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Consumers' Reports: Management by Customers in a Changing Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Linda Fuller

    (Department of Sociology University of Oregon EUGENE OR 97403-1291 USA)

  • Vicki Smith

    (Department of Sociology University of Oregon EUGENE OR 97403-1291 USA)

Abstract

Under recent conditions of economic competition, customer/worker interactions increasingly are a source of profitability in service firms. Companies may employ refined methods for making these interactions a source of information about workers' performance. This paper investigates how managers and employers use customer feedback to monitor, evaluate and discipline service workers. We argue that management by customers may deepen and complicate authority and power relations in the workplace, and may also give rise to new forms of workplace conflict.

Suggested Citation

  • Linda Fuller & Vicki Smith, 1991. "Consumers' Reports: Management by Customers in a Changing Economy," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 5(1), pages 1-16, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:5:y:1991:i:1:p:1-16
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    Cited by:

    1. Sharon C. Bolton, 2004. "A Simple Matter of Control? NHS Hospital Nurses and New Management," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 317-333, March.
    2. Pflueger, Dane, 2016. "Knowing patients: The customer survey and the changing margins of accounting in healthcare," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 17-33.

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