Bob Russell

Call Centres: A Decade of Research

Call centres have, over the past decade, become a central element in the way information services are produced and delivered to the public. Much as automobile factories or textile mills were treated as both objects of curiosity and as metaphors for their age, call centres have garnered attention both in their own right as a new means of organizing particular types of work and as an important venue from which to undertake the study of other elements of management practice, including human resource management. This paper critically examines all aspects of research that has been undertaken on call centres, from the publication of the first novel pieces of research up to the most recent contributions. A good deal of effort has gone into classifying call centres, comparing the organization of work in them with other types of work and considering the extent of variation between call centres. Depending upon the theoretical lens that is used (e.g. labour process theory, high-performance work systems theory, HR perspectives, gender theory, etc.) different aspects of call-centre work are emphasized and different conclusions regarding call-centre employment and its possibilities are reached. These contrasting results are compared and evaluated in this review. It is also the case that the study of call centres invites critical reflection upon theories of management, and this is also entered into in this paper. Additionally, the continuous spread of call centres into new realms of professional work activity and into new spaces of the global economy throws up challenges that are brought to the readers attention for our understanding of this approach to managing informational work.

The Talk Shop and Shop Talk: Employment and Work in a Call Centre

Call centres represent a blend of old and new employment features that are only partially grasped by existing theoretical alternatives. Labour process theory suggests that call centres are best depicted as new electronic assembly lines of fragmented, low skill service labour. Second-wave post-industrial theory represents call centres as a significant foray into the information/knowledge economy. On the basis of a case study that combines both survey results and on-site observation, the author argues that the sophisticated information technologies that have captured the awe of other investigators have delivered less than total managerial control. Less frequently studied are the novel cultures of employment management that have accompanied the development of call centres and have incorporated information technology into their functioning. These cultures and employee responses to them represent an important, if under-analysed, aspect of call centre operation.

Are All Call Centres The Same

Abstract Worldwide employment in call centres has grown rapidly, while the study of these organisations has been subject to three different theoretical treatments. This paper provides an assessment of Foucaldian, labour process, and neo-Weber ian approaches to call centre employment through a comparative case study analysis. A detailed examination of four Australian call centres suggests a convergence of conditions not only around common technologies but also with respect to shared cultural artifacts. Where differentiation is found it is related to the history or lack thereof (that is, brownfield versus greenfield site location) of the operation as opposed to employer choice of instrumental or high commitment employment systems.

The next available agent: Work organisation in Indian call centres

We examine the employee perception of work organisation in four large Indian call centres to investigate causes of employee dissatisfaction and turnover. We find that profound mismatch between the offshored labour market and the labour process pose fundamental challenges that may not be susceptible to easy HR fixes.

Work organization, human resource practices and employee retention in Indian call centers

The literature on call centers often highlights the centrality of HR in stemming employee attrition but is mainly grounded in the realities of in-house call centers in the western economies. In this empirical study of four large Indian call centers we examine specific aspects of HR practice for their effect on retention in the very different context of Indian labor markets. The relationship between HR practices and the realities of the call-centre labor processes operating within a buoyant labor market that offers plentiful job alternatives are explored. The findings suggest that the contribution of HR to employee retention is a necessary but not sufficient condition for retention in the context of Indian call centers.

Family, Economy and State: The Social Reproduction Process under Capitalism

This book is a collection of 11 papers by various authors on aspects of the relationships among the family the economy and the state. The focus is on the social reproduction process and the papers examine the institutions social processes and forms of state intervention that contribute to the reproduction of households and working populations in the developed countries. The geographic focus is on Europe and North America. The linkages between reproduction at the family level and the needs of the state as a whole are examined with emphasis on the role played by the welfare state.

Professional call centres, professional workers and the paradox of the algorithm: the case of telenursing

Although the professional call centre has been theorized, little empirical work has been carried out on this form of service delivery. The existing literature fails to distinguish adequately between professional call centres and professionals who work in call centres. In this study of telehealth it is shown that a centre which exhibits the features of a professional call centre does not overcome problems associated with this type of labour process. Ambiguities over the use of skill in a system that requires the deployment of computer algorithms gives rise to conflicts over monitoring, performance evaluation and the use of time. Conflict over the appropriation of technique may be exacerbated in professional call centres although this has not been reported upon in the call centre or telehealth literature.

Investigating the nuances of change in front-line managers' work

Various streams of literature surrounding the role of front-line managers (FLM) suggest that there has been substantial change in the role over recent decades. This article makes a contribution to understanding the FLM experience through using a framework of job enlargement to assist in explaining the nuanced changes to the position of FLMs in three Australian cases. The article finds that the role of FLMs remains a critical part of organisations and production; however, continuity is as consistent as change. There remains an immediate ‘people management’ role, while facing work intensification, job enlargement and potentially, a reduced quality of performance. Importantly though, the change is diffuse and context specific in ways that we seek to understand.

Unions in the Information Economy: Info-service work and organizing in Australian call centres.

Recent analyses of the labour movement in Australia have focused on declining densities and the loss of trade union influence and power. While some attention has been paid to the challenges posed for organizing in new economic sectors, less work has been done on the opportunities that such sectors may offer. This article focuses on info-service work in call centres. Although the labour processes, human resource management policies and labour market strategies of call centres have been subjected to considerable debate, little attention has been paid to the determinants of trade union representation in call centres. This article provides an analysis of worker perceptions of trade unions across 20 different centres and some of the factors that influence the decision to join or refrain from joining a trade union.

The Next Available Operator: Managing Human Resources in Indian Business Process Outsourcing Industry

The Next Available Operator: Managing Human Resources in the Indian Business Process Outsourcing Industry discusses managing people in the Indian call centre/ BPa sector. It features empirical research and conceptual advances, presented by well-known academics and researchers from around the world and captures the voices of key stakeholders. Apart from covering key individual aspects of human resource management in Indian call centres, such as work organisation and employee attrition, it also provides a comparative perspective from call centres in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia.