Managing the Balance; Researching employee behavior and well-being from a Balanced perspective using People management, AMO and OCB.

Abstract

Public service delivery organizations are under pressure. The government demands public organizations to focus more and more on efficiency and effectiveness. Organizations within the public service sector are forced to cut back and become more efficient. However in order to justify the existence of public organizations, they need to deliver high quality public value ergo deliver a high quality public service. The elderly care sector is not an exception from this phenomenon. Especially in public service organizations, such as the elderly care, the service delivery (public value) is strongly and directly influenced by the behavior of employees. By using empirical data from a survey among 421 frontline elderly care workers this article discuses the impact of People Management on the behavior of employees, both task and non-task (OCB) behavior, and on employee well-being from a balanced approach. The results indicate that the effect of People Management on behavior and employee well-being is often, at least partly, mediated by the AMO concepts. Both the Abilities dimension and Motivation dimension often have an direct impact on the behavior of employees whereas the opportunities dimension is suggested to be, a least partly, mediated by Abilities in several occasions. In respect to employee well-being both opportunities and motivation have a direct influence, the concept of abilities does not have an effect on employee wellbeing. The results do not show differences but no conflicting mechanisms between the antecedents of behavior and those of employee well-being.