Abstract
Companies have become aware, over the last several years, that emotions conveyed by employees, in facing customers, constitute key components of success. They determine the customer reaction. They influence his emotional state (fear, confidence, sympathy), and his will to buy. They determine the quality of the service, and more specifically, the company quality. Defined, controlled and correctly managed emotional activity of the employees has become a necessity for companies. The employee has to conform to “emotional rules,” which are pre-established. He must be smiling, attentive, and enthusiastic.
He must avoid distant, apathetic, and tense behavior. This prescriptive emotional management imposed by the company requires employees to consider a significant amount of emotional work on themselves. Arlie Hochschild (1983), American sociologist, defines emotional work as the individual capacity to understand, evaluate, and manage one's own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. The employee must adapt his way of thinking, reacting, and communicating. The employee is an ‘actor' of the company.
