Thesis (MCom)--Stellenbosch University, 2015 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The industrial psychology literature related to call centres highlights the negative aspects of call centre work environments and the resultant adverse impact on workers’ well-being. Call centres have been labelled the “coal mines of the 21st century”, “assembly lines in the head” and “satanic mills” (Janse van Rensburg, Boonzaier, & Boonzaier, 2013, p. 2). High levels of stress, high staff turnover and burnout are all factors that are often experienced by call centre agents (Banks & Roodt, 2011). However, Van der Colff and Rothman (2009) report that some call centre agents, regardless of the high job demands, do not develop burnout. These agents cope better than others under highly demanding and stressful work conditions. To build on these findings, the present study took a detailed look at factors affecting the well-being of employees working in call centres. Specifically, the question was asked, “Why is there variance in work engagement, job burnout and intention to quit amongst the employees in call centres?” The job demands-resources (JD-R) model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014) was used as a framework to investigate the well-being of call centre agents employed in the outbound departments of two branches of a Cape Town call centre. The primary objective of this study was to develop and empirically test a structural model, derived from theory, explaining the antecedents of variance in work engagement, job burnout and intention to quit amongst call centre employees. The antecedents comprise transformational leadership (as a job resource), emotional intelligence and psychological capital (as employees’ personal resources), and emotional labour (as job demands) present in a call centre environment. An ex post facto correlational design was used to test the formulated hypotheses in this research study. Quantitative data was collected from 223 call centre agents by means of non-probability convenience sampling. A self-administered hard-copy survey was distributed to the two call centre branches, given that call centre agents agreed to participate in the research study. Measuring instruments consisted of (1) the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-17) questionnaire (Schaufeli et al., 2002), (2) the Maslach Burnout Inventory General Survey (MBI-GS) (Maslach, Schaufeli & Leiter, 2001), (3) the Turnover Intention Scale (TIS) (Ding & Lin, 2006; Lee, 2000), (4) the Emotional Demands and Emotion-rule Dissonance scales (Xanthopoulou, Bakker, & Fischbach, 2013), (5) the adapted Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ 5x short) (Van Aswegen & Engelbrecht, 2009), (6) the Genos Emotional Intelligence Inventory (Gignac, 2010) and (7) the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (Luthans, Avolio, Avey, & Norman, 2007). The data was analysed using item analyses and structural equation modelling (SEM). A PLS path analysis was conducted to determine the model fit. From the 21 hypotheses formulated in the study, six were found to be significant. It is noteworthy, however, that 12 of the non-significant paths were related to the moderating effects. Hypotheses 1, 3 and 8 were also found to be not significant. However, hypotheses 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 were all found to be statistically significant and therefore supported the JD-R theory (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014), which postulates that job demands are generally the most important predictors of job burnout, whereas job resources and personal resources are generally the most important predictors of work engagement. Also, it was found that call centre agents experiencing a high level of work engagement were less inclined to leave the organisation. The study’s findings shed light on the importance of developing interventions that can foster job and personal resources in the pursuit of optimising work engagement. In addition, the call centre agents can be bolstered in coping with existing job demands and cumulatively this also results in a decrease in the employees’ level of burnout and in their intention to leave the company. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Bedryfsielkundige literatuur met betrekking tot inbelsentrums beklemtoon die negatiewe aspekte van die werkomgewing van inbelsentrums en die gevolglike nadelige effek op werkers se welsyn. Inbelsentrums is reeds beskryf as die “steenkoolmyne van die 21ste eeu”, ‘”monteerbande in die kop” en “sataniese meule” (Janse van Rensburg, Boonzaier, & Boonzaier, 2013, p. 2). Hoë vlakke van stres, hoë personeelomset en uitbranding is faktore wat gereeld deur inbelsentrum-agente ervaar word (Banks & Roodt, 2011). Van der Colff en Rothman (2009) rapporteer egter dat ten spyte van hulle hoë werkvereistes, sommige inbelsentrumagente nie uitbranding ervaar nie. Hierdie agente vaar beter as ander onder hoogs veeleisende en stresvolle werkomstandighede. Om verder te bou op die navorsing wat reeds onderneem is, kyk die huidige studie na die faktore wat moontlik die welsyn van werknemers in inbelsentrums affekteer. Met ander woorde, dit soek na die antwoord op die navorsingsinisiërende vraag: “Hoekom is daar verskille in die werksbegeestering, werksuitbranding en intensie om die organisasie te verlaat onder werknemers in inbelsentrums?” Om op hierdie navorsingsinisiërende vraag te kan reageer, is die job demands-resources (JD-R) model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014) gebruik as raamwerk spesifiek om die welsyn van inbelsentrumagente wat in die uitbel-departemente binne twee takke van ‘n bekende uitbelsentrum, geleë in Kaapstad, te ondersoek. Die hoofdoelwit van hierdie studie was om ’n strukturele model te ontwikkel en te toets wat die antesedente van variansie in werksbegeestering, werksuitbranding en die intensie om die organisaie te verlaat, onder inbelsentrumwerknemers verklaar. Die spesifieke antesedente wat in hierdie studie getoets is, was transformasie-leierskap (as ’n werkshulpbron), emosionele intelligensie en sielkundige kapitaal (psychological capital) (as werknemers se persoonlike hulpbronne), en emosionele arbeid (as werkseise) wat in ‘n inbelsentrum-omgewing teenwoordig is. ʼn Ex post facto korrelasie-ontwerp is gebruik om die geformuleerde hipoteses in hierdie studie te toets. Kwantitatiewe data is by 223 inbelsentrumagente deur middel van nie-waarskynlikheids gerieflikheidsteekproeftrekking ingesamel. ’n Selfgeadministreerde hardekopie-opname is in die twee takke van die inbelsentrum versprei, aangesien hulle ingestem het om aan die studie deel te neem. Die opname het spesifieke latente veranderlikes gemeet wat op die studie van toepassing is deur gebruik te maak van betroubare en geldige meetinstrumente. Hierdie instrumente sluit in (1) die Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-17) vraelys (Schaufeli et al., 2002), (2) die Maslach Burnout Inventory General Survey (MBI-GS) (Maslach, Schaufeli & Leiter, 2001), (3) die Turnover Intention Scale (TIS) (Ding & Lin, 2006; Lee, 2000), (4) die Emotional Demands en Emotion-rule Dissonance skale (Xanthopoulou, Bakker, & Fischbach, 2013), (5) die aangepaste Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ 5x kort) (Van Aswegen & Engelbrecht, 2009), (6) die Genos Emotional Intelligence Inventory (Gignac, 2010) en (7) die Psychological Capital Questionnaire (Luthans, Avolio, Avey, & Norman, 2007). Die versamelde data is deur middel van item-analise en strukturele vergelykingsmodellering geanaliseer. ’n PLS pad-ontleding is onderneem om modelpassing te bepaal. Vanuit die 21 hipoteses wat vir hierdie studie geformuleer is, is ses bevind om betekenisvol te wees. Dit is egter merkwaardig dat 12 van die nie-betekenisvolle bane verband gehou het met modererende effekte. Hipoteses 1, 3 en 8 is ook bevind om nie-betekenisvol te wees. Hierdie nie-betekenisvolle bane kan op grond van verskeie redes ontstaan. Hipoteses 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 en 9 is egter almal bevind om statisties betekenisvol te wees en ondersteun dus die JD-R teorie (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014). Hierdie teorie hou voor dat werksvereistes oor die algemeen die belangrikste voorspellers van werksuitbranding is, terwyl werkshulpbronne en persoonlike hulpbronne oor die algemeen die vernaamste voorspellers van werksbegeestering is. Dit is ook bevind dat inbelsentrumagente wat ’n hoë vlak van werksbegeestering ervaar, minder geneig is om die organisasie te verlaat. Die studie se bevindings werp lig op die belangrikheid daarvan om ingrypings te ontwikkel wat werks- en persoonlike hulpbronne kan kweek in die nastrewing van die optimering van begeestering en om inbelsentrumagente te help om die bestaande werkseise te hanteer. Gevolglik sal hierdie uitkoms lei tot ’n vermindering in die werknemers se vlakke van uitbranding en in hulle intensies om die organisasie te verlaat.

Notre travail de recherche s’intéresse à l’usage des technologies dans les interactions professionnelles, et en particulier dans des centres d’appel. Nos analyses s’appuient sur trois champs disciplinaires que sont l’Ethnométhodologie, l’Analyse Conversationnelle et les Workplace Studies. Notre étude cherche à contribuer à la réflexion sur des interactions médiées par les technologies en milieu professionnel afin de rendre compte des pratiques émergentes des participants et comprendre l’organisation séquentielle complexe des interactions entre conseiller/opérateur et patient/client s’appuyant sur l’utilisation de ressources technologiques. La thèse s’articule en une partie introductive et trois parties analytiques. La première étudie les modifications de cadre participatif en tenant compte du dispositif technologique comme point d’ancrage de l’activité des participants. Nous avons distingué deux configurations: i) soit le dispositif est ajusté par l’opérateur ; ii) soit l’opérateur s’ajuste au dispositif. La modification du cadre participatif peut être initiée de façon verbale ou non verbale, ou par l’un ou l’autre des participants.Dans une seconde partie, nous analysons l’intégration de l’écran comme artefact interactionnel dans l’activité des participants. Nous avons remarqué qu’ils rapportent à l’oral des informations écrites sur un écran, en employant des verbes introductifs du type « il dit que », que nous retrouvons dans les travaux sur le discours rapporté à l’oral. Nous avons voulu montrer le lien entre le cours d’action dans lequel sont engagés les participants et l’émergence de ces discours rapportés où la référence aux messages écrits peut transformer les écrans et les systèmes informatiques en « agents interactionnels ». La troisième partie se focalise sur un type d’appel où un client s’adresse au service pour résoudre un problème, et après vérification par l’opératrice, elle lui notifie un état a-problématique de son compte. Nous avons remarqué que l’activité de diagnostic opérée ici par l’opératrice dépend étroitement des informations du compte client indiquées sur l’écran. Ce sont ces données qui permettent à l’opératrice d’établir le diagnostic et de notifier l’état a-problématique du compte. / Our research focuses on the use of technology in interactions at work, particularly in the context of call centres. Our analyses draw on three theoretical domains: Ethnomethodology, Conversation Analysis and Workplace Studies. Our research seeks to contribute to current investigations on interactions mediated by technology in the workplace to reflect emerging practices of participants and to understand the complex sequential organization of interactions between councillor/operator and patient/user, based on the use of technological resources.The thesis comprises an introduction part and three analytical parts. The first part examines changes in participation framework taking into account the technological device as an anchor for the participant’s activity. For this, we distinguished two different configurations: i) the device is adjusted by the operator, or ii) the operator adjusts the device. The adjustment of the participation framework may be initiated through verbal or multimodal way, or by one or the other participant.In the second part, we analyze the integration of the screen as an interactional artefact in the participant’s activity. We noticed that they report oral information’s displayed on a screen, using introductory verbs such as "he said", which we found in the studies on reported speech in spoken interactions. We wanted to show the link between the course of action in which participants are engaged and the emergence of reported speech when referring to written messages that can transform the screens and the computer systems in “interactional agents”.The third part focuses on one type of call where a user call the service to solve a problem, and after verification by the operator, she notifies a status of his account. We noticed that the diagnosis activity reported by the operator is closely related to the user’s account information shown on the screen. These are data that allow the operator to diagnose and report the non-problematic status of the account.

Characteristics of national cultures have frequently been claimed to influence service quality perception and customer satisfaction. This inquiry investigates this claim by analysing a multinational company’s call centre servicing two markets across national borders. Hypotheses are derived which relate the cultural and customer characteristics of age, gender and socio-economic status to customer satisfaction and perceived service quality within each country.Using multiple regression and CHAID models as well as Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests, the hypotheses are tested by analysing call centre service feedback data on 245 customers in the South African and 201 customers in the British market. Empirical support for the effect of national culture on perceived service quality and customer satisfaction is found.Empirical proof that females report higher levels of satisfaction than males is found while the importance customers place on service quality constructs are proven to vary by age and gender. A call centre management model integrating culture and customer characteristics, which provides a richer perspective of the mechanics of value creation, is suggested. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology) )--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Internationally, as well as locally, the trend is for companies to use call centres as their preferred method of service delivery. The increase in the use of call centres as a service delivery mechanism thus provides many more employment opportunities. Within call centres, service is primarily delivered by frontline employees referred to as customer service representatives (CSRs). While nothing seems to stop the growth of call centres and the increase of employment opportunities within them, working in call centres is not necessarily experienced as pleasant. Working in a call centre is frequently seen as stressful and the work in such a centre can foster burnout. Burnout is considered to be a pathogenic construct. The first purpose of this study was to describe and investigate the contribution of six central characteristics (antecedents) of call centre work environments and their influence on burnout, affective commitment and turnover intentions. These characteristics were work overload; electronic performance monitoring; lack of career and promotion opportunities, lack of skill variety and emotional labour. An incidental sample of customer service representatives (N=146) was obtained from the inbound service call centre of a large financial company. AU six independent variables were found to be significantly related to the experience of burnout, affective commitment and turnover intentions. Multiple regression analysis made it possible to establish that work overload, lack of career and promotion opportunities and skill variety, and emotional labour were the most important predictors of burnout, whereas lack of career and promotion opportunities was the most significant predictors of both affective commitment and turnover intentions. Burnout had a direct effect on turnover intentions and was not mediated by affective commitment. One antecedent that is often associated with the development of burnout is daily hassles, but daily hassles as an antecedent of burnout in call centres has not been studied before. The second purpose of this study was to develop a short Call Centre Daily Hassle Diagnostic Questionnaire that could be used to identify the most common daily hassles that call centre agents experience in their working lives, both within the work environment and within their day-to-day personal lives, and to determine the relationship between it and burnout. A cross-sectional survey research design was used with an accidental sample (N=394) taken from a service and sales call centre. An exploratory factor analysis of the data resulted in a six-factor model of daily hassles within call centres that significantly predicted exhaustion. The factors were daily demands, continuous change, co-worker hassles, demotivating work environment, transportation hassles and inner concerns. In the third part of this research thesis there is a shift away from the pathogenic paradigm towards a more salutogenic/fortigenic paradigm. Very little previous research has been done on adult resilience. The purpose of the third study was to explore the concept of adult resilience and to identify and describe the protective and vulnerability factors that play a role in adult resilience. Through the use of an exploratory factor analysis, eight factors were identified that played a role in adult resilience. They were Confidence and Optimism, Positive Reinterpretation, Facing Adversity, Support, Determination, Negative Rumination, Religion and Helplessness. Based on the findings of this research, some practical recommendations were made for the management of call centres to reduce the development of burnout and turnover intentions, on how to utilise the Hassle-based Diagnostic Scale and on how to apply the Adult Resilience Indicator in the training and development of resilience. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology) )--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Internationally, as well as locally, the trend is for companies to use call centres as their preferred method of service delivery. The increase in the use of call centres as a service delivery mechanism thus provides many more employment opportunities. Within call centres, service is primarily delivered by frontline employees referred to as customer service representatives (CSRs). While nothing seems to stop the growth of call centres and the increase of employment opportunities within them, working in call centres is not necessarily experienced as pleasant. Working in a call centre is frequently seen as stressful and the work in such a centre can foster burnout. Burnout is considered to be a pathogenic construct. The first purpose of this study was to describe and investigate the contribution of six central characteristics (antecedents) of call centre work environments and their influence on burnout, affective commitment and turnover intentions. These characteristics were work overload; electronic performance monitoring; lack of career and promotion opportunities, lack of skill variety and emotional labour. An incidental sample of customer service representatives (N=146) was obtained from the inbound service call centre of a large financial company. AU six independent variables were found to be significantly related to the experience of burnout, affective commitment and turnover intentions. Multiple regression analysis made it possible to establish that work overload, lack of career and promotion opportunities and skill variety, and emotional labour were the most important predictors of burnout, whereas lack of career and promotion opportunities was the most significant predictors of both affective commitment and turnover intentions. Burnout had a direct effect on turnover intentions and was not mediated by affective commitment. One antecedent that is often associated with the development of burnout is daily hassles, but daily hassles as an antecedent of burnout in call centres has not been studied before. The second purpose of this study was to develop a short Call Centre Daily Hassle Diagnostic Questionnaire that could be used to identify the most common daily hassles that call centre agents experience in their working lives, both within the work environment and within their day-to-day personal lives, and to determine the relationship between it and burnout. A cross-sectional survey research design was used with an accidental sample (N=394) taken from a service and sales call centre. An exploratory factor analysis of the data resulted in a six-factor model of daily hassles within call centres that significantly predicted exhaustion. The factors were daily demands, continuous change, co-worker hassles, demotivating work environment, transportation hassles and inner concerns. In the third part of this research thesis there is a shift away from the pathogenic paradigm towards a more salutogenic/fortigenic paradigm. Very little previous research has been done on adult resilience. The purpose of the third study was to explore the concept of adult resilience and to identify and describe the protective and vulnerability factors that play a role in adult resilience. Through the use of an exploratory factor analysis, eight factors were identified that played a role in adult resilience. They were Confidence and Optimism, Positive Reinterpretation, Facing Adversity, Support, Determination, Negative Rumination, Religion and Helplessness. Based on the findings of this research, some practical recommendations were made for the management of call centres to reduce the development of burnout and turnover intentions, on how to utilise the Hassle-based Diagnostic Scale and on how to apply the Adult Resilience Indicator in the training and development of resilience. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology) )--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Thesis (MComm (Industrial Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Researchers have labelled call centres as the modern equivalent of the ‘factory sweatshops’ of the industrial era, and refer to them as the ‘satanic mills of the 21st century’. A review of the literature revealed the lack of employee engagement amongst call centre representatives (CCRs) to be a central concern in this fast-emerging global industry. Consequently, the current study was undertaken to identify and investigate various antecedents of employee engagement. The objective of the study was, firstly, to gauge the level of employee engagement amongst a sample of CCRs in South Africa and, secondly, to track the paths through which salient antecedents affect this engagement. More specifically, the relationships between sense of coherence (SOC), leadership effectiveness (LE), team effectiveness (TE) and employee engagement (E) were investigated. A quantitative research approach was followed whereby a positive psychology paradigm underpinned the examination of specific personal and job resources that could enhance engagement within the call centre environment. A cross-sectional survey design was used and a non-probability convenient sample of 215 CCRs was selected. The measuring instruments comprised the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale of Schaufeli and Bakker (2003) to measure engagement, the Team Diagnostic Survey of Wageman, Hackman and Lehman (2005) to measure team effectiveness, the Leadership Practices Inventory of Kouzes and Posner (2001) to gauge leadership effectiveness, and the Orientation to Life Questionnaire of Antonovsky (1987) to measure sense of coherence. A series of structural equation modelling analyses were performed. Contrary to the ‘electronic sweatshop’ image and its attendant symptoms of depression, emotional exhaustion, anxiety, demotivation and dissatisfaction attached to call centre jobs (depicted in the literature), the results show a high level of employee engagement for the CCRs in the sample. Also, personal resources, such as SOC, and job resources, such as TE, related significantly to E. A non-significant relationship was found to exist between LE and E. The implications of the results for the practice of human resource management in call centres are elaborated upon. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Oproepsentrums is al deur navorsers bestempel as die moderne ekwivalent van die ‘hongerfabrieke’ van die industriële tydvak, en as die ‘sataniese meule van die 21ste eeu’. ‘n Oorsig van die literatuur toon dat die gebrek aan werknemerverbintenis onder oproepsentrumverteenwoordigers (call centre representatives (CCRs)) ‘n sentrale kommer is in hierdie vinnig ontluikende globale bedryf. Gevolglik is hierdie studie onderneem om die verskillende antesedente van werknemerverbintenis te ondersoek. Die doelwit van hierdie studie was eerstens om die vlak van werknemerverbintenis in ‘n steekproef van oproepsentrumverteenwoordigers in Suid-Afrika te meet, en tweedens om die weë waardeur die pertinente antesedente hierdie verbintenis beïnvloed, op te spoor. Meer spesifiek is die verhoudings tussen samehangsin (sense of coherence (SOC)), leierskapdoeltreffendheid (leadership effectiveness (LE)), spandoeltreffendheid (team effectiveness (TE)) en die werknemer se verbintenis (engagement (E)) ondersoek. ‘n Kwantitatiewe navorsingsbenadering is gebruik in terme waarvan ‘n positiewe sielkundige paradigma die ondersoek van spesifieke persoonlike en werkhulpbronne onderstut het wat verbintenis in die oproepsentrum-omgewing kon verhoog. ‘n Deursnee- opname-ontwerp is gebruik en ‘n nie-waarskynlikheidsgerieflikheidsteekproef van 215 oproepsentrumverteenwoordigers is geselekteer. Die meetinstrumente het die volgende behels: die Utrecht Work Engagement Scale van Schaufeli en Bakker (2003) om verbintenis te meet; die Team Diagnostic Survey van Wageman, Hackman en Lehman (2005) om spandoeltreffendheid te meet; die Leadership Practices Inventory van Kouzes en Posner (2001) om leierskapdoeltreffendheid te meet; en die Orientation to Life Questionnaire van Antonovsky (1987) om samehangsin te meet. ‘n Reeks ontledings van struktuurvergelykingsmodellering is uitgevoer. In teenstelling met die beeld van ‘n ‘elektroniese hongerfabriek’ en die gepaardgaande simptome van neerslagtigheid, emosionele uitputting, angstigheid, demotivering en ontevredenheid wat met werk in oproepsentrums gepaard gaan (soos in die literatuur uitgebeeld), toon die resultate ‘n hoë vlak van werknemerverbintenis vir die oproepsentrumverteenwoordigers in hierdie steekproef. Persoonlike hulpbronne soos samehangsin, en werkhulpbronne soos spandoeltreffendheid, het ‘n noemenswaardige verband met verbintenis getoon. ‘n Nie-betekenisvolle verhouding is gevind tussen leierskapdoeltreffendheid en verbintenis. Die implikasies van die uitslae vir die menslike hulpbronnepraktyk in oproepsentrums word ook bespreek.

Despite their continuing importance to the UK economy and their employment of significant numbers of workers from a range of professions, the utilities have received scant attention from critical scholars of work. This neglect represents a missed opportunity to examine the impact of nearly twenty years of privatisation and marketisation on workers, their jobs and their unions. This thesis aims to make a contribution to knowledge here by investigating, contextualising and explaining changes in the labour processes of a privatised utility in the United Kingdom. The research is informed by oral history methods and techniques, rarely adopted in industrial sociology, and here used alongside labour process theory to reconstruct past experiences of work. Drawing on qualitative data sets, from in-depth interviews with a cohort of employees who worked continuously over three decades at the research site, British Gas’s Granton House, and on extensive company and trade union documentary evidence the research demonstrates how British Gas responded to restrictive regulation and the need to deliver shareholder value by transforming pre-existing forms of work organisation through introducing call centres. The call centre provided the opportunity for management to regain control over the labour process, intensify work and reduce costs. In doing so, the study identifies the principal drivers of organisational change, documents the process of change evaluates the impact on workers’ experience. Thus, as a corrective to much recent labour process theory the research offers both an ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ account of change over an extended time. The contrast between workers’ experience of working in the clerical departments and in the call centre could not be starker. Almost every element of work from which workers derived satisfaction and purpose was abruptly dismantled. In their place workers had to endure the restrictive and controlling nature of call centre work. The relative absence of resistance to such a transformation is shown to be a consequence of failures in collective organisation, rather than the totalisation of managerial control, as the postmodernists and Foucauldians would have it.

Thesis (Ph.D.(Psychology))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2013. / The research entailed a comprehensive study of vicarious trauma in short-term insurance claims workers, compared to trauma counsellors and a control group of holiday booking consultants. A well-known, comprehensive model of compassion fatigue/secondary traumatic stress, developed for therapists formed the basis of the study. The research attempted to determine whether this model can be applied more widely to include administrative populations exposed to traumatised clients on a regular basis. To this end, the model was deconstructed into its eleven constituent parts and each element was investigated in addition to other variables of interest to the study. This was done to determine the importance and applicability of each model element and other selected variables to the administrative context. A mixed methods approach was utilised, which combined quantitative and qualitative data. The results yielded by the study were collectively utilised to construct an etic and an emic voice from the research. At the same time, effects from vicarious trauma were considered from an overarching bio-psychosocial stance, systematically gauging effects on various levels of functioning. Scores from quantitative measures on secondary traumatic stress, negative cognitive schemas, empathy, social support and compassion satisfaction were statistically analysed, which revealed significant differences between the worker groups. Widely accepted relationships between the study variables were tested and found to hold true within and across groups. Regression analysis determined the roles of empathy, social support and compassion satisfaction in vicarious trauma, as measured by secondary traumatic stress and negative cognitive schemas. In addition, constructivist selfdevelopment theory was employed to interpret the negative cognitive effects from vicarious traumatisation. Qualitative data were utilised to further elucidate the role and nature of vicarious trauma in each of the worker groups. The themes of exposure to client suffering, detachment, level of empathic engagement, personal trauma history and difficult life demands were unearthed from the qualitative data, which illuminated the importance and role of each of these elements to claims workers. Other areas of interest, being utilisation of sick-leave as a means to cope, work-related illness, attitudes towards professional counselling, feelings evoked by traumatised clients, and the language utilised by workers in response to client traumata were investigated. Further effects on participants as well iv as effects that reach beyond the person were identified and examined. Effects on the social and work contexts were also elucidated. Finally, interesting themes that emerged spontaneously from the data were considered. The consideration of the various model elements and other areas of interest systematically revealed that administrative workers dealing with traumatised clients are also affected by the process of vicarious trauma. Furthermore, the model was found to be largely suitable to the context of claims workers. However, the model was expanded to augment its usability within the more general administrative domain. Finally, the overarching aim was to enrich, contextualise and elaborate on the experiences of claims workers within their unique work context, to facilitate insight and a deeper understanding of vicarious trauma in more administrative populations that have largely been overlooked in research.

Drawing upon case studies of three organisations operating six call centres in Australia, this thesis explores the manifestations and interplay of employee resistance and accommodation in response to five facets of employer control: electronic monitoring; repetitious work; emotional control; the built environment; and workplace flexibility. Accommodation refers to the ways workers protect themselves from and adapt to the pressures that make up their day-to-day experiences of work. Accommodation, unlike resistance, which implies opposition to control, may superficially resemble consent to control. I argue that resistance and accommodation are not polar opposites; rather they are both reflections of the conflict and tensions that lie at the heart of the employment relationship. At the study sites, employees utilised resistance and accommodation both separately and concurrently. An explanation of these seemingly contradictory responses and of the links among accommodation individual resistance and collective resistance lies in the concept of ???self???. In this thesis, ???self??? refers to workers??? perceptions of fairness, dignity and autonomy. I examine how these notions frame worker discontent and promote employee solidarity. ???Everyday resistance???, a concept first developed by Scott (1985) in relation to peasant struggles, is employed to highlight the existence of subterranean struggles in workplaces that otherwise appear to be harmonious. At the study sites, everyday resistance was a multi-faceted, widely employed strategy whose strength lay primarily in its immediate impact. There was, however, no necessary sequential development from accommodation, through everyday resistance to overt, formal forms of conflict. What was evident was that multiple responses to employer control could co-exist and inhibit or promote one another. But it was through organised collective resistance that more formalised gains were made and widely held grievances addressed. I suggest that, although everyday resistance may lay the groundwork for more formal struggles, one should not conclude that traditional collective resistance is ???genuine??? resistance and everyday resistance is simply a second-best prelude to it. Although conflict is always present, its intensity differs. If we are to understand the complexity of worker responses to managerial control, we need to expand the theoretical frameworks within which we analyse and interpret conflict.