From the postings on the discussion board, there is a consensus that emotional labor is a skill which is important among professions dealing with people. There is also agreement that emotional labor should be compensated, just like other non-tangible skills. The main points that come out are: emotional labor is more involving and drains one of emotional strength. One is required to hide their own emotions and act differently to suit the customer or their bosses and therefore, it should be accepted as a skill and compensated adequately. Jobs which require emotional labor also require that the practitioner is flexible and can adapt to different situations within a very short time in some occasions. Counsellors experience such and are constantly altering their emotions from client to client so as to fulfill the requirements of the job and help their clients.
Analysis
Most students agree that emotional labor is a skill that should be recognized in jobs requiring it such as nursing, medical care, counseling, social work, security and waitressing. The people in these professions go through a lot trying to adjust to different emotional contexts time and again. One is required to understand the client or customer, and emotionally respond to their issues in a way that satisfies them. It is not an easy task to understand an individual; knowing their problems and emotions associated with the problem, responding to it in a way that they will feel loved, cared for and understood. Usually, jobs requiring emotional labor have the employees “covering” to meet the expectations of the clients, customers and employers. In most cases, such employees interact with people who are emotionally disturbed and feel overwhelmed. For example, where a nurse has to reveal diagnosis of severe life ending disease to a patient, it is required that they do it boldly though deep inside there is a feeling of brokenness.
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According to Krahn, et al (2015), emotional labor, just like any other intangible skill, is crucial is professions requiring its use and thus should be adequately compensated. Today, there is little recognition of the importance of the skill and many people consider it a “low skill” work that does not need compensation. However, as Payne (2009) states, jobs requiring emotional responses may be “high skill” jobs because of the intense emotional requirements. It requires more emotional engagement and response from the employees which could significantly drain them during their practice. Such employees will need to be mentally flexible to accommodate people with different emotions within very short periods of time. For example, counsellors, security personnel and airplane attendants who need to hide panic to maintain calmness and order during emergencies.
I find Jade Wrubel’s and Emma Bingham’s arguments most convincing. Jade argues that emotional skill is not adequately compensated like other intangible skills such as management skills. He also mentions various professions such as the nursing, security and social work where emotional labor is mostly utilized. These jobs require more emotional dedication in trying to take care of the despaired, the hopeless, threatened and aggrieved people. Emma’s argument agrees with Jade’s that jobs which require one to use “appropriate” emotions to fulfill their tasks are mostly underpaid and there is need for compensation for the same. She provides a scope of emotional labor as involving facial expression, body language, spoken words and tonal variations. Emotional labor is so involving and may have profound emotional effects of the practitioners and their families and therefore should be compensated adequately.
Week 9, Question 5. Place of critique and critical reflection within organizations
Summary
Human Relations is a field that tries to make the working environments conducive by recognizing the rights and obligations of the employees. The main aim for starting the Human Relations movement was to improve employees’ well-being by providing better working conditions and additional benefits for the employees within organizations such as training. According to Fleming (2016), the place for critique and critical reflection within organizations is the Human Relations department. He also notes that despite there being suggestion boxes for critical opinions by employees, they rarely do so because of: fear of losing jobs, thoughts of inadequacy and finding no need in criticizing the company they work for (the employers). In response to Fleming’s review, Alexander (2016) adds that organizations need to adopt a system of appreciating employees and considering their emotions, values and attitudes.
Analysis
I think most of the employees do not find it comfortable to criticize the organizations they work for as well as their bosses. Today, there are recommendations that organizations provide channels through which employees can critique the organizations and their bosses. Some of the organizations have implemented the policies by providing suggestion boxes, face to face discussions and online assessment methods. Because most the methods for critiquing do not require one to disclose their identity, some of the employees may criticize the organization and their bosses anonymously. However, the act of seeking to be anonymous when criticizing shows that most of the employees are not comfortable criticizing doing so. This may be because of fear that they may lose their jobs, fear of straining their relationship with bosses and fear that their reports might as well not be anonymous (Green, 2012).
Gone are the days when employees were considered assets to be used in the production process. Today, ethics in work environment require that employees are treated as humans with a critical role to play in the success of a given organization. Therefore, their feedback can be used to improve a few things where appropriate. Employees too have an obligation to provide adequate, accurate and reliable information in their critiques and feedbacks with the interest of the organization at heart. As Clayton Nelson once put it, “critiquing should not be a lynching of the manager,” feedbacks should provide information that adds value to the company (Villano, 2006). Employees may find it uncomfortable to criticize employers if their target is not the improvement of the organization but to negatively talk about their bosses or the business.
Employees need to be engaged more frequently so as their feedbacks can be captured and appropriate measures taken to improve the situation. There is need for employees to understand that feedback is not just about negative issues only; positive feedback can also help in the future success of the business. This can be learnt through seminars, capacity building and performance appraisal sessions organized by the organization.
In addition to the fear of losing jobs, employees also find it difficult to be viewed as natural complainers and “difficult” people. Thus, one will find it comfortable not to criticize the boss to avoid such tags and maintain good relationship with bosses and workers in a bid to be seen as loyal people. Therefore, it is advisable that employees critique their bosses and organizations they work for if need be in an appropriate manner. Such employees should however be protected from potential victimization by those above them.
References;
Alexander. (Nov 16, 2016). Week 9, Question 5
Bingham. (Nov 16, 2016). Week 7, Question 5.
Fleming. (Nov 16, 2016). Week 9, Question 5 .
Green, A. (2012). Asked to give feedback on my manager’s performance. Ask a Manager . Retrieved November 24, 2016 at: http://www.askamanager.org/2015/05/asked-to-give-feedback-on-my-managers-performance.html
Krahn, J. H., Hughes, K. and Lowe S.G. (2015). Work Industry and the Canadian Society. Nelson Education. Print
Payne, J. (2009). Emotional labor and skill: a reappraisal. Gender, Work & Organization, 16(3), 348-367.
Villano, M. (2006). The Workplace: Criticizing your Boss: A survivor’s guide. The New York Times. Retrieved November 24, 2016 at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/27/business/worldbusiness/27iht-workcol28.2066614.html
Wrubel. (Nov 16, 2016). Week 7, Question 5.
