The effects of technology and formal structures on value structure for lower level individuals in service operations is examined. Service providers (337) in direct contact with clients/customers were surveyed. The results indicate significant relationships among formal structure, task uncertainty, and employee value orientation to customers. Task uncertainty was also found to mediate the relationship between formal structure and value orientation for individuals in direct contact with clients/customers.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ALLPORT, F.The structuring of events: Outline of a general theory with applications to psychology. Psychological Review, 1954, 61, 281-303.
2.
ALLPORT, F.A structuronomic conception of behavior: Individual and collective. I. Structural theory and the master problem of social psychology. Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology, 1962, 64, 3-30.
3.
ALLPORT, F.A theory of enestruence (event structure theory): Report of progress. American Psychologist, 1967, 22, 1-24.
4.
ARGYRIS, C.Integrating the individual and the organization. New York: Wiley, 1964.
5.
BAUER, R.Consumer behavior as risk taking. In P. Blise (Ed.), Marketing and the behavioral sciences: Selected reading. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1968.
6.
BENNIS, W.Changing organizations; Essays on the development and evolution of human organizations. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966.
7.
BERRY, L.Services marketing is different. In Christopher Lovelock (Ed), Services marketing. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1984.
8.
BLALOCK, H., & BLALOCK, A.Methodology in social research. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968.
9.
BLAU, P., & SCHOENHERR, R.The structure of organizations. New York: Basic Books, 1971.
10.
BULMER, H.Symbolic interaction, perspective and method. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1969.
11.
BRASS, D.Structural relationships, job characteristics and worker satisfaction and performance. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1981, 26, 331-348.
12.
BRASS, D.Technology and the structuring of jobs: Employee satisfaction, performance, and influence. Organization Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 1985, 35, 216-240.
13.
CHASE, R.Where does the customer fit in a service operation?Harvard Business Review, 1978, 56(6), 137-142.
14.
CHILD, J., & MANSFIELD, R.Technology and structure of subunits. Sociology, 1972, 6, 369-393.
15.
COMSTOCK, D., & SCOTT, R.Technology and the structure of subunits: Distinguishing individual and workgroup effects. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1977, 22, 177-201.
16.
CONNOR, P., & BECKER, B.Values and the organization: Suggestions for research. Academy of Management Review, 1975, 18, 550-561.
17.
CROZIER, M.The bureaucratic phenomenon. Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press, 1964.
18.
DAFT, R., & MACINTOSH, N.A tentative exploration into the amount and equivocality of information processing in organizational work units. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1981, 26, 207-234.
19.
DAVIS, L., & TAYLOR, J. (Eds.). Design of jobs. Middlesex, England: Penquin Books, 1972.
20.
DEWAR, R., WHETTEN, D., & BAJE, D.An examination of the reliability and validity of the Aiken and Hage scales of centralization, formalization and task routines. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1980, 25, 120-128.
21.
EMERY, F., & TRIST, E.The causal texture of the organization environment. Human Relations, 1965, 18, 21-32.
22.
FRY, L., & SLOCUM, J.Technology, structure, and workgroup effectiveness: A test of a contingency model. Academy of Management Journal, 1984, 27, 221-246.
23.
FUCHS, V.The service economy. National Bureau of Economic Research, Columbia University Press, 1968.
GLISSON, C.Dependence of technological routinization on structural variables in human service organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1978, 23, 384-395.
26.
GUION, R.A note on organizational climate. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1972, 9, 120-125.
27.
HAGE, J., & AIKEN, M.Routine technology, social structure and organizational goals. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1969, 14, 366-376.
28.
HALL, R. An empirical study of bureaucratic dimensions and their relation to other organizational characteristics. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 1961.
29.
HALL, R.The concept of bureaucracy: An empirical assessment. American Journal of Sociology, 1963, 69, 32-40.
30.
HARVEY, E.Technology and the structure of organizations. American Sociological Review, 1968, 33, 247-259.
31.
HOUSE, R., & RIZZO, J.Role conflict and ambiguity as critical variables in a model of organizational behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1972, 7, 467-505.
JAMES, L., & JONES, A.Organization structure: A review of structural dimensions and their conceptual relationships with individual attitudes and behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1976, 16, 74-113.
34.
KALLEBERG, A.Work values and job rewards: A theory of job satisfaction. American Sociologial Review, 1977, 42, 124-143.
35.
KATZ, D., & KAHN, R.The social psychology of organizations (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley, 1978.
36.
KLUCKHOLN, C.Values and value-orientation in the theory of action. In T. Parsons & E. Shils, (Eds.), Toward a general theory of action. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1952.
37.
KOLODNY, H.Evolution to a matrix organization. Academy of Management Review, 1979, 4, 547-553.
38.
KRETCH, D., & KRUTCHFIELD, R.Theory and problems of social psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1948.
39.
LAFOLLETTE, W., & SIMS, H.Is satisfaction redundant with organizational climate?Organization Behavior and Human Performance, 1975, 13, 257-278.
MANKOFF, A Values-not attitudes-are the real key to motivation. Academy of Management Review, December 1974, 16, 23-29.
42.
MARCH, J., & SIMON, J.Organization. New York: Wiley, 1958.
43.
McDONOUGH, J.One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich: A study of the structural requisite of organizations. Human Relations, 1975, 24, 295-338.
44.
McGREGOR, D.Leadership and motivation. Cambridge, Massachusetts: M.I.T. Press, 1966, pp. 1125-1173.
45.
MEYER, M.Size and the structure of organizations: A causal analysis. American Sociological Review, 1972, 37, 434-441.
46.
MILES, R.Role requirments as sources of stress. Journal of Applied Psychology, 1976, 29699-710.
47.
MILLS, P.Managing service industries: Organizational practices in a post-industrial economy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1986.
48.
MILLS, P., &TURK, T.A preliminary investigation into the influence of customer-firm interface and information processing and task activities in service organizations. Journal of Management, 1986, 11 (Spring).
49.
MILLS, P., & MOBERG, D.Perspective on the technology of service operations. Academy of Management Review, 1982, 7, 467-478.
50.
MINTZBERG, H.The structuring of organizations, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1978.
MORSE, N.Satisfactions in the white-collar job. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 1953.
53.
MUNSON, J., & McINTYRE, S.Developing practical procedures for measurement of personal values in cross-culture marketing. Journal of Marketing Research. 1979, 16, 48-52.
54.
PAYNE, R., & PUGH, D.Organizational Structure and Climate. In M. Dunnette (Ed.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology. Chicago: Rand-McNally, 1976.
55.
PENNINGS, J.Measures of organizational structure: A methodological note. American Journal of Sociology, 1973, 79, 686-714.
56.
PERROW, C.A framework for the comparative analysis of organizations. American Sociological Review, 1967, 32, 194-208.
57.
PODSAKOFF, P. & TODOR, W.Relationship between leader reward and punishment behavior and group process and productivity. Journal of Management1985, 9, 75-87.
58.
PONDY, L., & MITROFF, I.Beyond open systems models of organizations. In B. Staw (Ed.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 1). Greenwich, Connecticut: JAI Press, 1979, pp. 3-40.
59.
PUGH, D., HICKSON, D., HINNINGS, C., & TURNER, C.The context of organizational structures. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1961, 13, 229-245.
60.
PUGH, D., HICKSON, D., & HINNINGS, C.An empirical taxonomy of structures of work organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1969, 14, 115-125.
61.
SALANCIK, G., & PFEFFER, J.An examination of need satisfaction models of job attitudes. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1977, 17, 427-456.
62.
SASSER, E.Match supply and demand in service industries. Harvard Business Review, 1976, 56, 133-148.
63.
SCHNEIDER, B., & BARTLETT, C.Individual differences and organizational climate by the multi-tract, muti-rate matrix. Personal Psychology, 1970, 23, 493-572.
64.
SIKULA, A. A study of values and value systems of college roommates in conflict and non-conflict situations and an investigation to determine whether roommate conflict can be attributed to differing values and value systems. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan State University, 1970.
65.
SILVERMAN, D.The theory of organizations. Heineman Educational Books, London, 1970.
66.
SIMMEL, G.The problems of the philosophy of history (Translated with an introduction by Guy Oakes). New York: Free Press, 1971.
67.
SIMON, H.Administrative behavior. New York: Free Press, 1957.
68.
SLOCUM, J., & SIMS, H.A typology for integrating technology, organization, and job design. Human Relations, 1980, 33, 193-212.
69.
STYMNE, B.Values and processes: A systems study of effectiveness in the organizations. Student Literature, Lund, 1970.
70.
TERRIEN, F., & MILLS, D.The effect of changing size upon the internal structure of organizations. American Sociological Review, 1955, 20, 11-13.
71.
THOMPSON, J.Organizations and output transactions. American Journal of Sociology, 1962, 68, 309-324.
72.
THOMPSON, J.Organizations in action. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
73.
VAN DE VEN, A., & DELBECQ, A.A task contingent model of work unit structure. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1974, 19, 183-197.
74.
VAN MAANEN, J.Police Socialization: A longitudinal examination of job attitudes in an urban policy department. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1975, 20, 207-228.
75.
VAN SELL, M., BRIEF, P., & SCHULER, R.Role conflict and role ambiguity: Integration of the literature and directions for future research. Human Relations, January 1981, 34, 43-71.
76.
VICKERS, G.They are of judgment. London: University Paperbacks, Methuen, 1965.
77.
VICKERS, G.Value systems and social process. New York: Basic Books, 1968.
78.
WALTON, E.The comparison of measures of organization structure. Academy of Management Journal, 1981, 1, 155-160.
79.
WEBER, M.Roscher and Knies. The logical problems of historical economics (Translated with an introduction by Guy Oakes). New York: Free Press, 1975.
80.
WEBER, M.Critique of Stammler, (Translated with an introduction essay by Guy Oakes). New York: Free Press, 1977.
81.
WEICK, K.The socialpsychology of organizing, Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1969.
82.
WHITE, K., & RUH, R.Effects of personal values on the relationship between participation and job attitudes. Administrative Science Quarterly, 1973, 18, 506-514.
83.
WITHEY, M., DAFT, R., & COOPER, H.Measures of Perrow's work unit technology: An empirical assessment and a new scale. Academy of Management Journal, 1983, 26, 5-63.
84.
WOODWARD, J.Industrial organizations: Theory and practice. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Corporation, 1965.
85.
ZIMBARDO, P., & RUCH, F.psychology and life (9th ed.). Glenwood Illinois: Scott, Foreman, 1975.
