Surface acting refers to the FLSW acting in its most literal sense. They are pretending to smile and pretending to show empathy to the customer. This is the case where Hochschild’s definition of emotional labour fits in perfectly. Staff at the Sheraton is instructed to smile, be hospitable to them, and speak to them in particular acceptable ways (Boella, 1996, cited in Korczynski 2002). If the service worker’s frame of mind, or for another reason, is not in conjunction with this requirement, he may not only be unable to execute the job at hand well, but will feel emotionally exhausted (Hochschild, 1983) and strained. In a call centre study conducted by Morris & Feldman, 1996, an emergency communication officer: ‘I shouldn’t make it sound like I was freaking out right there, you know, I had to be under control, but it, it was stressful’ (Schuler, Sypher 2000, pg64). A debt collector in Sutton’s study (1991) felt so much anger during the interaction with his customer, that he was thumping his desk and cursing after his talk. This illustrates the negative impact experienced by the debt collector. It should be noted that he was unable to portray these views as he was mean to follow the feeling rules.
Deep acting refers to when the worker tries to be aligned with the feeling rules through cognitive restructure, through possibly adopting a different perspective, and/or obtaining an in-depth understanding of the interaction. Actors do this regularly, changing their inner feelings and preconceptions, when they attempt to research around the subject of the film, and psyche themselves up for a role (Rafaeli, Sutton 1987). This leads to a behavioural change, and this on a long term basis leads to depersonalisation (Hochschild, 1983) - the worker will lose his personal identity and will be shaped upon his commercial requirements. ‘Given the repetitive and scripted nature of many service roles, one may develop habitual routines for surface and deep acting such that emotional labour becomes relatively effortless’ (Ashforth, Fried 1988, cited in Ashforth, Humphrey 1993, pg93). This notion is related to self estrangement (Hochschild, 1983) - the dehumanising effect of disaffection.
The third and last way that emotional labour is carried out is through Emotional Deviance (Rafaeli, Sutton 1987). This is contrary to emotional dissonance in the sense that the difference between the emotions felt and the feeling rules are much more pronounced and the emotional display is as per the emotions felt rather than those required by the organisation. This could lead to the customer complaining, as a young businessman did on Delta Airlines when the flight attendant was not smiling. ‘I’ll tell you what. You smile first, then I’ll smile….. Good…Now freeze and hold that smile for fifteen hours,’ (Hochschild, 1983, pg127) this not only shows the effect of emotional deviance but also the effect of the longevity of the interaction upon the interaction. This type of emotional labour being experienced could lead in one direction: ‘A rude flight attendant is likely to be fired’ or punish you for this act or the FLSW will quit himself. A student worker at a cosmetics firm: ‘I couldn’t bring myself to act happy and enthusiastic enough.’ She was unable to come to terms with the local feeling rules and thus quit working. This shows that she much rather be unemployed than be in an interaction that she cannot endure.
Stress, detachment, depersonalisation and self estrangement are all related and based on the idea of alienation developed by Marx- alienation from the product, but here the emotions are the product, leading to the alienation from the self. She contends that this leads, in the long term, to emotional exhaustion. The workers then become analogous to a ‘mechanical nut’ (Ritzer, 1996, pg139) and a ‘human robot’. The constant pressure of emotional labour is leading these labourers to turn to alcoholism, and drug abuse with increasing headaches, absenteeism and sexual dysfunction (Hochschild, 1983, cited in Rafaeli, Sutton 1987, pg31).
Her argument is flawed in terms of disregarding of the concept of social embeddedness of economic interactions (Granovetter, 1985, cited in Korczynski, 2002). This refers to the idea that FLSW can gain from the interaction with the customer on a social level, which is part of an economic interaction. An illustration to this is a jeweller who is situated in the Middle East and was extremely glad to see any person walk through his door and interact with him, during the time of the Gulf War. Though the state of affairs did play an important role, delight expressed was unequivocal.
Contrary to Hochschild’s notion of mere negative impacts arising from emotional labour, Schuler and Sypher (2000) state in their study on call centre workers that workers not only take away benefits from these interactions with customers but also seek it. ‘We need a good wreck tonight’ referred not to wanting someone involved in an accident but the interaction involved in such a call would give them a high. The researchers divide the positive impacts of service work into three parts: Emotional labour as a comic relief, as fix, and as an altruistic service. This makes the job fun, exciting, and rewarding.
The experience of emotional labour as a comical relief can provide a large amount of stress, but the context of the interaction supplies great satisfaction. A woman called an emergency call centre who complained of being harassed, but it was during the 3 minute interaction decided that she did not want to file a complaint. Schuler and Sypher’s (2000) presents another instance when a caller is asking about ‘the legality of oral sex in the state’. Both these stories then provided the story of the day to repeat. It also acted as an alleviator of pain suffered during the day.
The experience of emotional labour as an adrenaline fix is highly dependent upon the frame of mind of the person; I personally got quite a fix from having to handle, especially successfully, a large number of customers at peak time at the jewellery store.
The experience of emotional labour as an altruistic service would tend to be related to people who are socially orientated and have a tendency to help people. For some this feeling may come and go. Only qualified FLSW are allowed to give potential treatment advice over the telephone. People who are not qualified: ‘I would rather help save that man’s life, than save my job. This illustrates not only emotional labour as an altruistic service but also as emotional deviance.
Negative and positive impacts come about from emotional labour and both have been clearly demonstrated. What really makes a difference on the intensity of each is a set of contingent factors that would either enhance or lessen the impact.
The approach used by the management in terms of its HRM policy. If the recruitment and selection task was conducted such that the emotional dissonance that arises was minimised. In Abu Dhabi, which has a high number of conservative Muslims, with particular views on life, if one who could not conform with such views would not be able to interact effectively, and thus be damaging not only to the organisation’s benefit but the potential benefit to the employee.
The way the PRP system is implemented can also make a difference. In some cases the increased pay could potentially tip the balance on an individual to endure a certain degree of pains from the emotional labour. In another case, it could also work as a double edged sword. Communities of coping are central to coping, but if the PRP system encourages for competition within the company then this community would not develop. Though it would increase the effort put in by the FLSW.
Breaks receivable to call centre operators are part of the soft HRM policy of the organisation to help cope with the demands of emotional labour. Many companies do not allow collective emotional labour (Hochschild) to take place. This can be extremely damaging. Prevented from sharing the sorrow with fellow dispatchers, they are ‘forced to suck it and suppress all of her feelings of sorrow all the time’ the dispatcher asked Schuler and Sypher where it left her as a human? Other coping mechanisms that they could allow, helping to alleviate the negative impacts are rest rooms (Fineman, Sturdy cited in Korczynski 2002) which give the FLSW the opportunity to drop their fake orientations and return back to normal...
The autonomy, in terms of coping with emotional labour and performing labour that they are given by the management does effect the impact of emotional labour. This was partly discussed earlier in terms of allowing FLSW to cope the way they please. An additional point can be the way they design the job. Are they required to perform in certain ways, or do they have the freedom?
Emotional labour can bring about negative impacts no matter how well the individual identifies with the role played by the employees. Operators who have been working in call centres for a long time still find the type of service work to be harmful. The more the frequency of service interactions, the more they relish the break they receive, when acceptable to management.
FLSW can type the customer and this would help negate factors that could cause problems. Customers who come just for window shopping sometimes get in the way of good customers and the retail outlet may miss a sale. Typologies can help prevent such realities.
The performance of emotional labour in the economy is on the rise and so too would the impacts that emanate from it. Positive impacts include fun, excitement and reward when performing emotional labour as a comic relief, as a fix, and as an altruistic service. Negative impacts include stress, detachment, depersonalisation and self estrangement due to the alienation from the self’s emotions resulting in exhaustion and dissonance. The factors that would influence these factors would include the organisation’s approach to the management of service work and the type of HRM policy implemented, the type of service work performed, and the worker’s coping and resistance methods.
Bibliography
Ashforth, B. and Humphrey, R. (1993) Emotional Labour in service roles: The influence of identity Academy of Management Review, Vol. 18, 88-115
Hochschild, A. (1983) The Managed Heart: Commercialisation of Human Feeling (Berkeley; University of California Press)
Morris, J. and Feldman, D. (1997) Managing emotions in the workplace Journal of Managerial Issues, Vol. 9, 257-274
Rafaeli, A. and Sutton, R. (1987) Expression of emotions as part of the work role Academy of Management Review, Vol. 12, 23-37
Ritzer, G. (1996) The McDonaldisation of society: An investigation into the changing character of contemporary life Newbury Park, CA: Pine Forge Press
Schuler, S. and Sypher, B. (2000) Seeking emotional labour: When managing the heart enhances work experience Management Communication Quarterly, Vol. 14, 50-89