Embracing the employee orientation: does customer relationship matter in brand building?

PurposeThe study aims to explore the themes responsible for employee orientation and further their role in building strong customer relationships in telecom and organized retail outlets in emerging markets.Design/methodology/approachEmploying the qualitative approach, a total of 31 in-depth interviews with customer relationship management (CRM) officers of telecom and organized outlets were carried out. Data were analysed using NVIVO-12 plus and ATLAS tools.FindingsThe analysis extracted 13 unique themes namely training and development, communication skills, convincing skills, interpersonal skills, knowledge management, grievance handling, organisation's culture development, service climate, adaptive behaviour, customer retention skills, customer profiling, trust and commitment, and suitability of employees. The results claimed that these themes can assist in building strong customer relationships. However, the extent of the significance of themes may vary for telecom and organized retail outlets.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings have vital implications for frontline employees to drive customer value as they directly involve with customers. Findings further suggest that hiring of employees according to their location and catchment area of outlets are utmost important.Originality/valueEmployee orientation is an indispensable determinant in building a sustainable relationship with customers through uniqueness and consistency in meeting customers' expectations. This is a first attempt to explore the various unique themes responsible for employee orientation and the imperative role of such themes in maintaining long-lasting customer relationships.

Referential and non-referential (im)politeness

Honorifics are non-referential indices that are generally understood as polite linguistic forms. Why do speakers use honorifics when they express a face-attacking referential message? Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1987) explains that the use of honorifics is a negative politeness strategy that mitigates an FTA (face-threatening act). However, the reason why honorifics co-occur with a face-attack probably involves more than mitigating an FTA. This article deals with a case of institutional impoliteness by examining a Japanese company’s new employee orientation discourse. This is a context in which impoliteness is ideologically legitimised and often deployed. At the same time, the goal of the orientation is to train new employees to behave in an extremely polite manner. By qualitatively analysing the speech of the trainer of a new employee orientation, this article concludes that the trainer’s use of honorifics while attacking the positive face of the new employees is a way of resolving the conflicting demands of a Japanese company. This article contributes to (im)politeness research in that it points to the importance of distinguishing referential and non-referential (im)politeness.

PENGALIHAN JABATAN STRUKTURAL KE JABATAN FUNGSIONAL : SUATU ANALISA KOMPENSASI ATAS PENGHAPUSAN JABATAN ESELON III DAN IV DI PUSAT PENGEMBANGAN SUMBER DAYA MANUSIA APARATUR

This research analyze the reposition of employee orientation from struktural to functional position. This research focus on compensation or income received by civil servants who are redirected from functional from struktural position. The method used is a normative juridical approach.The scope of research was limited only within Human Resource Development Center for Government Apparatus. The results showed that the income received by Echelon III bigger than the employees have the same job class as expert level functional job, meanwhile the income received by echelon IV will increase if they arereposition from struktural to functional position. It is also concluded that the amount of some specific functional job allowance has not been based on the calculation of job weight. ABSTRAKPenelitian ini menganalisa rencana pengalihan jabatan struktural ke jabatan fungsional. Fokus penelitian ini adalah mengenai kompensasi atau penghasilan dari pegawai dalam jabatan struktural III dan IV yang akan berpindah menjadi jabatan fungisonal tertentu yang setara. Metode yang digunakan adalah pendekatan yuridis normatif. Ruang lingkup dari penelitian ini dibatasi hanya di Pusat Pengembangan Sumber Daya Manusia Aparatur (PPSDMA). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa penghasilan yangditerima pegawai struktural eselon III lebih besar daripada pegawai dalam jabatan fungisonal tertentu setara yang relevan di PPSDMA, sementara untuk jabatan struktural eselon IV akan mengalami peningkatan penghasilan jika beralih ke jabatan jabatan fungsional tertentu setara yang relevan di PPSDMA. Kemudian disimpulkan juga bahwa beberapa jabatan fungsional tertentu besaran tunjangannya belum sesuai dengan peritungan bobot jabatan.

Strategic elements of residency training in China: transactional leadership, self-efficacy, and employee-orientation culture

Background The standardized training of resident physicians in China is significant and robust. During the training, clinical teachers act as leaders. The training taking place in public hospitals requires a transactional leadership style (TLS), but existing research studies seldom analyze how to promote residents’ performance from this perspective. Methods Two hundred and ninety six new residents undertaking standardized training were recruited from five tertiary hospitals in two provinces of China. Hierarchical moderated and mediated regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses. The hypotheses include that TLS is positively related to the training performance; mediating effect of self-efficacy and moderating effect of employee-orientation organizational culture (EOC) are significant. Results (1) Two kinds of teachers’ TLS, punishment and reward, have significant positive influence on residents’ performance. (2) Self-efficacy of residents partly mediates the positive relationship. (3) EOC moderates the relationship between the punitive behavior of clinical teachers with TLS and the self-efficacy of the residents. Conclusions Empirical evidence has shown the positive relationship between teachers’ TLS and residents’ performance outcomes in China. Teachers can enhance training performance by promoting self-efficacy of residents. This study also advances our understanding of EOC by examining the demonstrated moderating effects of cultural background in the relationship between teachers’ TLS and the self-efficacy of residents.

Drawing conclusions about what co-participants know: Knowledge-probing question–answer sequences in new employee orientation lectures

This study aims to uncover the processes of interaction through which knowledge acquisition in new employee orientation is monitored and controlled. Using video-recordings of orientation lectures as data, the study focuses on question–answer sequences in which the lecturer’s question probes into the state of the employees’ knowledge; in particular, it looks at the third turn of the sequence, in which the lecturer comes to a conclusion concerning the participants’ knowledge. This is shown to be an unavoidably practical accomplishment, which is contingent on both the often ambivalent responses of the participants and the design of the knowledge-probing question. Also, the lecturer orients to being responsible for providing the employees with the necessary knowledge that they do not have. The study contributes to discussion of the interactional organization of knowledge in institutional settings, and it sheds light on the pros and cons of lectures as interactional encounters.