Emotional Labor, Face and Guan xi

Abstract： Emotional Labor， Face and Guan xi are all relevant to performance， appearance， and emotional feelings， which are essential elements in work place. In other words， not only front-line workers， but all employees in an organization is faced up with the three items everyday for performance enhancement or any particular goals. As the implications and consequences of these items should be examined in the context of all stakeholders（ Ambler T，1994 ）1 ， this paper aims to precisely present their concepts， importance and functions in the following structure： As a start， general concepts and natures will be provided； Besides， overall implications will be presented through their different performance and meanings both in individual and organizational dimensions； Additionally， the importance of utilization and performance in work place will be discussed by focusing on a particular occupation--Police system both in Mainland and Hong Kong， which emphasizes on how are they performed， whether it&apos；s suitable to the current circumstance； Furthermore， different and similar manifestations of the three items in Mainland and Hong Kong Police System will be highlighted for exploring how are the three items displayed， the distinct patterns and relationship of them.

Key words： emotional labor； face； guanxi； performance

1 Emotional Labor （EL）

1.1 Implications

Generally speaking， emotional labor refers to managing emotions in a regular manner which should be consistent with organizational， occupational regulations for professional image setting， better performance and sound performance management， rather than individual internal feelings（ Gardner& Martinko， 1988）2. In other words， it is the specific emotional regulation manner which decides every employee to go with， as well， part of work responsibility for employees self-regulated to better achieve organization&apos；s goal. While， regardless of the necessaries to all occupations， different work place and positions hold diversified requirements regarding the nature of work and to what extent the work performance related to emotional labor. To make it more concise， the requirements for front-workers or service providing industries are far stricter than IT workers or other back-desk workers. For instance， Work as an airline hostess， you must appear to smile every time you are confronted with passengers even though you really feel sad； you must dress in a certain way as the company required no matter how boring you feel about the dress. In this kind of service-providing occupation， how do you behave must base on a polite， easy-going and professional way to best serve customers， as in this case， the image setting to customer and customers&apos； satisfaction are directly grounded on the performance of EL. Nevertheless， As to back-desk workers such as those for IT， there is not that strict requirements dues to that their major work is outcome of newly technology or more efficient work strategy instead of company or occupation image setting and communication. Thus， although emotional labor is essential to all organizations， the extent that it affects performance largely depends on the nature， function of different work.

1.2 Importance of Emotional Labor （EL） and Its Performance in Police Force

In light of the arguments Hochschild proposed in 19833， either in the surface acting process or deep one of EL performance， work nature/setting is the stage， employees are actors， customer is audience. What the organization expect for is maximize function of EL， namely， best acceptance and satisfaction of performance that employees have delivered to customers for achieving some certain organizational targets. In addition， in the sense， EL is the key to best achievement. To make it more explicit， as to Both Mainland Police and Hong Kong Police Force， the major targets of them are work as servants of Public， protect public and gain public trust. And to best set and maintain the positive image， all officers need to present their identity in strict manner： 1） outfit requirements such as formulated uniform， plain-clothes， no sideburns below the center of the ears for setting serious and professional image； 2） special regulation for different wording in distinct communication in case of the identities respect， as the internal communications of top-down； down-top and peers are strictly regulated. In this sense， the regulations for EL are appropriate to the occupation， as it could not only contributes to professional image setting for the public， but provides the internal staff an effective working pattern through the building of EL. Therefore， in essence， EL could build professional image to outside customers， what&apos；s more important， enhance its performance through strict requirements to staff， which results from that when all staff could follow the strict requirements， they are asked to self-review regularly， which leads to staff&apos；s individual self-enhancement and consequently， overall enhancement of capability and performance， which generates more effectiveness in position， eventually.

2 Face

2.1 Implication

In accordance with Hu&apos；s definition （Hu， 1944）4， face is the Chinese item “mianzi/ lian”， which stands for the respectability and self-identity gained from other people， which relevant to his position in occupations of his network， also the degree to which he has sufficient values in that position. Additionally， the implication of face is generally extended by the judgments of others which grounded in the personal accountability， personal behaviors， people who are close to them， as well. In this sense， face is not just a narrow term for individual respect， but overall presentation through others’ assessment in terms of the conditions of life， involves all individual and social expectation that others endow to.

2.2 Importance of Face and Its Performance in Police Force

Viewed from the interacting elements of face， it’s apparent that the functions of face make an individual or organization gain respect or different perception from others. To make it more specific， 1） it is an evaluation of public assessment from its image setting（Brown & Levinson， 1987）5， gaining face means attaining positive image， while losing face reflects the negative one. 2） Besides， it is a self-identification in a certain social circumstance which fits its own identity 3） At last， it’s kind of judgment based on the evaluation of a individual or organizational performance. Similar to other professions， In Police Force， manifestation of gaining face or losing depends on both the external side of image setting and internal regulations. The situation in both Mainland and Hong Kong are the same. On external side， honor of police， could gain extensive face in terms of building public’ trust. In Mainland， election of hero in police force is held every five year to build a positive image on one hand， and stimulate the peers for better performance on the other hand； while， the scandal of police officers in both two areas directly generate the negative image. And on the internal side， face demonstrates more about disciple and self-regulations. For instance， both formal and informal regulations for top-down communication， peer-to-peer communication should go with the principle to respect seniors. And In Hong Kong cases， it’s more apparent， in accordance with the addressee， Senior is called Ah sir/Madam， which indicates that Senior is right. Thus， it not only reveals the principle， but the face in different level.

3 Guan xi

3.1 Implication

In light of Osland&apos；s （1990）6 definition， Guan xi is a special friendship/ relationship between people to exchange favors continually. In other words， it is the human resource that one can utilize to achieve a particular goal， which is based on personal or organizational relationship base. Viewed from the nature of Guan xi， it could be classified into two major dimensions： 1）Non-business Guan xi， covers family and helper， defined as" expressive ties "（Hwang， 1987）7； 2）Guan xi for business， here， it refers to all Guan xi for achievements and better performance rather than a narrow implication of business targets. In the following parts， great attention will be paid to the business-oriented one instead of non-business one， to explore how it present in Police Force， and what outcome it generates. While regarding the word "relationship"， it&apos；s extremely vague to separate the implication of Guan xi from it， what&apos；s the most essential element is that， Guan xi is built on relationship， nonetheless， relationship will not create Guan xi automatically， and it only generate Guan xi when a specific purpose is built or a exchange of favor comes into being. For instance， A and B were high school classmates， the relationship of Guan xi base established once they were classmates， but they haven&apos；t held Guan xi until B comes to A for inquiring about the qualification of employing a new History teacher five years later， at that time， A is a headmaster of secondary school， and B&apos；s wife desire to apply for a history teacher in another secondary school. In this case， Guan xi just be built up when B get the information from A. Thus， Guan xi only be bonded once there is a need for exchange or any other resources.

3.2 Importance of Guan xi

As guan xi is a complicated and multi-faced （ Xin & Pearce， 1996）8 item， it generates different impacts upon different targets. On one hand， its individual impact mainly concerned a sustainable process， which demonstrates that wherever the individual goes， its guan xi goes with him as a personal property； On the other hand， Guan xi of organization is a special assets for the organization， including extensive information， better performance， more business. It is created by the organizational entity， and could not be taken by other individuals. In this sense， there is only one exception， the certain kind of organizational guan xi which built by employees&apos； individual one. To make it more explicitly， the relatives of one employee in an Insurance Company， was once the customers of the organization， and is the promising customers as well， while the departure of this employee will ruin the B2B（Gold， 1985）9 Guan xi. Therefore， it&apos；s apparent that what could be benefit from Guan xi is not only information， resources， but assistance when a problem comes into being.

3.3 Performance in Police Force

Compared the use of guan xi both in Mainland Police and Hong Kong Police Force， they are similar in aims： for their better performance and effectiveness in terms of external guan xi， namely， the relationship with other peer organization， public and media.； also， internal one， which relates to staff relations regarding the college relationships and superior-subordinate relationship that grounded on common purpose and values. Since， the targets of both are best serve people and protect public， their internal measures on guan xi are similar in terms of sound and harmony relationship among staff. While， as to the external one， the manner is the same regardless of specific distinct measures in some degree. For instance， regular press conference with major media； special column for Police activities； friendly sport activities or tasks-oriented cooperation with peer police force. These are all positive measurements of guan xi bonding， which could bring1） internal staff unite， which makes great efforts to internal management； 2） sound relationship with media and public， which sets up sound image of the occupation， in addition， gain the trust of public， as to public trust， it is an extraordinarily crucial element of effective performance of public sector； 3） positive guan xi with peer police force could directly contribute to work efficiency and effectiveness， esp. in dealing with complex cases. For instance， For cracking down the incremental criminal in IPR （Intellectual Property Right） in 2011， Mainland Police start the close cooperation with ICPO （International Criminal Police Organization）， that&apos；s a typically effective action of cooperation； And regarding Hong Kong Force， it mainly focus on fostering strong cooperation with mainland and Macao， it&apos；s different cooperation activities based on common purpose for cutting crime forces enhance the effectiveness successfully through this kind of Guan xi.

4 Conclusion

In practice， Emotional Labor， Face and Guan xi are closely connected， what’s more important， they are bonded to reflect the performance or status of individual or organization in an occupation comprehensively， which are all grounded on the culture background of organization， nature of occupation， management methodology. Guan xi is established on guan xi base， when it’s used for a particular goal， it owns the access to larger scale of information and resources； generally， more guan xi lead to bigger face， which means more acquired reputation； Also， EL， works with the acquired “ face” to maintain and enhance overall performance of organization. Although， the manifestation of how to use the three items depend on the diversified nature of organization， they do need to be utilized in most optimal way to achieve both individual and organizational goals， enhance the performance as well. As to reduce the possibility of corruption or other criminals result from misuse of these three items， strict regulation and sound supervision from both political system and market is inevitable.

reference

[1]Ambler， T. （1994）. Marketing’s third paradigm： guan xi. Business Strategy Review， 5：4， 69-80

[2]Brown. P & S. Levinson. Politeness： Some Universal in Language Usages[M]. Cambridge： Combridge University Press， 1987

[3]Gardner， W.L.& Martink o. M. J. （1988）. Impression management in organizations. Journal of Management， 14（2）， 321-338

[4]Gold， T. B.（1985） Personal relations in China since the Cultural Revolution. The China Quarterly， 104， 657-673

[5]Hochschild， A.R.（ 1983） The Managed Heart： Commercialization of Human Feeling. Berkeley： University of California Press

[6]Hu HC. 1944. The Chinese Concepts of “Face”. [J]. American Anthropologist 46（1）

[7]Hwang， K. （1987）. Face and favor： the Chinese power game. American Journal of Sociology， 9 44-974

[8]Osland， G. E （1990）. Doing Business in China. Marketing Intelligence and Planning， 8： 4

[9]Xin， K. R. and Pearce， J. L. （1996）. Guan xi： connections as substitutes for formal institutional support. Academy Management Journal， 39： 6， 1641-1657

作者介

田汶灵（1989-），女，四川南充人，南充职业技术学院外语系教师，硕士研究生。