A recent study reported that university instructors are frequently required to engage in emotional labor. Identify the situations in which emotional labor is required for this job. In your opinion, is emotional labor more troublesome for college instructors or for telephone operators working at an emergency service?

This question really has two parts to it. In the first part, students can be asked to identify situations where instructors use emotional labor, and what display rules are considered appropriate. Some situations are as follows:

A student asks for an assignment extension one too many times. The instructor must maintain a calm demeanor, yet display firmness in his/her reply.

The instructor has been teaching for six hours straight, yet must maintain an image of fresh enthusiasm throughout that final hour.

A student asks a profoundly silly question without realizing it. The instructor must maintain a sense of interest and show respect for the students query.

In the second part of this question, students can be asked to compare these emotional labor incidents with those of emergency operators. In spite of the difficult tasks that instructors may think they experience in emotional labor, most students will say it pales against the work of emergency operators.

Students should be asked to explain why these emergency workers must engage in more emotional labor than professors. Generally, students will note how emergency operators face more extreme emotional events that test their ability to remain calm and to console others. They also experience more extreme frustration given the life-threatening nature of the situation for their clients.


Generally, the discussion should review the three factors that provides challenges to emotional labor: (a) frequent interaction with other people; (b) need to display a variety of emotions (to some extent for emergency operators); and (c) the organization and job requires strict display rules.

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