Discussion: Emotional Labor
A nurse may feel tired, angry, stressed, or overwhelmed, but must appear caring and confident to patients. A bill collector may have a sweet disposition, but the job requires acting in a harsh and unrelenting way with customers who do not pay their bills. These situations represent examples of emotional labor. Emotional labor entails surface acting, in which an employee has to feign an emotion he or she does not feel, and deep acting, in which an employee taps into real but suppressed emotions to use as a job tool. Evidence suggests that the demands of surface acting are greater than those of deep acting on the job and may affect job satisfaction (Hülsheger, Lang, & Maier, 2010). However, surface acting is just one challenge that emotional labor may pose for an employee. In this Discussion, you examine the impact of emotional labor in workplaces.
To prepare:
• Review this Learning Resources.
• Think about your current workplace or consider one with which you are familiar in terms of emotional labor and personality.
Post a brief description of the workplace that you selected. Using a specific example from the workplace, explain challenges that emotional labor poses for an employee and why. Then, explain how factors related to the employee's personality might influence the factors of emotional labor required in his or her job. For the sake of confidentiality, do not include actual names or other details that will identify an organization/person/place in your posting.
The response should include a reference list. Double-space, using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, one-inch margins, and APA style of writing and citations.