Emotional labor and the discomfort that it can bring are discussed by Tracy. The idea of emotional labor is a relatively new one, and a lot of people still try to overlook or ignore it. However, it is not something that can be wished away. It is important to understand this discomfort so that people who need help with the work that they do and the way that they feel about that work can get some assistance. Without getting help, individuals can spiral out of control emotionally, which is an unfortunate consequence of too much dissonance and discord in a person's life. It was originally thought that these kinds of dissonance problems only happened in social and personal lives, but the business world has changed so much that these issues are starting to appear there, as well.
Tracy, S.J., & Tretheway, a. (2005). Fracturing the real-self, fake-self dichotomy: Moving toward "crystallized" discourses and identities. Communications Theory, 15, 168-195.
For most people in the business world, there is a fake self and a real self. The real self is who a person is when he or she is completely alone. The fake self is who that same person is when he or she is out there in the world, trying to cope with work, other people, and the hustle and bustle of life that so many people both loathe and take for granted at the same time. There is a way, say Tracy and Tretheway, to take the fake self and the real self, and merge them into a self that is 'real' in the larger picture of things. By doing this, there is less of a problem with feeling fake around others or feeling as though he or she has to perform in a certain way, and this can help a person feel much more meaningful and real overall, both in the business world and in his or her personal life.