
Today I will be talking about comparing and contrasting. The two stories I will be talking about is “A Simple Act” and“An Invisible Thread”. The first story we will look at is “A Simple Act”. The second story we will be looking at is “An Invisible Thread”. Here is the background to the stories.“A Simple Act”In a big city like New York, thousands of strangers from many different backgrounds cross paths every day. But they rarely stop on the street to get to know each other. When people from very different places make to effort to connect, unexpected friendships can form, and “A Simple Act” is Laura and Maurice had been friends for 15 years when he gave the final toast t the celebration of her 50th birthday. Maurice's words, and Laura's
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 a global world, post-industrial economies are required to focus on the workforce’s emotional labour, particularly in service and blue collar areas due to the emotional impact that certain situations and work-place interactions require of the employee. In Australia Emotional labour is a key issue in Human Resources and People management and is a focus of Industrial relations due to the significance of these interactions on the wider community. Emotional labour is a human emotive process produced at a personal level which involves the sacrifice of one’s personal emotions in order to provide the face of the company and to present a certain disposition that promotes a feeling of well-being on another. In 1979 Airlie Hochschild provided the first definition of emotional labour ‘the management of feeling to create a publicly observable facial and bodily display” (Hochschild, 1979). Since Hochschild’s definition, thirty seven years have passed and the argument as to whether emotional labour is beneficial or detrimental to the workplace has led to dramatic developments of HR practices since the shift of a post-industrial economy in advanced countries like Australia.
The major “emotional deposits” Covey talks about are; understanding the individual, attending to little things, keeping commitments, clarifying expectations, and showing personal integrity. With the help of these habits I feel like I could improve myself. Understanding someone is very important in everyday activities and especially in business situations. You need to understand who your consumer is as well as whom your co-workers are. When you understand them on a deeper level you can relate better and be more productive. Something I’ve always believed in is the attention to little things matter most. It shows people that you do care and pay attention. This ties in well with keeping commitments because that is something that is not always a big deal but can mean a lot to people.
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 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.
* Through the self-assessment on Leadership style and Emotional intelligence, I drew the inference that while I am good at gauging the emotions of my direct reports and peers, I often don’t intervene to better cement my professional relationship. It shall be my earnest endeavor to be more emotionally aware and apathetic.
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.
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.
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.