Research: Between service and servility: Role conflict in subordinate service roles

Paper (1980) by: Boas Shamir. Source: https://doi.org/10.1177/001872678003301004.

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Subordinate service roles [are]: the waiter, the receptionist, the taxi driver, the bus driver, the bank teller, the sales person in a store, the hairdresser and the like. The service organizations in which these roles are carried out have two main characteristics:

1. Unlike human processing organizations such as hospitals or schools, they have no "mission" and no intention to change or mold the behavior of their clients. The employees of such organizations are commonly not considered professionals or "experts".
2. Clients' participation in the activities of the organization is voluntary, they do not have to use the service, but have to be motivated to do so.

As a result of these two characteristics, the status of the service role occupant in such organizations is subordinate relative to that of the client, contrary to the situation in professional service organizations (Parsons, 1970, 1-16).

Every student of such roles knows that contact with clients could also be a major source of satisfaction. [...] They allow the service giver to "borrow prestige" from his client (Mills, 1956).

Being exposed to the public is not only a source of stress, but an avenue of self-expression for many service-role occupants, who like to be on display, and to "make a show" in front of others.

They get immediate feedback on their performance through smiles, nods, gestures, words, tips, curses, and various other means, allowing them tot feel immediately how well they are doing, at least in the eyes of the client.

Not only that, but also boredom and monotony, which are frequent complaints among job holders in industry and offices, are much less frequent among service givers due to contacts with different people and to the immediate feedback. Many service roles are in general more enriched than production and clerical jobs.

It is commonly assumed in service organizations that the client wishes to feel important, and the service worker is expected to "build up the client's ego". This expectation is more explicit in hotels where training literature refers to customers as Mr. King and Mrs. Queen.

The motto "the customer is always right - even when he is wrong" is an expected norm in stores, banks and other service organizations.

[This leads to several dilemma's;]

• Dilemma - Inequality

When money changes hands and a coin falls down accidentally onto the bus floor. The question, who will bend down to lift the coin, the driver of the passenger, clearly reflects the driver's role conflict.

• Dilemma - Performance

Instruction manuals to new employees [...] are full of explicit instructions. [...] It is the expectation from the role occupant to create the impression that he enjoys performing his role.

• Dilemma - Initiation and termination of an interaction

Due to the subordinate position of the role occupant and his or her exposure, the right to determine the beginning and the end of the interaction is mainly at the hands of the client. Thus an important aspect of the role is outside the role occupant's control.

• Dilemma - Level of intimacy

The nature of the relationship and the degree of intimacy can also be determined in many cases by the client, ignoring the wishes, tendencies, attractions and repulsions of the service giver.

• Dilemma - Territory

Workers tend to acquire a sense of ownership regarding their workplace, to mark the borders of their work territory by locks and by certain personal items, to feel secure within these borders and to fear trespassing.

Both service giver and client have claims over the territory in which the interaction takes place. [...] Clients who order a room, a table, or a taxi also regard the same territory as their own temporary territory (Argyle, 1975) and they too need this sense of ownership to feel relaxed and secure.

[There is a] conflict between the requirements directed at the role occupant from his employing organization in the form of policies, rules, regulations, or verbal instructions from supervisors and the requirements directed at him from clients.

[Critical incidents method] Passenger's internal standards for evaluating bus drivers' performance, their ideal of bus driver service, included an expectation that he would stop between bus stops to collect a passenger or let a passenger off the bus, that he would deviate from the official route to bring a passenger closer to his destination, that he would allow a passenger to ride the bus if he forgot his money and could not pay the fare, and similar behavior, all of which is in clear opposition to state and company regulations.

[This way] the role occupant finds himself in a situation of having to comply with conflicting expectations from two different bosses.

A type of intersender conflict which is not mentioned in the literature is the conflict between incompatible expectations and requirements of different clients. [For example] where the occupant has to give simultaneous service to more than one customer or when service to one client is given in the presence of other clients.

Arguments between passengers regarding smoking or radio listening are very common. One passenger wants to smoke or listen to the radio and another passenger is disturbed. Usually they expect the driver to arbitrate between them.

1. Pace dimension; Some clients in restaurants, banks, stores, etc. are interested in the quickest possible service, others would like to be served at a more leisurely pace.
2. Specificity dimension; Some clients prefer a correct, specific service limited to the official business. Others prefer personal recognition and a degree of familiarity and intimacy.

Typical behavior of individuals in subordinate service roles, that are performed in order to avoid or reduce role conflict.

• Avoidance of contact; Once they let the customer catch their eye, they are committed to continuing the interaction, so they try not to enter into it.
• Psychological withdrawel and automatic behavior; A more typical expression of alienation is to perform the role in an automatic manner (self-estrangement).
• Overacting; Overacting in a role as a form of maintaining "role distance" and reducing person-role conflict.
• Controlling the interaction;

1. Physical control - "Fasten your seatbelt".
2. Control through leadership - This is done through certain physical acts (cleaning a table), through tone of voice or through showing expertise.
3. Control through anticipation - Role occupants have typologies for customers that help them anticipate their needs and requirements.
4. Controlling rewards - Occupants can control their rewards either by ingratiating, "buttering up" and "cultivating" clients, or through more direct techniques of increasing sales.

• Educating the client; Teaching clients the rules of the organization.