Business Management Training and Development

Question: Discuss about the Business Management for Training and Development. Answer: Introduction In any organization, the emotion of an employee is of utmost importance. The emotion that a worker of a company carries in a day would determine the level of productivity that he will possess in that day. Emotions are directly proportional to the confidence, motivation, and energy of an individual who performs any task inside a company. This must be ensured without fail if the company plans to run smooth in the competitive business world among the competitors. The emotions of the people inside an organization may not always be positive leading to the normal behavior exhibition. There may also be cases where people when coming to work have to deal with personal and other sorts of issues. Regardless of whatever they are experiencing, they have to showcase a positive and a concerned face to the customers whom their job description requires them to meet on a daily basis. A good example for this can be the people who work in the customer service where they come in contact with numerous cu stomers who are to be given high importance and the much needed hospitality (Arguinis Kraiger, 2009). In these circumstances, they suppress their deepest feelings and they employees work in the workplace with a calm attitude in order to not hurt the feelings of the customers where actually the employee already controlled his feelings in that case. In case of attending to disgruntled and rude customers, the employees sometimes may lose their temper which at times can be very bad. They even lose their jobs as a result of that. Emotional Labor and Emotional Dissonance Emotional labor may be explained as the way of emotion that are related to the employees, where they are required to control their feelings and emotions while at work. This is a bigger issue than one may think (Baum, 2012). Arlie Russell Hochschild is a Sociology professor at University of California who coined the term Emotional Labor. Genuine concern shown towards customers requires a positive attitude, smiling face that adhere to many physical and mental duties wiping away the inner feelings of an employee in any company especially in jobs where face-to-face customer interaction is high.Since emotions play a very big role in anybodys actions, this poses a much bigger threat as this can affect the growth of the company and can develop more conflicts inside the organization. Emotional dissonance on the other hand can be explained as the negative feeling where emotions of a person poses as a potential conflict to him at his workplace. The organizations try to control the emotions of the individuals in every way possible. Organizations dont like drama inside the companies and would take any action as soon as possible when there is a slight visibility of intense emotions. A much relatable example for this would be the roles of flight attendants in Airlines where their negative emotions are controlled. They instead show only cheerfulness and positive face to all the customers. When an employee feels an emotion that the organization does not want him to be expressing, he hides it through two different methods known as the emotional labor techniques. They are surface acting and deep acting. Surface Acting This is the technique where the employee often fakes an emotion or pretends to have an emotion by means of artificial body language or non verbal communication. They either show emotions that they do not feel or hide the ones they do feel. This poses only a mild threat as the employee experiencing this can be cured easily through mild conversations and understanding their feelings (Brewis, Tyler Mills, 2016). Deep Acting The employee generally controls his internal emotions and fakes that he or she is actually happy where in reality he or she is not. They pretend that they are enjoying interacting with the customers they are having conversations with. In this case, they dont pretend but convince themselves that they are not having a negative reaction. This process of having negative hidden emotions is always dangerous for the employees and the people who surround them and work on a daily basis. Deep acting is the one problem that needs instant attention as the people diagnosed with this are difficult to cure as the problem can be more and more associated with their mental health. How do organizations deal with emotional labor? The organizations have understood the impact of the emotional labor in the productivity of any company. The support the workers need in times like these is crucial and essential. The workers may be vulnerable and are susceptible to fall into other things such as depression or rage which can end up being dangerous for the company as well as the people who work with them. This can have a direct effect on the customers they meet also. Preventive measures have to be taken as soon as possible in order to avoid any future hassles that the management has to take care. The companies need to empathize with them in this regard and provide the necessary support. Companies have the policy of using front-end personnel in the customer services and often have the hard working employees in the back end as this would give them the time to concentrate on the business. This strategy helps them in dealing with the people in a safe manner as it lets no one be bothered by their emotions (Dean, 2005). Foll owing the companies display rules can very much be important in helping the employees dealing with stress and other issues in their personal lives. The employees are taught to understand the feeling of other people. Empathy building is a necessary step in developing the coping with feelings and the learning of Emotional Intelligence will reduce the possibility of any future conflicts (Aras Crowther, 2008). Sexualized Labor The roles that genders of the human beings play where men take some and women take some are generally called as the gender division of labor. The degree of difficulty of work, the nature of the job and such factor affect what gender gets to do what job. This is purely a result of biological traits as the men were originally hunters and the women were gatherers. But in the recent times, women do almost every job that a man can do. Certain societies dont have women do some job whereas in some societies it is different. For example, in countries like in India you can see women laborers working in construction but in European countries the construction job is considered to be a mans job and it is quite unusual to see a woman in such a job. In most countries, the household chores cooking, pampering the children, taking care of the home to other small jobs that make up the sustaining of a home are done by women. On the other hand, jobs such as handling electrical and mechanical equipment h ave traditionally been a mans job (Fiske, 2004). The concept is known to be occupational segregation wherein the roles are made into horizontal and vertical dimensions. The sectors in which men and women play roles are highly different. The women concentrate much on jobs in sectors that do not need much skill to survive in such as agriculture, nursing etc. They also dont opt for jobs where there would be growth in their position. These jobs also dont pay the women laborers with huge wages. Even when the women go into jobs in the corporate they occupy the positions in the lower ranks in the companys hierarchy ladder and cannot move above the ladder easily like men do. This is called the Glass Ceiling. This is an invisible barrier in the corporate ladder that hinders certain demography of the companys employees from moving up even when they are eligible and have the potential (Grindstaff, 2002). This was coined by feminists but the concept applies to minority men but is concentrated more on women since they are the most affected. Aesthetic Labor The whole concept of being aesthetic in terms of labors is that there is a concern for beauty, an artistic impact on the individual doing the job or the general appearance of how the individual presents himself to the customer. This is much required in jobs that have to attract the customers by giving them the sense of feeling that the appearance of the salesperson is related to the quality of the product which they are preferably going to buy. Employees in jobs such as bars, restaurants, boutique hotels and designer retails are required to possess aesthetic nature or skills like the employers want it to be called. This becomes one of their required skills for the job eligibility apart from other necessary skills such as social, technical and interpersonal relationship skills (Hrmguide.co.uk, 2016).The employees have to be looking good and have to sound right for the customers to find them fit for the work that they are doing. The essential things that the workers need to follow enco mpass the body language of the individuals, the dressing sense and the style of it, formal personal grooming. This also includes the tone, their voice and even the accent they speak in during the process of dealing with the customers. These skills can be learnt over time depending on the type of customers they meet along the way. Though certain companies understand the need for the aesthetics to be included in the job, there has been some misunderstanding through the analyzing by the people who make the policies. The numbers of products that sell are mostly dependent on certain factors that the authors of the book Aesthetic Labour and the Policy-Making Agenda: Time for a Reappraisal of Skills Dennis Nickson, Eli Dutton and Chris Warhurst have determined (Warhurst Nickson, 2009). They are: Services produced and the services consumed simultaneously Interaction of service workers and customers Service employees being the part in the product that the customer enjoys Intangible services offered by the employees such as hospitality, information giving and such. The service transactions that happened between the customers and the service are strongly dependent on the how the employees present themselves to the customer where their moods, personality and appearance play a prominent role. Training the employees with these invincible aesthetic skills is not an easy job and it cannot be segregated into the soft skills that generally employees have in their resumes (Labor Management Decisions, 2016). The authors of the above mentioned book feel company that is recruiting people with aesthetic skills will possess a competitive advantage over its competitors. The style labor market is not going anywhere and is here to stay. Emotions and Organizations The leader running an organization leading the subordinates should know the mature way of coping with emotions of the workers in the organization. This would lead in having a mature environment which expands in constant awareness and consciousness. Emotions are an intangible factor that can indirectly affect the productivity of the company as the performance of the employee is directly proportional to the emotions he has power over. This can influence in meeting the corporate objectives. When expression of the emotions is restricted, there will be resistance from the employee and his behavior will ultimately change. The organization normally would want the workers to adhere to certain norms and adapt to the roles that the company wants them to play depending upon the job designation of the particular employee (The Leadership Hub, 2016). This is only acceptable and every other emotion that is a threat is prohibited. This suppression will obviously make the employee behave in a differe nt way than normal. Trusting nature, caring ability, motivation, enthusiasm, pride in the work one does and of course fun are all essential emotions in order to have success and what a good leader expects of an employee (Bordo, 2004). The responsibility of a leader must be to generate these emotions in a depressed employee who lacks the motivation to work normally. The generation of passion is necessary so as to have the organization operating properly. However, there should not be inconsistence in the existence of an emotion (Mitra, Webb Wolfe, 2014). The employee must have the necessary freedom to express his feelings in the workplace until it is a positive one which does not affect anyone and hinder the others work. Emotional intelligence is another thing that companies concentrate on these days as it has evolved as an important thing in determining the degree of work a worker does. The emotion not properly communicated can become a problematic situation for lots of people. The issue with the emotions is the amount of complexity that it generates. It can never be predicted as the whole idea of emotion changes from person to person. It has the ability to be experienced differently by individuals depending on their perspective on a specific issue or concern (Pritchard Whiting, 2015). This lack of dependability and reliability makes it impossible to anticipate for them easily. It gets so serious to certain extent where it almost becomes irrational and leaves no format or particular structure to assess the situation from. The judgments made by the leaders in regards to the emotions can differ a lot if they do not understand the basic distinguishing ability of the emotional experience of individuals (Brook, 2009). Managing Emotions Emotions are not something that can be controlled consciously. The limbic part of the brain is responsible for the emotions and is one of the most primitively developed portions of our body in human history (Skillsyouneed.com, 2016). This explains the straight forward nature of humans that they want to express powerful emotions instantaneously. But this does not give us reason to go rogue on other because as much as we have the instinct to express emotion, we do have the reasoning ability to control them at will if worked on it unlike other organisms on the planet. The fact that emotions are unpredictable is why people have found it hard to understand the ideas of human beings and their intentions in various situations (Fineman, 2000). The leaders must take up the responsibility in taking positive actions in trying to manage the emotions of the employees in the right time at the right degree without having to hurt them in any way. Advising the employees to have proper exercise everyd ay is one of the key ways where they can learn to control their emotions in a civilized way (The gender division of labor, 2008). Open communication with the people in the organization is important. This would provide the opportunity to interact with the colleagues and get the emotions out of their system. This does not necessarily mean that they have to bring every employee bring down to their level and empathize with them. But normal interactions with the peers would be much preferable. Being aware to emotional response is essential so as to understand the consequence of a situation if it is dealt with the particular emotion that is not appropriate (Forbes.com, 2016). Managers are the primary people who take initiative in managing the people and bringing the best out of them. It is not the best to have a bad boss at the time where an employee is having an emotional turmoil and is struggling to concentrate on work. The risk factor increases as much as 33% (Forbes.com, 2016) when the mentally and emotionally down employee and a bad manager come together. This is explained in utmost detail by Daniel Goleman in his book Emotional Intelligence. As a manager, one must be capable of reading his employees emotional signals and cues right way. Whenever a decision is being made, the emotions of the workers and their possible reactions must be taken into consideration. Sometimes the cues may be as obvious as facial expressions which can be interpreted easily. Then there are the body languages, words they use when they are either frustrated or emotionally down, the tone of their speech can also provide how they are feeling during a certain point of time. The managers should know how to be efficient leaders (Turnbull, 2002). They should learn and implement how to empathize with the employees at times when they are hurt or down. There must be a prevalence of caring responses for the tasks that they perform. This does not of course mean that they have to have long conversations with the subordinates but a small appreciation in the whole process might go a long way in motivating them in the next task critically. Every employee has something unique that will motivate him so much that he will take up a determination to finish the task on time. This is clear indication that can be used by a manager to trigger the employee to get the job done efficiently (Hearn, 2011). As much as the employees need assistance in helping them fight the emotions and other depressing feelings, they also constantly need their privacy. Provision of autonomy is highly recommended when the manager sees a flinch in the face of the employee that denotes that he needs au tonomy (Waring, 2011). There can be a lot of misunderstandings during the communication of information. This can be overcome by clearly framing the sentences with proper words and told in the right tone that is neither harsh nor too indifferent. There should be clear anticipation which has to be the role of the manger who must take appropriate actions in case of emotional situations. Emotional Labor in the TV Shows The gender difference in TV shows has been stereotypically portraying the roles bad over the years and it has been changing recently with the boom in feminism and other offense-taking activists protesting for literally everything (Knights Thanem, 2005). The way in which they are written are still the same where the male roles are independent and successful in some way whereas the women characters often do not get the lead. Even if they get so, they take a home maker mom, royal wife and such characters to begin with. The kids who grow up watching such prominent fixation of dedicated roles get the impression that women should not do such roles or be such characters in real life. The young boys take up violence as their key as they are only exposed to roles where the lead actors are portrayed as badass heroes who would do daring act without fear. This makes the boys violent as he prefers to stay with the Cool kids at school and bullies other weaker kids so as to prove his dominance (Wi tz, Warhurst Nickson, 2003). As far as the female roles are concerned, the young girls only get to see a pretty girl who is being wooed by a guy in a Young Adult romance movie. She also gets the impression that a girl should be incredibly beautiful to garner the attention of a guy and this makes her highly inferior about the way she looks. Her self-confidence levels depend on the amount of time she spends doing her make-up (Mindtools.com, 2016). Portrayal of women in the TV show Desperate Housewives The TV shows of today have improved in showing highly independent women on screen where they are at the most lonely and dont prefer normal social gathering. This is very much inspired by the dominant male roles portrayed by the actors over the years (Nath, 2011). The method of having your own solitude than normal people is generally the case when a woman decides to stay independent. Still when they are at their jobs, they are supposed to mother some agent or a junior right when we think the character is going rogue they make them spill the mother wisdom on some dumb character. There has been a big controversy that the women character in the TV show Desperate Housewives are very stereotypical characters be it a role of a perfect mother or a trophy wife. It is 2016 and there still exists this clichd representation of women in the television. Right from naming the series Desperate Housewives the show has been garnering attention from critics who criticized the show for being sexist. Sin ce the show was an instant hit among the audience, there was not any loss that was incurred to the producers and they cared very little about the controversies. Edie is a character in the show that is passive who is portrayed as a person who uses her body to get ahead in life. This show gives out a generalized stereotypical idea that women who dont look beautiful are not successful in life. This is wron and must be wiped off from being showcased on television where children have a lot of impression over. The depiction of men as the people who look and the women being the one who are being looked at is the overall stereotype that every writer still does. The women characters need not always be weak, victimized and even shown ineffectual. The characters are always in touch with a blend of romance alongside the male characters in the show. The women in the show do everything they can to make them look beautiful in the eyes of the others. This becomes the main plotline without having an ything to do with actual content. Infidelity, caring only about the looks, not working to fend for themselves, being a rude person in general is how they are shown in the show. Male superiority and dominance has not gone even a single ounce out of the clichd storylines (Shattuc, 2014). There is no wrong in writing the roles like it and nitpicking is not the overall idea here. This is clearly to state that the gender difference and the emotional labor is a generalized idea that needs more attention to be able to get them under control. This should be done so as to not let the future minds be misled into roads they do not want to go. This TV show is a perfect example for how modern feminism is in reality these days. 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