This study investigates the link between perceptions of negative workplace relationships and organisational outcomes. Respondents (n = 412) spanned a wide range of occupations, industries and nationalities. Data were collected using an Internet-based questionnaire. Results indicated that those with at least one negative relationship at work were significantly less satisfied, reported less organisational commitment, were part of less cohesive workgroups and were significantly more likely to be planning to leave their job.

Block (or intensive) teaching is used by many management schools, but the factors that drive students to choose (or avoid) block subjects are not well understood. This paper reviews the research findings on intensive teaching and analyses the factors which predict student choice between different teaching formats, based on an analysis of qualitative and quantitative survey data. If studying one subject at a time, a majority of students appear to prefer a less intensive format. However the results show that three factors influence students' likelihood to choose the block format: their experience with the format, their perception of their ability in a particular subject and their concurrent subject load. There are also subject specific differences in student preferences. Implications for block scheduling and for actions to address perceived disadvantages of the block method are addressed.

Drawing on detailed qualitative case study evidence from four retail banking organisations, this article highlights the connections between customer relations strategy, the psychological contract and employee behaviour. The purpose of the research is to extend our understanding of the links between employees and customers by showing how this relationship evolves over time and by highlighting that a front-line employee's service orientation needs to be understood within the broader context of the employee's service experience. It is suggested that a better understanding of these connections could facilitate improved customer service standards and enhance the experiences of those working in service industries.

Strategies to integrate work and family have caught the attention of organizations, institutions, academics and families, and many people are motivated to find ways to blend these two domains. Spillover theory, whose tenets surround the mutual influence of home and work, provides a useful framework for understanding better what contributes to achieving work–family integration. Although much of the existing research focuses on the negative influence of these domains, some evidence exists that they positively influence one another as well. This study uses hierarchical multiple regression to test hypotheses about relational identity on positive and negative work–family spillover and considers perceived spousal support and relational equity as moderators. Results reveal that perceived spousal support predicts positive spillover and that it moderates the relationship between relational identity and negative spillover. Other results are discussed as well as limitations and future directions.

Professor Steven Poelmans is a leading international expert on the frontiers of work–family research contributing to theoretical and practice advancements. He is the Academic Director of the International Centre of Work and Family (ICWF) at IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain, which has worked for more than a decade with numerous organisations in Spain, Latin-America, and various countries around the globe to create a family-responsible environment. In this conversation, Steven Poelmans responds to questions from Thomas Kalliath and Paula Brough (Guest Editors) on a range of theoretical and practice issues currently facing the field including measurement of work–life balance, work–life balance theory, engagement with industry, the role of organisational culture and strategic management in influencing work–life balance.

Research investigating Karasek's (1979) Demand–Control Model (D-CM) has produced mixed results relating to the stress-buffering effects of job decision latitude, or job control, on employee adjustment. Cited reasons for these mixed results include the way control is operationalised and also the potential effects of secondary moderators in the relationship among job demand, job control, and employee adjustment. Towards addressing these issues, the present study assessed the secondary moderating effects of subjective fit with organisational culture and values in the D-CM. Participation in decision-making was used as the measure of job control. Moderated multiple regression analyses revealed three significant interactions in a sample of 119 employees. The results revealed a three-way interaction between role overload, participative control, and subjective fit on physiological symptoms and psychological health. Further analyses demonstrated a significant interaction between role conflict, participative control, and subjective fit on intentions to leave. In all interactions, participative control buffered the negative effects of the stressors on levels of employee adjustment only when employees' subjective fit with the organisational values was high. The theoretical importance and practical implications of the results are discussed.

This paper provides an analysis of human resource development and knowledge capital management relations practices used by hotels and resorts in 2007. The study examined the employment instruments used, methods of employee recruitment, selection, staff turnover trends, remuneration policies, attitudes to knowledge capital and the application of service quality measurement. The findings indicate that larger foreign-owned organisations have adopted more innovative approaches than smaller Australian-owned hotels and resorts, while skill shortages and generational attitude changes have driven more inventive retention strategies in both groups. It was also found that in spite of the adoption of more enlightened human resource strategies, staff turnover, particularly casual staff turnover, remains problematic and could negatively impact upon customer satisfaction.

Research in human resource management has advocated the development of a systematic process of measurement that enables managers to obtain and evaluate evidence about the performance of work–life initiatives, in both financial and non-financial terms. We apply the resource-based view of the firm, within the context of strategic human resource management literature, and conduct qualitative research in focus groups with human resource professionals and managers from 27 medium to large organisations operating in Australia. Our research explores what organisations are currently measuring with regard to work–life outcomes, how they are measuring it, and what they would like to measure. Integrating the practitioners' perspective with academic literature, we develop a framework of measurement for work–life initiatives.

This paper argues that management education needs to consider a trend in learning design which advances creative learning through an alliance with art-based pedagogical processes. A shift is required from skills training to facilitating transformational learning through experiences that expand human potential, facilitated by artistic processes.

This creative learning focus stems from a qualitative and quantitative analysis of an arts-based intervention for management development, called Management Jazz, conducted over three years at a large Australian University.

The paper reviews some of the salient literature in the field, including an ‘Artful Learning Wave Trajectory’ Model. The Model considers four stages of the learning process: capacity, artful event, increased capability, and application/action to produce product. Methodology for the field-based research analysis of the intervention outcomes is presented. Three illustrative examples of arts-based learning are provided from the Management Jazz program. Finally, research findings indicate that artful learning opportunities enhance capacity for awareness of creativity in one's self and in others, leading, through a transformative process, to enhanced leaders and managers. The authors conclude that arts-based management education can enhance creative capacity and develop managers and leaders for the 21st century business environment.

Contextual performance in the workplace has been identified as including relational activities that maintain the broader social and psychological environment in which task performance occurs in organisations. In this conceptual writing, organisational advocacy (OA) is offered as a form of task and contextual performance that is pertinent in the 21st century, especially while serving and working with customers on a day-to-day basis. Organisational citizenship behaviour is conceptualised as a component of the contextual performance of OA. OA and customer advocacy are defined and models are provided, suggesting that what is thought, said, and done by organisational members must receive expanded attention, in this case, in dealing with internal and external customers.

This paper proposes an Artful Learning Framework as an organisational development initiative. The framework is designed to assist people in organisations seeking higher levels of engagement in their strategic and operational endeavours, such as navigating change. The Artful Learning Framework offers three strategies as potential artful learning events designed to help people in organisations engage with each other creatively to achieve their organisational and professional goals. The Artful Learning Wave Trajectory model (Kerr 2006) forms a conceptual antecedent for the Artful Learning Framework. The Framework's strategies align with the relevant literature on organisational learning and, in particular, a proposition of Kerr (2006) who identifies a suite of skills, capacities and capabilities that are important in organisations. The notion of the wave, with the effect of ‘pausing and gathering’ to consider amidst the inevitable ambiguity and turbulence offor-ward movement, is invoked as a metaphor for the elements of the Framework which support its strategies. The paper will be of interest to individuals and groups that are committed to profound learning and capability building for the benefit of themselves, their teams and the organisations in which they work.

Consumption, especially high profile brand consumption, implicates our identities. More than that, brand consumption connects our lives to others through shared lifestyle expressions to the extent that subcultures of consumption emerge. However, as this work shows, the meaning of particular consumption objects or brands cannot be assumed. Using visual ethnography, this study describes the experiential meaning of the legendary Harley-Davidson to owners and riders in Australia. For more than three years, fieldwork was conducted primarily from within a chapter of the Harley Owners Group (HOG) and included participant observation, interviews, and visual documentation of the Harley-Davidson experience. The findings show the Australian Harley-Davidson experience to be a postmodern paradox. As an iconic American brand with a rebellious image, Harley-Davidson is readily embraced in this Australian subculture of consumption. Also, despite the widely assumed deviancy of those on a Harley-Davidson, the Australian HOG subculture is shown to uphold mainstream values in a family-friendly environment. Moreover, as an iconic symbol of freedom, this experience is achieved through regulation and organization. This work also shows the act of consuming Harley-Davidson creates the experiential meaning and postmodern spectacle that demands attention. In effect, consumers become producers in co-constructing the postmodern paradox of the (Australian) Harley-Davidson experience.

This study attempts to further the development of family business theory by providing a more detailed understanding of the differences between family and non-family firms' profitability, growth, exporting and networking behaviour. Utilising data from 2190 Australian SMEs, the study compares the Australian experience of differences between family and non-family firms with those found among Belgium firms. The Australian results are consistent with the growth and some of the networking behaviour found among Belgium firms, but not with their profitability and exporting behaviour. The study's findings support the contentions that the differences between family and non-family firms may be less than many earlier studies have indicated and that industry differences and cross-national differences in corporate governance environments may lead to variances in these differences. It also demonstrates that the underlying theoretical rationale for a number of predicted differences between family and non-family firms appears flawed. These findings indicate that new empirical studies that control for context are urgently needed to ensure the scholarly literature on family businesses is not being built on false assumptions. They also indicate that studies designed to explain differences in the family/non-family business relationship between industries and nations may lead to advances in family business theory.

We propose that a trust climate will help the employee–customer interface in the retail context. Specifically, we argue that a work climate that is based on trust induces the exercise of discretion by retail managers and discretionary behavior by front-line staff. Managerial and staff discretion is necessary for retail stores to become locally responsive, as store responsiveness is linked to customer satisfaction. Our propositions are derived from interpersonal trust and social exchange theories. The use of a trust climate to analyse the antecedents of customer satisfaction offers another theoretical perspective to study the interface dynamics between employees and customers and thus this paper contributes to ‘linkage research.’

Employer perspectives on work–life balance are under-developed and under-represented within the context of public debate on work and family. The current state of policy debate on work and family is grounded in the value of ‘choice’ and implicitly suggests that expanding the range of programs available will inevitably deliver a superior program for employees and employers. While diversity in program design is obviously an important priority for both parties, the current debate has not substantially increased knowledge or awareness of how best to assess program ‘fit’ nor evaluate program effectiveness for either party. This paper presents the experience of two organisations which have implemented successful work-life programs by focusing exclusively on workplace and workforce need, rather than policy rhetoric. Comparing the experience of these two organisations demonstrates that the needs of employers may be better served by a shift in the policy debate toward program ‘appropriateness’ and improved program evaluation techniques, and away from ‘choice’. Government rhetoric on ‘choice’ may actually serve to confuse rather than assist employers in the formation of an integrated and effective organisational wide work and family policy and program.