Stephen J. Frenkel

When Do Customer Contact Employees Satisfy Customers

Previous service workplace research has indicated the impact of supportive supervisors, teams, other departments, and technology on employee satisfaction and organizational commitment. These variables in turn have been shown to influence customer contact employee behavior and customer satisfaction. In this article, the authors explore how these variables relate to employees’ capacity to satisfy customers. Using a structural equation modeling methodology, the authors found that in terms of direct effects on employees’ capacity to satisfy customers, some variables (e.g., other department support) were more important than others (e.g., technology). Some variables (e.g., other department support) had a direct effect on employees’ capacity to satisfy customers, some had a mediated effect (e.g., supervisor support), and some had both a direct and mediated effect (e.g., technology). The capacity of employees to satisfy customers is strongly dependent on a set of mutually supportive variables.

Organizational and Occupational Commitment: Knowledge Workers in Large Corporations

Previous discussion of knowledge work and workers tends to overlook the importance of contextual knowledge in shaping the organizational form of knowledge workers who are employees in large corporations. This paper proposes a model to understand the way knowledge base and organizational form are related to the work commitment, effort and job satisfaction of knowledge workers. The model is derived from (1) a critical examination of the market model of knowledge work organization, and (2) the results of empirical research conducted in two large corporations. We argue that contextual knowledge is important in the relationships between the corporation and knowledge workers. A dualistic model and an enclave organizational form are suggested to examine the relationships between the commitment, work effort and job satisfaction of knowledge workers. We noted from our empirical cases that enclave-like work teams enhanced the expertise and job autonomy of knowledge workers vis-a-vis management. These work teams together with the performance-based pay system, however, led to unmet job expectations including limited employee influence over decision-making and careers, and communication gaps with senior management. Under these circumstances, and in contrast to the impact of occupational commitment, organizational commitment did not contribute to work effort. The study highlights the importance of managements strategy in shaping the organizational form of knowledge work. The paper concludes by noting general implications of our study for the management of expertise and for further research. Copyright 2002 Blackwell Publishers Ltd..

Service Work in Consumer Capitalism: Customers, Control and Contradictions

There is an important literature suggesting that the consumer has become a key focus of identity and figure of authority in contemporary society. Within this literature, however, there is little consideration of the role that the identification with the customer could play in management control within production, nor of the ensuing potential contradictions. This paper examines these issues in front line call centre work. Control in this setting is theorised as being informed by dual logics of customer-orientation and bureaucratisation. The paper shows the important use of norms of customer identification in control. It also highlights two levels of contradictions in the use of these norms. First there is the contradiction between continuing bureaucratic control and the attempts to develop normative control. Second, there are contradictions within the development of customer-related normative control. Specifically, the definition of the customer as the focus for normative commitment is a contested terrain, with systematic and significant differences existing here between call centre workers and management.

Compliance, Collaboration, and Codes of Labor Practice: THE ADIDAS CONNECTION

Comprising networked organizations that span advanced and developing countries, the athletic footwear sector is at the cutting edge of globalization. An important dimension of corporate responsibility is setting and maintaining labor standards for contractors9 employees in countries where workers have little or no legal protection against exploitation. This article examines how adidas, the industry9s number two firm, has utilized a code of labor practice to regulate the labor standards of its main manufacturing suppliers. A comparative analysis of a matched sample of two contractors in China shows that although the code requirements were met in both cases, relationships with adidas not only differed but also made a difference. Compared with compliance type relationships, collaborative global firm-contractor ties encourage higher workplace performance and better employment relations in contractor factories.

Globalization and Industrial Relations in East Asia: A Three-Country Comparison

Globalization enhances competitiveness, both at the level of the firm and at the level of the nation. As observed in China, Malaysia, and Korea, this leads management and the state to adopt strategies designed to increase labor effectiveness to the benefit of capital. However, the effect of globalization on industrial relations procedures and substantive outcomes is contingent. Pressure for greater flexibility in the use of labor is ubiquitous, but the outcome is constrained by cultural norms valuing hierarchy and security. State strategies vary by historical circumstance, resource endowments, and internal political dynamics, including the influence of trade unions. While Malaysian industrial relations is heavily constrained by the discipline of high exposure to international capital, in China and Korea, major struggles are shaping the future of workplace and national labor market governance. Thus the extent and impact of globalization vary between countries, resulting in similar preoccupations by policymakers yet leading to variable responses and industrial relations outcomes.

Divided Workers Social relations between contract and regular workers in a Korean auto company

Against the background of a rise in contingent labour and an emphasis by employers on flexibility, this article focuses on the relations between regular production and contract workers in a major Korean auto company. We show how regular workers use discursive and other practices to discriminate against contract workers.The concept of moral exclusion is used to frame these activities and provide meaning to contract workers’ experience.The moderate degree of moral exclusion that chararacterizes contract–regular worker relations is analysed and explained by reference to a theory that combines structural factors that affect the way contract labour is managed and relational factors that influence inter-group dynamics.

Managing people in China: perceptions of expatriate managers

Foreign direct investment has boomed in China and East Asia more generally over the past decade. This has been accompanied by an influx of expatriate managers with responsibility for managing joint ventures and subsidiaries. The paper reviews the relevant literature and draws on interviews with expatriate managers with extensive experience in China, and some other East Asian countries, to identify key human resource management issues and ways in which these were handled. The paper discusses the importance of individual learning and the application of knowledge of cultural differences to managing foreign invested enterprises. We argue that organizations could significantly enhance future expatriate managerial effectiveness by systematically building, updating and disseminating knowledge based on the experience of expatriate managers.

Managing people where people really matter: the management of human resources in biotech companies

Strategic human resource (HR) management argues that in knowledge-driven industries people management needs to play a strategic role. An exploratory study of eight biotech start-ups in the US and Australia, however, finds that most do not employ HR professionals or have a lower-level administrator handle HR. How can this be explained? The case studies reported identify a number of reasons for the lack of strategic HR and identify the advantages and disadvantages of having line managers take the lead in people management in contrast to having a strategic HR leader being part of the top management team. Several propositions are also advanced that are worthy of further research, concluding that while there are many potential benefits to hiring a strategic HR professional in a biotech start-up, this is likely to occur under a rare set of conditions.

Alternative pathways to high-performance workplaces

In this paper we outline four high workplace performance models, two of which have high-road or enabling characteristics. These are the strategic human resource management and organizational trust models, respectively. The second two models – the labour process and numerical flexibility models – motivate workers to raise productivity through the use of the stick (coercion) rather than the carrot. Based on a representative survey of Australian workers, we compare these models in terms of their capacity to explain relative workplace productivity. We find that all four models have some explanatory power. However, contrary to expectations, the low-road numerical flexibility model provides the best fit with the data. We interpret this finding by reference to recent evidence of workforce trends indicating the attraction and ability of employers to pursue this pathway toward higher productivity. We conclude with some suggestions for future research that would assist in developing this line of enquiry.

Enterprise Bargaining: The BCA's Report on Industrial Relations Reform

The Business Council of Australias report on industrial relations argues that the major barrier to the competitiveness of large Australian firms is the centralized system, which hosts a fragmented structure of awards and unions that is out of touch with the requirements of corporate management and inconsistent with employee needs. We examine the various elements of the research underlying the Business Council report and show that the reports conclusions are either not supported by the evidence or greatly overstated. A shift towards unregulated decentralized bargaining, as favoured by the report, would probably yield less benefit than the present direction of reform through the award restructuring process within the context of a centralized framework. We conclude that the report diverts attention from the many factors that will determine the future competitiveness of Australian firms and that it serves as a warning about the limitations of sponsored research.