Student Number : 9901985W - MA research report - School of Psychology - Faculty of Humanities / The current research focuses on stress within the medical call centre environment and the way in which organisational factors may impact on the psychological and physical well being of employees in such a context. The rationale of the study occurs as a relative lack of current research in this area, particulary within the South African context. Furthermore, the study aimed to combine previous research conducted in call centres with other studies carried out on emergency medical service personnel, in order to generate distinctive findings for the unique environment of the emergency medical call centre. The study was quantitative in nature and was based on the transactional model of stress. The participants were selected non-randomly from an accessible of convenience and elements of both purposive and convenience sampling procedures were used. One hundred and fifty questionnaires were distributed within the three medical call centres and 78 were completed and returned. The findings indicate that medical call employees experience stress from environmental aspects such as support from outside of work, organisational factors, feelings of being undervalued, support at work and the nature of the work itself. Additionally, findings indicated that the stress factors of support outside of work, organisational characteristics, being undervalued and support at work had and impact on the psychological and physical wellbeing of employees and increased absenteeism and their desire to leave the organisation. Results also indicated that the stress related to the nature of the work itself was not significant and decreased as tenure within the medical call centre increased. Having identified aspects of medical call centre stress and the way in which these factors impact on the psychological and physical wellbeing of employees, the implications this work were discussed both theoretically and practically. Limitations of the study were acknowledged and further research directions were suggested.

No description available.

No description available.

Call centre agents are becoming increasingly important in the call centre setting. They act as a contact point between the customer and the company, and can therefore be regarded as the builders of the company's image. Outbound call centre agents have the difficult task of gathering valuable research information. Due to the importance of these agents, they should have certain competencies to perform their duties sufficiently. The aim of this study was to determine what exactly a call centre agent needs in order to make that agent an ideal worker. Identifying competencies required to be ideal agents will ease the task of training and recruitment. Due to the interrelatedness of the subsystems of a call centre, not only the perceptions of the call centre agent, but also the views of managers and customers were taken into account. The systems theory allowed the researcher to take into account the interrelationship between these different subsystems. A qualitative methodology was used to gather this information, as it was the ideal method to show the complex processes and interactions in the call centre. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. Firstly, categories for the information were developed (open coding), then the categories were labelled (axial coding) and finally the categories were refined and integrated (selective coding). The results are presented from agents, customers and managements perspectives. The results found in this study are also connected to previous literature done regarding service representatives in general. Finally the competencies identified from the results are integrated with and related to the systems theory. Recommendations with regard to training for call centre agents are made, as well as recommendations concerning research possibilities for inbound call centres and cross-cultural studies. / Dissertation (MA (Research Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Psychology / unrestricted

High-commitment call-centers kännetecknas av investeringar i HR-praktiker såsom utbildning, vilka kräver transfer till arbetet för att generera avkastning på investeringen. Studien ämnade undersöka hur demografiska profiler relaterar till transfereffekter, self-efficacy och prestation. Den ämnade även undersöka vikten av antal utbildningstillfällen för self-efficacy och prestation samt faktorer som hindrar/faciliterar transfer. En multi-methods sequential explanatory design användes, där två studier genom-fördes på ett svenskt call-center som utförde en utbildningsinsats. I studie 1 samlades data in med en enkät (n = 51) och i studie 2 genomfördes intervjuer (n = 6). I studie 1 identifierades tre kluster med skilda demo-grafiska bakgrunder, bl.a. ålder och utbildningsnivå. En signifikant skillnad i transfer återfanns dem emellan. Neutral transfer återfanns och self-efficacy var högst hos deltagare som slutfört utbildningen. I studie 2 framkom att det upplevdes viktigt att utbildningens nytta var tydlig och att ett neutralt transferklimat rådde. Studierna antyder att hänsyn bör tas till det övergripande transfersystemet tillsammans med individen för att bäst facilitera transfer.

Though knowledge has become an increasingly important resource for modern businesses, it was not until the mid-1990's that the 'knowledge management' research stream emerged in the business and information systems literature. Initial research on how to manage knowledge came from an objectivist epistemology of knowledge that viewed it as something that was capable of captured, stored and transferred via information to increase organisational efficiency. This study is grounded in a more recent and alternative perspective that takes a practice based epistemology seeing knowledge as embedded in and inseparable from practice. The practices of interest relate to how knowledge work is performed in environments where there is heavy reliance on information systems. Using an interpretive case study this research analyses the practices of a product support centre of a US multinational. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and internal documentation, including access to the firms „knowledge management‟ repository. Two central practices were examined: how product support engineers made sense of problems to develop fix procedures and how these were subsequently documented. Even within a work environment where client fixes were verifiable, suggesting an objectivist epistemology, this research found that the practice based perspective could be used to provide a different perspective and develop alternative and useful insights. The study contributes to the practice based perspective on knowledge management by providing an analysis of context specific knowledge work practices by analysing how even in procedural repetitive work agency can be exhibited as actors enact practices. It also helps develop the application of Structuration Theory by aiding an understanding of how meanings, norms and resources are developed, drawn upon, conflict, and are changed as everyday work is accomplished. The study is of relevance by providing an understanding of informal knowledge work practices rather than their formal description.

This research study explores the possible relationships that may exist between the work design, level of anxiety and depression in South African call centres. By investigating the work design of a call centre and exploring its relationship to anxiety and depression will help to achieve this. Variables that will be looked at in this research study are work design, anxiety and depression. Our sample comprised of call centre agents. The agents were came from one inbound and one outbound call centre. It was then realized during the analysis of the data that there is no significant difference between the two call centres therefore the two samples were merged into one sample thus increasing our sample size to a total of 56 respondents. Pearson correlation analysis revealed that significant positive correlations exist between all the variables, work design, level of anxiety and depression. It was also proven that the higher the JCI score the lower the anxiety and depression levels. Additional correlation tests were conducted to see whether there is a relationship that exists between JCI subscales, anxiety and depression. Results showed that not all of the sub-scales of the JCI show a significant correlation with Anxiety and Depression. Only Autonomy and Feedback to some degree correlate with Anxiety (r = 0.38; p = 0.004 and r = 0.26; p = 0.053). Variety and Authority correlated significantly and positively with Depression (r=0.38; p = 0.004; and r = 0.32; p = 0.017). These results indicate good support for this research study, illustrating that the manner in which work is designed will have an effect in the anxiety and depression levels experienced by the employees.

Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008. / Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / Research suggests that a positive relationship exists between job satisfaction and organizational commitment and increasing the job satisfaction and commitment of employees impacts positively on their job performance and productivity. In addition to this, research also shows that these attitudes have implications for positive job related behaviours such as reduced turnover and intention to quit. The argument is that with the call centre industries ‘expansion and subsequent rising turnover, the necessity to ensure a high level of satisfaction and commitment amongst call centre agents as to reduce intention to quit and eventual turnover has become of paramount importance. This study therefore investigated the relationship between job satisfaction, organisational commitment and turnover intentions among call centre agents in a call centre in the Western Cape. The sample group consisted of one hundred and seventy two (n=172) call centre agents in a call centre in the Western Cape. A biographical questionnaire, Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) and Intention to Quit Scale were administered to the respondents. Once the questionnaires were returned the raw data was captured into SPSS and statistically analysed. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient was utilised to determine the relationships between job satisfaction, organisational commitment and turnover intentions amongst call centre agents. Furthermore multiple regression analyses was utilised to determine the variance between biographical variables (age, gender, tenure in a call centre and tenure in the organisation as a whole), job satisfaction and organisational commitment amongst call centre agents. The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between job satisfaction and organisational commitment amongst the sample of call centre agents. There was also a significant negative relationship between organisational commitment and intention to quit. In addition, there was a significant negative relationship between job satisfaction and intention to quit. Further findings of the current study point to a significant relationship in job satisfaction based on employees‘ age and tenure in the call centre. However, no significant relationship was found between all the biographical characteristics of gender, age, tenure in the call centre, tenure in the organisation as a whole and organisational commitment. Implications for the management of job satisfaction, organisational commitment and turnover intentions are provided based on the results which were obtained in the current study.

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / The aim of the study was to identify the retention variables highlighted as most important by call centre agents at a financial institution in the Western Cape. In addition, to assess which of the independent variables they place more importance on; and to determine whether differences exist between the retention variables highlighted as most important by the respective age and gender groups.