The Dark Side Of Emotional Labour

The Dark Side of Emotional Labour explores the work that the rest of society would rather not think about, the often unseen work that is emotionally disturbing, exhausting, upsetting, and stigmatising. This is work that is simultaneously undesirable and rewarding, work whose tasks are eschewed and yet necessary for the effective function of individual organisations and society at large. Diverse and challenging, this book examines how workers such as the doorman, the HR manager, the waiter and the doctor’s receptionist experience verbal aggression and intimidation; how the prison officer and home carer respond to the emotions associated with physical violence, and; how the Samaritan, banker and veterinarian deal in death and despair. It also considers how different individuals develop the emotional capital necessary to cope with the dark side of emotional labour, and how individuals can make sense of, and come to take satisfaction and pride in, such difficult work. Finally, the book considers what is to be done with darker emotional work, both in terms of the management and care of those labouring on the dark side. Challenging and original, this book gives a voice to those who undertake the most demanding work on our behalf. It will be of interest to researchers and students of organisation studies and its related fields, and to every one of us who is called on to work or manage on the Dark Side.

This book is the first volume to explore criminal justice work and criminological research through the lens of emotional labour. A concept first coined 30 years ago, emotional labour seeks to explore the ways in which people manage their emotions in order to achieve the aims of their organisations, and the subsequent impact of this is on workers and service users. The chapters in this edited collection explore work in a wide range of criminal justice institutions as well as the penal voluntary sector. In addition to literature review chapters which consolidate what we already know, this book includes case study chapters which extend our knowledge of how emotional labour is performed in specific contexts, and in relation to certain types of work. Emotional Labour in Criminal Justice and Criminology covers topics such as prisoners who die from natural causes in prison, to the work of independent domestic violence advisors and the use of emotion by death penalty lawyers in the US. An accessible and compelling read, this book presents ground-breaking qualitative and quantitative research which will be critical to criminologists, criminal justice practitioners, students of criminology and academics in the fields of social policy and public service.

The Dark Side of Organizational Behavior aims to gather all the micro- and meso-level topics about the dark side of organizations that may guide management practitioners, researchers, and students. The history before the modern human civilization is full of multiple types of conflicts, wars, struggles and violence. Modernization project has constructed a desired reality of human being and has somehow concealed the dark side of human interactions. Through this outlook, this book explores the realities of the dark side of organizations and how these realities may have the potential to change previous assumptions about business life. The field of organizational behavior is dominated by the positive aspects of the business life, but conflict, war, struggle, and violence have always been a part of history. It is not possible to isolate organizational participants from negative emotions like hostility, dislike, hate, jealousy, rage and revenge. A manager may devote most of their time to cope with conflicts, deviant behaviors, ambitious individuals, gossips and dysfunctional rivalry among employees. It is evident that negative events and interactions among employees cost more time and energy for a manager than the positive side of organizational life. Therefore, exploring the realities of the dark side of organizations may have the potential to change previous assumptions about business life. This book will be of interest to researchers, academics, practitioners, and advanced students in the fields of organizational studies and behavior, human resource management, employment relations, and organizational psychology.

We live in a world of limitless information. At both home and at work, an endless range of devices and IT systems place demands upon our attention that human beings have never experienced before, but are our brains capable of processing it all? In this important new book, the idea of brain overload is defined and explored, from its impact on our decision-making and memory, to how we may cope with the resultant ‘technostress’. Supported by case studies and also exploring the idea of ‘IT addiction’, the book concludes by asking how IT processes may support rather than hinder our cognitive functioning. This is essential reading for anyone interested in how we function in the digital age.

Many consider empathy to be the basis of moral action. However, the ability to empathize with others is also a prerequisite for deliberate acts of humiliation and cruelty. In The Dark Sides of Empathy, Fritz Breithaupt contends that people often commit atrocities not out of a failure of empathy but rather as a direct consequence of over-identification and a desire to increase empathy. Even well-meaning compassion can have many unintended consequences, such as intensifying conflicts or exploiting others. Empathy plays a central part in a variety of highly problematic behaviors. From mere callousness to terrorism, exploitation to sadism, and emotional vampirism to stalking, empathy all too often motivates and promotes malicious acts. After tracing the development of empathy as an idea in German philosophy, Breithaupt looks at a wide-ranging series of case studies—from Stockholm syndrome to Angela Merkel's refugee policy and from novels of the romantic era to helicopter parents and murderous cheerleader moms—to uncover how narcissism, sadism, and dangerous celebrity obsessions alike find their roots in the quality that, arguably, most makes us human.

How do some people bounce back with vigor from daily setbacks, professional crises, or even intense personal trauma? This book reveals the key traits of those who emerge stronger from challenges, helps you train your brain to withstand the stresses of daily life, and presents an approach to an effective career reboot. This volume includes the work of: Daniel Goleman Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld Shawn Achor This collection of articles includes “How Resilience Works,” by Diane Coutu; “Resilience for the Rest of Us,” by Daniel Goleman; “How to Evaluate, Manage, and Strengthen Your Resilience,” by David Kopans; “Find the Coaching in Criticism,” by Sheila Heen and Douglas Stone; “Firing Back: How Great Leaders Rebound After Career Disasters,” by Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld and Andrew J. Ward; and “Resilience Is About How You Recharge, Not How You Endure,” by Shawn Achor and Michelle Gielan. How to be human at work. The HBR Emotional Intelligence Series features smart, essential reading on the human side of professional life from the pages of Harvard Business Review. Each book in the series offers proven research showing how our emotions impact our work lives, practical advice for managing difficult people and situations, and inspiring essays on what it means to tend to our emotional well-being at work. Uplifting and practical, these books describe the social skills that are critical for ambitious professionals to master.

Work in all its guises is a fundamental part of the human experience, and yet it is a setting where emotions rarely take centre stage. This edited collection interrogates the troubled relationship between emotion and work to shed light on the feelings and meanings of both paid and unpaid labour from the late 19th to the 21st century. Central to this book is a reappraisal of 'emotional labour', now associated with the household and 'life admin' work largely undertaken by women and which reflects and perpetuates gender inequalities. Critiquing this term, and the history of how work has made us feel, Feelings and Work in Modern History explores the changing values we have ascribed to our labour, examines the methods deployed by workplaces to manage or 'administrate' our emotions, and traces feelings through 19th, 20th and 21st century Europe, Asia and South America. Exploring the damages wrought to physical and emotional health by certain workplaces and practices, critiquing the pathologisation of some emotional responses to work, and acknowledging the joy and meaning people derive from their labour, this book appraises the notion of 'work-life balance', explores the changing notions of professionalism and critically engages with the history of capitalism and neo-liberalism. In doing so, it interrogates the lasting impact of some of these histories on the current and future emotional landscape of labour.

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