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The service sector is growing and the level of service provided by the shops to the customers is considered important since the customer has the decision to shop or not. The retail sector is also the first experience of working life for a large number of young people in Sweden but this also seems to be related to relatively high rates of turnover. The service delivered is important both for the result of the shop in terms of sales but also for us as customers in affecting the treatment we get during our shopping. This paper aims at increasing knowledge about how good service develops. A key assumption is that the quality of service given to customers is related to the quality of relationships experienced in the workplace. However, the mechanisms behind this assumption need further exploration. The general aim of this study is to identify predictors of service climate to customers and intention to stay or quit among employees in large and small shops in Sweden. The role of employment conditions as well as individual factors and preferences are investigated together with relationships in the work place in terms of psychological contract fulfilment, support from supervisors and organzational climate. 

Data for this study builds on questionnaires distributed to all employees in 12 stores in Middle-Sweden on two occasions with a one year interval. At time one, 277 employees answered the questionnaire, their mean age was 32 years and about half of them (55%) were women. They had been employed from 6 months up to more than 30 years. About half of them worked full-time (54%), but working hours per week varied considerably from 5 to 60 hours. At time two, the second questionnaire was returned by 121 respondents and only 60 of them were actually responding to both data collections. The sample on the second occasion was generally somewhat older, with more stable employment and longer weekly working hours. Regression analyses were performed using the cross-sectional data sets from T1 and T2 but also the longitudinal data aiming to identify short and long term predictors of service climate, well-being of employees and intention to quit.

The general pattern of results indicated that satisfaction with working hours and with the present occupation were more critical predictors of job satisfaction than actual contract and working hours (part time or full time). Furthermore, working conditions such as perceived time pressure was a significant predictor of well-being and intention to leave the job. Manager’s fulfillment of promises and commitments as part of the psychological contract seemed to affect the general organizational climate and perceived support from supervisors which appeared to be the most important predictors of all outcomes. These factors were especially important as predictors of service climate. The most obvious conclusion, is that relations in the work place are critical both for service to customers and willingness to stay on the job for employees.  Perhaps most important, the relationship between supervisors and subordinates, e.g. keeping promises and giving support spills over also to customer relations.

Autonomous work groups are involved in goal setting and planning and hence can define their jobs and the outcome idiosyncratically. Our interest lies in how job design restricts or creates possibilities for groups to redefine their work and thus go beyond formal requirements. The aim was to test a model of the relationships between dimensions of job design, group processes, group initiative, and self-organizational activities. The results are based on work task analyses and questionnaires administered to 31 work groups at four Swedish industrial companies. The theoretical input-process-output model received substantial support. Dimensions of job design affect whether a group, through collective reflexivity, can redefine work and proactively create conditions and organize work so that uncertainty can be handled and new tasks mastered. Group processes such as cooperation and social support enhance group initiative to achieve such meaningful change. In this study, reflexivity does not impact on group initiative, but does explain the major amount of variance in self-organizational activities. Work task analyses can be a useful tool for providing groups with the prerequisites for self-organizational activities. We believe these to be essential for the groups' capacity to be involved in the innovation process from idea to finished product.

Gruppinitiativ: att gå utöver föreskrivet arbete

Många av dagens organisationer är i behov av proaktiva medarbetare i ett ständigt pågående förändrings- och förbättringsarbete. Vissa individer och grupper verkar lyckas bättre i sitt arbete än andra på samma arbetsplats. Syftet var att studera om dessa medarbetare hade utvidgat sina arbetsuppgifter för att uppnå önskat resultat. Gruppinitiativ kan betraktas som en process men även som resultat av en process. Begreppet är utvecklat från Fay och Freses (2001) koncept Personligt Initiativ. Tilltron till gruppens förmåga bidrar till bättre prestationer, men överskattning av förmåga kan också vara till förfång eller rent av skadlig för grupper (Guzzo, Yost, Campbell & Shea ,1993). Betydelsen av stöd från ledning, upplevd autonomi och tilltro till gruppens förmåga för gruppinitiativ mättes vid två tillfällen och 182 grupparbetande individer i fyra olika mellansvenska industriföretag var deltagare vid båda tidpunkterna. Resultat av hierarkiska regressioner visade att tilltron till gruppens förmåga hade störst prediktionsvärde för gruppinitiativet. Stöd från ledningen och upplevd autonomi bidrog också signifikant till att förklara variansen. Resultaten är överensstämmande med tidigare forskning som visar på betydelsen av att inspirera gruppmedlemmar att vara aktivt involverade och bidra till realisering av målen. Gruppinitiativ med sin inneboende proaktiva dimension kommer troligen att få ökad betydelse för gruppbaserade organisationer i framtiden. Rekommendationen till praktiker blir att skapa organisatoriska förutsättningar och kontext där tilltro till gruppens förmåga kan uppstå, utvecklas och växa. Psykosociala faktorer bör då också inkluderas.

From an organizational perspective the issue of which organizational solutions will benefit productivity, efficiency and the innovation process is central. Work groups can be an effective means. The general aim of the studies from a psychological perspective was to examine work conditions and thereafter investigate how such conditions impact on whether the groups redefined stipulated tasks to incorporate initiative- taking and self-organization, thus enabling them to implement meaningful change. Based on action regulation theory, detailed work task analysis is assumed to be worthwhile as it provides data that cannot be captured with interviews or questionnaires exclusively. Data was based on work task analyses and questionnaires administered to work groups at four Swedish industrial organizations. In Study I a theoretical model of the relations of job design, work routines and social routines and reflexivity and learning processes was tested. Results showed that job design and work routines strongly impacted on reflexivity and learning processes.  In Study II this model was extended into a theoretical input-process-output model to include group initiative and self-organizational activities as outcomes of job design, mediated by group processes. The model provided substantial, but not complete, support. Job design strongly impacts on reflexivity, and reflexivity directly impacts self-organizational activities. To explore the importance of leadership support and potency longitudinally for group initiative, in Study III two data collections were included. The findings showed that potency, compared to perceived autonomy and support from leader, was the best predictor of group initiative. Together the studies show that the dimensions of job design, support from leader, reflexivity, and potency as well as cooperation and social support are important for the outcomes of work groups if the organization wants groups to take initiative and engage in self-organizational activities.  It is also advocated that job design contains an inherent potential for learning and the possibility to make use of one’s resources. Main findings, strengths, limitations, practical and theoretical implications, directions for future research and when it will be worthwhile to invest in group work are included in the discussion.

Purpose - What is required of job design and production planning, if they are to result in a work group taking a self-starting approach and going beyond what is formally required of it? This paper aims to contribute to group research by testing a theoretical model of relations between job design on the one hand (captured as completeness, demand on responsibility, demand on cooperation, cognitive demand, and learning opportunities), and reflexivity and learning processes within natural work groups in industry on the other hand. Design/methodology/approach - The results are based on detailed task analyses and questionnaires from 40 work groups at the shop-floor level in manufacturing industry in Sweden. Findings - Job design and work routines show strong effects on reflexivity and learning processes. Four dimensions of job design - completeness, demand on cooperation, cognitive demand and learning opportunities - impact on reflexivity and learning processes. Job design correlates with social routines, and social routines with work routines. Practical implications - It is crucial to create a job design that putschallenging demands on the group if group processes are to be characterized by reflexivity and learning. Managers have a challenging task to provide both a space and a climate that supports reflexivity and learning. All functions affected by production planning need to be involved in job design to balance conflicts between productivity and innovation. Originality/value - Detailed task analysis is worthwhile as it captures aspects that are prerequisites for innovative groups not previously accounted for.