Appraising Emotion Work : Determining Whether Emotional Labor Is Valued in Government Jobs
By: MASTRACCI, Sharon H
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Contributor(s): NEWMAN, Meredith A | Guy, Mary E.
Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage Publications, June 2006Subject(s): Trabalho Emocional | Avaliação de Desempenho | Diferenças de Gênero | SalárioThe American Review of Public Administration 36, 2, p. 123-138Abstract: In an era when greater responsiveness is required of government workers, the authors test whether there is a blind spot in employee performance appraisals that prevents rewarding the most effective workers. Emotional laborwork that is relational and involves the manipulation and expression of emotionsis labor intensive and is required of many public service workers if they are to perform their jobs well. The authors hypothesize that rationality, or "left brain" work, remains privileged whereas relational work remains marginalized and unrewarded. To investigate whether there is a disconnect between the required performance of emotional labor and annual appraisals that acknowledge its performance, the authors review appraisal instruments used by public agencies in Illinois. Results confirm that 86% of the instruments identify the performance of emotion work at only a perfunctory level or lower. The lack of acknowledgement renders such labor invisible and contributes to depressed wages of those whose jobs require it.
In an era when greater responsiveness is required of government workers, the authors test whether there is a blind spot in employee performance appraisals that prevents rewarding the most effective workers. Emotional laborwork that is relational and involves the manipulation and expression of emotionsis labor intensive and is required of many public service workers if they are to perform their jobs well. The authors hypothesize that rationality, or "left brain" work, remains privileged whereas relational work remains marginalized and unrewarded. To investigate whether there is a disconnect between the required performance of emotional labor and annual appraisals that acknowledge its performance, the authors review appraisal instruments used by public agencies in Illinois. Results confirm that 86% of the instruments identify the performance of emotion work at only a perfunctory level or lower. The lack of acknowledgement renders such labor invisible and contributes to depressed wages of those whose jobs require it.
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