George Callaghan

‘We Recruit Attitude’: The Selection and Shaping of Routine Call Centre Labour

Call centres are growing rapidly and are receiving attention from politicians, policy makers and academics. While most of the latter focus on work relations, notably patterns of control and surveillance, this paper explores the role of recruitment, selection and training in the shaping call centre labour. The paper uses data from a case study of a call centre (Telebank) to argue that the increased significance of social competencies within interactive service work gives these procedures greater salience and that they are used by management to address the indeterminacy of labour, in part, outside the labour process. Primary data from management and customer service representatives is used to examine and contrast their respective perceptions of recruitment, selection and training. The paper shows the contested and contradictory tendencies associated with how a particular company identifies and then uses social competencies. Tensions in the labour process between the mobilization of employee attributes and the deliberate moulding and standardization of such competencies is merely part of wider and unresolved tensions concerning the contested nature of emotional labour and the demands of quantity and quality in the management of call centre work.

Ignorant Theory and Knowledgeable Workers: Interrogating the Connections between Knowledge, Skills and Services

This article builds on recent critiques of the knowledge economy to argue that key growth areas in future employment will be in low level service jobs rather than knowledge work as currently understood. The article discusses the knowledge, skills and competencies involved in interactive service work. It suggests that knowledge which is contextual, social or tacit has been taken to be of lesser value in relation to competitive advantage. It highlights the contrast, therefore, between the growth in interactive service work and the focus of the knowledge management literature on a small sub-set of total employment. Two case-studies of interactive service work, one drawn from a range of service sectors and the other from a call-centre setting, provide empirical material which highlights the skills required by em-ployers in this area. Technical skills were seen as less important than aesthetic and social skills. These cases highlight the management of social skills and competencies as critical to interactive service work. Workers need to develop an understanding of themselves that allows them to consciously use their emotions and corporeality to influence the quality of the service. This leads to the conclusion that the interactive service sector should not be conflated with knowledge work. Rather, it is more important to focus on the broader need for knowledgeability in work, and so broaden understanding of labour in the contemporary workplace.

Edwards revisited: technical control and call centres

Call centres represent a new strategy by capital to reduce unit labour costs. While this strategy has been applied to many different types of work, it is particularly successful in cutting costs in routine interactive service encounters. Telebank, the case study research site, is one of four integrated call centres throughout the UK. Data collection includes taped semi-structured interviews with customer service representatives and managers as well as non-participant observation of recruitment, training and the labour process. This article argues that management has developed a new form of structural control. Theoretically this draws heavily on Edwardss concept of technical control, but not only is this shown to be extended and modified, it is also combined with bureaucratic control, which influences the social structure of the workplace. Contrary to Edwards such systems are not distinct; rather they are blended together in the process of institutionalizing control. Part of the rationale for this is to camouflage control, to contain conflict by making control a product of the system rather than involving direct confrontation between management and workers. Despite such attempts the struggle for transforming labour power into profitable labour remains, and the article ends by exploring confrontation between workers and managers and worker agency more generally.

Teams without teamwork? Explaining the call centre paradox

Call centres are evidently an inhospitable environment for teams given a work design based on individualized, largely routine work regulated heavily by technology and managerial scripts. The article explores a number of potential explanations for this paradox in the context of comparable case studies from the UK and Australia. The case studies con.rm that teamworking did not exist in any substantive or traditional sense within any of the plants. But it is argued that teams can exist in the absence of teamwork based largely on their normative bene.ts to management and to a much lesser extent team members. Even allowing for this differentiation, only one of the companies had sustained normative objectives and these were only partially successful. The existing sociotechnical design of call centres is not conducive to teams, but this may not be true of other types of service work.

Teddy bears and tigers: How renewable energy can revitalise local communities

In recent years, in Scotland, there has been significant policy and academic interest in community ownership and in renewable energy. This paper draws these two together and investigates the economic and social impact of community ownership of renewable energy projects. The researchers gained access to the project database of Community Energy Scotland to gather primary and secondary data from a number of large-scale revenue-generating and small-scale community energy projects. The paper looks at the economic impact of community participation in renewable energy schemes and examines how this is used to stimulate local economies and societies. Also emerging from the data is the social impact of community renewables, particularly the nurturing of new networks and the improvement in community confidence. The paper also discusses the challenges and policy implications of community-owned renewables. These include funding, the relationship between the level of community ownership and local economic impact and the need for further community empowerment.

The use of Facebook to build a community for distance learning students: a case study from the Open University

Abstract Social media platforms such as Facebook are commonplace throughout society. However, within higher education institutions such networking environments are still in the developmental stage. This paper describes and discusses case study data from the Open University’s Faculty of Social Science Facebook page. It starts by giving an overview of the literature surrounding social media in higher education before examining how the Social Sciences Faculty at the Open University has used Facebook to help build an academic community. Data includes numerical information on number of likes, demographic data on students who use the page, analysis on the type and nature of comments and more qualitative extracts from postings related to academic questions. It also discusses challenges and difficulties with using such social media tools in a university environment and suggests fruitful areas for future research.

The Future of Online Teaching and Learning and an Invitation to Debate

This chapter opens by re-visiting the social and economic context of UK higher education, a context dominated by globalisation, new liberalism and competition, but also shaped by the opportunities associated with digital learning. It revisits theories of pedagogy and issues arising from the chapters focusing particularly on: online forums in teaching, developing a learning community through digital technology and by analysing how such technology shapes the identity of teachers. Finally, it argues that despite constraints, challenges and work intensification, technologies are an important resource within Higher Education, increasing access and broadening reach whilst also contributing to the formal and informal education of citizens and positively contributing to the creation of critical publics – publics with the capacity to challenge established social norms and centres of power.

The Context of Online Teaching and Learning: Neoliberalism, Marketization and Online Teaching

This chapter introduces the context in which online teaching takes place within Higher Education (HE). It begins with an outline of the political and economic climate, moving on to describe neo-liberal discourses that are influencing and affecting teaching staff and students. We then take a diachronic look at the ways in which new innovations have been received throughout history, before moving onto the realities of teaching and learning online. Examining the role of academics in online teaching leads into a description of the particular context of The Open University and the evolution of its teaching and place in HE.

Introduction to Chapters: Creativity and Critique in Online Teaching and Learning: Innovations in Online Pedagogy

This chapter introduces the contents of the book Creativity and Critique in Online Learning and describes what each case study contributes to knowledge in the field. It explains what we mean by the terms creativity and critique and in so doing highlights the challenging context in which online teaching and learning is taking place. Can online study really replicate the challenges and occasional joy of learning in a face to face environment? Can it foster relationships in the same way? Not only learner to learner but also between teacher and learner. Can it achieve the type of transformational learning that traditionally took place at residential schools and face to face tutorials? The type of learning that transforms the lives of individuals, radically altering their worldview, critical acuity, and social mobility? Some would argue that these are the wrong questions—that we should instead be asking: what can online learning do that face to face learning can’t; how can it help teach the ‘hard to reach’ and how can it provide learning for those who have failed in (or rejected) learning in a face to face context. This book uses case studies to engage with these questions and issues. We examine the benefits of various methods of teaching and learning online, whilst also analysing how effective these methods have proven to be in practice. In so doing the book aims to both inform and challenge those who are already teaching online or thinking of doing so in the near future. It looks to help those who are designing programmes of learning, in offering a comprehensive view of some of the tools that can be used to enhance the student experience, whilst also exposing areas of weakness that may well have the capacity to alienate learners and teachers if not incorporated carefully into the planned curriculum. Finally it explores the ways in which online teaching and learning can be creative for both teacher and learner, whilst acknowledging that no teaching method is perfect.

Facebook and Informal Learning

This chapter examines the social media tool Facebook through the lens of teaching theory. We reflect in detail on the challenges such social media present to those working in Higher Education. The chapter begins with a review of the literature surrounding social theory of learning, particularly on the debates around informal learning. This is followed by a discussion of social media in Higher Education. Data from the Faculty Facebook page is used to illustrate how this technology stimulates and encourages informal learning. We go on to take a critical perspective to explore the ethical and practical challenges of using commercially controlled software within an HE environment. The concluding section then presents a summary and points to useful areas of future research.