Ambivalences in Front Line Work

Abstract

Ambivalence in emotional labour between standardization and selfmanagement is the topic of this article. Ambivalence describes a situation with contradictory feelings, and can be the outcome of conflicting expectations within an individual, a position or a work organization. The topic has been under-researched in the current literature on emotional labour and emotions in organizations. The empirical material stems from an intervention study among front line personnel in Norway. In order to capture ambivalences and dilemmas in customer interactions as experienced from the inside, I analyzed accounts and written stories (memories) from customer consultants and customer advisers in a bank. Ambivalence was a recurrent theme in their accounts and written stories, and several types of ambivalences were identified. Only a few memories dealt with only uplifting customer interactions, whereas the majority described incidents that were painful or difficult for the storyteller. One interpretation is that unpleasant interactions and offence are more difficult to handle, become embodied and are taken back home rather than the blissful moments. The discourse of the difficult customer can also be interpreted as a coping strategy in a situation when ambivalences that are created on the organizational level are under-communicated by management, become an individual responsibility and subject to self-regulation.