Emotional labor and stress regulation among customer service representatives

Emotional Labor: Case Study

While workplace analysis often focuses upon the physical aspects of labor, such as the demands placed upon workers\' time, energy, and mental and physical capacity, emotional labor is an often-overlooked component of workplace stress, employee attrition, and suitability for a particular position. Emotional labor refers to the need to regulate emotional responses according to the demands of the job. These demands may vary; for example, greater emotional regulation may be demanded of an air traffic controller, versus an administrative assistant who spends little time interacting with the public. The focus of this case study will be upon customer service representatives who must deal with many members of the often irate public on a regular basis. Customer service representatives are frequent lower-level employees who receive little training and relatively low pay relative to other individuals in high-stress occupations who are in constant contact with the public. Thus, the demands placed upon customer service representatives regarding emotional regulation may be somewhat different versus other employees. They may be less well prepared for their tasks and less well-compensated.

This case study will examine the emotional labor extricated of employees working at a customer service job during the busy holiday season. It will involve twelve employees working for an Internet-based retailer that ships its product all over the world. Employees must field concerns about problems with the product itself as well as questions about ordering and shipping. Emotional labor is extracted from employees because they must show only positive, not negative emotions, despite often being abused or treated in a discourteous manner (\"Emotional Labor,\" 2017). The research question is: How do customer service employees regulate their emotions to do their jobs while mitigating the personal stress they feel themselves?

The sampling approach will deploy a case study method, so only employees within the identified organization will be under scrutiny. This will also emphasize one of the great advantages of qualitative research, which is to get to know a small group of individuals very intimately. As noted by Agostinho (2004), to extract high quality data from qualitative research demands a triangulated approach using multiple data sources as well as \"prolonged\" and \"persistent\" engagement and observations (p.9). Observation of the employees at work on a regular basis will enable the researcher to identify how the employees self-regulate emotions and engage with customers as well as they engage with themselves. However, given that the definition of emotional regulation is that employee\'s full emotions are not necessarily on display, observations will also be combined with interviews of employees as they review different scenarios and discuss how they felt when talking to different customers and also when fielding problems amongst themselves and the leaders of the organization. Interviews will be conducted both as a group and on an individual basis.