On the Front Line

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...

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.

The shift from manufacturing to services has important implications for human resource management.... This study is a sophisticated, rigorous exploration of trends in employment.

Amy S. Wharton, Washington State University:

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.

Motohiro Morishima, Hitotsubashi University:

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.

Matthew Price:

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.

Kevin Ward, University of Manchester:

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.

Jim Kitay, University of Sydney:

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.

Harry C. Katz, Cornell University:

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.

Peter Cappelli, Wharton School of Management, University of Pennsylvania:

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.