PROJECT OBJECTIVES
To complete this project, you must
1. Conduct research to
a. Define the concept of emotional labor
b. Describe, explain, and discuss perspectives on emotional labor in general as well as in different
workplace settings
2. Conduct limited field research aimed at assessing varying understandings and experiences of emotional labor in at least three work settings
3. Analyze and summarize findings from your field research
4. Prepare a term paper on the topic of emotional labor in workplace settings based on both your field research and your background research
INSTRUCTIONS
Before you begin, read through this entire procedure. Then, follow these steps to complete your project:
1. Create your own working definition of emotional labor. Your definition should include likely effects of emotional labor, such as fatigue, workplace stress, anxiety, and alienation. Use your definition to guide your field research and clarify your thinking prior to beginning work on your term paper.
2. Use the following sources to conduct backgroundresearch. Note: You must use all of these sources for
your project.
a. Robert P. Vecchio, Organizational Behavior, pages 262–263
b. Online sources
1) Context Magazine, "Feeling around the World," Arlie Hocschild, page 80
http://contexts.org/articles/spring-2008/feeling-around-the-world/
2) Wikipedia: Defining Emotional Labor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_labor
3) "What Is Emotional Labor?" (feminist view)
http://tinyurl.com/kn2zn5y
c. At least one source of your own from the Internet, a library source, or elsewhere
3. Prepare a survey for interviewing people in different work settings. On the survey, leave room for notes you take during or immediately following your interview with any subject. Although you may add questions of your own, include the following questions on your survey:
a. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your satisfaction with your job?
b. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your satisfaction with your present workplace
environment?
c. Are you expected to present yourself in certain ways to customers (patients, passengers, clients, and so on)?
c. If so, how are you expected to present yourself? To help the interviewee answer this question, you may ask one or more of the following questions:
1) Are you expected to follow a sales script?
2) Are you expected to "up-sell" special offers?
3) Are you instructed to always be polite?
4) Are you expected to encourage and support patients?
5) Are you supposed to smile when you would prefer to scream or frown?
d. Do you feel stress when you feel one way and have to pretend you feel another way? Can you give me
examples?
e. When you feel some kind of work stress, can you
tell me how you feel about it? (If interviewees need
help answering this question, you may ask, "Does
stress make you feel tired? Frustrated? Amused?
Irritable? Sad?")
4. Follow these guidelines for conducting your research:
a. Interview people in at least three different work settings.
Your subjects might include fast-food workers,
bus or taxi drivers, firefighters, law enforcement officers,
sanitation workers, bank tellers, airline flight
attendants, public school teachers, paramedics, and
social workers—to offer some examples.
b. Interview at least two people from each work setting.
c. To find individuals to interview, begin making contacts
through people you know.
d. During the interview, complete the surveys yourself.
Don't ask the subjects to fill out the forms.
e. Before beginning an interview, tell each subject that
his or her responses will be anonymous. Indeed, it's
advisable to create fictitious names for particular
work venues, for the subjects themselves, and for
any persons mentioned by the subjects. Also, inform
each subject that your written report is for a course,
and that it will not be published anywhere.
f. Allow your respondents to speak freely. Don't allow
your survey form to keep you from taking notes on
unexpected comments, observations, and information
provided by subjects. In other words, keep an
open mind.
g. Don't record an interview on any electronic device,
such as a tape recorder, cell phone, or camcorder,
without the express permission of the subject. If you
do record any interview, destroy or delete any such
digital information upon completion of your
research project.
5. Prepare a five- to eight-page term paper based on your
research. Draft your paper on the basis of your background
reading and your field research. Edit and revise
your draft prior to submitting it to your instructor.
7. Use the following outline as a suggested guide for the
body of your paper:
a. Introduction. Summarize your paper. Briefly
describe what the paper is about and how you went
about writing it.
b. Emotional Labor: Psychological Stress in the
Workplace. Describe emotional labor, including
different perspectives on its nature and its psychological
costs. The material for this section should
come mainly from your background research.
c. Interviews. Explain what you learned from your
interviews, including anecdotal material to engage
the reader and, to a limited extent, offer your interpretations
and impressions.
d. Summary and conclusion. Discuss your overall
impressions, your view on the causes of emotional
labor, and perhaps, how it might be managed or
reduced.
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