Performance and customer service: the cultivation of contempt

The theatrical analogy in descriptions of organisational life has enjoyed a prominent position over many years and continues to offer insights into behaviour in a wide variety of roles and contexts. In this paper, the use of the dramaturgical accounts of organisational behaviour is subjected to specific scrutiny in order to give attention to the construction of the theatrical persona and its implications for performance. The paper provides insights into the nature of the organisational role, its cultivation and its fragility. Moreover, awareness of the audience, the desire to change consumer (and competitor) perceptions, and the acquisition of a “service ethic” is considered in relation to a conscious performance orientation and a belief in the importance of well rehearsed actors and appropriate staging and setting. However, the most important implication for organisational behaviour of the argument presented in the paper rests on the regulation of behaviour via manipulation of the role. Ultimately, the regulation of the actor appears to produce contempt. The force of the paper rests on the construct and exposition of the production of contempt in customer service relationship.