Walking the Tightrope: How and When the Paradoxical Act of Breaking Character Leads to Resilience

Abstract

Occupational stress is common in the workplace and leads to various negative outcomes such as burnout, turnover, and medical problems. Although occupational stress is associated with negative connotations, it also can foster workplace resiliency. Workplace resiliency involves the ability to recover quickly in the face of adversity. Emotionally laborious jobs, or jobs in which employees must modify, manage, or regulate their emotions as part of their work role, are inherently stressful. Thus, such jobs, while stress-inducing, may also offer employees opportunities to become more resilient at work. Currently, display rules, rules encouraging the suppression and expression of certain emotions, dictate workplace emotions and thus, interactions. Ultimately, display rule adherence makes it difficult for employees engaging in emotional labor to build resilience. In this chapter, the authors detail how and when emotional labor encounters lead to episodic and prolonged workplace resilience. Specifically, the authors outline instances in which employees engaging in emotional labor can create and sustain workplace resiliency by not deploying an acting strategy and instead, breaking character. The authors further discuss individual and organizational factors that may impact this process as well such as personality and organizational culture that serve as potential boundary conditions to workplace resilience capacity. The authors conclude with implications for both researchers and practitioners.

Citation

Taylor, N., Jean, E.L. and Crawford, W.S. (2022), "Walking the Tightrope: How and When the Paradoxical Act of Breaking Character Leads to Resilience", Perrewé, P.L., Harms, P.D. and Chang, C.-H.(D). (Ed.) Examining the Paradox of Occupational Stressors: Building Resilience or Creating Depletion (Research in Occupational Stress and Well Being, Vol. 20), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 51-78. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-355520220000020006