In an Australian sample of over 16,000 employees we assessed whether employees are satisfied with their ability to balance work and other life commitments. We tested the hypothesis that work–life balance is important for engaging and retaining employees in the context of other aspects of organisational climate. We also explored how individual and organisational variables were related to work–life balance aiding further development of theory integrating work with other aspects of life. Results showed that of 28 organisational climate factors, work–life balance was least related to employee engagement and intention to stay with an organisation. We discuss implications for how organisations position work–life balance strategies, particularly in relation to social responsibility and wellness, rather than the solution to employee commitment and retention.

Artists derive inspiration from daily life. According to John Dewey (1934), common experiences are transformed into works of art through a process of compression and expression. Our paper adopts Dewey's frame to demonstrate that experience in the artful classroom plays a valuable role in management education. We asked students to reflect on their work experience and then to provide an artful expression of their reflections. For this exercise we defined artfulness as a process which relies on the discursive practices of satire, and in particular irony and parody. Offering a service management class as an exemplar we demonstrate the use of these rhetorical techniques as reflective learning tools. A class of students were first prompted to consider their common experiences as both customers and service providers, and were then asked to create an ironic artefact. Our paper, which analyses a cartoon sequence produced by students in response to this assignment and in which they parody the fast-food service experience, illustrates how a business studies classroom can be transformed into an artful space.

This paper shares some findings from the initial, qualitative stage of a larger, national study currently being undertaken in Australia, exploring the experiences of parents who are working full-time and caring for a child with chronic illness. The findings highlight the limited support that most parents receive in their workplace, especially from employers. In-depth interviews revealed the negative and unsupportive attitude that employers had towards these parents. The provision of flexible work arrangements and leave entitlements, which were critical supports for these parents, were rarely offered by employers. Respondents reported high levels of frustration and difficulty balancing their dual roles.

A growing emphasis on the discourse of ‘student as customer’ has increased the salience of the concept of service climate in universities and anecdotal evidence suggests that this may have placed increased pressure on staff. This study investigated the relationship between service climate and psychological well being in a sample of 340 university staff. Questionnaire data was analysed using structural equation modelling showed that a positive service climate was negatively related to job-induced tension and positively related to job satisfaction. Job-induced tension also mediated the effects of service climate on psychological dysfunction and job satisfaction. Implications for management of university stakeholder relationships and directions for future research are discussed.

Divestitures, understood as the parent company's disposal and sale of assets, facilities, product lines, subsidiaries, divisions and business units, are emerging as a central topic of research in several areas. Yet our understanding of these operations is still limited. For example, it is still not clear whether divestitures are merely a reflection of the economic cycle, a means to correct or reverse previous strategic decisions, or a proactive strategic option. Integrating literature in finance, strategy, and organisational behaviour, this paper offers a comprehensive picture of divesting modes, antecedents, mechanisms and outcomes of divestitures. It integrates empirical findings and theoretical contributions into a researchable whole, in order to identify common themes and gaps in existing research. The final objective of this analysis and review is to propose meaningful avenues for future research to improve knowledge on divestitures.

We provide conceptual and empirical insights elucidating how organisational practices influence service staff attitudes and behaviours and how the latter set affects organisational performance drivers. Our analyses suggest that service organisations can enhance their performance by putting in place strategies and practices that strengthen the service-oriented behaviours of their employees and reduce their intentions to leave the organisation. Improved performance is accomplished through both the delivery of high quality services (enhancing organisational effectiveness) and the maintenance of front-line staff (increasing organisational efficiency). Specifically, service-oriented business strategies in the form of organisational-level service orientation and practices in the form of training directly influence the manifest service-oriented behaviours of staff. Training also indirectly affects the intention of front-line staff to leave the organisation; it increases job satisfaction, which, in turn has an impact on affective commitment. Both affective and instrumental commitment were hypothesised to reduce the intentions of front-line staff to leave the organisation, however only affective commitment had a significant effect.

Many people (particularly women) see entrepreneurship as a way of achieving a better balance between work and family than that provided by paid employment. Fifty-eight entrepreneurs were interviewed in New Zealand (32 women and 26 men) in order to explore the work-family conflict they face, the techniques they use to achieve work–family balance and the effectiveness of these strategies. Our study finds that women entrepreneurs employ a number of flexible work practices, such as choosing where to work, when to work and with whom to work as well as managing their roles within the family. This study concludes that entrepreneurship may not be a panacea for achieving work–family balance. We offer some suggestions for how entrepreneurs may better achieve work–family balance.

A decisive 2004 fourth term win for the Howard Government and control over the Senate provided the Australian government with a mandate to further deregulate the labour market in the name of ‘flexibility’. This paper uses a critical perspective to challenge the wisdom of neo-liberal market economics as the driving force behind the rapid expansion of non-traditional ‘flexible’ forms of work and the persistence of a deficit model/perspective that continues to devalue the human capital value of older workers. It is argued that these trends will contribute to ongoing under utilisation of ‘older’ labour and intensification of skill shortages, in part, as a result of lack of investment in maintaining human capital. In responding to Australia's rapidly ageing workforce the Howard Government has adopted modest measures designed to counter age based discrimination and encourage workforce participation. However, participation rates among older workers in Australia have remained one of the lowest among Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries. This paper argues that the Government's labour market deregulation policies are reducing the availability of jobs that provide sufficient working conditions and remuneration to make workforce participation attractive. The erosion of employment conditions associated with ‘flexible’ workforce reform leads to underemployment, an employment outcome that often fails to meet the needs of many older workers. More recently, however, the Government has embarked on reforms that appear to provide genuine incentives aimed specifically at attracting workforce participation by older workers, but unfortunately these are by and large confined to those aged 60 years and over.

The concept of artful management education and development is applied to the Burning Man Project. The unique social routine of the Burning Man community is highlighted, including an explanation of the 10 cultural Guiding Principles embraced by that community. Various ways the identity of ‘Burner’ manifests are used to examine how the smoldering potential of shared community can be transformed into managerial practices and organizational frameworks that facilitate positive learning and lasting individual change. The paper concludes with illustrations and examples from the author's personal experiences with specific techniques used in conducting the annual Burning Man event.

Aggression at the service delivery interface (the point of contact between service provider and service recipient) has become a focus of much recent research attention. However, much of what we know is based on cross-sectional survey data – which tells us little about the underlying dynamics within specific aggressive incidents. Further, these data are often collected from the perspective of the service provider alone. For this study, we focused on specific hostile interactions during the delivery of healthcare services and gathered data from the perspectives of service providers and service recipients. Drawing on interviews with US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) staff and US military veterans, we categorised and compared each party's attributions for the initiation of hostile (unpleasant) encounters. We found that staff and veterans had different perspectives on the nature of precipitating factors and that the initial attribution for the event was linked to differences in subsequent responding. These findings are discussed in terms of their insight into the temporal dynamics of aggressive events and their implications for the prevention and management of hostility at the service delivery interface.

An exploratory study of workplace experience in the public sector investigated the tension that employees face in their attempts to meet both organisational and customer expectations. This paper provides an illustration of participant experience that describes: the sense of justice that drove their actions; the innovations that resulted from attempts to fulfil the psychological contract with the customer; and the protection of what employees perceived to be their own and their workmates' deviant behaviour. The ethic that emerged locally through employee–customer interaction and which framed employee decision-making in this study resulted from the role conflict that emerged when the organisation's focus on a consistent application of the rules confronted customers' diverse and pressing need for treatment as individual human beings at the organisational boundary.

As several previous studies have shown, the provision of work–life benefits (WLB) varies between organisations; while some organisations provide a comprehensive range of WLB, others do not. Our research aims to identify and examine the influences on the provision of WLB in an organisation. Recognising the potential for different goals and agenda, we propose that it is necessary to understand the perspectives of WLB held by managers and by employees. To inform our research, we have drawn upon the complementary theoretical bases of strategic choice theory, stakeholder theory and the resource-based view of the firm. Using multiple methods of data collection and including management and employee perspectives, qualitative case studies were undertaken with two Australian subsidiaries of large multinational firms. We develop and refine a framework that identifies the influences on the provision of WLB. This framework is a useful guide for researchers and practitioners seeking to understand and manage WLB.

Small business owners who turn to professional web development consultants for assistance with building a web site may need support not only in terms of the technical aspects of web site implementation, but also in terms of understanding their options for e-business. However, client/consultant relationships within the small business sector can be problematic and the limited research available into small business engagement of web developers suggests that bad experiences and disappointing outcomes are not uncommon.

Interpretive case study methodology was used to explore four sets of small business owner/web developer relationships: how each pair worked together and what they expected of each other. The negotiation and clarification of roles and responsibilities proved to be an essential aspect of the relationships. Also, achieving an adequate level of client involvement in the web site design and development process was a challenge in all cases.

In this article we will argue that leaders facing complex challenges can learn from the arts, specifically that leaders can learn by examining how theatre directors direct creativity through creative constraints. We suggest that perceiving creativity as a boundary phenomenon is helpful for directing it. Like leaders who are caught in paradoxical situations where they have to manage production and logistics simultaneously with making space for creativity and innovation, theatre directors need to find the delicate balance between, on the one hand, renewal of perceptions, acting and interaction and on the other, getting ready for the opening night. We conclude that the art of directing creativity is linked to developing competencies of conscious presence, attention and vigilance, whereas the craft of directing creativity concerns communication, framing and choice.

Critical Management Studies (CMS) is interested in examining and challenging the legitimacy of traditional management theories, values and assumptions. CMS believes by reflecting and questioning existing management practices, it is possible to generate better norms, policies, ideas and management values. The essence of CMS is to deconstruct the various management techniques and functions, to expose any forms of discrimination and exploitation taking place in contemporary organisations and emancipate employees from their pain, suffering and frustration.

This paper seeks to make a contribution in the area of CMS, by examining the overall effectiveness of CMS in fulfilling its objectives. It seeks to address the effectiveness of CMS in achieving its goals in organisations, with the support of an empirical study conducted at a professional accounting firm.

The employee–customer interface in hedonic services requires high quality interactions at key touch points to ensure experiences are positively remembered. We propose an approach that combines service blueprinting with internal marketing to achieve these experiences. While internal marketing suggests using marketing techniques for hiring, retaining and motivating employees, the literature in this field has been largely independent of each employee's contribution to the internal value chain. Service blueprinting is a useful approach which makes explicit the value creation processes used in service production. No study has thus far connected the blueprint (which identifies functions to be performed) to internal marketing (which specifies the mechanisms for hiring, retaining and motivating the people performing the functions). This paper proposes a service value chain optimisation framework to enhance employee–customer interactions in hedonic services using these two research streams.

The service encounter is the point where employees and customers interact both positively and negatively. When things go wrong (service failure), initially it is the employee who is required to remedy the situation (recover the service). While positive service recovery outcomes are well investigated, there is little research that investigates whether specific service recovery strategies can be used to reduce customer anger and retaliation. Further, there is little research regarding whether an organisation's acceptance of blame has an effect on customer anger and retaliation. These gaps are addressed using a quasi-experimental study of 120 respondents that examines customers' emotional and behavioural responses to specific service recovery strategies following a service failure. The results show that high-level service recovery strategies directly reduce the occurrence of retaliation, as well as indirectly reduce retaliation through the mediating effects of customer anger. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

We wish to develop the argument in this paper that through aesthetic and artistic work, practices and their metaphorical use, we have a potential to better understand the relationship between academic leadership theory and practical action. By aesthetic approach we mean the experiential way of knowing that emphasizes human senses and the corporeal nature of social interaction in leadership. In this paper, we discuss how leadership could look, sound and feel like when seen via the artistic metaphor of dance. We use the traditional dance, waltz and the postmodern dance experience of raves to illustrate our argument. By doing so, we challenge traditional, intellectually oriented and positivistic leadership approaches that hardly recognize nor conceptualize aesthetic, bodily aspects of social interaction between people in the workplace.

The ballroom dance waltz is used as a metaphorical representation of a hierarchical, logical and rational understanding of leadership. The waltz metaphor describes the leader as a dominant individual who knows where to go and the dance partner as a follower or at least as someone with a lesser role in defining the dance. Raves, on the other hand representparadigmatically different kind of a dance and therefore a different understanding of leadership. There are neither dance steps to learn, nor fixed dance partners where one leads and the other follows. Even the purpose or aim of dancing may not be known at the beginning of the dance, but it is negotiated as the raves go on. We think that raves describe the organizational life as it is often seen and felt today: chaotic, full of unexpected changes, ambiguous and changing collaborators in networks. Here leadership becomes a collective, distributed activity where the work processes and the targeted outcome is continually negotiated.

Through the dance metaphors of waltz and raves, we suggest aspects such as gaze, rhythm and space to give an aesthetic description both to a more traditional and an emerging aesthetic paradigm of leadership where the corporeality of leadership is emphasized. We wish to make the point that leadership is aesthetically and corporeally co-constructed both between the leader and the followers as well as between the researcher and the subjects. The metaphor of dance illustrates the corporeal nature of leadership both to practitioners and theoreticians.

Although the term work–family/life balance is widely employed, an agreed definition of this term has proved elusive. Instead, an array of definitions and measures populate the literature. The variety of work–life definitions and measures provide limited value for both the theoretical advancement of the construct and for practical human resource (HR) interventions. In this article, we review six conceptualisations of work–life balance found in the literature: (1) multiple roles; (2) equity across multiple roles; (3) satisfaction between multiple roles; (4) fulfilment of role salience between multiple roles; (5) a relationship between conflict and facilitation; and (6) perceived control between multiple roles. Based on our review of this research we identify the two primary features of the work–life balance definitions and propose a new definition of this construct.