What has the internet ever done for employees? A review, map and research agenda

PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which employees have benefitted in the internet age and to identify research gaps that surround such activities.Design/methodology/approachThe approach is a combination of a systematic literature review and an empirical analysis of secondary data drawn from press reports of emergent employee internet activities.FindingsThe internet continues to provide fresh and exciting opportunities for the employee to explore in relation to furthering employment‐related interests. However, the internet very much represents a “double‐edged sword” in that the many advantages of the internet can be quickly cancelled out by employer attempts to monitor, control, and exploit for themselves such activities, for their own ends. It is also evident that a full assessment of some activities cannot be made without further research.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is reliant on extant literature and resources that are known to have limited scholarly application.Practical implicationsA broad and eclectic discussion of employee internet activities is likely to be of interest to academics and human resource practitioners whose interests are based on a blend of employee relations practices and new internet‐based technological developments.Social implicationsThe study addresses how a distinct actor in employee relations has faired in an age denoted by shrinking opportunities for collective action, yet also denoted by rapid developments in empowering user‐generated and social networking forms of information communication technology.Originality/valueThis paper synthesises literature and data from a wide range of largely incongruous academic and non‐academic sub‐disciplines to provide a fresh and authoritative account of emergent employee behaviour.</jats:sec

Developing ideas and concepts in teamwork research:Where do we go from here?

PurposeThis editorial seeks to explore changes in both teamwork and developments in teamwork research over the last decade.Design/methodology/approachThe editorial review importantly focuses on the key debates that emerge from the papers covered in this special issue.FindingsA review of the papers in this special issue, as well as historical analysis of teamwork research, indicate that while traditionally, analysis of teamwork was embedded in a manufacturing archetype, much of the contemporary research on teamwork is centred on service sector work where issues of cultural diversity, customer service, and lack of normative integration or task interdependence are increasingly apparent. This editorial suggests that we need to take account of the expansion of the service sector when attempting to conceptualise teamwork and the challenges that collective forms of working in such an environment bring.Originality/valueThis editorial and the special issue more generally provide an important contribution to the development of understanding of how changes in the workplace have had an impact on organisational and academic interest in teamwork.</jats:sec

Three-Year Creel Census of Lake Catherine, Lake Hamilton, and Lake Ouachita, Arkansas

Copia digital. Madrid : Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, 201

“Every man for himself”:Teamwork and customer service in the hospitality industry

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the practice of teamwork in an under‐researched, yet growing industrial setting.Design/methodology/approachLongitudinal ethnographic‐styled methods of data collection were used and data was examined using the Team Dimensions Model.FindingsThe findings suggest the Team Dimensions Model, with the addition of a customer service perspective, is of use for identifying managerial objectives and organisational outcomes of teamwork. However, this does not suggest that teamworking is easy to implement in the hospitality setting.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings were obtained using unobtrusive participatory and observational methods and based on a single company.Practical implicationsThe paper allows management practitioners to reflect on realities of implementing teamworking under a corporate customer service initiative.Originality/valueThe paper takes an existing theory on teamworking and develops the theory in an under‐researched and growing industrial sector.</jats:sec