Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-wxvwp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T11:56:45.403Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tension at the interface: Exploring employee deviation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Monica Kennedy and
Michael Corliss
Monica Kennedy
Affiliation:
Division of Business, Law and Information Sciences, University of Canberra, Canberra ACT, Australia
Michael Corliss
Affiliation:
Division of Business, Law and Information Sciences, University of Canberra, Canberra ACT, Australia
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An exploratory study of workplace experience in the public sector investigated the tension that employees face in their attempts to meet both organisational and customer expectations. This paper provides an illustration of participant experience that describes: the sense of justice that drove their actions; the innovations that resulted from attempts to fulfil the psychological contract with the customer; and the protection of what employees perceived to be their own and their workmates' deviant behaviour. The ethic that emerged locally through employee–customer interaction and which framed employee decision-making in this study resulted from the role conflict that emerged when the organisation's focus on a consistent application of the rules confronted customers' diverse and pressing need for treatment as individual human beings at the organisational boundary.

Keywords

customer fairnessjusticeinnovationdeviancepsychological contractrole conflictpublic service

Information

Type
Symposium on Deviance and Ethics in Services
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , September 2008, pp. 424 - 437
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bella, D, King, J and Kailin, D (2003) The Dark Side of Organizations and a Method to Reveal it, Emergence 5(3): 60–82.Google Scholar
Bowen, D, Gilliland, S and Folger, R (1999) HRM and Service Fairness: How Being Fair with Employees Spills over to Customers, Organizational Dynamics 27(3): 7–24.Google Scholar
Bowen, D and Lawler, E (1992) The Empowerment of Service Workers: What Why How and When, Sloan Management Review 33(3): 31–40.Google Scholar
Callahan, S, Rixon, A and Schenk, M (2006) Avoiding Change Management Failure Using Narrative. Anecdote White Papers, Retrieved 4 May 2006 from http://Www.Anecdote.Com.Au/Whitepapers.Php?Wpid=7.Google Scholar
Colquitt, J, Conlon, D, Ng, K Y and Porter, C (2001) Justice at the Millennium: A Meta-Analytic Review of 25 Years of Organizational Justice Research, Journal of Applied Psychology 86(3): 425–445.Google Scholar
Corsun, D and Enz, C (1999) Predicting Psychological Empowerment among Service Workers: the Effect of Support-Based Relationships, Human Relations 52(2): 205–224.Google Scholar
Crotty, M (1998) The Foundations of Social Research: Meaning and Perspective in the Research Process, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards NSW.Google Scholar
Dovey, K and White, R (2005) Learning about Learning in Knowledge-Intense Organizations, The Learning Organisation 12(3): 246–260.Google Scholar
Eddleston, K, Kidder, D and Litzky, B (2002) Who's the Boss? Contending with Competing Expectations from Customer and Management, Academy Of Management Executive 16(4): 85–96.Google Scholar
Field, L (1997) Impediments to Empowerment and Learning within Organisations, The Learning Organisation 4(4): 149–158.Google Scholar
Field, L (2004) Rethinking ‘Organisational ‘Learning, in Foley, G, Dimensions of Adult Learning: Adult Education and Training in a Global Era, 201–218, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.Google Scholar
Frances, M (1995) Organisational Change and Personal Mythology, Personnel Review 24(4): 58–68.Google Scholar
Frank, KA and Fahrback, K (1999) Organizational Culture as a Complex System: Balance and Information in Models of Influence and Selection, Organization Science 10(3): 253–277.Google Scholar
Glaser, BG and Strauss, AL (1967) The Discovery Of Grounded Theory: Strategies For Qualitative Research, Aldine Pub. Co., Chicago.Google Scholar
Griffin, C (2001) From Education Policy To Lifelong Learning Strategies, in Jarvis, PThe Age Of Learning, 38–55, Kogan Page, London.Google Scholar
Halligan, J (2004) The Quasi-Autonomous Agency in an Ambiguous Environment: The Centrelink Case, Public Administration and Development 24: 147–156.Google Scholar
Halligan, J (2005) Public Management and Departments: Contemporary Themes – Future Agendas, Australian Journal Of Public Administration 64(1): 1–15.Google Scholar
Litzky, B, Eddleston, K and Kidder, D (2006) The Good, the Bad, and the Misguided: How Managers Inadvertently Encourage Deviant Behaviors, Academy Of Management Perspectives 20(11): 91–103.Google Scholar
Luhman, J T (2005) Narrative Processes In Organizational Discourse, E:Co 7(3–4): 15–22.Google Scholar
Rainey, H and Steinbauer, P (1999) Galloping Elephants: Developing Elements Of A Theory Of Effective Government Organizations, Journal Of Public Administration Research and Theory 9(1): 1–32.Google Scholar
Schein, E (1999) Empowerment, Coercive Persuasion and Organizational Learning: Do They Connect? The Learning Organisation 6(4): 163–172.Google Scholar
Schneider, B (1980) The Service Organization: Climate Is Crucial, Organizational Dynamics 9 (Autumn): 52–65.Google Scholar
Schneider, B and Bowen, D (1999) Understanding Customer Delight and Outrage, Sloan Management Review 41(1): 35–45.Google Scholar
Seiders, K and Berry, L (1998) Service Fairness: What It Is and Why It Matters, Academy Of Management Executive 12(2): 8–20.Google Scholar
Selden, L and Macmillan, I (2006) Manage Customer-Centric Innovation - Systemically, Harvard Business Review 84(4): 108–116.Google Scholar
Snowden, DJ (2002) Complex Acts Of Knowing: Paradox and Descriptive Self-Awareness, Journal of Knowledge Management 6(2): 100–111.Google Scholar
Solomon, M, Surprenant, C, Czepiel, J and Gutman, E (1985) A Role Theory Perspective On Dyadic Interactions: The Service Encounter, Journal of Marketing 49(1): 99–111.Google Scholar
Strauss, A and Corbin, JM (1998) Basics of Qualitative Research - Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory, Sage, London.Google Scholar
Strauss, AAJC (1998) Grounded Theory Methodology - An Overview, in Denzin, NK and Lincoln, YS, Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry, xxii, 346, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks CA.Google Scholar
Strauss, AL and Corbin, JM (1990) Basics Of QQualita-tive Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques, Sage Publications, Newbury Park CA.Google Scholar
Weick, KE (1995) Sensemaking in Organizations, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks CA.Google Scholar
Zeithaml, V, Berry, L and Parasuraman, A (1988) Communication and Control Processes in the Delivery of Service Quality, Journal Of Marketing 52(2): 35–48.Google Scholar