| Abstract: | At first glance, readers of Professors Newman, Guy, and Mastracci’s article may conclude that emotional labor and affective leadership are obvious qualities that we should expect from adults in the workplace. It seems that effective employees and managers have always shown strengths in these competencies. Is this another academic effort to explore an area that practitioners already understand and manage fairly well? Further reflection reveals, however, that taking emotional labor and affective leadership for granted can lead to dire consequences. Failure to empathize and manage emotions during citizen contact events can create costs in money and, in the most severe cases, costs in lives. A lack of appreciation for affective leadership can produce productivity and morale problems that, again, create costs for all involved. |
