From pipe dream to reality? Unleashing the potential of technical and human service systems synergies.

Fabrice V. Bartholin, David G. Collings, Yuhui Gao

Research output: Contribution to conferenceAbstractpeer-review

Abstract

In today's dynamic service industry, organizations face the challenge of effectively integrating technology and human resources practices to optimize frontline employee experiences and organizational outcomes. Technology has become ubiquitous in service delivery and human resource practices are increasingly being leveraged for competitive advantage. Yet, their respective impacts on frontline employees and organizational performance are often seen as trade-offs rather than complementary. This disconnect arises from the siloed nature of technology and human resource strategies, where each operates independently without considering the broader systemic impact.
Socio-technical systems theory, introduced over six decades ago, advocates for a holistic approach to organizational design, recognizing the interdependence of human and technological components. Despite its theoretical significance, there has been a lack of empirical evidence demonstrating the synergistic effects of human and technology systems on frontline employee well-being, performance, and organizational outcomes. This gap is particularly concerning given the increasing service organizations’ reliance on technology and service systems amidst the current volatile environment.
To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a multi-site study across different countries, gathering data from 50 hospitality settings. Our research aimed to model and analyze the multilevel impact of organizational systems for service, comprising intended technology actions and enacted human resource practices. Initial findings from multiple data sources illuminated the frontline employee experiences of these systems’ interaction and how their well-being and service performance are shaped by attributional mechanisms. This represents an aspect of a broader set of results suggesting the subsequent influence of combined human and technology decisions both at the unit and individual levels.
Our study seeks to underscore the opportunities for interaction between technology and human resource systems, emphasizing the value of adopting a sociotechnical systems perspective in service organizations. We aspire to contribute to the organizational frontline literature by testing a framework that connects frontline employee attributions of organizational systems with frontline employee well-being and performance outcomes in technology-enabled workplaces. Our findings could provide a roadmap for modern service organizations to seamlessly integrate the technical and human aspects of their service delivery, ultimately enhancing their overall performance.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 07 Jun 2024
Event13th SERVSIG 2024 - Kedge Business School, Bordeaux, France
Duration: 05 Jun 202408 Jun 2024
Conference number: 13
https://13thservsig.eventsadmin.com/i/ServiceEmploymentEmployees

Conference

Conference13th SERVSIG 2024
Abbreviated titleSERVSIG
Country/TerritoryFrance
CityBordeaux
Period05/06/202408/06/2024
Internet address

Keywords

  • frontline service employees
  • well-being
  • human resource management systems
  • technology systems
  • organizational performance
  • multilevel

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