Seeking Emotional Labor

Abstract

Although both scholars and practitioners continue to privilege the “rational” aspects of organization, this article demonstrates the centrality of emotion in the organizing process. The case study method combines observation at a 911 center, interviews with dispatchers, and analysis of selected calls. Departing from most treatments of emotional labor, this article features workers who not only suffer through, cope with, and resist emotional labor but sometimes also seek it out. For these 911 dispatchers, emotional labor is a fun, exciting, and rewarding part of their work. In addition to providing a description of these neglected positive functions of emotional labor, this article speaks to a broader issue: the role of emotional labor in the construction of organizational community.

Emotional Labour in University Lecturers: Considerations for Higher Education Institutions

“…However, job autonomy was also an identified main theme, which may have influenced the levels of reported job satisfaction being experienced. This supports Shuler and Sypher (2000) who found a positive association between job autonomy and job satisfaction. High levels of emotional labour are usually associated with low job autonomy and low job dissatisfaction (Wharton, 1993).…”

“…Furthermore, high emotional labour levels (see Table 4) are usually associated with job dissatisfaction (Ashworth & Humphrey, 1993;Hochschild 1983). A possible explanation for these-apparently-contradictory findings is that the sample of university lecturers did in fact report that they felt that they still had some job autonomy (see Table 9) and Shuler and Sypher (2000) did find that having job autonomy and control can be associated with job satisfaction.…”

“…In considering professions that require 'high people contact' such as teaching, Hargreaves (2000) reported that performing emotional labour can be pleasurable, rewarding, and that often teachers largely enjoy the emotional labour of working with students because this helps them meets their core classroom purposes. Shuler and Sypher (2000) also argued that when emotional labour is conducted for the benefit of students, or for a teacher's own reward and satisfaction, rather than because of organisational demand display rules, then job satisfaction can actually increase.…”

Gathering emotion: examining newspaper journalists' engagement in emotional labor

“…A number of studies have examined the presence, use and consequences of emotional labor in a variety of workplaces (Bridgen 2011;Eschenfelder 2012;Shuler and Sypher 2000;Tracy 2000;Zhang and Zhu 2008). Emotional labor is often difficult because it requires individuals to manipulate their own naturally occurring feelings that are central to their identity as human beings.…”

Emotional Labor in the Academic Library: When Being Friendly Feels Like Work

“…Some of this work includes an examination of social rules that guide the appropriateness and inappropriateness of particular types of emotional displays (Rafaeli, 1989;Rafaeli & Sutton, 1987Sutton & Rafaeli, 1988), work that describes employees' "felt" emotions at work (Fiebig & Kramer, 1998;Waldron & Krone, 1991), and research that focuses on the consequences of employees' performance of emotional labor (Hochschild, 1979(Hochschild, , 1983Shuler & Sypher, 2000;Stenross & Kleinman, 1989;Tolich, 1993;Tracy, 2000;Van Maanen & Kunda, 1989;Wharton, 1996). The examination of emotion at work has yielded results that have been varied, complex, and sometimes contradictory (Fineman, 1993(Fineman, , 2000.…”