Emotions and Work in a Lifestyle Occupation

Abstract

Suggests that, in traditional approaches to competence analysis, the emotional components of work are seldom considered. Yet many service occupations, such as airline flight attendants, require considerable skill in dealing with other people′s feelings while effectively managing one′s own. The term “emotional competence” is used to describe this aspect of job performance. Reports a study of 52 flight attendants which was designed to ascertain their own feelings about their work and whether more needed to be done in training to prepare new workers for the emotional components of the job. Found that personal interactions with other people, passengers and crew, elicited both the most positive and the most negative responses; yet, overall, the respondents reported considerable job satisfaction. Many flight attendants made a distinction between the job tasks and the lifestyle nature of the job itself. Training for the emotional components of competence may require only slight additions to existing practices yet, as more work draws on skills in this area, this aspect of performance will become increasingly important.