TOPIC: Emotional labour
Introduction
In the labour sector, there are various types of labour which include physical labour where an individual uses their energy to perform activities in an organization, and emotional labour is not an exception. This labour is defined as a type of labour that demands an individual to induce a feeling that helps produce mind with a good state and making others feel cared for and are in a safe place (Hoschild, 2002). This essay will discuss what emotional labour is with various examples.
Discussion
Emotional labour is all about expressing feelings which are not found inside the individuals nor in the dependent acts (Smith, 2008). This emotional labour involves engaging in mind and expression of personal feelings. For example, flight attendants show emotional labour where smile acts as their essential asset as they serve the passengers. It is always necessary for the flight attendants to smile and they should never forget it since this person smile is made to show the company’s dispositions and this increases the confidence among the passengers that the plane will not crash (Steinberg and Figart, 1999). This smile reassures the passengers that their time will be maintained and no delays will be encountered in either arrival or departure, and this makes the passengers have a desire even to return next time since they feel welcomed and are served as an individual thus giving them comfort in the cabin. Employees in an organization also show emotional labour as they serve their customer, and they employ the same strategy of offering a smile to the customers. This makes the customers loyal to the company, and this improves the brand image of the organization.
Emotional labour is a process of managing feelings and expressions to meet the emotional requirements of the job. For example, the health providers in a hospital set up always regulate their emotions as they interact with the patients. These health providers share their feeling with the patient, and this gives them hope for recovery (Erickson and Grove, 2008). They do this by giving them mental support and giving them examples of other patients who suffered from the same disease and recovered. This gives them hope and facilitates their quick recovery. This functional expression of the feeling of by health care providers makes the patients have an emotional connection with their attendants, and this provides comfort for the patients since the attendants share in their grieve and they understand them.
Lawyers also provide emotional labour through their expression of feeling as they defend their clients in the court of law. These lawyers apply various forms of emotion labour where they can express genuine emotion and feelings that directly reflect the clients feeling and since the client cannot express himself or herself, the lawyer has to have emotions where he can either make use of deep acting as a form of emotional labour or surface acting or even detaching (Kadowaki, 2015) This emotional labour makes the lawyer be in a good position of defending his client in the court of law, and this becomes so easy for them since they express genuine feelings as if they are the victims of the action.
When advising individuals who need counselling, counsellors offer emotional labour where they have to put themselves in the condition of their client, and this helps them have a direct connection with the individual (Kinman, McFall and Rodriguez, 2011). This makes the counsellor give a piece of appropriate advice to the client by putting himself or herself in the situation of the client. Through this emotion labour, the client receives a proper state of mind, and this makes him or her be in a position to deal with the problem affecting him or even deal with stress. This emotional labour makes the client feel cared for, and this improves his state of mind.
Emotional labour expressed by tour operators and tour guides as they interact with the tourists and visitors may have a significant impact on the organization. These tour guides show high levels of emotional labour where they make the visitors welcomed and cheerful during the entire period of their visit. This care and concern expressed by the tour guides make the visitors feel valued, and this makes them visit the cite so many other times (İrigüler and Güler, 2016). This results in more profits for the organization, along with other benefits that come along with the emotional labour of the tour guides. This is facilitated by the attitude the tour guides and operators have on the tourists. This attitude is expressed by who the tour guides are responding to the questions passed by the tourists since these people are so curious and want to know more about the site. Giving a smile and being joyful makes the tourist have repeated visits to the site since the tour guides make them feel welcomed, and this gives them comfort and increases their feeling of safety.
Individuals who are mandated to care for children and more so those in orphanages express their feelings to these children and this makes their mind be in a good state thus making feel they are in a secure place (Seery and Corrigall, 2009). These individuals express high levels of emotional labour since they have to make these children feel loved and cared for. Children generally require a lot of care and sharing into their feeling and understanding, and this calls for coordination of mind that will sustain outward countenance, thus providing a proper state of mind in the children.
References
Erickson, R.J. and Grove, W.J., 2008. Emotional labour and health care. Sociology Compass, 2(2), pp.704-733.
Hochschild, A., 2002. Emotional labour. Gender: A sociological reader, pp.192-6.
İrigüler, F. and Güler, M.E., 2016. The emotional labour of tourist guides: How does it affect their job satisfaction and burnout levels?. Journal of Yasar University, 11(42).
Kadowaki, J., 2015. Maintaining professionalism: emotional labour among lawyers as client advisors. International Journal of the Legal Profession, 22(3), pp.323-345.
Kinman, G., McFall, O. and Rodriguez, J., 2011. The cost of caring? Emotional labour, wellbeing and the clergy. Pastoral Psychology, 60(5), pp.671-680.
Seery, B.L. and Corrigall, E.A., 2009. Emotional labour: Links to work attitudes and emotional exhaustion. Journal of Managerial Psychology.
Smith, R.T., 2008. Passion work: The joint production of emotional labour in professional wrestling. Social Psychology Quarterly, 71(2), pp.157-176.
Steinberg, R.J. and Figart, D.M., 1999. Emotional labour since The managed heart. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 561(1), pp.8-26.