On the Front Line: Organization of Work in the Information Economy(Cornell International Industrial and Labor Relations Reports)

The importance of customer service is widely emphasized in business. This text offers an analysis of the organization and dynamics of front-line work, based on a five-year study of over 1000 employees and eight leading companies in the USA, Australia and Japan. The book reveals similarities and differences found in work environments - such as variance in authority relations and division of labour - as well as significant contrasts between management approaches used in Japan and those used in the USA 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 co-exist in the informational economy.

About the Author :
Stephen J. Frenkel is a professor in the Australian Graduate School of Management at the University of New South Wales. Marek Korczynski is a lecturer in employment relations at Loughborough University. Karen A. Shire is Associate Professor of Comparative Sociology and Japan Studies at the University of Duisburg, Germany. May Tam is a research fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Hong Kong.

Review :
A detailed and rigorously executed study of the nature of front-line work.... On the Front Line will be essential reading for anyone interested in research on work. In a very positive way it raises as many questions as it answers. - 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. (Choice)