The Implications of the Professional Practice in the Emotional Dimension of the Flight Attendants in Philippine Airlines

Through a survey conducted in the Philippine Airlines , the Professional practice of Flight Attendants are constantly challenged with observable situations that take their toll on the individual's social and emotional dimensions that affects their individual lifestyles to wit:
1. providing service over a long period of time;
2. dealing with different types and temperaments of passengers;
3. time zone changes;
4. night-shift assignments

This leads to the two variables that were identified by the researchers, namely, the Social and Emotional Dimensions that affect to their permanent lifestyle as supported by our research :

a. According to IllIgne, Johnson, Shwind and Wagner the Professional Practice of Flight Attendants affect their relationship with their family and friends through lack of time. They point out that because of heavy workload, Flight Attendants have no time and rarely go out with their family because of the tight work schedule they have.

b. The lack of time due to the long work hours and physical distance create a long distance relationship with their life partners. According to Kelmer, Markman, Rhodes & Stanley, these results to a feeling of less companionship, less shared problems and less affection which leads to a lower level of relationship satisfaction, making it hard to maintain an ideal relationship with a partner.

c. In relation to the long distance relationship, if family problems arise, their work is affected due to worry over a family matter. This may causes emotional dissonance which usually affect dispositions that will greatly affect their performance in their work environment.

d. Social status, though, is also determined by having a good occupation. The premise is : If they are satisfied with their job in terms of salary, benefits, they will have a sense of fulfillment that will serve as their job motivator.

The second variable is the social dimension which leads to the four factors of emotional labor.

1st is Emotional Dissonance – As frontliners in the industry, Flight Attendants have to control their unconcealed behavior and private emotions in order to maintain positive interactions with their co-workers. Thus, they are forced to fake their emotions when dealing with the passengers that result to emotional stress which leads to emotional dissonance.

Second, Long term emotional stress, according to study by Chang and Chiu, may cause emotional exhaustion, which is one factor of Emotional Labor and later affect one's disposition over time.

3rd, on Job satisfaction, studies conducted by Baba have stated that people who have a proactive personality seemed to manage their emotional exhaustion more efficiently when it comes to individual performance. Also, a similar research from Rhoades and Eisenberger suggested that the Perceived Organizational Support (POS) provides employees with fairness in terms of procedures, supervisor support, and organizational rewards and/or positive job conditions that may result in positive job-related emotion which in turn leads to job satisfaction.

These Social and Emotional implications results to the impact on the Permanent Lifestyle of Flight Attendants.

Our research will basically focus on how the inter relationship of this concepts will affect the lifestyle of the Flight Attendants.