Training Emotion Management Skills in the Workplace - An Individual Level Intervention on Education Employees

• Author: Truta, C.
• Position: Department of Psychology and Training in Education, Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 35-40

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 6 (55) No. 2 - 2013

TRAINING EMOTION MANAGEMENT

SKILLS IN THE WORKPLACE –

AN INDIVIDUAL LEVEL INTERVENTION

ON EDUCATION EMPLOYEES

Camelia TRU1

Abstract: The paper focuses on designing and implementing an individual

resource-based intervention on education specialists in Romania, based on

Hochshild’s emotional labour model (Hochschild, 1983) and Gross’ process

model of regulating emotions (Gross, 1999). The main objective was that of

training individual emotion management skills to reduce emotional effort and

turnover intentions and to increase job satisfaction of employees. The paper

presents the structure of the intervention and discusses the efficacy of the

training program reported to stated objectives.

Key words: emotional labour, antecedent-focused regulating strategies,

intra-individual interventions in the workplace.

1 Department of Psychology and Training in Education, Transilvania University of Braşov.

1. Introduction

Emotion management is salient and

pervasive in the work of teachers, but

several studies on the topic reflect that

employees do not always adopt the most

efficient regulating strategies [18].

The focus of previous research on the

antecedents and consequences of

emotional labour shadows the investigation

of the internal mechanisms individuals use

to regulate their emotions at work. The

small amount of research in this area

showed two major types of internal

regulating processes [2], [3], [17], deep-

acting (regulation of internal feeling,

attempt to modify the subjective

experience of emotions) and surface-acting

(regulation of emotional display in

accordance with emotional display rules).

The two strategies are used by employees

in distinct manner as imposed by the job

characteristics or by the personal

characteristics such as age, years in

service, gender, or personality traits [9],

[10].

The main assumption of our study is that

emotion management strategies can be

adopted in conscious manner and under the

voluntary control of the employee, as Cote

and her colleagues suggest [6], [7].

The effort made by employee for

implementing regulating strategies is

associated with negative consequences,

such as burnout, decreased job satisfaction

and high rates of turnover [9], [11], [24].

The emotional regulation process initiated

by Gross specifies that emotion regulation

strategies have different impact depending

on the moment in which are adopted.