Keywords
Workplace
Emotional identity
Functional numbness
Affective regulation
Categories
How to Cite
Abstract
The study analyzes emotional dehumanization at work as an organizational process that shapes employees’ affective identity, leading to forms of functional numbness. A qualitative descriptive–interpretative design was used, drawing on semi-structured interviews with 18 workers from a clinical organization in Mexico City, analyzed through thematic analysis. Findings identify three central processes: emotion conceived as a performance instrument, empathic “switching off” as an adaptive strategy to work pressure, and functional numbness as the normalization of emotional distress. These dynamics manifest in constant affective regulation, emotional suppression, and the acceptance of exhaustion as a routine condition of work. Emotional dehumanization is understood as an organizational phenomenon sustained by affect-regulation systems and performance-oriented cultures. Reversing this dynamic requires structural transformations and humanistic management models that acknowledge emotionality as a constitutive dimension of work and organizational well-being.
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