Feeney 1

Michael C. Feeney
Professor Thomas Ingram
MBA 517
07/22/2019

Module 1: Case 1

1. In what way is this case about emotional labor?

This case relates to emotional labor in many ways. Understanding that emotional labor is the “process of
regulating both feelings and expressions to meet organizational goals” (Fundamentals of Organizational
Behavior 6th Edition, page 69) helps to connect emotional labor to this specific case. Chloe is a financial
consultant who is constantly acting to appease her clients in the competitive field of wealth management.
Chloe implements both surface acting and deep acting while interacting with her clients. An example of
surface acting is seen when Chloe wanted to scream at Jud (following an unwanted hug) and instead
suppressed her emotions and smiled at him. An example of deep acting occurs while Chloe is dealing
with Darwin, a client who continues to ask Chloe to perform shady transactions on his behalf. Chloe
politely reminds Darwin that her company, Lake River Capital, complies fully with all tax regulations and
makes no exceptions. Chloe continually reminds Darwin of Lake River Capital’s stance on the issue and
he continues to pester her about it nevertheless. Chloe suppresses her anger towards Darwin and
continues to deal with him. Overall, Chloe embodies emotional dissonance in that her felt emotions are
starkly different from her expressed emotions.

2. What do you recommend that Chloe do differently so that she doesn’t have to “bite her tongue”?

There are a few things that I believe Chloe should do so that she doesn’t have to “bite her tongue” in the
future. First, Chloe should begin by alerting management of the pressure that Darwin is placing on her.
When meeting with management Chloe should communicate to the managers that Darwin has repeatedly
ignored her comments related to the unethical nature of Darwin’s requests to lower his income tax. By
meeting with management Chloe is taking the responsible route and attempting to get at the root cause of
the issue by having management deal directly with the nature of Darwin’s requests. Next, I would
recommend that Chloe make a more formal and direct request that Jud stop his unwanted advances. While
Chloe indirectly requested that Jud cease his actions, I think that he simply is not getting the message.
Firmly laying out that she wants a strictly professional relationship with Jud is the first step in easing her
tensions related to that situation. If Jud continues his advances, Chloe should report Jud’s conduct as a
form of workplace sexual harassment to management so the situation can be dealt with. Finally, when
dealing with Lauren I feel as though Chloe may be better suited taking a less technical approach to get
Lauren to understand her point that its extremely rare to find a company like Amazon or Apple in its
infancy. Due to Lauren’s old age it may be difficult for her to genuinely understand how difficult her
requests are for Chloe to accomplish.

3. What about Chloe accepting the reality that “the customer is always right”?

I think that I would recommend that Chloe dig a bit deeper than always assuming the customer is right.
Chloe is an intelligent worker and is aware of company ethical policy, as well as overall morality. When
Chloe is faced with situations such as dealing with Darwin or Jud, I believe she should acknowledge that
they are acting in unprofessional and unethical ways. When clients cross ethical and moral lines they are
not right and should be held accountable for their actions. Chloe should effectively communicate with
management to handle the stressful situations she’s a part of. Alleviating her stress will not only benefit
 Feeney 2

her but it will also benefit Lake River Capital in that her productivity will most likely increase due to her
implied job satisfaction.

4. If you were Chloe’s manager, what would you do to help make her job less stressful?

If I were Chloe’s manager, I would begin by sitting down with her and really embrace the Lake River
Capital mantra by having a face-to-face meeting with her to discuss the stress her clients are causing her.
Using knowledge of emotional intelligence, I would empathize with Chloe’s feelings of stress and the
pressure to retain clients. Also, I would walk through the company code of ethics (assuming there is one,
which there should be) with her to assure that she is correct in bringing her issues to management.
Connecting with Chloe and really showing her how important she is to Lake River Capital is the strategy
I would take to help improve alleviate her stress.