Emotion work

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As emotional labor emotional performances in professional encounters are called, are to be realized by the objectives of an institution. In English, this type of emotional work is called emotional labor .

Requirements and emergence

Particularly in the tertiary sector, the path to a concluded sales contract often leads through the psychological state of the customer. Many people nowadays have professions in which they have to demonstrate certain skills in dealing with their own and the emotional world of others. This requires emotional work, with the help of which an added value is created. This differs from “ emotion work ” in that it is used for commercial purposes and the catalog of standards is oriented towards the market. The “ emotion labor ” is defined as “work or behavioral expectations with which specific feelings (expressions) in public, professional interactions can be regulated in terms of organizational goals”. In addition to physical and cognitive demands, there are now also emotional demands, e. B. friendly demeanor, empathy , restraint, submissiveness and the acceptance of injustice to the service provider. Hochschild calls these forms metaphorically the "bow with the heart".

Interaction level

The rigid rules of an employment relationship in an organization can be slightly to very modified at the level of interaction. The requirements of a company to behave in an optimally customer-friendly manner and to set high demands in emotional work do not have to completely restrict the respective emotional activity or construct it from someone else. Deviations from the rule are possible, but leeway is also necessary. A certain momentum of the service providers arises, for example, with hairdressers and their customers. When dealing with customers, who experience has shown, often come to visit regardless of special sacrifice and friendliness, there should actually be no particularly frequent “bows with the heart”. It is possible, however, that they in particular are automated in their regulatory processes and express what they think, which is based on mutuality through friendships and relationships that have grown over the years (the "regular hairdresser" see Rastetter). As a service provider, you would have to deal with customers who need special attention. However, this is largely in the hands of the hairdresser, as, for example, the conversation when serving is not expressly prescribed. The additional effort is often too great to take care of the taciturn and less willing. So by turning to the first group of customers you move a little more to the actual feeling self. Even in a call center on an outbound basis, conversations with customers who may have already been interviewed or who have bought something can be extended by the operator because he or she does not have to make any major adjustments to his or her emotions due to a likeable customer. The length of time spent on the phone can increase with the willingness of the called party.

consequences

Continuous emotional adjustments in favor of commerce have consequences. Continuous stress caused by bridging emotional dissonances results in typical symptoms such as burnout (psychological and energetic burnout), helplessness and hopelessness, negative attitudes towards work, cynicism and alcohol and drug abuse. Through self-denial and, so to speak, unwanted, “false” devotion to the customer who is “ always right ”, one admits one's own supposed inability, which can turn into a feeling of failure and inferiority .

Coping Strategies

A possible coping strategy alongside and on the interaction level is “ commitment ”, in German the special identification with the goals and values ​​of the organization. A strong belief in being combined with the desire to remain a member can be a way out with a strong willingness to commit. Also helpful for some workers is the perceived and lived attitude that it is not the emotional work itself that triggers the stress , but the actual activity that is reduced by emotional work. This is a special, proudly fulfilling achievement that not everyone can master.

So-called back-stage areas , to which customers do not have access and which are intended to ensure that employees have rest periods, represent areas of retreat. There, employees are again subject exclusively to the catalog of rules for " emotion work ". In addition to recreation, social interaction between employees can also be improved in this way. Other possibilities are breaks and social and psychological support from external experts, which of course rarely occurs in smaller companies due to the costs. Labor exchange (Engl. Job rotation ), for example in supermarkets (of the checkout shelves) is another approach, but can pass through the individual requirements alone these two activities again the known consequences.

See also

literature

  • Wendelin Küpers, Jürgen Weibler: Emotions in Organizations . In: Dietrich von der Oelsnitz, Jürgen Weibler (Hrsg.): Organization and leadership . 1st edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 978-3-17-018002-4 .
  • Daniela Rastetter: Committed to smiling. Emotional work in the service sector . Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2008, ISBN 978-3-593-38483-2 .
  • Fritz Böhle, Jürgen Glaser: Work in interaction - interaction as work. Work organization and interaction work in the service . Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 978-3-531-90505-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Küpers, W. and Weibler, J. (2005) Emotionen in Organizations, Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, p. 137
  2. ^ Hochschild, A. (1990) Das gekaufte Herz, p. 89
  3. ↑ Rastetter, D. (2008) Obligation to Smile, p. 49
  4. ↑ W. Küpers, J. Weibler: Emotions in Organizations . Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 2005, p. 141.
  5. ↑ Küpers, W. and Weibler, J. (2005) Emotionen inorganisations, Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, p. 115
  6. ↑ Rastetter, D. (2008) Obligation to Smile, p. 38
  7. ↑ Küpers, W. and Weibler, J. (2005) Emotionen in Organizations, Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, p. 142 ff.
  8. ↑ Rastetter, D. (2008) Obligation to Smile, p. 58