This study investigated the affective experience of emotional employees in the workplace based on the Affective Events Theory. In particular, this study aimed to explore the conditions which cause positive and negative affective experiences in the workplace and the intervening conditions (moderating conditions) which generate either alleviating effects or synergy effects in terms of individual and organizational outcomes. To explore the process aspects of emotional labor, we adopted a grounded theory approach. In order to achieve this, the researcher conducted a semi-structured in-depth interview with 12 workers who are engaged in emotional labor in real life, The interview with participants was analyzed according to the framework of grounded theory (causal conditions, contextual conditions, phenomena, action/interaction, intervening conditions, consequences). An analysis of the interview showed that causal conditions which bring forth positive affectivity, such as personal accomplishment, expression of positive emotion by customers, pro-social behavior of customers, compliments from one’s boss or colleague, as well as acknowledgement and compensation, triggered positive emotion for employees. On the other hand, it was confirmed that causal conditions which bring forth negative affectivity, such as physical and mental fatigue, customer’s poor behavior, lack of company’s support and policy, lack of manager’s relational ability, triggered negative emotion for employees. Last but not least, intervening conditions could be roughly divided into an individual dimension and an organizational approach. In the case of the individual approach, personal characteristics, such as an individual’s career and experience, and positive emotional traits; an individual’s psychological characteristics, such as enthusiasm for one’s career, work and life balance, and job identity; and personal competence, such as self-efficacy, and emotional intelligence were identified as the intervening conditions in the individual dimension. In the case of the organizational approach, emotional support, such as sense of belonging, empowerment, support from one’s boss and colleague, as well as instrumental support, such as welfare, environment for laborer protection, recruitment and compensation system were verified as intervening conditions. In addition, supporting organizational learning, such as sharing of experiences, provision of opportunities for learning, and feedback, which were not frequently covered in previous studies related to emotional labor, was also found as as an intervening condition. Finally, organizational justice factors, such as interactional justice, procedural justice, distributional justice, were classified as intervening conditions in the organizational dimension. The analytical processes and findings of this study, based on grounded theory, presented a detailed understanding the emotional labor process, and provided more substantive working-level implications by reflecting the actual thoughts of employees. A brief explanation of several implications is as follows. First of all, organization managers should understand the source of emotions that trigger positive emotions and negative emotions of employees, so as to maintain the positive sentiment of employees. Second, customer satisfaction is important, however, the organization should also recognize the importance of employees engaged in their organization and implement companywide policies to protect employees. Third, compliments, understanding, and consideration extended by the boss not only induce positive emotion of employees, but also enable healthy and active communication between the boss and employee. To sum up, we conclude that the study of emotional labor process in organizational settings has provided new and important insights into the way in which people in organizations behave, and we offer advice for managers to enable them to develop and to maintain a positive emotional climate in their organizations.