Introduction
Emotions are an integral part of human being which significantly affects one’s behavior. In several occupations such as health care, counseling, and customer service, employees are in most occasions emotionally charged due to their role and responsibilities. This calls for effective emotional management strategies with the workforce. “Emotional labor has been defined as a process of emotion management where individuals control their true feelings by displaying what they perceive as acceptable workplace behaviors” (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993).
Morris and Feldman (1996) illustrates that
While emotional labor in the service sector involves overt displays of control over the individual, there are also more covert forms of control taking place at the institutional level of the organization. The neutral way an organization operates masks the subordination inherent within the system and naturalizes these inequalities.
Business theorists have demonstrated that emotional labor is a multi-faceted construct. For instance, Morris and Feldman (1996) illustrates that “emotional labor is determined by both the frequency and duration of interaction between the human service provider and the recipient, as well as the emotional dissonance experienced by the human service provider”. This paper takes a critical analysis of communication strategies in managing the negative implication of emotional labor in an organization. In explaining this concept, the paper takes a succinct analysis of my experience of personal emotions in the work place.
In the management of emotions in work place, one needs to embrace several strategies to prevent negative effects of emotions. In this regard, communication strategies are critical in emotion management. In organizations, there are rules and codes of conduct that not only instill discipline among the employees but also demonstrate the organization’s culture towards customer relation and satisfaction. The mode of communication is very important while attending to a client, customer or a patient in an organization or work place. This is because a good customer relation is a necessary tool for their loyalty.
My communication in work place
Communication in a work place is a pivotal point to success of the organization. In this light, lack of communication spells a big problem to smooth running of an organization. My communication problem in work place came out when I was working in the campus cafeteria. One day I came to work having been emotionally distressed as a result of a family conflict and it turned out that I could not effectively manage my emotions. This resulted to responding to a polite request by a customer in a very rude manner. The conversations between me and Tomas who was a colleague in Campus Eatery cafeteria went on like demonstrated below:
- Tomas: Hi ken!
- Hi Tomas!
- Tomas: you look gloomy today
- It is not your problem keep off!
Later I realized that I responded rudely due as result of a problem Tomas had no idea about. This problem could have been solved had the following communication strategies been properly applied.
Attitude assessment
Positive attitude is very important in work place. This is because it not only acts as the driving factor to success but also promote team work and harmony in the organization. In my case as illustrated above, it clearly shows that I had a negative attitude which precipitated emotional eruption to clients. Positive attitude could have solved the problem if all the employees are taught the need to have strong positive attitude not only in the work place but also at home. Negative attitude has got negative impact on an individual performance and self esteem. In this regard, people should develop positive attitudes throughout life. This will help in reducing negative emotion.
Managing one’s anger and emotions
Anger management is a key factor to proper communication and customer satisfaction. It is quite important to effectively control one’s personal anger and regain individual composer. This requires the ability to channel anger and negative emotions to motivations and enlightenment. This aspect was evidently lacking in me when I was working in the campus cafeteria. Anger is one aspect of negative emotion which should not take a centre stage in any form at work place.
Recommendations
From the above case of negative emotion at work, I suggest an effective strategy to help reduce and manage emotions at work place. The organization should take a critical in developing strategies that aim at training employees on communication skills, emotional management and teamwork. This will make employees share not only the work related problems but their personal problems as well. In this regard, labor emotion can effectively be addressed thus enhancing customer relations and satisfaction.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the paper analyses the impact of emotional labor in an organization and further examines ways to curb emotional problems. In this regard, it is clear that effective communication is an important tool in emotional management both in work place and in every day life of an individual as analyzed above. In this case, to help curb the negative emotional problem associated with poor communication skills and strategies, there is need for anger management and positive attitude among the employees. Finally, I would suggest that organizations take a central role in trainning their employees on emotional management to enhance effective customer demands and satisfaction.
References
Ashforth, B., & Humphrey, R. (1993). Emotional labor in service roles: The influence of identity. Academy of Management Review, 18, 88-115.
Morris, J. A., & Feldman, D.C. (1996).The dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of emotional labor. Academy of Management Journal, 21, 989-1010.