Between mundane and extreme: the nature of work on the UK supermarket frontline during a public health crisis

References

• Bader, B., Schuster, T., & Dickmann, M. (2019). Managing people in hostile environments: Lessons learned and new grounds in HR research. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 30(20), 2809–2830. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2018.1548499
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bidwell, M., Briscoe, F., Fernandez-Mateo, I., & Sterling, A. (2013). The employment relationship and inequality: How and why changes in employment practices are reshaping rewards in organizations. Academy of Management Annals, 7(1), 61–121. https://doi.org/10.5465/19416520.2013.761403
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Blagoev, B., & Schreyögg, G. (2019). Why do extreme work hours persist? Temporal uncoupling as a new way of seeing. Academy of Management Journal, 62(6), 1818–1847. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2017.1481
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bloomfield, B., & Dale, K. (2015). Fit for work? Redefining ‘Normal’ and ‘Extreme’ through human enhancement technologies. Organization, 22(4), 552–569. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508415572507
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bowles, S., & Park, Y. (2005). Emulation, inequality, and work hours: Was Thorsten Veblen right? The Economic Journal, 115(507), F397–F412. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2005.01042.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Boxall, P., & Macky, K. (2014). High-involvement work processes, work intensification and employee well-being. Work, Employment & Society, 28(6), 963–984. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017013512714
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bozkurt, Ö. (2015). The punctuation of mundane jobs with extreme work: Christmas at the supermarket deli counter. Organization, 22(4), 476–492. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508415572512
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Brown, J. (2021, March 10). Nine in 10 shop workers verbally abused by customers during lockdown, poll finds. People Management.
   Google Scholar
• Buchanan, D. A., Parry, E., Gascoigne, C., & Moore, C. (2013). Are healthcare middle management jobs extreme jobs? Journal of Health Organization and Management, 27(5), 646–664. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-09-2012-0183
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Burger, A. S. (2021). Extreme work hours in Western Europe and North America: Diverging trends since the 1970s. Socio-Economic Review, 18(4), 1065–1087. https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwy020
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Butterfield, L. D., Borgen, W. A., Amundson, N. E., & Maglio, A.-S T. (2005). Fifty years of the critical incident technique: 1954-2004 and beyond. Qualitative Research, 5(4), 475–497. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794105056924
   Google Scholar
• Butterick, M., & Charlwood, A. (2021). HRM and the COVID-19 pandemic: How can we stop making a bad situation worse? Human Resource Management Journal, 31(4), 847–856. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12344
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Cai, M. (2023). Extreme work. In S. Johnstone, J. K. Rodriguez, & A. Wilkinson (Eds.), Encyclopedia of human resource management (pp. 125–126). Edward Elgar Publishing.
   Google Scholar
• Cai, M., Tindal, S., Tartanoglu Bennett, S., & Velu, J. (2021). ‘It’s like a war zone’: Jay’s liminal experience of normal and extreme work in a UK supermarket during the COVID-19 pandemic. Work, Employment and Society, 35(2), 386–395. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017020966527
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Carter, B., Danford, A., Howcroft, D., Richardson, H., Smith, A., & Taylor, P. (2011). ‘All they lack is a chain’: Lean and the new performance management in the British civil service. New Technology, Work and Employment, 26(2), 83–97. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-005X.2011.00261.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Chell, E. (2004). Critical incident technique. In C. Cassell & G. Symon (Eds.), Essential guide to qualitative methods in organizational research (pp. 45–60). SAGE.
   Google Scholar
• Cooke, F. L. (2018). Concepts, contexts, and mindsets: Putting human resource management research in perspectives. Human Resource Management Journal, 28(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12163
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Cumming, D. J., Wood, G., & Zahra, S. A. (2020). Human resource management practices in the context of rising right-wing populism. Human Resource Management Journal, 30(4), 525–536. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12269
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Cushen, J., & Thompson, P. (2016). Financialization and value: Why labour and the labour process still matter. Work, Employment and Society, 30(2), 352–365. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017015617676
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Desai, V. (2015). Learning through the distribution of failures within an organization: Evidence from heart bypass surgery performance. Academy of Management Journal, 58(4), 1032–1050. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2013.0949
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Dickmann, M., & Watson, A. H. (2017). “I might be shot at!” Exploring the drivers to work in hostile environments using an intelligent careers perspective. Journal of Global Mobility: The Home of Expatriate Management Research, 5(4), 348–373. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGM-12-2016-0066
   Google Scholar
• Elliott-Carter, L., & Martin, J. (2022, August). 90% of shop workers have been harassed – what can you do to protect your employees and your business? British Retail Consortium.
   Google Scholar
• Evans, S. (2015). Juggling on the line: Front line managers and their management of human resources in the retail industry. Employee Relations, 37(4), 459–474. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-06-2014-0066
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Fee, A., McGrath-Champ, S., & Berti, M. (2019). Protecting expatriates in hostile environments: Institutional forces influencing the safety and security practices of internationally active organisations. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 30(11), 1709–1736. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2017.1322121
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Flanagan, J. C. (1954). The critical incident technique. Psychological Bulletin, 51(4), 327–358. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0061470
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Garsten, C. (1999). Betwixt and between: Temporary employees as liminal subjects in flexible organizations. Organization Studies, 20(4), 601–617. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840699204004
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gascoigne, C., Parry, E., & Buchanan, D. (2015). Extreme work, gendered work? How extreme jobs and the discourse of ‘personal choice’ perpetuate gender inequality. Organization, 22(4), 457–475. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508415572511
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gold, M., & Smith, C. (2022). Where’s the ‘human’ in human resource management?: Managing work in the 21st century (1st ed.). Bristol University Press.
   Google Scholar
• Granter, E., McCann, L., & Boyle, M. (2015). Extreme work/normal work: Intensification, storytelling and hypermediation in the (re)construction of ‘the New Normal’. Organization, 22(4), 443–456. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508415573881
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Granter, E., Wankhade, P., McCann, L., Hassard, J., & Hyde, P. (2019). Multiple dimensions of work intensity: Ambulance work as edgework. Work, Employment and Society, 33(2), 280–297. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017018759207
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Green, F. (2004). Why has work effort become more intense? Industrial Relations, 43(4), 709–741. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0019-8676.2004.00359.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Grugulis, I., & Bozkurt, Ö. (2011). Retail work. Macmillan International Higher Education.
   Google Scholar
• Hadjisolomou, A., & Simone, S. (2021). Profit over people? Evaluating morality on the front line during the COVID-19 crisis: A front-line service manager’s confession and regrets. Work, Employment and Society, 35(2), 396–405. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017020971561
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hadjisolomou, A., Newsome, K., & Cunningham, I. (2017). (De) regulation of working time, employer capture, and ‘forced availability’: A comparison between the UK and Cyprus food retail sector. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(21), 3047–3064. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2017.1342682
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hällgren, M., Rouleau, L., & de Rond, M. (2018). A matter of life or death: How extreme context research matters for management and organization studies. Academy of Management Annals, 12(1), 111–153. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2016.0017
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hermann, C. (2018). Capitalism and the political economy of work time. Routledge.
   Google Scholar
• Hewlett, S. A., & Luce, C. B. (2006). Extreme jobs: The dangerous allure of the 70-hour workweek. Harvard Business Review, 84(12), 49–59, 162.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Heyes, J., Moore, S., Newsome, K., & Tomlinson, M. (2018). Living with uncertain work. Industrial Relations Journal, 49(5–6), 420–437. https://doi.org/10.1111/irj.12231
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Holland, P., Bartram, T., Garavan, T., & Grant, K. (2022). Introduction: Work, workplaces and human resource management in a disruptive world. In P. Holland, T. Bartram, T. Garavan, & K. Grant (Eds.), The emerald handbook of work, workplaces and disruptive issues in HRM (pp. 1–9). Emerald Publishing Limited.
   Google Scholar
• Johnstone, S. (2023). Human resource management in recession: Restructuring and alternatives to downsizing in times of crisis. Human Resource Management Journal, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12512
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kashif, M., Zarkada, A., & Thurasamy, R. (2017). Customer aggression and organizational turnover among service employees: The moderating role of distributive justice and organizational pride. Personnel Review, 46(8), 1672–1688. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-06-2016-0145
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kerfoot, D., & Korczynski, M. (2005). Gender and service: New directions for the study of ‘front-line’ service work. Gender, Work and Organization, 12(5), 387–399. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2005.00280.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kim, S., Vaiman, V., & Sanders, K. (2022). Strategic human resource management in the era of environmental disruptions. Human Resource Management, 61(3), 283–293. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.22107
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• King, N. (2012). Doing template analysis. In G. Symon & C. Cassell (Eds.), Qualitative organizational research: Core methods and current challenges (pp. 426–450). SAGE.
   Google Scholar
• Lyng, S. (1990). Edgework: A social psychological analysis of voluntary risk taking. American Journal of Sociology, 95(4), 851–886. https://doi.org/10.1086/229379
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• McCann, L., Morris, J., & Hassard, J. (2008). Normalized intensity: The new labour process of middle management. Journal of Management Studies, 45(2), 343–371. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2007.00762.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Newsome, K., Thompson, P., & Commander, J. (2013). ‘You monitor performance at every hour’: Labour and the management of performance in the supermarket supply chain. New Technology, Work and Employment, 28(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12000
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Price, R. (2016). Controlling routine front line service workers: An Australian retail supermarket case. Work, Employment and Society, 30(6), 915–931. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017015601778
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Roper, I., Prouska, R., & Chatrakul Na Ayudhya, U. (2022). The rhetorics of ‘agile’ and the practices of ‘agile working’: Consequences for the worker experience and uncertain implications for HR practice. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 33(22), 4440–4467. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2022.2099751
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Snir, R., & Harpaz, I. (2012). Beyond workaholism: Towards a general model of heavy work investment. Human Resource Management Review, 22(3), 232–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2011.11.011
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Stokes, P., Smith, S., Wall, T., Moore, N., Rowland, C., Ward, T., & Cronshaw, S. (2019). Resilience and the (micro-)dynamics of organizational ambidexterity: Implications for strategic HRM. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 30(8), 1287–1322. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2018.1474939
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Stone, P., & Hernandez, L. A. (2013). The all-or-nothing workplace: Flexibility stigma and “opting out” among professional-managerial women. Journal of Social Issues, 69(2), 235–256. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12013
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Stuart, M., Spencer, D. A., McLachlan, C. J., & Forde, C. (2021). COVID-19 and the uncertain future of HRM: Furlough, job retention and reform. Human Resource Management Journal, 31(4), 904–917. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12395
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Suder, G., Reade, C., Riviere, M., Birnik, A., & Nielsen, N. (2019). Mind the gap: The role of HRM in creating, capturing and leveraging rare knowledge in hostile environments. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 30(11), 1794–1821. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2017.1351462
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Teti, M., Schatz, E., & Liebenberg, L. (2020). Methods in the time of COVID-19: The vital role of qualitative inquiries. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 19, 160940692092096. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406920920962
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. (2020). COVID-19 and food supply: Government Response to the Committee’s First Report - Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee - House of Commons.
   Google Scholar
• Timmermans, S., & Tavory, I. (2012). Theory construction in qualitative research: From grounded theory to abductive analysis. Sociological Theory, 30(3), 167–186. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735275112457914
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Turnbull, P. J., & Wass, V. (2015). Normalizing extreme work in the Police Service? Austerity and the inspecting ranks. Organization, 22(4), 512–529. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508415572513
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• UK Government. (2020). Critical workers who can access schools or educational settings [online]. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision
   Google Scholar
• Wankhade, P., Stokes, P., Tarba, S., & Rodgers, P. (2020). Work intensification and ambidexterity - the notions of extreme and ‘everyday’ experiences in emergency contexts: Surfacing dynamics in the ambulance service. Public Management Review, 22(1), 48–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2019.1642377
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Williams, C. L., & Connell, C. (2010). “Looking good and sounding right”: Aesthetic labor and social inequality in the retail industry. Work and Occupations, 37(3), 349–377. https://doi.org/10.1177/0730888410373744
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Wren, A. (2013). The political economy of the service transition. Oxford University Press.
   Google Scholar