Emotional Labor and Crisis Response: Working on the Razor's Edge

Mastracci, Sharon H.; Guy, Mary E.; Newman, Meredith A.

doi:10.4324/9781315704869

Cited by 67 publications

(117 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

110

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Street-level social welfare workerspublic servants charged with directly assessing clients' needs and determining how the organization can assist them -occupy positions governed by substantial rule sets and must provide services in an emotionally laden and strongly clientfocused setting (Mastracci et al, 2011;Maynard-Moody and Musheno, 2003;Riccucci, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

At the front line: examining the effects of perceived job significance, employee commitment, and job involvement on public service motivation

Kim

Henderson

Eom

2015

International Review of Administrative Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social welfare work has long been identified as a highly stressful occupation, and one in which considerations of motivating employees and encouraging increased responsibility and commitment are central to understanding individual and collective performance. In the face of organizational factors that negatively affect employees' motivation, including a lack of promotion opportunities, red tape, and expected emotional exhaustion, it becomes much more important for management to motivate employees in such a way that they can provide meaningful and satisfactory services to their clients. Extant research suggests that employees with higher levels of public service motivation (PSM) are motivated to engage in prosocial behaviors that benefit others. Using survey data gathered from social welfare workers in South Korea, this research examines the impact of a number of job-related factors on employee levels of PSM. The results indicate that job significance, professional job involvement, and affective commitment all impact the levels of PSM, suggesting that attention to job characteristics and the dynamic nature of PSM are important in particularly stressful front-line professions. Points for practitionersGiven the organizational constraints on reward programs that exist in public agencies, it becomes increasingly important to consider other job-related factors that may improve motivation -especially related to public goals -among social welfare workers. Downloaded fromThe findings of this study suggest that increasing opportunities for social welfare workers to directly meet and interact with their service beneficiaries or enabling employees to gain access to citizens' feedback about their service quality or service impact (e.g. citizen satisfaction survey results), can play a major role in maintaining or improving employees' level of public service motivation. The results also underline the importance of managers' giving consideration to fostering employees' public service motivation.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

At the front line: examining the effects of perceived job significance, employee commitment, and job involvement on public service motivation

Kim

Henderson

Eom

2015

International Review of Administrative Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A more contemporary theory of staff withdrawal, which has achieved broader appeal, is that provided by the theory of 'emotional labour' [52,60]. This has been defined as, 'Supressing private feelings, in order to show desirable work-related emotions' ( [76], p.4). A key tenet of the theory is that service workers are routinely subjected to regulation and control of their feelings, emotional expression and personality [52,60].…”

Section: Exposing An Organizational Blind Spotmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress in NHS staff triggers defensive inward-focussing and an associated loss of connection with colleagues: this is reversed by Schwartz Rounds

George

2016

J of Compassionate Health Care

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: The aim of this case study was to examine the impact of Schwartz Rounds on staff wellbeing and patient care. Methods: A series of interviews were conducted with staff, regarding stress. The key themes, which were extracted using Grounded Theory, were used to inform the development of a new measure, 'The Organizational Response to Emotions Scale'. This was administered at the beginning and end of Schwartz Rounds.Results: Analysis of the results revealed a significant reduction in attendees' appraisal of emotional labour and an increase in reflection. This was associated with a reported upsurge in feelings of interconnectivity and compassion towards colleagues. More traditional forms of individualised staff support were in contrast, viewed as unhelpful. In particular, the offer of counselling sessions was resented by many staff because it carried the implicit message that the problem arose from a deficiency or weakness within them. New performance management policies compounded this problem and left many feeling blamed and punished for their stress. A referral to Occupational Health was widely seen as an index of failure; a sign that they could not cope.Discussion: Attendance at the Schwartz Rounds helped staff to recognise that their feelings were normal in the context of a highly-pressured healthcare system. Eradicating the stigma associated with emotional responses should help to improve organizational culture. It may also help to address an emerging phenomenon that was identified within this study, namely that staff had begun to hide their feelings from their managers. In the longer term, this could serve to mask the true extent of stress and burnout within the NHS. Conclusions: The findings suggest that Schwartz Rounds may indirectly improve the quality of patient care by addressing the stress-induced cognitive narrowing and decline in empathy that precedes withdrawal; the process that is a likely forerunner of dehumanization. An additional finding was that the line manager played an important mediating role of containment. This, in turn, appeared to influence the level of support that staff provided to each other.

show abstract

“…However, the evidence suggests that supporting staff is vital if they are to be able to continue to care for their patients. [21,22,[94][95][96][97] In short staff need to be emotionally supported, [6,7] a pressing policy issue that needs to be addressed. Approaches such as the Schwartz Center Rounds [98,99] and projects focussed on the creation of compassionate care environments [22,76] are examples of organisational approaches being introduced to provide such support.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organisational support for nurses in acute care settings: a rapid evidence review

Hewison

Sawbridge

2015

IJH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: It is recognised that if high standards of patient care are to be provided, nursing staff need to be supported in managing the emotional component of their work. Objective: The purpose of the review reported here was to examine the relevant literature to determine which approaches to staff support are effective in enabling nurses to manage the emotional content of their work. Design: A Rapid Evidence Assessment was conducted. Methods: Rapid Evidence Assessment methods were used to identify and evaluate the relevant literature. Data sources: Peer reviewed journal papers retrieved as a result of a systematic literature search. Results: A total of 1,869 papers were identified following two searches of electronic databases and 25 papers were included in the review. Thematic analysis identified three main themes in the papers: The importance of leadership-particularly emotionally intelligent leadership; the impact of aspects of the emotional content of nurses' work on their practice; and approaches to supporting staff. Conclusions:The results confirmed the recognition of staff support as being crucial to patient care, and the role of leadership and a number of specific interventions including mindfulness, reflection and supervision were reported. However although there are many approaches to the provision of emotional support for nurses, there is little evidence to demonstrate their widespread implementation. It is accepted that emotion is central to nursing, yet how best to manage this in an organisational context is less clear.

show abstract

Emotional Labor and Crisis Response: Working on the Razor's Edge

Cited by 67 publications

References 0 publications

At the front line: examining the effects of perceived job significance, employee commitment, and job involvement on public service motivation

At the front line: examining the effects of perceived job significance, employee commitment, and job involvement on public service motivation

Stress in NHS staff triggers defensive inward-focussing and an associated loss of connection with colleagues: this is reversed by Schwartz Rounds

Organisational support for nurses in acute care settings: a rapid evidence review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About