Managing Emotions at Work: Study of Primary School Teachers of a Leading Government School in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Emotions have become an integral aspect of the personal and social life of people, whether it is at home, workplace or any other place. The ineffective management of emotions could lead to create multiple detrimental effects towards one’s personal and social life. In general, it is said that people tend to manage their emotions within their multiple interpersonal relationships based on the personal characteristics and experience. In this context, identifying the strategies and approaches on managing emotions at work has been identified as vital since it contributes not only to maintain sound interpersonal relationships among multiple parties but also to organizational growth. However, in Sri Lanka a very little focus had been given to this aspect of managing emotions at work, especially with regard to the educational sector. In this context, this study attempts to explore how emotions are being managed by the primary school teachers within their multiple interpersonal relationships at work. The study did not limit its exploration only of teacher-student relationship, but it extended the focus about the interpersonal relationships of teachers with parents, peer teachers and the principal. A qualitative approach was used with the case study method as the research strategy and interviews and observations were conducted to gather data. A primary section of a leading government school in Sri Lanka was selected to conduct the study. As per the findings, some of the main emotion management techniques used by these teachers are physically moving away, self-talk and recalling that they are working with small children. Further, the findings suggest that the personal characteristics, more specifically the attitudes and experience of teachers and the culture of the school have a great influence on the emotion management strategies of the primary school teachers. The study found that the teachers’ knowledge on child psychology provide new insights to managing their emotions within their relationship with students. Finally, the findings provide many practical implications to the development of educational sector, namely to enhance the wellbeing of the work-life of teachers and thereby improve the quality of educational system in Sri Lanka.