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

About the Book

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.

About the Author :
Marek Korczynski is Chair in Sociology of Work at the Nottingham University Business School. He is author of Human Resource Management in Service Work and coauthor of Rhythms of Labour.

Review :
"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. February, 2000. "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 30, 2 "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, March 2001 "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, May/June 2001 "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, July 2001, Vol. 54, No. 4 "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, 1 (2001) "Front-line work, which focuses on customers and clients, is growing in importance, yet is often misunderstood. On the Front Line provides the first systematic study of this kind of work. It shows the common factors that define front line work internationally; the book also offers real insights into how customer service jobs should be managed."-Peter Cappelli, Wharton School of Management, University of Pennsylvania "This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the nature of work organization, work flows, control systems, and other related aspects of front line work. I am very impressed by the analytic content of the research as it develops a number of unique frameworks and hypotheses concerning front line work. The book is readily accessible to practitioners, and it should be required reading in academic circles."-Harry C. Katz, Cornell University