Enhancing Service-Oriented Behaviors in an Asian Business Context: Lessons From a Pakistani Bank

This article examines how service organizations can enhance employees’ customer orientation, often exhibited through the display of service-oriented citizenship behaviors. The study, in this respect, quantitatively analyses the relationships between organizational distributive justice, leader-member exchange (LMX), and team-member exchange (TMX) on customer orientation. Data were gathered through a survey of 658 middle managers working in a Pakistani bank and were analyzed via full structural equation modelling. The findings reveal that organizational distributive justice, LMX, and TMX are key predictors of customer orientation. Specifically, the analysis suggests that the relationships between organizational distributive justice and LMX with customer orientation are mediated partially and fully, respectively, by TMX. Simultaneously, TMX partially mediates the relationship between organizational tenure and customer orientation. Our study contributes to both theory and practice of service organization functioning by signifying the importance of the organization’s fair distribution of rewards as well as it’s leader’s and co-worker’s behaviors in affecting organizationally desired employee behaviors and thereby, arguably, enabling positive organizational outcomes. Service organizations can, based on our findings, create a culture of service excellence by placing emphasis on specific elements at the organizational, leadership, and team level

Should I say something? A framework for understanding silence from a line manager’s perspective during an economic crisis

The impact of the recent economic crisis on firms’ key employment priorities has been widely discussed in the literature. Although research has focused on how employee silence is manifested in times of economic crisis, less is known about how line managers experience voice and silence from their own perspective and organizational position. Line managers are an intriguing group to study because they act as both supervisors to their teams and as supervisees (employees) to senior managers/business owners. We draw on qualitative data gathered from line managers in 35 small non-unionized enterprises in Greece in two periods of time (2012 and 2014) during the economic crisis. We develop a framework for understanding line manager’s experience of silence in such contexts and, within this framework propose ‘cynical silence’ as a new type of silence relevant to an economic crisis context

Introduction

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Conceptualising the nexus between macro‐level ‘turbulence’ and the worker experience

In this article, we introduce the special issue on conceptualising the nexus between macro‐level ‘turbulence’ and the worker experience. We discuss ‘turbulence’ as economic, political, social, technological, and environmental crises occurring in the macro‐environment and affecting the world of work. We argue that human resource management plays a critical role in supporting not only the organisation, but also workers, to navigate through macro‐level events. Based on the contributions included in this Special Issue, we suggest a novel framework that situates and expands the role of the Human Resources (HR) function in contemporary organisations by proposing a new role, the Proactive Carer. We argue that the debates around the role of HR and HR professionals have so far been too narrow and internally focused. It is time to expand this role to be externally facing, proactively monitoring the macro‐environment for significant events, anticipating any significant changes for workers, and designing interventions to minimise any negative impact. We conclude by highlighting avenues for future research

Many hands lighter work? Deciphering the relationship between Adverse Working Conditions and Organization Citizenship Behaviors in SMEs during a severe economic crisis

“What is the relationship between Adverse Working Conditions (AWCs) and employees’ Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating under a severe economic crisis?” To address this question, a survey of 312 frontline workers was undertaken in 62 Greek SMEs - an instrumental setting where the current deterioration of working conditions is acute. Our contribution is twofold. First, we develop and test a scale for measuring AWCs. Second we decipher the extent to which such conditions relate to organizational and individual aspects of OCB, considering job satisfaction’s mediating role. Through this research we extend the OCB literature within the context of SMEs operating under severe economic crisis and highlight the implications for managing human resources in SMEs, a sector conspicuous for its socio-economic significance and its vulnerability during economic downturns

Employee participation and representation in Central and Eastern Europe

Using data from the 2013 European Company Survey, this article presents a study of employee involvement and participation (EIP) in decision-making in 12 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, a context that is rather less studied but interesting because of its political past and its current emerging economic status. The study explores how these countries can be clustered according to positive employee attitude towards employee representation (ER) and EIP in decision-making. It examines the association between these two components and the effectiveness of the ER body, as well as whether there are differences between country clusters. Finally, the article examines how the degree of EIP in decision-making is related to ER body effectiveness. This research contributes to prior work by seeking to understand EIP in decision-making in an understudied sample of CEE countries and provides an insightful classification

The intercultural skills graduates and businesses in Europe need today

This project aims to develop the intercultural competencies of graduates and employees in Europe by enhancing the quality and relevance of their skills to enable them to be active professionals in the European working environment. The project investigates the perceived and actual intercultural competencies of graduates required by employers and then provides outputs that help address these needs. The project responds to the European Commission’s (EC) Strategic Framework – Education & Training 2020 view, that there has been a lack of focus on the involvement of social institutions on the cross-cultural skill-needs that companies have and on the effectiveness of investment in education and training in this area on business productivity. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. Project Number 2019-1-UK01-KA203-061672. The project website in available below https://medialab.educationhost.co.uk/robbell/(link is external) The fist output is The Intercultural Skills Graduates and Businesses in Europe Need Today report and is availble at the website and the link below https://eprints.worc.ac.uk/9999/1/The%20Intercultural%20Skills%20Graduat...ERASMUS K203 Grant Project Number 2019-1-UK01-KA203-06167

Varieties of crisis and working conditions: A comparative study between Greece and Serbia

We explore two historically different, yet regionally connected, countries and the way that their weak institutional foundations and long-term economic turbulence have made them unable to overcome crises, leading to the institutionalisation of adverse working conditions. We focus on the outcomes of the systemic crisis in Greece and the transition crisis in Serbia using semi-structured interviews and focus groups with managers and employees in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in two time periods. We argue that, although the crisis has different origins in the two countries, in both it has led to adverse working conditions becoming institutionalised in organisations and, therefore, less likely to change. Our research explores the institutionalisation of adverse working conditions and offers an understanding of the lived reality of institutions in the way they are experienced by individuals, examining variations in the origins, pressures and outcomes of different types of crises on business practices from an individual perspective