The Complexity of Feeling: Part III
Ready for Part III? In case you missed Part I or Part II, here are some links.
Thus far I have talked about feeling conventions and the emotions work therein. We continue this dialogue in turning the lens towards organizational culture.
In our organizations there are two layers embedded in the commercial value of human capital: feeling commoditization and physical commoditization. As posed by Hochschild (1979), and expanded on by Chu (2002), in feeling commoditization the value of what is sold as an aspect of human capital is deep acting, the ability to try to feel what one is supposed to feel as determined by the organizational container. Under physical commoditization it is the physical output that represents the value of human capital to an organization.
Let’s explore an example. Suppose that as a delegate of an organization you are responsible for selling a product to clients. Let’s suppose one of the organizations big clients has a leader with whom you do not get along. If you are an effective seller of your organizations product, then there are likely feeling rules by which you abide, utilizing your deep acting to do what you are paid to do. The value you provide to the organization as a part of their human capital, is in your deep acting ( Part II if you need a refresh). The ability for someone to engage in deep emotion work is then inherently correlated to their success in organizations that depend on feeling commoditization. The greater the distance between their own feeling conventions and those of the organization, the deeper the acting required. And the deeper the acting required, the greater the emotional and mental toll.
What role does deep acting play in your work?
What elements of deep acting do you find most challenging?
As humans, the path of least resistance is alluring. In this case, it often leads us towards social systems that align with our own ideologies or feeling conventions. This allows us to remain in our respective “ideological comfort zone” where we tend to continue to uphold the emotions work within those social systems that feel most like “home”. It also speaks to why so many organizations, teams, and even friend groups, struggle to experience true diversity. Let’s unpack this.
If an individual is operating from a particular social norm and they are brought into a container (organization/team/group/etc.) created from a social system different from their own — what mechanisms drive their ability to thrive in that container? I pose that their ability to interpret, understand, accept, and integrate the ideologies of the container play a significant part in their ability to adapt and thrive.
But what if an organizational container is built within social systems that are simply too disparate from an individuals own? And perhaps interpretation, understanding, acceptance, and integration are out of reach? The impact can be alienation. One need not wander far to consider the impacts here on inclusion.
How inclusive is your organizational culture? Are the organizations values lived as described?
Organizational culture and its unwritten rules are unique to both the social systems of which those in the container abide and the social systems from which the organization originated. The complexity is profound and the impact that organizations have in affecting change around inclusive culture and emotions work is significant.
Norms are an important part of this conversation. For if it is the organization that creates the container, then the norms are created by that collection of people. So and so was too outspoken in that meeting. This person should not be so angry. Why are they always so emotional? Norms are rules unwritten, and changing. They exist consciously and unconsciously. And I hope that in this moment there is a sense building in you of, what can be done with this awareness? Reflection is an important key.
What are some of the norms within the teams and groups you are a part of?
How might those norms be examined to ensure maximum inclusion and belonging for all members?
Consider the power you have within your organizational context. Which feeling conventions stand out as potentially alienating? To whom?
What can you as an individual do to bring awareness to those unwritten rules? How might you support your organization and/or teams in establishing norms that foster belonging and diverse perspectives?
We each must define our own personal feeling rules and conventions. Examine them. Build them. Challenge them. Take them out into the light of diverse perspectives and see how they breathe. One way you can impact an organizational system, regardless of your positional power, is to begin with yourself.
Hochschild, A. R. (1979). Emotion work, feeling rules, and social structure. American journal of sociology, 85(3), 551–575.
Chu, K. H. (2002). The effects of emotional labor on employee work outcomes (Order №3106780). Available from ProQuest Central. (305521766).
