Exploring the Relationship: Emotional Labor and Workplace Productivity

This essay delves into the intricate relationship between emotional labor and productivity within the workplace. It defines emotional labor as the management of one's emotions to align with occupational norms and display rules, affecting both outward behavior and inner feelings. The essay highlights the prevalence of emotional labor across various sectors and its impact on employee performance. It explores the strategies involved, including surface-level and deep-level acting, and the potential for stress and job dissatisfaction. The essay emphasizes the importance of strategies such as understanding the value of work, focusing on preferred jobs, and fostering positive workplace relationships. The essay also discusses the role of emotional intelligence, the impact of negative emotions and workplace pressures, and the influence of employee's stamina and mindset on productivity. It concludes by underscoring the significance of managing emotions for both individual well-being and organizational success, referencing various research studies and scholarly articles to support its arguments.

Running head: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL LABOR AND PRODUCTIVITY
Relationship between emotional labor and productivity
Name of the Student:
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Author’s Note:

1RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL LABOR AND PRODUCTIVITY
Emotional labor is defined as the manipulation of outward behavior or inner feelings of
an individual to display the emotions in relation to the occupational norms or display rules. The
emotion of an individual involves the experiences or expressions in addition to the surface level
emotion. Emotional labor is required in all the sectors of the economy. These types of laborers
get engaged in an interactive process and thus it improves the performance of the employees. It
is also important for the organizations to understand the emotions of the employees and thus
provide them necessary support. An important element of emotional laborers is that they expect
that people will work in teams and also show positive behaviors. The organization can measure
the importance of emotional labor by analyzing the emotional effort and commitment of the
workers (Schutte & Loi, 2014).
The employees in an organization may develop positive or negative feelings towards their
job role and this gives rise to the conflict in his or her inner feelings. The supervisors play an
important role in judging and analyzing the performance of the employees. This is essential to
help the employees in coping with stress. Emotional labor tries to maintain proper co-ordination
with their co-workers and mangers so that they can help the organizations to grow exponentially
(Platis, Reklitis & Zimeras, 2015). There are two important strategies of an emotional labor i.e.
deep level and surface level strategies. In the surface level strategies, the employees put mask or
show false emotions rather than developing a feeling for them. However, in deep level strategies,
the organizations try to judge the employees emotions. Emotional labor creates stress in the
workplace and it involves physical and mental costs (Oswald, Proto & Sgroi, 2015). This job
stress causes more amount of absenteeism in the workplace and thus decreases the productivity
of the workers. The employees can manage the emotions by using various kinds of strategies
which will not hamper their productivity. The employees must understand the value of their

2RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL LABOR AND PRODUCTIVITY
work and thus it will give them accomplishments and a sense of pride for their job. It will
motivate them to perform better and thus reduce their stress (Conway et al., 2106).
It is also important for the employees to focus on that particular job which they prefer and
are willing to work for it. This will help in lifting their mood and it will also give mental
satisfaction to the employees. Emotional labor must perform small tasks and thus it will reduce
their stress. Emotional labor tries to improve the relationship in the workplace and they are also
concerned in building a healthy working environment (Lu & Guy, 2014). It is also important to
handle the negative emotions constructively. The employees must know how to highlight the
problems to the higher authority and thus co-operate with the team members. Emotional labor
must talk directly to the team members and the higher authority rather than gossiping. The
planning, effort and control of the emotional labor is essential to express their emotions in the
interpersonal transactions (Wagner, Barnes & Scott, 2014). The emotions are partially expressed
in the social environment. Emotional exhaustion and job dissatisfaction affects the productivity
of the laborers. It is also important for an individual to suppress or inhibit the feelings. It is
important to regulate the emotions although the work environment is chronic. The workers who
are emotionally exhausted cannot manifest the turnover of the companies (Durkheim, 2014). The
relationship between emotional intelligence and effectiveness of workforce suggests that those
organizations which provide guide, help and support to the employees gets more commitment
and productivity from them. The employees also do not feel stressed and they can share their
emotions and feelings with the management. The management must help the employees in such
situation so that they in turn get the same benefit when there is any problem in the organization.
For example, it can be said that if an employee is sad or angry towards any co-workers, it will

3RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL LABOR AND PRODUCTIVITY
affect his/her performance and also the performance of the co-worker. These will directly affect
the organization because the productivity of the employees decreases (Delmas & Pekovic, 2013).
It is also seen that an emotional labor may have problems with the managers. There are
certain tasks which are not suitable for the employees and thus there arises tensions and stress
which affects their performance directly. The organizations sometimes force the employees to do
multi tasking jobs and these create tension among the employees. The employees also have to
bear their family tensions and it is important to balance between their family life and work life.
These kinds of domestic issues also affect the productivity of the employees (Gonzalez &
Iffland, 2014). The organizations also put unhealthy pressure on the employees and thus this can
lead to sufferings and stress. Long hours of work, excessive workload and heavy pressure to
perform better negatively affect the employees. The productivity of the employees is influenced
by the drives and stamina of the employees (Raval & Dourish, 2016). The stamina reflects the
ability of the employees for sustaining prolonged physical work. An employee can only produce
more if his mindset is free from stress and tensions. This can be possible if the employees are
emotionally stable. The positive emotions of the employees i.e. satisfaction, happiness enhances
their productivity. On the other hand, the negative emotions lower the productivity. Anxiety also
affects the performance of the employees. They play an important role in the attitudes and
behaviors of the individuals (McCarthy, Trougakos & Cheng, 2016).
Several research studies have indicated that there is a negative relationship between the
performance of the employees and anxiety level. It can be said that every kind of jobs requires
emotional labor. For example, a doctor must be empathic towards the patients, businessmen must
try to control his temperament and anger when he arranges particular meeting. There are
different kinds of degrees to manage the emotion of these laborers. These emotions can be

4RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL LABOR AND PRODUCTIVITY
controlled by institutional approach and certain kinds of expressions which are considered
appropriate. Some approaches may also be considered as impulsive and thus it affects the
performance of the employees. In such a situation, the employees cannot disclose their feelings
and emotions and they cannot concentrate in their job. These indirectly affect the organizations
as well as the employees (Zhang & Fung, 2014).
Emotional outburst of the employees damages their credibility. If an individual always
remains upset in his work, he/she cannot concentrate on the job. Moreover, it also affects the
reputation and image of the employees. Thus, it is important for an emotional leader to control
his feelings. It is important to stay focused on the task and thus make improvements and progress
in that particular field. It is also seen that an emotional employees always remain tensed and
stressed with small issues and thus it affects their performance. The emotions, moods and overall
dispositions of the employees lay an important impact on teamwork, turnover, creativity,
leadership and negotiations. Emotion can be described either as an interpersonal or
individualized response to the stimulus. It is important to control the emotions as well as shape
the emotional attitude of other individuals. Emotional labor is thus taken as serious behavior and
attitude of the groups, individuals and organizations. It affects loyalty, customer satisfaction and
financial performance in the organizations.
Thus, it can be said that emotional labor involves the process of regulation of the
expressions and feelings for the fulfillment of the organizational goals. It is important to manage
the emotions for the maximization of well being of an individual. It is tough to stay focused on
the job and make progress keeping aside the emotions of the employees. Staying focused on the
work is important and the employees deserve to do and thus help the organization to grow. This
will not only benefit the employees but also the organization. Therefore, it is important to

5RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL LABOR AND PRODUCTIVITY
concentrate on the work and remain focused rather than taking unnecessary tensions. It can be
said that emotional labor has low productivity and thus it leads to employee’s burnout.

6RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL LABOR AND PRODUCTIVITY
Reference List
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relationship between HR practices, employee engagement, and emotional exhaustion
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Delmas, M. A., & Pekovic, S. (2013). Environmental standards and labor productivity:
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Durkheim, E. (2014). The division of labor in society. Simon and Schuster.
Gonzalez, A. M., & Iffland, C. (2014). Introduction. In Care Professions and Globalization (pp.
1-29). Palgrave Macmillan US.
Lu, X., & Guy, M. E. (2014). How emotional labor and ethical leadership affect job engagement
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McCarthy, J. M., Trougakos, J. P., & Cheng, B. H. (2016). Are anxious workers less productive
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Oswald, A. J., Proto, E., & Sgroi, D. (2015). Happiness and productivity. Journal of Labor
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Platis, C., Reklitis, P., & Zimeras, S. (2015). Relation between job satisfaction and job
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487.

7RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL LABOR AND PRODUCTIVITY
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