On the Front Line
Stephen J. Frenkel
The importance of customer service is widely emphasized in business today. This book offers the first comprehensive analysis of the organization and dynamics of front-line work. The volume is based on a four-year study of over a thousand employees and eight leading companies in the United States, Australia, and Japan.
On the Front Line reveals similarities and differences found in work environments—such as variance in authority relations and division of labor—as well as significant contrasts between management approaches used in Japan and those used in the United States and Australia. By examining how work differs among service, sales, and knowledge-based settings, it also shows how bureaucratic, entrepreneurial, and network forms of organization coexist in the informational economy.
This seminal analysis of work in the service sector offers both a benchmark for consultants working with customer-contact organizations and valuable information for anyone concerned with the changing nature of work.
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About Stephen J. Frenkel
Reviews for On the Front Line
Jim Kitay, University of Sydney
The Journal of Industrial Relations
The aim of these rich chapters is to show that the world of work is more complex than has been captured in traditional studies.... Aside from being a great example of the virtues of organizational research, this book also demonstrates how difficult it is to make sense of the current transitions in the workplace.
Kevin Ward, University of Manchester
Journal of Economic Geography
As the authors show, customer-service representatives must walk the delicate line between sincerity and disingenuousness: They must be friendly and helpful to demanding customers while watching out for their employers' interests.... A strong customer-service organization often makes the difference between a successful company and an unsuccessful one. On the Front Line shows us why.
Matthew Price
Lingua Franca
Given the paucity of well-planned and capably executed research on the topic, this book makes a very important contribution to our understanding of factors that shape emerging 'front-line' work and workers.... Frenkel et al.'s five-year cross-national comparative study is the most comprehensive study of these workers to date.
Motohiro Morishima, Hitotsubashi University
Industrial and Labor Relations Review
On the Front Line offers scholars of work organization and the new economy much food for thought. Its close, systematic attention to front-line jobs is especially valuable and needed.
Amy S. Wharton, Washington State University
Contemporary Sociology
The shift from manufacturing to services has important implications for human resource management.... This study is a sophisticated, rigorous exploration of trends in employment.
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