ABSTRACT The call centre environment has become an interesting new venue for research into organisational issues, having grown extensively both internationally and in South Africa, thus playing a crucial role in most industries. In call centres where high value is placed on the meeting of targets and metrics, performance management is crucial. There are numerous differing definitions when it comes to what exactly performance management is, what these definitions have in common however is that they include one or more of the following eight constructs: control; alignment with organisational strategies; the achievement of overall goals and objectives; rewards; training; development; appraisal and motivation (Fisher, Katz, Miller and Thatcher, 2003; Amaratunga, and Baldry, 2002; Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart and Wright, 2003). Perceptions and definitions of performance management may vary between agents, supervisors and managers. In order to determine what perceptions employees at different levels held of performance management in call centres, the exploration of metaphors was employed as they are thought to provide a basis for uncovering perceptions, attitudes and feelings which were previously subconscious or not articulated. The aim of this research was thus to determine: what images employees use to define performance management; what similarities and differences exist in the images and definitions used by employees from different levels within the organisation; and how the images and definitions relate to constructs used to define performance management in the literature. Interviews were conducted with 18 call centre agents, 6 supervisors and 3 managers. The results revealed that employees used both negative and positive images to describe performance management, some of the images did relate to some of the eight constructs, and perceptions of performance management differed according to organisational position with supervisors and managers using more positive images to describer performance management.

This paper explores the factors influencing performance of call centre agents in a South African outsourced call centre in the motor industry, specifically in respect of organisational identification, job satisfaction and emotions at work. The ability to compete in the global economy will become increasingly reliant on the ability of organisations to satisfy the needs of customers. As organisations outsource the call centre element of their businesses to dedicated call centre providers, these call centre providers will need to become even more competitive. This ability to compete relies on their ability to increase productivity for financial control, whilst increasing their ability to satisfy the customers of organisations they represent. This cannot be done without correctly identifying the factors that drive work performance in call centre agents. The data were collected via a self-completed questionnaire based survey conducted among agents of a South African outsourced customer service centre, which interacts with the customers of a large motor manufacturer. The findings indicate that work performance is not directly correlated with organisational identification, job satisfaction or emotions at work, but these factors remain essential to the competitiveness of the organisation in respect of retention of the highest performers, and cannot be ignored. Positive emotions of call centre agents require further investigation as a driver of work performance, in respect of inherent positive well-being of workers and external factors that might influence positive well-being. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The research on call centres has attracted many researchers from different disciplines recently. In this thesis, we focus on call centre modelling, analysis and design. In terms of modelling, traditionally call centres have been modelled as single-node queueing systems. Based on the Semiopen Queueing Network (SOQN) model proposed by Srinivasan et al. [42], we propose and study SOQN models with balking and abandonment (both exponential and general patience time distributions). In addition, we study the corresponding single-node queueing systems and obtain new results. For each model, we study the queue length distribution, waiting time distribution and the related performance measures. To facilitate the computation, we express the performance measures in terms of special functions. In terms of call centre design, we develop a design algorithm to determine the minimal number of CSRs (S) and trunk lines (N) to satisfy a given set of service level constraints.<p> The explicit expressions for performance measures obtained allow for theoretical analysis of the performance measures. For example we prove monotonicity and convexity properties of performance measures for the M/M/S/N and M/M/S/N + M models. We also study the comparison of different patience time distributions for the M/M/S/N+G model.<p> We provide numerical examples for each model and discuss numerical results such as monotonicity properties of performance measures. In particular, we illustrate the efficacy of our design algorithm for various models including patient, balking and abandonment models. The impact of model parameters on the design of call centres is also discussed based on the numerical examples. The results are computed using Matlab, where special functions are available.

The research on call centres has attracted many researchers from different disciplines recently. In this thesis, we focus on call centre modelling, analysis and design. In terms of modelling, traditionally call centres have been modelled as single-node queueing systems. Based on the Semiopen Queueing Network (SOQN) model proposed by Srinivasan et al. [42], we propose and study SOQN models with balking and abandonment (both exponential and general patience time distributions). In addition, we study the corresponding single-node queueing systems and obtain new results. For each model, we study the queue length distribution, waiting time distribution and the related performance measures. To facilitate the computation, we express the performance measures in terms of special functions. In terms of call centre design, we develop a design algorithm to determine the minimal number of CSRs (S) and trunk lines (N) to satisfy a given set of service level constraints.<p> The explicit expressions for performance measures obtained allow for theoretical analysis of the performance measures. For example we prove monotonicity and convexity properties of performance measures for the M/M/S/N and M/M/S/N + M models. We also study the comparison of different patience time distributions for the M/M/S/N+G model.<p> We provide numerical examples for each model and discuss numerical results such as monotonicity properties of performance measures. In particular, we illustrate the efficacy of our design algorithm for various models including patient, balking and abandonment models. The impact of model parameters on the design of call centres is also discussed based on the numerical examples. The results are computed using Matlab, where special functions are available.

Call centres have in the last three decades come to define the interaction between corporations, governments, and other institutions and their respective customers, citizens, and members. From telemarketing to tele-health services, to credit card assistance, and even emergency response systems, call centres function as a nexus mediating technologically enabled labour practices with the commodification of services. Because of the ubiquitous nature of the call centre in post-industrial capitalism, the banality of these interactions often overshadows the nature of work and labour in this now-global sector. Advances in telecommunication technologies and the globalization of management practices designed to oversee and maintain standardized labour processes have made call centre work an international phenomenon. Simultaneously, these developments have dislocated assumptions about the geographic and spatial seat of work in what is defined here as the new international division of knowledge labour. The offshoring and outsourcing of call centre employment, part of the larger information technology and information technology enabled services sectors, has become a growing practice amongst governments and corporations in their attempts at controlling costs. Leading offshore destinations for call centre work, such as Canada and India, emerged as prominent locations for call centre work for these reasons. While incredible advances in technology have permitted the use of distant and “offshore” labour forces, the grander reshaping of an international political economy of communications has allowed for the acceleration of these processes. New and established labour unions have responded to these changes in the global regimes of work by seeking to organize call centre workers. These efforts have been assisted by a range of forces, not least of which is the condition of work itself, but also attempts by global union federations to build a bridge between international unionism and local organizing campaigns in the Global South and Global North. Through an examination of trade union interventions in the call centre industries located in Canada and India, this dissertation contributes to research on post-industrial employment by using political economy as a juncture between development studies, critical communications, and labour studies. / Thesis (Ph.D, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2011-08-18 11:21:44.794

This thesis describes and analyses the ways in which employees in two front line call centre settings report their experience of qualitative and quantitative monitoring in the workplace, and its impact on their work and work life. I conducted ethnographically informed fieldwork, including participant observation and interviews, in two financial service call centre sites. Emerging from the rich descriptions participants shared about their work life, identity and accountability stood out as key themes. The sites, which use similar methods of monitoring and performance measurement, had quite different management strategies in place which affected staff perceptions of identity and accountability. I modified an activity theory framework to create a model of organisational, professional and peer identities and accountabilities, and to examine the ways these connect, interact, and sometimes disconnect, with one another. Call centres are contentious workplaces in the literature, generating ongoing debate about the extent to which electronic monitoring is effective as a method of control and about the way monitoring and surveillance affects workers. Using this framework allows me to look at common call centre issues, such as the quality/quantity dichotomy, through a different and potentially helpful lens, one that is novel in the call centre literature. My findings suggest that when the various facets of identities and accountabilities are poorly aligned, workers are forced to prioritize one over the other, often to the detriment of both. In the financial service call centres I studied, workers often chose to prioritize professional and peer identity over organisational accountability when organisational requirements were strongly felt to conflict with the ways in which a professional banker should behave towards customers and colleagues. Workers made these choices despite clearly understanding the potential consequences to themselves in terms of achieving performance metric targets and supervisory approval. Conceptualizing call centre workers’ responses to monitoring and measurement from an identity and accountability perspective offers new insights into the reasons why financial service call centre workers are often dissatisfied or frustrated with standard call centre measurement practices, leading to potential practical solutions.

This thesis describes and analyses the ways in which employees in two front line call centre settings report their experience of qualitative and quantitative monitoring in the workplace, and its impact on their work and work life. I conducted ethnographically informed fieldwork, including participant observation and interviews, in two financial service call centre sites. Emerging from the rich descriptions participants shared about their work life, identity and accountability stood out as key themes. The sites, which use similar methods of monitoring and performance measurement, had quite different management strategies in place which affected staff perceptions of identity and accountability. I modified an activity theory framework to create a model of organisational, professional and peer identities and accountabilities, and to examine the ways these connect, interact, and sometimes disconnect, with one another. Call centres are contentious workplaces in the literature, generating ongoing debate about the extent to which electronic monitoring is effective as a method of control and about the way monitoring and surveillance affects workers. Using this framework allows me to look at common call centre issues, such as the quality/quantity dichotomy, through a different and potentially helpful lens, one that is novel in the call centre literature. My findings suggest that when the various facets of identities and accountabilities are poorly aligned, workers are forced to prioritize one over the other, often to the detriment of both. In the financial service call centres I studied, workers often chose to prioritize professional and peer identity over organisational accountability when organisational requirements were strongly felt to conflict with the ways in which a professional banker should behave towards customers and colleagues. Workers made these choices despite clearly understanding the potential consequences to themselves in terms of achieving performance metric targets and supervisory approval. Conceptualizing call centre workers’ responses to monitoring and measurement from an identity and accountability perspective offers new insights into the reasons why financial service call centre workers are often dissatisfied or frustrated with standard call centre measurement practices, leading to potential practical solutions.

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.

No / Despite the interest over recent years in the fragmentation of organizations and the development of contracting, little attention has been paid to the impact of the associated inter-organizational relationships on the internal organization of employment. Inter-organizational relations have been introduced primarily as a means of externalizing - and potentially rendering invisible - employment issues and employment relations. In a context where inter-organizational relationships appear to be growing in volume and diversity, this constitutes a significant gap in the literature that this paper in part aims to fill. The purpose of the paper is two-fold: to develop a framework for considering the internal and external organizational influences on employment and to apply this framework within a case study of a multi-client outsourcing call centre. We explore the interactions between internal objectives, client demands and the use of external contracting in relation to three dimensions of employment policy: managing the wage-effort bargain, managing flexibility and managing commitment and performance. It is the interplay between these factors in a dynamic context that provides, we suggest, the basis for a more general framework for considering human resource policy in permeable organizations.

Staff motivation in a contact centre environment was analysed from the perspective of Herzberg's Motivation- Hygiene theory in the present study using survey data from seven contact centres in the Kwa-Zulu Natal region. The study investigates the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors and the extent of the existence of equity factors in the and the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors with equity factors in the South African environment, specifically favouritism, discrimination and consistency. The findings confirm that contact centre agents need to be highly skilled and adequately supported by management in order to fulfil the significant role that they play in an organisation. The support required goes further than technical skill and training but moves into the emotional well being of the agent. The emphasis shifts from the agent providing a service to the customers and the organisation and moves from the organisation providing its agents with the recognition and incentives to motivate them to strive for their very best at their jobs. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, 2003.