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Dear OB Listserve members

I am conducting research on the role that the client service ethic of an organization (as communicated to employees through the client discourse of the organization) can play in inducing burnout amongst service employees. 

As a point of departure I use the work of Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson (2000), which suggests that the client service ethic of an organization plays a significant role in shaping the behaviours and beliefs of its employees.  The manner in which an organization symbolically defines and presents the client to it's employees can have implications for the way in which these client service employees perceive the relationship that they have with the client and the way they define their roles in relation to the client.  Organisations with a strong service ethic may define the client in such a way so as to suggest to client serving employees that they are to subordinate their own needs in order to adequately address the needs and desires of the client. In so doing, the client discourse of the organization can lead to the devaluation of the employee's identity in relation to the client and form the basis for perceived power distinctions between himself and the client. It appears that power and perceived power from the client plays a significant role in the effect it has on the service employee.

Research on burnout suggests that the nature of the employee/client relationship is the most critical variable in assessing the extent of service professional burnout.  My research will therefore postulate that employees who perceive themselves as subordinate to the power and needs of the client may also experience decreased sense of self-efficacy and personal accomplishment – self efficacy and personal accomplishment being 1 of the 3 components of the burnout syndrome.

Can your perhaps point me to more recent literature and research on perceived power, organizational discourse, client ethic and role identity as they relate to my topic above.  Obviously, any additional information that relates to my topic would be greatly appreciated.

Thanking you in anticipation and apologies for cross-postings

Kind Regards

Mias de Klerk

Mias de Klerk 
Enterprise 
Sasol Group Services
Tel:   +27-(0)11-344 2533
Fax: +27-(0)11-522 6734
Cell:  +27-(0)82 901 5480
mias.deklerk@sasol.com

Mias-

You may want to look at the work of Alicia Grandey and Lori Sideman Goldberg, who looks at surface vs. deep acting and display rules for behavior.

Grandey, A. A. (2003). When "the show must go on": Surface acting and deep acting as determinants of emotional exhaustion and peer-rated service delivery. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Management</st1:placename></st1:place> Journal, 46(1), 86-96.

Sideman Goldbery, L., & Grandey, A. A. (2007).  Display rules versus display autonomy: Emotion regulation, emotional exhaustion, and task performance in a call center simulation.  Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 12,  301-318.

Dear OB Listserve members

I am conducting research on the role that the client service ethic of an organization (as communicated to employees through the client discourse of the organization) can play in inducing burnout amongst service employees. 

As a point of departure I use the work of Anderson-Gough, Grey and Robson (2000), which suggests that the client service ethic of an organization plays a significant role in shaping the behaviours and beliefs of its employees.  The manner in which an organization symbolically defines and presents the client to it's employees can have implications for the way in which these client service employees perceive the relationship that they have with the client and the way they define their roles in relation to the client.  Organisations with a strong service ethic may define the client in such a way so as to suggest to client serving employees that they are to subordinate their own needs in order to adequately address the needs and desires of the client. In so doing, the client discourse of the organization can lead to the devaluation of the employee's identity in relation to the client and form the basis for perceived power distinctions between himself and the client. It appears that power and perceived power from the client plays a significant role in the effect it has on the service employee.

Research on burnout suggests that the nature of the employee/client relationship is the most critical variable in assessing the extent of service professional burnout.  My research will therefore postulate that employees who perceive themselves as subordinate to the power and needs of the client may also experience decreased sense of self-efficacy and personal accomplishment – self efficacy and personal accomplishment being 1 of the 3 components of the burnout syndrome.

Can your perhaps point me to more recent literature and research on perceived power, organizational discourse, client ethic and role identity as they relate to my topic above.  Obviously, any additional information that relates to my topic would be greatly appreciated.

Thanking you in anticipation and apologies for cross-postings

Kind Regards

Mias de Klerk

Mias de Klerk 
Enterprise 
Sasol Group Services
Tel:   +27-(0)11-344 2533
Fax: +27-(0)11-522 6734
Cell:  +27-(0)82 901 5480
mias.deklerk@sasol.com

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