Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Sustainability
Volume
13
Issue
2
First Page
1
Last Page
26
Publisher
MDPI
School
School of Business and Law
RAS ID
32638
Abstract
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. External shocks have severely affected the aviation sector with detrimental impacts on airport service employees. Service-sector organizations tend to implement radical organizational change to survive and front-line managers face often-opposing demands. This study aims to shed light on how front-line managers cope by utilizing social exchange-based strategies during radical organizational change. This study uses an exploratory qualitative design and thematically analyses data obtained from 40 semi-structured interviews with senior managers, front-line managers and employees working for an airline services provider operating in a major international airport in Australia. The study finds that front-line managers employ several social exchange approaches to overcome the paradoxical challenge of facilitating change while maintaining current operations. We find evidence of four approaches that the front-line managers utilize that are based on social exchange: (1) building relationships with clients’ representatives; (2) utilizing relationships with experienced employees to facilitate radical organizational change practices; (3) rewarding employees in exchange for helping to manage personnel shortages; and (4) motivating employees by various morale-enhancing techniques. The study contributes to organizational sustainability and change research by developing a deeper understanding of the importance of social exchange in facilitating the work of front-line managers in the airport services sector.
DOI
10.3390/su13020893
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Buhusayen, B., Seet, P. S., & Coetzer, A. (2021). Front-line management during radical organisational change: Social exchange and paradox interpretations. Sustainability, 13(2), article 893. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020893