Emotional Management At The Neighbour-Hood Dollar-Store Essay Examples

Abstract

Emotional labor is a concept that has started gaining the interest it deserves from the relevant authorities as a concept that can enhance customer service in the organization. In an organization where there are numerous transactions and demanding customers, the emotions of the employees can be affected. Emotional labor is one of the experiences that the trainees are expected to learn from the business environment. Emotional labor or work is defined as a job requirement trait where the employees are expected to show emotions to customers or others in a particular situation. The emotional intelligence is critical to knowing how to deal with clients to avoid emotional outburst. The use of emotional labor in the workplace is critical to the success of a firm. The factors that determine how effective an emotional labor are used and how it can be successfully implemented is discussed in this paper. The use of the cases done by Neighbour-hood Dollar-Store through the training of the trainees is evaluated.

Effectiveness in the use of emotional labor

Introduction
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to manage emotions in a positive way so as to relieve stress, communicate effectively with other and avoid conflicts. Emotional intelligence helps in relating with others in the workplace, as well as offering service to the customers. Emotional management is the ability to manage emotions and be able to direct them in the right direction. Neighborhood Dollar Store is a store that trains employees on how to work in a retail store. The trainees have a chance to learn the basic principles of retail and customer service from their designated job coaches. The idea behind the business training is to ensure that the employees have the chance of learning from their mistakes and have the opportunity to gain experience of their expectations at their pace. Emotional labor is one of the experiences that the trainees are expected to learn from the business environment. According to Hochschild (2012), emotional labor or work is defined as a job requirement trait where the employees are expected to show emotions to customers or others in a particular situation. The economics of the countries change from the manufacturing to service based industries, and it is expected that the employees change according to the demand of the environment. In the Neighbour-hood Dollar-Store, the trainees Daniel, Peter and Neil have demonstrated emotional labor in one way or another. The situation that an employee is in determines the effectiveness of the application of emotional labor that an employee is in or faced with. Managing the emotions in an intelligent way will constitute an efficient way of emotional management. The use of emotional labor by each employee is discussed below each employee.

Daniel

Daniel had a job as a dishwasher, but his previous position does not play any part in his current status. Daniel is a cooperative worker and jovial who is determined to get things done in the right way. He is quite aware of the rules in the store and has already possessed skills the philanthropic and presentational emotional management. Daniel has managed to blend the skills with the pecuniary and prescriptive feelings that are required in the store. Daniel has learnt a lot from the training, and he can manage the boredom and the lack of employee to socialize with since they all leave him in the basement garage. Despite these hard conditions that he is exposed to, he is very optimistic that he will be able to overcome them and get a better position with high pay. The ability to control his emotions to suit the conditions of his current job has enabled him to serve the other employees with the positive consideration that things will be better. Daniel’s emotional management skills are significant since he can manipulate his emotions to suit the environment to which he is working in with a vision that a better position will be available for him soon. Daniel can manage his emotions due to the desire to be in a better place tomorrow, and this means he has to keep the current job. The emotional management aspect that Daniel uses is the knowledge that he cannot be able to get a better job if he does not start from a humble place. The prospect of having a better job encourages him to continue working hard despite the harsh conditions. This is why he is named “The reliable” since his emotions do not take control of him since he can control them.

Peter

He is the most unpredictable character who has a hard time in trying to manage his emotions in the right way. Peter has devised strategies to ensure that he can control his emotions while at the store. The strategies that Peter uses are going to the bathroom and stepping out. These strategies have not been able to manage his rudeness and grumpiness when he is interacting with the customer or other staff. Peter is quite aware of how far he can go when it comes to emotions, and that is why he has tried to adopt the strategies to ensure that he is policing himself. The emotional management efforts that Peter applies are visible, and everybody can see how much he tries to overcome the emotions just by looking at his face. The management skills he has have started to improve when he is assigned a job as a cashier in the store. Peter has some degree of humor in him which is only revealed when he is working as a cashier. The emotional management is interrupted by the passing away of Peter’s father hence hard to understand his emotional. The grief and the worries become a hindrance in achieving the goal of managing his emotions. The methods used by Peter to control his emotions are not quite successful. Peter is only able to manage a portion of his emotions and the other part of rudeness and grumpy are still present in him. Peter is not able to hide his emotions in totality, and every staff and customer can be able to tell how hard he is trying to manage his emotions. Running away from problems does not solve the problem but facing it does. Peter ways of using emotional labour are not successful since he does not attain any of the goals that emotional intelligence entails.

Neil

Emotional labor does include not only the management of emotions but also the gain of knowledge to know the professional boundaries that might be passed and those that should not be passed. This does not mean that one has to be shy or even afraid of exploiting new opportunities in the workplace. Neil, who was shy, looked lost and was always quiet, benefitted from the training since he was now able to talk freely to customers and other staff. Before, he would stand on the store floor as if lost and could not speak loudly. When a customer or staff came to talk to him, he preferred talking in a low tone due to the lack of confidence. Most of the time, he was not anywhere to be found, but this changed when he started working in the position of a cashier. He became confident since he was required to interact with the customers. The store changed his initial status from being shy and quiet to a person who could work in the front cashier without fearing customers or the staff. Standing at the cashier gives a trainee confidence, and it is a sign of positive progress in the training process. The emotional labour has been efficiently used to help Neil gain the confidence in his interaction with the customers and the staff of the store. The recognition given to Neil helps in managing money as well as emotions in front of the customer.

Credibility in the use of emotional labor

According to Lin (2011), the jobs that require the use of emotional labor are jobs which have the following three distinct characteristic:

Involves a face to face contact with the public or customer

The job requires the employee to an emotion to another person
Allows the employer to exercise control over the emotional activities of the employees
The determinants of using emotional labor are organizational norms, regulations from the supervisor and the dispositional traits that are required in the organization. The primary aim of using emotional labor is the impact it has on the success of any firm or institution. Emotional labor can be used by a company to ensure that the customers who come to the store return and even give referrals on the services and goods that the store offers. When an employee is dealing with a customer, the emotional labor should be used, and the customer should be satisfied with how he is treated. An employee should not let his judgment over-rule the will of the customer since this will result in the client feeling controlled. The best thing an employee is supposed to offer a customer is the advice on the available merchandise and any help he would require while at the store. Emotional labor takes a short period but can be costly to the firm if not carefully handled. Emotional labor can lead to reduced employee’s job satisfaction, burnout and emotional exhaustion. The requirement by the organization or the supervisor to use emotional labor has been one of the primary reasons that may lead to employee turnover especially in an organization where training is not available. The use of emotional labor requires training to master so that the employee may not be seen to be trying so hard to impress.
In an organization where dispositional traits are required, the employee should be able to express the traits without them appearing to be trying hard. When the employees are obviously, trying hard to impress they may never achieve the goals intended. In an organization, it is good for an employee to avoid external influences that may end up dictating his emotions while at the workplace. The trainees in the Neighbour-hood Dollar-Store have issues in the use emotional labor, and the store is trying hard to ensure that they can meet the standards required in the store. The store has been able to help the three trainees to use emotional labor through a step by step training. Their coaches are used to train them on how to deal with situations and also how to interact with the customers in any area of the store. The case presents a credible account of how the emotional labor is used. The case shows how the store has managed to teach the trainees, and they can learn by themselves of the qualities that are required in the firm.
The emotional labor is used as a customer service tool to make sure that the customers and staff relate with each other in positive way. The emotional labor should be used in any case that face to face interaction is present. The environment in the store requires the use of emotional labor due to the presence of customers who come to the store. The use of emotional labor is meant to ensure that the customers are served well. The relationship with the customers forms a vital tool to success in the long run since customers are the base to the success of the business. The customers can give referrals and be loyal to a firm just because they feel well served by the employees who mostly are using emotional labor. In the business world, the customer is always right and no matter what happens he should be shown respect and honored. Even if a customer is abusive or harsh, it is wise to manage emotions. Emotional labor can be used when one deals with the staff since this is the start point on how to deal with customers. It is recommended that the employee practice professional management skills so that the boundaries of the use of the emotional labour can be efficiently achieved.
In conclusion, emotional labour is an important concept in the running of the business since it determines the success of its growth. Efficient use of emotional labour can lead to a firm performing well due to the gain of reputation from the customers . Neighbour-hood Dollar-Store has realized the importance of emotional labour, and that is why it has given people the chance to work in the store and hence learn the necessary rules that are in retail stores.

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