Customer Service Employees and Discretionary Service Behavior: A Psychological Contract Model

We present a theoretical framework for explicating contact employee behavior during customer service encounters, labeled discretionary service behavior (DSB). The model takes an organizational justice perspective, incorporating psychological contracts and fairness perceptions. We define DSB, examine potential antecedents, present research propositions related to the model, and discuss potential organizational outcomes

Poster: Aligning Library Instruction with the Needs of Basic Science Graduate Students

Donna and Fran\u27s poster discusses the need to replace the library\u27s current model of library instruction with one better suited to the needs of basic science graduate students. The poster outlines the methodology, the results, and the conclusions that came from this push to redesign

Federal Reserve Banks as fiscal agents and depositories of the United States in a changing financial environment

Pursuant to the Federal Reserve Act, the Federal Reserve Banks perform a number of services for the United States and for other entities as fiscal agents and depositories. These roles have evolved since the relevant provisions of the Federal Reserve Act were implemented in 1915. An article in the April 2000 Federal Reserve Bulletin described these activities as being mainly the issuance and redemption of securities and the processing of payments to and from the federal government. Although the basic fiscal agent services have not changed since the article was published in 2000, considerable changes have occurred in the way those services are provided. For example, the Treasury and the Reserve Banks have implemented new web-based technology to improve the federal government's provision of services, much the same as financial services firms have used web-based technology to improve the ways that they do business and communicate with their customers. This article reviews the evolution of the Reserve Banks' fiscal agent role since early in the twentieth century, and describes fiscal agent and depository services today.Federal Reserve banks ; Financial markets

Addressing the Health and Physical Activity Needs of Girls in the Boston Metropolitan Area

This report examines girls' level of participation in sports and physical activity in the Boston metropolitan area and its relation to girls' health. Girls' sports and physical activity delivery systems, as well as public policy affecting the availability of such systems are reviewed

Women in the 2006 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games: An Analysis of Participation, Leadership and Media Coverage

Increasing women's participation in the Olympic Movement as participants and leaders has been a slow and challenging process. While the number of "events" open to female athletes has increased steadily during the past 30 years, the actual number of female Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games participants and the number of opportunities to medal within those events has yet to equal the number of male participants or medals.The 2006 Paralympic Winter Games statistics are a good illustration of this discrepancy; while there are nearly an equal number of events open to female athletes, the total number of female Paralympic athletes was 99 of 474 or 20.9%. And, while women's participation has attempted to "catch up" with small increases in participation numbers, men's events and participation opportunities have continued to increase, thereby perpetuating and increasing the participation gap. For instance, there were 1,006 women (38.3%) and 1,627 men (61.7%) in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games compared to 886 women (36.9%) and 1,513 men (63.1%) in 2002. Interestingly, the same continued growth of men's sport and, as a result, the perpetuation of the gender gap has occurred in U.S. high school and college sport in the wake of Title IX's push for gender equity (BFHSA, 2006; NCAA, 2006). Some countries claim that the lack of women in their delegation is a result of lack of funding. The majority of these countries cite other reasons for the exclusion of women, such as social, cultural and religious differences (Good, 2002). However, the Olympic Charter specifically states that "Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement." (IOC, 2004). Thus, social, cultural and religious differences between men and women are not legitimate justifications for the lack of women in delegations. While the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has made significant efforts to play a leadership role in growing women's participation, it has had limited success in encouraging the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the 203 National Olympic Committees (NOC) and international winter sport federations (IF) to commit to gender equality. Women are also significantly underrepresented in the IOC and on IF boards of directors, the international governance structures that determine whether women's sports are offered in Olympic, Paralympic and world championship competition. There are few women serving as members of National Olympic Committees (NOC), such as the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), that determine the size and composition of their respective national Olympic and Paralympic delegations and whether developmental programs are offered to support women's sports participation. And, like the situation in the United States, the underrepresentation of women is also reflected within each country's respective National Sports Governing Bodies (NGB) boards of directors (e.g., USA Hockey, U.S. Figure Skating, etc.) and at community leadership levels where grassroots participation opportunities ultimately determine the Olympic and Paralympic participation pipeline. Without strong leadership from governing boards at all levels, insufficiencies in financial support and programmatic infrastructure will continue and the number of female Olympic and Paralympic athletes will continue to lag behind men. Olympic status raises the visibility of both sports and athletes, opening new doors to media visibility, high earnings through prize money and endorsements, college scholarships and jobs and key influencer connections. More significantly, Olympic status also ignites the aspirations of millions of girls who are inspired to participate by the heroes they see. With an estimated audience of 2 billion, the Olympic Winter Games is the most widely viewed forum for winter sports (USA Weekend, 2006). Thus, it is important to regularly examine the state of women's participation as leaders and athletes in the Olympic and Paralympic Games. This report specifically examines such participation and leadership in the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games from both an international and United States perspective

Psychological Contracts, OCB and Customer Service: An Exploratory Examination

This paper examines the relationships among the psychological contract, fairness, OCB, and customer service. We report on two exploratory studies that provide insight into psychological contract violations and subsequent perceptions of fairness, as well as OCB activity. A linkage is made between psychological contracts and behavior directed internally and those directed externally (i.e., customer service). We extend the current theory to suggest implications for effectively managing customer service employee OCB. Finally, suggestions are made for both practice and future research to be conducted in a multidisciplinary design

Virtual HR Departments: Getting Out of the Middle

In this chapter, we explore the notion of virtual HR departments: a network-based organization built on partnerships and mediated by information technologies in order to be simultaneously strategic, flexible, cost-efficient, and service-oriented. We draw on experiences and initiatives at Merck Pharmaceuticals in order to show how information technology in establishing an infrastructure for virtual HR. Then, we present a model for mapping the architecture of HR activities that includes both internal and external sourcing options. We conclude by offering some recommendations for management practice as well as future research