What is it about?
This paper challenges the idea that employees have a one true or ‘authentic’ self that is violated during emotional labour performances. We examine experiences of emotional dissonance through in-depth interviews with Human Resource professionals (HRPs). We show the multiple and conflicting emotion display expectations that HRPs must negotiate during work interactions, from being a rule enforcer who must reprimand and show disapproval for breaches of conduct rules to an employee champion who must express empathy and warmth. We demonstrate that rather than a one true self, HRPs have the capacity develop multiple selves to cope with the demands of the job. We argue that the tension experienced during emotional labour performances is due to their loyalty to competing selves and values which the employee deems equally true (e.g. I am a rule enforcer but I am also an employee champion). The struggle in emotional labour, we argue, is in negotiating multiple expectations and possible identity options to understand which version of ‘me’ is desirable and ‘am I comfortable with’ in a given interaction? We also show the importance of factors such as others’ reactions, clarity of display expectations, risks of non-compliance and social support in this negotiation.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
A new conceptual lens on emotional dissonance is proposed that may help explain some of the contradictory findings on the consequences on performing emotional labour. The struggle in emotional labour, we argue, is in negotiating multiple expectations and possible identity options to understand which version of ‘me’ is desirable and ‘am I comfortable with’ in a given interaction? We also show the importance of factors such as others’ reactions, clarity of display expectations, risks of non-compliance and social support in this negotiation.
Perspectives
Emotional labour theorizing has fed into the myriad of popular discourses that encourage individuals to understand identity in simplistic real/false self terms. As a result notions of an 'authentic' self have not only pervaded the academic literature but also organisational talk and practices. By acknowledging the individual's capacity for multiple selves and including sensemaking and contextual factors in conceptualisations of dissonance we can see ways in which it can be framed as problematic or productive and with differing consequences in different contexts. We argue that rather than just recruiting ‘the right sort of person’ or training employees to produce appropriate displays, organisations should consider how competing and ambiguous expectations can have detrimental effects on employees and thus work to ensure the emotional jobs demands are understood and made explicit. Also, for HR practitioners, the idea of a self as a multiple concept may offer new insights into their workplace activity and relationships and could be incorporated into reflective practice as part of professional development. Furthermore, to ensure an emotionally healthy environment, organisations should assess the culture and opportunities for social sharing and support, the absence of which is likely to lead to detrimental effects.
Elaine O'Brien
University College Cork
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Problematizing the authentic self in conceptualizations of emotional dissonance, Human Relations, December 2018, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0018726718809166.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
