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Institutionalization of Tipping as a Source of Managerial Control
Author(s) -
Ogbonna Emmanuel,
Harris Lloyd C.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
british journal of industrial relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.665
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-8543
pISSN - 0007-1080
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8543.00254
Subject(s) - institutionalisation , control (management) , service (business) , front line , business , front (military) , management control system , line management , public relations , psychology , marketing , social psychology , economics , political science , management , engineering , law , mechanical engineering , psychiatry
This paper explores, investigates and analyses the rationale, approach and outcomes of the attempts by management to control the behaviour of front–line service workers through the institutionalization of customer tipping. It presents evidence generated from an in–depth case study of a highly successful UK restaurant group to suggest that the management of tipping is a way of controlling the behaviour of front–line service workers. However, rather than view such control as purely exploitative and one–sided, it is argued that there is a degree of ‘mutual instrumentality’, in that the findings suggest that workers voluntarily and consciously submit to subjugation for purely instrumental benefits.