Balancing the competing objectives of efficiency and service typically requires management compromises to be made. However, some call centers have found that a compromise is not necessary. By using a``sacrificial HR strategy'', they achieve both efficiency and high levels of service at the same time. This is possible because part of the sacrificial HR strategy is the deliberate, frequent replacement of employees in order to provide enthusiastic, motivated customer service at low cost to the organization. Describes a multiple-case analysis of four call centers and the sacrificial HR strategy they used. The contingencies leading to the appearance of this strategy are discussed.

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Determining and interpreting the impact that different types of feedback have on performance has been dficult because there are a number of complex theoretical processes or mechanisms involved. To mifiimize some of this complexity and rule out possible alternate explanations in this study subjects in highly routine tasks were used (1 11 employees from 11 fast food restaurants). A quasi-experimental field design compared the effects of positive versus corrective feedback. The term corrective feedback is deliberately used instead of negative feedback because of the close association that negative feedback has with noxious, punishment-based feedback. In this study, the term corrective is more descriptive of the type of feedback given to subjects, but the term negative could be substituted when making comparisons with the literature on feedback. The corrective feedback in this study is based on a cybernetic, self regulation model and the positive feedback is based on a behavioral reward approach. Consistent with the Closed Loop Model of Self Regulation, the results showed that positive feedback did not improve performance. The control group improved significantly more than the positive feedback group. However, the corrective feedback group did not perform sign%cantly different from the control group. A secondary part of the study examined the impact that the two types of feedback had on non-performance variables of commitment, satisfaction and feedback acceptability. These latter results were mixed. The theoretical and practical implications of these performance and non-performance results are dis-Cussed. slmumry

The implementation of organizational change has long been problematic. Over time two approaches have developed. The participative approach assumes that employee support is a pre‐requisite of change. The unilateral approach argues that behavior must be changed first and attitude will follow. The results of a study of 408 change episodes indicate that unilateral implementation approaches are more effective than participative. While employee support was related to change success, it was the function of change type not participative implementation. Behavioral‐social change types generate more support than technical‐structural changes. The implications for future research are discussed.