Managers' Quest to Control the Heart: Hr Practices for Employees' Emotional Displays

Open Access
- Author:
- Nolan, Megan Theresa
- Area of Honors:
- Psychology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Alicia Ann Grandey, Thesis Supervisor
Kenneth N. Levy, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- emotional labor
management
human resource practices - Abstract:
- As employment within the service sector continues to grow, the study of emotional labor, or the regulation of emotions in order to meet organizational expectations (Grandey, 2000; Hochschild, 1983), has become more important. Case studies and qualitative investigations exist on the formal human resource practices used by organizations in attempts to control the emotions employees express to customers, some of which include selection, socialization, monitoring, rewards, and training (Rafaeli & Sutton, 1987). There has been little research, however, that has systematically documented the extent to which managers across or within service industries use such practices for emotional labor specifically (Diefendorff, Gabriel, & Leung, 2010). Through qualitative and quantitative data, the present study furthers our understanding of emotional labor management in three ways. First, the importance store managers place on emotional labor compared to other customer service behaviors and skills is investigated. In comparison to other dimensions of customer service (i.e. efficiency, competency), do managers believe that emotional displays are of more, less, or of equal importance? Second; what practices do managers report using to motivate employees’ emotions, and do these emotional labor practices vary by the service context? Lastly, if managers prioritize emotional labor are they more likely to use formal practices? Qualitative results from Study 1 indicate that selection for emotion job-fit was the most commonly reported practice and managers use immediate controlling practices (monitoring and social feedback) at a similar rate to investment practices (training and rewards) across five service industries. Study 2, which focused on managers within one type of industry where often times there are lower-skilled, young employees, indicates different results. Although managers were more likely to select applicants for emotional skills rather than implement investment practices like training and rewards, they most commonly reported using the immediate controlling practices of role modeling and social feedback. Managers rated courteous treatment of customers as the highest service priority. EL priority, or managing emotions with customers, was similarly important compared to accuracy and efficiency and more important than having product knowledge and meeting customers’ special needs. Training was least likely to be used overall, but manager’s priority for EL predicted when they were likely to invest in EL by training (or not). EL based selection, rewards, punishment, and role-modeling were not more or less likely if EL was a priority.