Mary E. Guy

GENXERS VERSUS BOOMERS: Work Motivators and Management Implications

This research examines workforce generational changes and specifically focuses on Generation X. GenXers comprise about one-third of the American labor force and are becoming a major influence in the workplace. To test common wisdom that they are substantially different from Baby Boomers, this study uses the 2002 General Social Survey of 454 government employees to compare Baby Boomers to GenXers. Using contingency table analysis and ordered logit analysis, we find little difference between the Baby Boom generation and Generation X in terms of their appraisal of work motivation factors. Management implications are suggested.

Appraising Emotion Work Determining Whether Emotional Labor Is Valued in Government Jobs

In an era when greater responsiveness is required of government workers, the authors test whether there is a blind spot in employee performance appraisals that prevents rewarding the most effective workers. Emotional labor—work that is relational and involves the manipulation and expression of emotions—is labor intensive and is required of many public service workers if they are to perform their jobs well. The authors hypothesize that rationality, or “left brain” work, remains privileged whereas relational work remains marginalized and unrewarded. To investigate whether there is a disconnect between the required performance of emotional labor and annual appraisals that acknowledge its performance, the authors review appraisal instruments used by public agencies in Illinois. Results confirm that 86% of the instruments identify the performance of emotion work at only a perfunctory level or lower. The lack of acknowledgement renders such labor invisible and contributes to depressed wages of those whose jobs require it.

How Emotional Labor and Ethical Leadership Affect Job Engagement for Chinese Public Servants

Responsiveness is important in public-service delivery. This study explores three elements that contribute to responsiveness—emotional labor, job engagement, and ethical leadership. Three findings emerge: First, in terms of workers and their expression of work-related emotion, authentic emotive expression relates positively with job engagement while pretending to feel the emotion being displayed has a negative relationship. Second, ethical leadership moderates the relationship between pretending and job engagement, in that higher levels of ethical leadership lessen the negative influence of pretense in emotive expression. This means that when employees must mask how they feel, ethical leadership compensates for the deleterious effect of expressing an emotion other than what one is feeling. This, in turn, helps to prevent decreased job engagement. Third, ethical leadership does not affect the relationship between authentic emotive expression and job engagement. The sample surveyed are government employees in China.

Emotional Labor: Why and How to Teach It

Abstract Feedback from graduates often indicates that their training failed to adequately prepare them for the human processes involved in the administration and delivery of public services. Although provided with training in cognitive skills, they are left on their own to acquire an appreciation for, and to develop skill in, nuanced emotive skills. This is especially the case for graduates who work in service-delivery programs that are emotionally intense, such as disaster services, child protective services, domestic violence, emergency medical services, corrections, and law enforcement. To a lesser degree, it is the case for all programs that provide person-to-person services. This paper discusses why these skills are important, how they are referred to in the proposed National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration Standards 2009, and explains how they can be incorporated into a curriculum.

How Emotional Labor Influences Worker Pride, Job Satisfaction, and Burnout: An Examination of Consumer Complaint Workers

Emotional labor—that is, work that requires public employees to be emotionally engaged with citizens—is an emerging issue on the performance front. By examining a state agency whose primary goal is to resolve consumer complaints, this paper analyzes the conditions under which emotional labor influences three work outcomes that affect performance: job satisfaction, pride in work, and burnout. Results indicate that the performance of emotional labor is self-motivating and contributes to pride in work and to job satisfaction, just as it does in more emotionally intense jobs such as emergency services and law enforcement. We conclude that managing affect is central to program success whenever workers must interact with citizens, regardless of the emotional intensity of the work.

How Emotional Intelligence Mediates Emotional Labor in Public Service Jobs

Most public service jobs involve emotionally intense work demands. For this reason, the terms emotional intelligence and emotional labor have entered the lexicon of public service. The former refers to the ability to sense and regulate one’s own emotions as well as to sense others’ emotional state, while the latter refers to the exercise of emotive skills to get the job done. This study examines how emotional intelligence mediates emotional labor in the performance of work duties by using job satisfaction and burnout as criterion variables. Although findings are mixed with regard to job satisfaction, a statistically significant relationship exists in the mediation between emotional labor and burnout. Specifically, the ability to regulate one’s own emotions decreases burnout. Implications for training and development are discussed.

If apples were oranges: the public/nonprofit/business nexus in Peter Drucker’s work

The authors review Peter Drucker’s writings, framing them within the context of his formative years. Moving to an analysis of the lens through which he views business, nonprofits, and government, they examine the nexus at which public administration, nonprofit management, and business meet. Specifically, Drucker’s prediction of the centrality of the knowledge worker to productivity and his focus on organizational mission are situated squarely at the nexus. His attention to nonprofit management represents a useful application of his notion of mission‐focused management. However, his treatment of public management falls short, failing to appreciate the dynamics of cultural and constitutionally‐imposed restraints.

Career Advancement and Behavioral Style Among Alabama's Public Managers: A Comparison by Sex

This paper reports findings from a survey conducted on Alabama state employees who hold middle and upper level managerial positions (N=317). The fundamental question addressed in the analysis of these data is whether or not men and women differ in key aspects related to their career advancement and style of management. Of specific interest are issues related to helps and hindrances in career development, family obligations, types of mentors, and behavioral style. The findings are consistent with those in other states where comparable surveys have been conducted.

A SCALE TO MEASURE EMOTIVE IMAGERY

The Guy Emotive Imaging Scale was developed to measure the vividness of ones emotive images. A total of 167 undergraduate students completed the questionnaire which yielded an alpha coefficient of .87, indicating that the internal consistency of the scale is satisfactorily high and that further research is appropriate. Each of the 6 emotional modalities, plus the total emotive imagery score, was correlated with each of the 7 sensory modalities on the Betts Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery, plus the total sensory imaging score. The correlation of .50 between the Betts questionnaire and the Guy scale indicates that, although there is some similarity between sensory imaging and emotive imaging, probably the imaging process, there is also a difference, which this paper suggests represents a persons ability to image sensations as compared to a persons ability to image emotions. Uses of the Guy scale in behavioral therapies are discussed.

Minnowbrook II: Conclusions

The eleven themes teased from the deliberations of Minnowbrook II represent a slice of time in the history of public administration, a story of good news, but with a bit of bad news as well. The good news is that the discipline of public administration is on a stable footing. Compared to the first meeting at Minnowbrook in 1968, public administration seems to be at peace with its core values and its sense of relevance and purpose. The field has learned from its defeats in the 1960s and 1970s and has reconciled itself to the challenges bequeathed by the 1980s. Whole-hearted acceptance of democratic values and preeminent attention to issues of social equity are unquestioned. The papers and the deliberations were permeated with a determination to make the public service better, with better trained practitioners and a more positive image of the public service.