EMOTIONAL LABOUR IN A BUREAUCRATIC MEDIA CONTEXT ON HR - A study on emotional labour of academic and administrative employees at Greek universities about mobility scheme during the financial crisis

Abstract

In recent years, emotions in the workplace have become a topic of interest in management; academics, researchers and authors are becoming interested in the topic of emotions in an organisation. One crucial topic of discussion among the HR community is the experience of unpleasant events which generates negative emotions. This paper will explore how the academic and the administrative staff of two Greek universities affected emotionally because of the mass lay-offs of administrative staff. Eight questionnaires were answered by four members of the Foundation Board of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (UOA) and four members of the Administrative Staff Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Moreover, the thesis analyses and describes how the media covered the topic. The study concentrated on three well-known Greek newspapers in their coverage of the lay-offs actions in Greece during the last four months in 2013. The author used a qualitative method to analyse the collected questionnaires. The outcome is that the academic and administrative staff had negative emotions regarding their bureaucratic role in the organisations. Sadness, stress, and disappointment are the main emotions of the academic community. The news articles seemed to comprehend the governmental announcements in order to preserve the common good.