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L'autore analizza i punti salienti della nuova disciplina del lavoro a progetto introdotto con il D. Lgs. 10 settembre 2003, n. 276. L'analisi muove dall'individuazione delle ragioni sottese alla introduzione del lavoro a progetto che riguardano, l'inadeguatezza dei tradizionali modelli di subordinazione ed autonomia a rappresentare l'attuale mondo del lavoro e dell'impresa e l'incremento dell'abuso dei rapporti di collaborazione coordinata e continuativa, sottolineando che il legislatore, con il D. lgs. 276/2003 si è concentrato principalmente sul problema di abuso della legalità e per fronteggiarlo, ha lavorato sulla fattispecie, configurando una specifica tipologia contrattuale, caratterizzata da un tenore letterale spesso incerto e discutibile. L'A. evidenzia come la scelta del legislatore si dimostra inefficace, in primo luogo, a causa dell'indeterminatezza dell'elemento del progetto, programma o fase di esso ed inoltre, perché il sistema sanzionatorio di conversione in rapporto di lavoro subordinato in caso di assenza del progetto, non può che essere interpretato nel senso di una presunzione relativa a causa dei palesi vizi di incostituzionalità che si presenterebbero in caso contrario. Inoltre il sistema di tutele predisposto per i collaboratori coordinati e continuative a progetto appare leggero. / The Author points out the new statutory features of self-employed project contract, introduced with the D. Lgs. September 10, 2003, No 276. The analysis begins from the identification of the reasons of the introduction of this contract, which concern, on one hand, the inadequacy of conventional patterns of subordination and autonomy within the current world of work and enterprise and, on the second hand, the increasing abuse of the collaboration coordinated and continuous contract. The A. underlines that the new statutory has been focused mainly on the issue of the abuse of law and, in order to face it, has worked on the legal case specification, setting up a specific type of contract, featured by a uncertain and questionable wording. The A. underlines that the choice of the legislature is ineffective anyway. First of all, because the "project, program or phase of it" is a too much generical expression and second of all, because the sanctionative system can only be interpreted as a refutable presumption. Moreover, the system of safeguards provided for the coordinated and continuous project workers is very light.

隨著競爭環境日漸嚴苛，顧客需求日趨多元，企業需要有更有效率的方式來管理與顧客間的關係，顧客關係管理CRM（Customer Relationship Management, CRM）成為企業關心的熱門議題。但過去的學者研究中，僅止於針對影響企業導入＆系統與否之決策進行研究，然而CRM對於企業經營顧客關係之重要性已被企業所認同，同時面對如此牽涉到龐大人力、資金，與時間投入的系統導入計畫，在導入過程中仍會面臨許多重要決策，因此本研究將針對響導入過程的相關因 數，並經由個案研討的實際驗證，提出具解釋力的理論架構。 經由過去文獻的整理，本研究以Rogers（1983）的創新擴散模型為基礎，將影響CRM導入過程的因素分為認知階段的環境面與組織面因素，以及說服階段認知的創新特質，另外系統供應商及顧問公司則扮演特殊的角色，同時在說服、決策及實行階段皆產生影響。其中環境面又包含競爭強度，需求不確定性及產業環境變化速度；組織面因素包含規模、結構化程度、以及高階主管態度。而認知的創新特質則包含相容性以及系統特性。另外則以資訊與資料的蒐集、累積與儲存、吸收與整理、展現與應用等為被影響的研究變數。並選取目前導入最積極的產業中之標竿企業，包含證券、人壽、行動電話系統業者、電子電腦公司，及網際網路服務提供業者等六家企業，進行深入之訪談，期能從這些正在導入的公司之經驗裡，發現可供參考與依循的準則。 經由對個案公司的深入訪談之後，本研究之研究架構有重大修正。認知階段的影響因素除了環境與組織構面仍存在外，從組織構面中抽離複雜度，並與產品特質、顧客基礎，公司依賴業務人員推廣業務及提供服務的程度共同組成新構面—業務面因素，而系統與顧問公司的選擇則成為企業採用CRM系統時重要的決策因素之一。更重要的是，本研究經由訪談對探討主題有更廣泛而完整的延伸，導入過程可以導入積極度、建置組織，以及建置方式來描述。導入積極度代表導入的速度；建置組織裡包含以專案小組的方式來推動，以及高階主管的參與程度；建置方式則包含CRM要素的建置優先順序、以及委外程度。 研究發現，環境面的因素與組織面的因素皆同時影響到CRM導入過程的積極度及建置方式裡的優先順序；而新增的業務面的因素則同時對CRM導入過程的積極度及建置方式裡的優先順序及自建或委外的選擇有較顯著影響。至於認知的創新特質中，不論是專案管理或是高階參與，其影響到的皆為CRM在建置單位上的特性。而協力單位則因為企業對於系統特性的要求有所不同，而同時成為決策結果與影響導入方式的變數。 本研究期望能藉由結合學術理論與實務應用的方案，提供給正在導入或評估規劃中的企業實用的考慮方向與實際例證，以協助企業在導入過程中自我檢測，選擇最適當的導入程序及設計組織關的配套措施，俾使導入過程順利而達到預期目標。 / To cope with the current increase in both competition and customer requirements, enterprises need more efficient methods to manage their relationships with customers. Previous researches focused mainly on the factors affecting the decision whether or not to adopt the CRM system. As the importance of CRM pertaining to management of relationships with customers has been recognized, meanwhile, with regard to implementation of the extensive software which involves investment of massive human resources, capital, and time, many critical decisions still need to be concerned. This research aims at extracting relevant factors affecting the adoption process and proposes a convincing framework verified by an empirical case study. The research in this study is based on the Innovation Diffusion Model of Rogers (1983) and divides factors affecting the CRM adoption process into knowledge and persuasion stages with environmental and organizational factors in the knowledge stage, and perceived characteristics of innovation in the persuasion stage, while system suppliers and consulting firms as joint associates. Environmental factors include competition intensity, demand uncertainty, and industry changing speed. Organizational factors consist of size, structure, and managerial attitude. Perceived characteristics of innovation are composed of compatibility and system characteristics. Data collection, data storage, data mining, and data visualization work as independent variables. Six companies in securities, life insurance, cellular telephone system, electronics and computers, and the Internet service provider industry were selected as study cases. However, the research frame was revised after investigation. In the knowledge stage, complexity is extracted and integrated with product attribute, customer base, and corporation dependence on sales representative to form one integrated factor called business. Moreover, the independent variables are amended to be more extensive, including adoption activeness, constructing section, and constructing manner. The research shows that environmental and organizational factors affect adoption activeness and priority; and that the business factor influences adoption activeness, adoption priority, as well as outsourcing decisions. Project management and managerial participation representing a CRM constructing section are affected by perceived characteristics of the innovation. Through the integration of theory and empirical data , this research hopes to provide direction for examining the CRM adoption process and organization design, so as to facilitate the fulfilling of the adoption objective.

The goal of customer support is to help clients achieve maximum value in their services and products. Customer support is the public face of a company, which means that it is important to give the customer a positive experience and live up to customer expectations. Efficient customer support has become more important and studies show that customers who leave a company do so because of poor service. Customers' growing demands for higher quality and easier access to services means that companies must recognize the need to satisfy each customer. It is important that each customer receives the attention required and that customer needs are met quickly and flawlessly. The primary objective for an efficient customer support is to provide quick answers and solutions to achieve customer satisfaction. This master thesis aims to examine how the support and case management process can be improved for smaller software companies with customer support. The thesis deals with four issues: how should the support process be designed in smaller software companies, which important aspects must be considered in the support-handling process, how can a case management system contribute to a better customer support and what is the customer role in the management process. Case company for this thesis has been Medius in Linköping, which is a provider of process-related IT support. Interviews have been conducted with both employees at Medius and customers to Medius. The thesis has resulted in a framework and a recommendation for how efficient customer support should be handled in a small software company. To obtain an efficient customer support it is important that the client knows how the customer support should be contacted and what information is required. It should be possible for the customer to contact the customer support through multiple communication channels. The customer support has to work efficiently internally. It is important to prioritize, escalate and document tasks. Between the customer support and the customer, it is beneficial to have a satisfactory communication with regular feedback. Ultimately, it is also important to regularly measure and evaluate the customer support service in order to maintain efficient customer support. A case management system that supports the business is required for the customer support. The case management system is needed to solve problems faster and to provide the support with an overview of the business. A case management system also acts as a knowledge database with relevant information. This thesis work has combined existing frameworks and theories about customer support. This has been supplemented with interviews in order to adapt the framework to smaller software companies. An efficient customer support is achieved by using the authors' framework and recommendations. / Målet med kundsupport är att hjälpa sina kunder uppnå maximalt värde i deras tjänster och produkter. Kundsupporten är ett företags ansikte utåt, vilket innebär att det är viktigt att ge kunden en positiv upplevelse och leva upp till kundens förväntningar. Effektiv kundsupport har blivit allt viktigare och studier visar att de kunder som lämnar företag gör det på grund av dålig service. Kundernas ökade krav på högre kvalité och enklare tillgång till service har lett till att företag måste inse vikten av att tillfredställa varje enskild kund. Det är viktigt att varje enskild kund erhåller den uppmärksamhet som krävs och att kundens behov tillgodoses snabbt och felfritt. Det primära för en effektiv kundsupport är att ge snabba svar och lösningar för att uppnå kundnöjdhet. Det här examensarbetet syftar till att undersöka hur support- och ärendehanteringsprocessen kan förbättras för mindre mjukvaruföretag med kundsupport. Examensarbetet behandlar fyra frågeställningar: hur bör supportprocessen utformas i ett mindre mjukvaruföretag, vilka viktiga aspekter ska beaktas i supporthanteringsprocessen, betydelsen av ett ärendehanteringssystem samt kundens roll i supporthanteringsprocessen.   Fallföretaget för det här examensarbetet har varit Medius i Linköping som är en leverantör av processrelaterat IT-stöd. Intervjuer har genomförts med såväl anställda på Medius som kunder till Medius. Examensarbetet har resulterat i ett ramverk samt en rekommendation för hur effektiv kundsupport ska hanteras i ett mindre mjukvaruföretag. För att kundsupporten i ett mindre mjukvaruföretag ska fungera effektivt krävs att kunden vet hur kundsupporten ska kontaktas och vilken information som ska tillhandahållas. Det ska vara möjligt för kunden att kontakta kundsupporten via flera olika kommunikationskanaler. Kundsupporten ska i sin tur fungera effektivt internt. Det är viktigt att prioritera, eskalera och dokumentera ärenden på ett korrekt sätt. Mellan kundsupporten och kunden ska det finnas en tillfredställande kommunikation med regelbunden återkoppling. I slutändan är det viktigt att regelbundet mäta och utvärdera kundsupportens servicenivåer för att kunna upprätthålla en effektiv kundsupport. För att kundsupporten ska kunna fungera effektiv internt krävs ett ärendehanteringssystem som stödjer verksamheten. Ett ärendehanteringssystems behövs för att kunna lösa problem snabbare och för att ge supporten en överblick över verksamheten. Ärendehanteringssystemet fungerar också som en kunskapsdatabas med relevant information. Det här examensarbetet har kombinerat befintliga ramverk och teorier kring kundsupport. Detta har kompletterats med intervjuer för att anpassa ramverket till det mindre mjukvaruföretaget. Genom att använda författarnas ramverk och rekommendationer kommer en effektiv kundsupport att erhållas.

Dans cette thèse, nous étudions le problème d’optimisation des effectifs dans les centres d’appels, dans lequel nous visons à minimiser les coûts d’exploitation tout en offrant aux clients une qualité de service (QoS) élevée. Nous introduisons également l'utilisation de contraintes probabilistes qui exigent que la qualité de service soit satisfaite avec une probabilité donnée. Ces contraintes sont adéquates dans le cas où la performance est mesurée sur un court intervalle de temps, car les mesures de QoS sont des variables aléatoires sur une période donnée. Les problèmes de personnel proposés sont difficiles en raison de l'absence de forme analytique pour les contraintes probabilistes et doivent être approximées par simulation. En outre, les fonctions QoS sont généralement non linéaires et non convexes. Nous considérons les problèmes d’affectation personnel dans différents contextes et étudions les modèles proposés tant du point de vue théorique que pratique. Les méthodologies développées sont générales, en ce sens qu'elles peuvent être adaptées et appliquées à d'autres problèmes de décision dans les systèmes de files d'attente. La thèse comprend trois articles traitant de différents défis en matière de modélisation et de résolution de problèmes d'optimisation d’affectation personnel dans les centres d'appels à compétences multiples. Les premier et deuxième article concernent un problème d'optimisation d'affectation de personnel en deux étapes sous l'incertitude. Alors que dans le second, nous étudions un modèle général de programmation stochastique discrète en deux étapes pour fournir une garantie théorique de la consistance de l'approximation par moyenne échantillonnale (SAA) lorsque la taille des échantillons tend vers l'infini, le troisième applique l'approche du SAA pour résoudre le problème d’optimisation d'affectation de personnel en deux étapes avec les taux d’arrivée incertain. Les deux articles indiquent la viabilité de l'approche SAA dans notre contexte, tant du point de vue théorique que pratique. Pour être plus précis, dans le premier article, nous considérons un problème stochastique discret général en deux étapes avec des contraintes en espérance. Nous formulons un problème SAA avec échantillonnage imbriqué et nous montrons que, sous certaines hypothèses satisfaites dans les exemples de centres d'appels, il est possible d'obtenir les solutions optimales du problème initial en résolvant son SAA avec des échantillons suffisamment grands. De plus, nous montrons que la probabilité que la solution optimale du problème de l’échantillon soit une solution optimale du problème initial tend vers un de manière exponentielle au fur et à mesure que nous augmentons la taille des échantillons. Ces résultats théoriques sont importants, non seulement pour les applications de centre d'appels, mais également pour d'autres problèmes de prise de décision avec des variables de décision discrètes. Le deuxième article concerne les méthodes de résolution d'un problème d'affectation en personnel en deux étapes sous incertitude du taux d'arrivée. Le problème SAA étant coûteux à résoudre lorsque le nombre de scénarios est important. En effet, pour chaque scénario, il est nécessaire d'effectuer une simulation pour estimer les contraintes de QoS. Nous développons un algorithme combinant simulation, génération de coupes, renforcement de coupes et décomposition de Benders pour résoudre le problème SAA. Nous montrons l'efficacité de l'approche, en particulier lorsque le nombre de scénarios est grand. Dans le dernier article, nous examinons les problèmes de contraintes en probabilité sur les mesures de niveau de service. Notre méthodologie proposée dans cet article est motivée par le fait que les fonctions de QoS affichent généralement des courbes en S et peuvent être bien approximées par des fonctions sigmoïdes appropriées. Sur la base de cette idée, nous avons développé une nouvelle approche combinant la régression non linéaire, la simulation et la recherche locale par région de confiance pour résoudre efficacement les problèmes de personnel à grande échelle de manière viable. L’avantage principal de cette approche est que la procédure d’optimisation peut être formulée comme une séquence de simulations et de résolutions de problèmes de programmation linéaire. Les résultats numériques basés sur des exemples réels de centres d'appels montrent l'efficacité pratique de notre approche. Les méthodologies développées dans cette thèse peuvent être appliquées dans de nombreux autres contextes, par exemple les problèmes de personnel et de planification dans d'autres systèmes basés sur des files d'attente avec d'autres types de contraintes de QoS. Celles-ci soulèvent également plusieurs axes de recherche qu'il pourrait être intéressant d'étudier. Par exemple, une approche de regroupement de scénarios pour atténuer le coût des modèles d'affectation en deux étapes, ou une version d'optimisation robuste en distribution pour mieux gérer l'incertitude des données. / In this thesis, we study the staffing optimization problem in multiskill call centers, in which we aim at minimizing the operating cost while delivering a high quality of service (QoS) to customers. We also introduce the use of chance constraints which require that the QoSs are met with a given probability. These constraints are adequate in the case when the performance is measured over a short time interval as QoS measures are random variables in a given time period. The proposed staffing problems are challenging in the sense that the stochastic constraints have no-closed forms and need to be approximated by simulation. In addition, the QoS functions are typically non-linear and non-convex. We consider staffing optimization problems in different settings and study the proposed models in both theoretical and practical aspects. The methodologies developed are general, in the sense that they can be adapted and applied to other staffing/scheduling problems in queuing-based systems. The thesis consists of three articles dealing with different challenges in modeling and solving staffing optimization problems in multiskill call centers. The first and second articles concern a two-stage staffing optimization problem under uncertainty. While in the first one, we study a general two-stage discrete stochastic programming model to provide a theoretical guarantee for the consistency of the sample average approximation (SAA) when the sample sizes go to infinity, the second one applies the SAA approach to solve the two-stage staffing optimization problem under arrival rate uncertainty. Both papers indicate the viability of the SAA approach in our context, in both theoretical and practical aspects. To be more precise, in the first article, we consider a general two-stage discrete stochastic problem with expected value constraints. We formulate its SAA with nested sampling. We show that under some assumptions that hold in call center examples, one can obtain the optimal solutions of the original problem by solving its SAA with large enough sample sizes. Moreover, we show that the probability that the optimal solution of the sample problem is an optimal solution of the original problem, approaches one exponentially fast as we increase the sample sizes. These theoretical findings are important, not only for call center applications, but also for other decision-making problems with discrete decision variables. The second article concerns solution methods to solve a two-stage staffing problem under arrival rate uncertainty. It is motivated by the fact that the SAA version of the two-stage staffing problem becomes expensive to solve with a large number of scenarios, as for each scenario, one needs to use simulation to approximate the QoS constraints. We develop an algorithm that combines simulation, cut generation, cut strengthening and Benders decomposition to solve the SAA problem. We show the efficiency of the approach, especially when the number of scenarios is large. In the last article, we consider problems with chance constraints on the service level measures. Our methodology proposed in this article is motivated by the fact that the QoS functions generally display ``S-shape'' curves and might be well approximated by appropriate sigmoid functions. Based on this idea, we develop a novel approach that combines non-linear regression, simulation and trust region local search to efficiently solve large-scale staffing problems in a viable way. The main advantage of the approach is that the optimization procedure can be formulated as a sequence of steps of performing simulation and solving linear programming models. Numerical results based on real-life call center examples show the practical viability of our approach. The methodologies developed in this thesis can be applied in many other settings, e.g., staffing and scheduling problems in other queuing-based systems with other types of QoS constraints. These also raise several research directions that might be interesting to investigate. For examples, a clustering approach to mitigate the expensiveness of the two-stage staffing models, or a distributionally robust optimization version to better deal with data uncertainty.

This diploma thesis deals with the topic of „Position and Function of Call Centres in Telecommunications”. It focuses on alternative ways of customer´s communication with the company mainly by mobile phone. The content of this work is the characteristics of services, the specification of ways of communication between the customer and the company, the description of T-Mobile´s products using the alternative ways of communication with the company, the survey of T-Mobile´s Call centre´s activities and the research part. The aim of this work is to find out recomandations and progressions for improvement of working and standing of Call centre within the T-Mobile group. At the end of the work there are added some appendixes.

Dizertační práce se zabývá rozpoznáním emočního stavu mluvčích z řečového signálu. Práce je rozdělena do dvou hlavních častí, první část popisuju navržené metody pro rozpoznání emočního stavu z hraných databází. V rámci této části jsou představeny výsledky rozpoznání použitím dvou různých databází s různými jazyky. Hlavními přínosy této části je detailní analýza rozsáhlé škály různých příznaků získaných z řečového signálu, návrh nových klasifikačních architektur jako je například „emoční párování“ a návrh nové metody pro mapování diskrétních emočních stavů do dvou dimenzionálního prostoru. Druhá část se zabývá rozpoznáním emočních stavů z databáze spontánní řeči, která byla získána ze záznamů hovorů z reálných call center. Poznatky z analýzy a návrhu metod rozpoznání z hrané řeči byly využity pro návrh nového systému pro rozpoznání sedmi spontánních emočních stavů. Jádrem navrženého přístupu je komplexní klasifikační architektura založena na fúzi různých systémů. Práce se dále zabývá vlivem emočního stavu mluvčího na úspěšnosti rozpoznání pohlaví a návrhem systému pro automatickou detekci úspěšných hovorů v call centrech na základě analýzy parametrů dialogu mezi účastníky telefonních hovorů.

This dissertation provides an account of 'Batho Pele' (People First) and 'new public management' as applied in two government call-centres in the Eastern Cape. Focusing on the workers at these call-centres, this research examines the workplace organisation of these call-centres based in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality. The study involved interviews with managers, call-centre operators and trade unionists. The findings show how the work environment is not conducive to the goals of customer satisfaction as presented in the Batho Pele policies. The research investigates the conditions of workers as one explanatory factor for poor call-centre service. If workers are a key element in the success of the 'new public management', their work environment and conditions have to facilitate their job satisfaction and their improved customer service. The research demonstrated the evident lack of professionalism in the call-centre, customer care designed as a matter of compliance rather the need to change the culture and the persistent lack of discipline and supervision. The call centre operator's experiences include issues of surveillance, stress, emotional labour, lack of training, internal conflicts and bad 'customer service' as perceived by the citizens of the Metro.

This thesis is an investigation of the call centre labour process focusing on both the way work is organised and experienced by the operators and the management of employee relations inside a local government workplace – The City of Johannesburg (COJ) Call Centre. The City of Johannesburg is used to understand labour process dynamics in local government. Johannesburg was recently named the ‘World’s Second Most Inspiring City’ (by Global City Index, 2014) possessing economic and political influence within and around South Africa. Johannesburg is the economic hub of the country, contributing nine per cent to the South African GDP. But it needs to be emphasised that the focus of this thesis is on the labour process rather than the City of Johannesburg. The nature of work in the COJ local government call centre involves answering calls about water, electricity, refuse removal, accounts and other general municipal services. The government’s objective was to have a more customer centred service delivery plan in compliance with the Batho Pele (People first) framework (RSA, 1997, White Paper on Local Government). This resulted in a shift in the government ‘mantra’ and philosophy from viewing Johannesburg residents as customers rather than citizens. This shift from public administration to New Public Management (NPM) has meant the introduction of private sector business principles into public services. This seeks to improve organisational and individual performance to enhance service delivery within South African municipalities. This is also meant to promote responsive and performance management culture. The study uses Labour Process Theory set out in Labour and Monopoly Capital (LMC-1974) by Harry Braverman to argue for the need to contextualise the labour process debate within the socio-political understanding of work in South Africa. In developing the argument about the narrow analysis of public sector call centres based on economic lines I have reviewed literature on call centres which is influenced by Michel Foucault and Harry Braverman to understand the public sector call centre labour process. Inspired by Adesina (2002) and Mafeje (1981) this study uses a ‘complementarity’ approach to knowledge. This means the local context tends to complement the global trends though not without contradictions within the local context. The case study approach was used for in-depth analysis of the local context through different methods (semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, observations and survey questionnaires) to collect data from different stakeholders within the City of Johannesburg between 2010 and 2013. The concept of a ‘(dis)connecting city’ is fitting for the COJ as this city connects the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa to the world through its commerce and political influence. Based on the challenges experienced in this local government call centre I attempt to show the the politicised nature of the public sector call centre labour process. I use the differential power relations in the frontline between customer and Joburg connect workers to illustrate this point. The lack of emphasis on the politicised nature of public sector call centres within literature is informed by the de-contextualised nature of these call centres. In the end, I argue that public sector call centre labour process is multilayered, contradictory and complicated because of these workers’ role as citizens, customers, community members and service providers from a politicised community environment.