Emotional Labor

Introduction

Emotional labour refers to the process of managing emotions, feelings and expressions in a way that is required by a job. It entails the requirements of the organizational employees to regulate their feelings in specific ways in the course of the interaction with their supervisors, customers, and also fellow employees.  The employees have to project-specific emotions irrespective of whether they feel them or not. In some scenarios, they are also expected to suppress and not show the feelings that they think. Among the employment positions that have been identified as requiring emotional labour are those that need human interactions. These mainly include the job descriptions that are found in the service industry, such as child care, social work, medical care, the hospitality industry and public administration. According to   Arlie Hochschild, emotional labour entails the exhibiting of specific emotions to meet the requirements set for a job or an employment position. There are various categories of job types that are used to determine the emotional regulation in the workplace. These include the types of jobs that call for face to face, or voice to voice engagement with other individuals. It also consists of the roles in which the workers are expected to produce the emotional states of the people with whom they work. The final type of jobs entails the kinds of situations in which the employer has the liberty generated through training and supervision, to use a degree of control over the employees.  According to the argument of Hochschild, due to the strict requirement for the employees to regulate their emotions in the workplace, most of the employees caught up in the emotional labour process end up being detached with their feelings.  This paper analyses the aspect of emotional labor to determine how the employees who are forced to express the emotions other than what they feel are affected.  It explores the factor of emotional labor through the case study of the Presidents Club Scandal in 2018 to determine if emotional labor is a minimum requirement in the workplace or behavior that both men and women engage in to earn an income in the western world.

Origin of Emotional Labor

According to Hochschild, who first explained the aspect of emotional labor, the element can be dividing into two. These include the elements of surface acting emotional labor and deep acting emotional labor.  According to his definition, the surface acting emotional labor entails the display of emotions by employees in a job without affecting or changing the actual feelings of the employees.  The deep acting, on the other hand, entails a more effortful process that requires the employees to practice emotional labor in a way that affects their internal feeling. This leads to them changing the entire way in which they feel so as align their feelings with the projected emotions of the organizations. The aspects of the deep feeling emotional regulation results in the production and display of feelings that are more natural and genuine. Even though the process for the presentation of surface acting and deep acting emotional labor is different,  their ultimate goals are the same. In essence, they are both expected to lead to the exhibition of positive feelings that the organizations view as essential in pushing their agendas and serving the customers more effectively to generate positive results.  There is the suggestion by research that the aspect of surface acting emotional labor presents more harm to the health of the employees since the feelings that they portray are not necessarily what they feel. The reconciliation of these emotions, therefore, becomes a difficulty and consequently affects them negatively.  While the organization benefits from increased customer production that leads to increased organizational profitability, the employees engaging in the practice of the emotional labour is adversely affected as their actual feelings do not correspond with the sentiments that the organization expect them to portray in most instances.  The question of whether emotional labor forms minimum requirement for employees to be employed in different professions, or if it is a factor that they engage in to stay in employment arises, especially as there are no rules generated to control the amount of emotional labor to which the employees are expected to engage.  The organizations consequently end up overexploiting their employees to the dangerous potential that lead to the employees being negatively affected. However, due to the immense need that the employees have to earn a salary, they end up conforming to them in the bid of keeping their employment positions.

Emotional Labor and Gender

The aspect of emotional labor, for a specific period, has grown to be associated with women in comparison to the men in the workplace. In essence, as a result of gender bias, there is the fact that women are expected to be more efficient with regards to the practice of emotional labor.  According to the definition provided by Macdonald and Sirianni in the year 1995, the aspect of emotional labor entailed the elements of service jobs in which the employees are expected to exhibit friendliness in their practice.  These types of services, according to these authors, also require the employees to be able to show deference to the people they serve.  Sue to the deference required by the jobs, they are therefore stereotyped and categorized as women’s jobs. The aspects of deference automatically make these jobs to be classified as jobs for women, as it is in most cases associated with those in structural positions that are disadvantaged, specifically women. Due to this reason, therefore, women are most likely to be over-represented in the jobs that make deference requirement.  Women are in a significant way affected by the aspect of emotional labor as in most ways. They are expected to exhibit and portray feelings that are not in coherence with the actual feelings.  Their positions in society further lead to this disadvantaged position as women are generally expected by society to be empathetic and able to control their emotions.

.Does ‘service with a smile’ fall disproportionately on women in a work context?

The aspect of service with a smile refers to a pleasant, amuse or kind facial expression that is typically projected with the mouth corners turned up, in addition to the front teeth exposed.  In the workplace, it refers to a quick smile that is flashed by the employee towards the customer. It is used in the case that the customer expresses the need for assistance by the employees in the workplace. It is usually a response to show concern to concern to the customers who may experience some discomfort in the course of their operation in a business situation.  In the workplace, there is the thought in most organizations that the service with a smile falls mainly in women.  The suggestion that the service with a smile in the workplace falls disproportionately on women suggests that in the workplace, the women have more responsibility of offering service with a smile in comparison to the men. This factor is driven by the proposition that women are emotional beings. As a result, there is the fact that the women in the workplace are supposed to be at a better state of handling their emotions compared to the male employees.   In the case of the President’s Club candle, for instance, there is the fact that the women are presented with the job description that requires them to practice emotional labor. In this case, while the affluent and influential men were involved in the fundraising for a charity course, women were hired to play the role of hostesses. In essence, the women were expected to provide entertainment to the men who were engaged in the fundraiser.  Further, in the process of delivering this service, they were presented with how they were expected to dress during the party. Through this fact, there is the denotation of emotional labor falling disproportionately on women. Since the main event was a fundraiser, there were no rules that determined the gender that was supposed to entertain the individuals who participated in the fundraiser. However, the women were accorded the role by the assumption that by being women, they would perform better in the tasks that required emotional labor.  Even though women were treated in a way that could be termed as being sexually harassed, they failed to complain, mainly because they were motivated by the desire to earn income.

Are women ‘just better’ at emotional labor?

For a long time, the aspect of emotional labor has continued to raise concerns, especially with the way it is practised in the workplace. In essence, there is the fact that most women that require the projection f emotions and feelings are in most cases done by women. Even in the instances that men also work in the same organizations, the roles that require face to face, or voice to voice involvement with the clients are often left to women employees. This, therefore, raises the question of if this phenomenon is associated with the fact that women are generally better at emotional labor in comparison to men.  The engagement of women in these roles that require emotional labor does not necessarily tie to the fact that the women are better at these roles that the men. However, the main factor that could be attributed to the women being in these roles includes the elements of social construction and social strata. In this case, there is the fact that the men have been elevated to a position that puts the women below them. Due to these reasons, therefore, in the determination of roles in the workplace, women find themselves in these situations where they are forced to exercise emotional labor for them to survive the employment position. The disparities to earn a living pushes the women to undertake these roles despite the fact in most case, most of them end up being deeply affected by the positions and roles. There is the fact that most of the emotional labor jobs that the women engage in are the ones that are considered as surface cutting roles. This means that despite them being involved in these emotional projections, the real feelings of the employees are not in coherence with what they display. Consequently, they end up being emotionally affected due to the emotional disconnect.  Concerning the case study, there is the fact that women are not just good at emotional labor; rather, they are driven to engage in it. This is due to the desire and will to earn an income.  For instance, the study portrays that in an interview, one of the women expressed that she was satisfied by the fact that they got paid in the event and even enjoyed liberties such as being allowed to drink alcohol.  Her satisfaction was even though after being hired, rules that had initially been set, including that no woman should be sexually harassed were broken. Also, after they were employed, a significantly provocative dressing code was introduced. Her satisfaction proves that her sole intent in participating in the activity was mainly to earn an income.

Does this essentialist view hold up in relation to the literature?

The view that women are forced to exhibit and practice emotional labor in the workplace affects them due to the disconnection of emotions does not hold up with regards to the case study.  In essence, while most of the researches that have been conducted suggest that in the women are effectively negatively affected, the case study portrays the women in a different way. Despite the argument of the case study seeking to suggest that the emotional labor and how women are expected to describe emotions in the workplace is dehumanizing and against moral standards, most of the women in the case study see no wrong with what they are subjected to. For these women, the most significant element to them is that they earn the salary at the end of the event. In addition, some of them seem to be of the thought that they are additionally provided privileges such as being allowed to drink alcohol at the party.

What would a more critical approach to the study of emotions as a formal workplace issue look

Conclusion

The aspect of emotional labor entails the concept that suggests that the employees are expected to exhibit a friendly form in the course of engaging with individuals in the

workplace. This include in relating with peoples including fellow employees, their superiors, and importantly, the customers.  It presents the benefit of increasing productivity in an organization due to the fact that it increases customer satisfaction. Despite the fact that all job descriptions could use the aspect of emotional labor, there is the fact that the jobs in the service industry require emotional labor more. This is as they entail the direct engagement of the employees and the customers. Emotional labor is also viewed as affecting the women in the workplace more. This is specifically by the assumptions that women are supposed to be able to portray their emotions more than the men in the workplace. As a result, in most organizations, the jobs that require the high nature of emotional labor are designated to women, in comparison to men. Due to this reason, therefore, more women are affected by the negative effects of emotional labor. The general assumption that suggests that women are better at service with a smile leads to the women being subjected to these roles, some of which are dehumanizing. However, since most of them are driven by the desire to earn a salary, there is the fact that even when they are subjected to these dehumanizing roles, they chose to determine ways of blending in rather than resisting.