When I read the reading guide for Mirchandani (2003)’s article, I immediately
searched for her article as this study discusses the emotions that correspond to
different races. I have always been interested in race issues but did not have many
opportunities to read related peer reviewed articles. Mirchandani (2003) states that
racialized dimensions of emotion have been scarce in literature. It is somewhat
surprising that race studies about emotion work are not abundant considering this
time of globalization. This world is getting smaller day by day, and many
organizations emphasize on diversity and globalization. Hence, it is vital to study
diverse factors such as race, class, and gender hierarchies.
First off, Mirchandani (2003) examines the experiences of an ethnically diverse
group of women who are small-business owners in Halifax, Canada. I liked her
study method since empirical studies are helpful to visualize the status quo of race
and emotion issues. According to Mirchandani (2003), theorists provide evidence
of the fact that workers may experience stress and inauthenticity when there is
disjuncture between the way in which they are expected to feel and the way in
which they actually feel. Many professional works require feeling or expressing
their emotions in certain ways. Most importantly, emotion work involves not only
monitoring one’s own reactions to situations, but also caring for others and
establishing links between people and events (Mirchandani, 2003).
Regarding one of the interviews, the author notes that there was a difference in
networking concepts between the white, middle class woman and the immigrant
colored woman. While the white woman would be willing to use her network for
the sake of her business, the immigrant woman would hesitate to use her network.
This interview reminded of me of my work in the hotel business in the States. It
seemed like internal referral system is very common in the States. If you know
someone who is a good fit for a certain position, you refer him or her to your
organization. I believe recommending someone is more prevalent in the Western
culture than the Asian culture. In Korea, where I’m from, we do have a such
system, but we rarely use it.
In addition, about building a relationship regards to work, I believe it is very
different between my country and the States. The care for others is different
between two countries. I was surprised that engaging in relationships with
customers is very rare in the Western world. For example, in my country, it is more
important to build a relationship with customers over business. I would say
business means making a personal relationship with customers in most Asian
countries. We drink, eat, and dance together first then talk about business
afterwards. I assume this may not quite work in the Western society as this kind of
personal events may be viewed as manipulated.
These are just few examples that I experienced between the different cultural
contexts. I believe there are many other emotional differences as well as
commonalities at work that depend on races, genders, and classes. Thus, it is our
job as a future HRD professional to be aware of these differences and come up
with solutions to manage various employee emotions.
References:
Mirchandani, K. (2003). Challenging racial silences in studies of emotion work:
Contributions from anti-racist feminine theory. Organization Studies, 24(5), 721742.