Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T18:39:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alex Moura Magalhaes.pdf: 5395813 bytes, checksum: 0b1c28f586684b224405b247f6768318 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-27 / This study is the result of a financial evaluation using insolvency models applied in the financial statements of the leading call center companies operating in Brazil. These companies have great representation for the financial sector as well as great potential employment. The goal to be achieved with this study is to identify if there is risk of insolvency in these call center companies, since a research by a consultancy that accompanies the call center market raised the financial risk that occurs in the continuity of business enterprises small and medium-sized due to the high cost of investment to maintain their respective operations and not pass this cost in the final price of the service to the contractors, who do not recognize such investment as value added service / Este estudo é resultado de uma avaliação financeira por meio de modelos de insolvência aplicados nas demonstrações financeiras das principais empresas de call center atuantes no Brasil. Essas empresas possuem grande representatividade financeira para esse setor, como também grande potencial empregatício. O objetivo a ser alcançado com este estudo é identificar se há riscos de insolvência nessas empresas, já que uma pesquisa realizada por uma consultoria que acompanha o mercado de call center levantou o risco financeiro que ocorre na continuidade desse negócio em organizações de pequeno e médio portes, devido ao alto custo de investimentos para manter as suas respectivas operações e o não repasse desse custo no preço final do serviço para as empresas contratantes, que não reconhecem tal investimento como valor agregado ao serviço

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:13:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ana Paula Gomes Vasconcelos.pdf: 552252 bytes, checksum: b85afea2b75c0d7df114d607ca908679 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-10-09 / This study intends to analyze how call center companies dialogue with their public, considering, within that universe, customers. Workers in this business sector have to follow a script to talk to customers over the phone, one of the aspects that determine, rather than communication, incommunication. In the conception of Norval Baitello Junior, the script is considered an image. It is observed that, by using it, the call center operator connects to the consumer over the phone, but there is no creation of bonds between them. The company, aiming profit, tries to minimally comply with what the legislation of the sector requires and provides a working environment that impairs fluid and natural communication. This dynamics is analyzed through the concept of work as life, of Dietmar Kamper; by the studies of psychopathology of work, of Christophe Dejours; from the notion of surveillance in Michel Foucault; and by the research of Norval Baitello Junior on how the fact of remaining seated most of the time affects the human body and mind. It was found that many workers suffer, both physically and psychologically, with the constant repetition of the script, and some of them feel unmotivated and incapable of communicating normally in their lives outside of work. It is a cut that is part of the set of today s world dynamics, analyzed by the Theory of the Media, conceived by Harry Pross and Vilém Flusser. The lack of creation of bonds between close people, the accelerated society in cities lacking time and space for all, companies that ratify this way of life, caring less about people and more about profit, are factors that contribute to the condition of incommunicability in society in general and, according to the evaluation of this study, between workers and costumers of call centers / Esta investigação tem como objetivo analisar como empresas de call center dialogam com seu público, considerando, dentro desse universo, os clientes. Os trabalhadores desse segmento empresarial têm de seguir um roteiro para conversar com os clientes pelo telefone, um dos aspectos que determinam, em vez da comunicação, a incomunicação. Considera-se o roteiro uma imagem, na concepção de Norval Baitello Junior. Ao utilizá-lo, observa-se que o operador de call center se conecta ao consumidor, pelo telefone, mas não há criação de vínculo entre ambos. A empresa, visando ao lucro, tenta atender minimamente o que a legislação do setor exige e proporciona um ambiente de trabalho que prejudica a comunicação fluida e natural. Essa dinâmica é analisada por meio do conceito de trabalho como vida, de Dietmar Kamper, pelos estudos de psicopatologia do trabalho, de Christophe Dejours, a partir da noção de vigilância em Michel Foucault e pela investigação de Norval Baitello Junior sobre como o fato de permanecer sentado a maior parte do tempo afeta o corpo e a mente do homem. Constatou-se que muitos trabalhadores sofrem com a repetição constante do roteiro, tanto física como psicologicamente, e alguns deles sentem-se desmotivados e incapacitados de se comunicar normalmente em sua vida fora do trabalho. Trata-se de um recorte que faz parte do conjunto de dinâmicas do mundo atual, analisado pela Teoria da Mídia, pensada por Harry Pross e Vilém Flusser. A falta da criação de vínculos entre as pessoas próximas, a sociedade acelerada em cidades carentes de tempo e espaço para todos, empresas que ratificam esse modo de vida, importando-se menos com as pessoas e mais com a lucratividade, são fatores que contribuem com a condição de incomunicabilidade na sociedade em geral e, segundo avaliação deste estudo, entre trabalhadores e clientes dos call centers

Thesis (M.M. (Finance & Investment))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2014. / The use of a Covered Call strategy has long been favoured by investors the world over for its potential to enhance yield in a long-only equity portfolio. There already exists a wealth of research examining the risk and return features and theories of this strategy. This paper aims to contribute to this debate by conducting research that is specific to the South African equity market and considered from the perspective of a retail investor, particularly by tracking the negative friction induced by transaction costs. It also seeks to answer the question of which Covered Call strategies provide the best risk-adjusted returns by pricing various expiry range and moneyness combinations over differing market trend phases during a 13-year period of trade on the JSE.

<p>Statistical distributions are used to model behaviour of real VoIP traffic. We investigate call holding and inter-arrival times as well as speech patterns. The consequences of using an inappropriate model for network dimensioning are briefly discussed. Visual examination is used to compare well known distributions with empirical data. Our results support the general opinion that the Exponential distribution is not appropriate for modelling call holding time. We find that the distribution of talkspurt periods is well modelled by the Lognormal distribution and the silence periods by the generalized Pareto distribution. It is also observed that the call inter-arrival times tend to follow a heavy tailed distribution.</p>

<p>Further findings of the current study are: there are significant differences in stress based on employees&rsquo / gender and tenure, a significant difference in burnout with regards to gender and employment type, and significant differences between emotional labour based on gender and tenure. However, no significant difference was found between burnout and tenure, nor was there a significant difference between emotional labour and employment type. Recommendations are made to alleviate the effects of stress on call centre employees which in turn, will minimise the effects of burnout and emotional labour. Recommendations included the development of wellness programmes, stress management programmes, coping programmes and effective communications as a mean to shape employee perceptions regarding their interpretation of organisational demands, threats or opportunities and to enhance call centre employees&rsquo / performance within their work.</p>

<p>Further findings of the current study are: there are significant differences in stress based on employees&rsquo / gender and tenure, a significant difference in burnout with regards to gender and employment type, and significant differences between emotional labour based on gender and tenure. However, no significant difference was found between burnout and tenure, nor was there a significant difference between emotional labour and employment type. Recommendations are made to alleviate the effects of stress on call centre employees which in turn, will minimise the effects of burnout and emotional labour. Recommendations included the development of wellness programmes, stress management programmes, coping programmes and effective communications as a mean to shape employee perceptions regarding their interpretation of organisational demands, threats or opportunities and to enhance call centre employees&rsquo / performance within their work.</p>

Dienstleister in der Telekommunikationsbranche haben nicht zuletzt aus rechtlicher Sicht die Pflicht zu einem sensiblen Umgang mit personenbezogenen Daten. Dies bezieht sich nicht nur auf Kundendaten, sondern ebenso auf mitarbeiterbezogene Daten zur Führung eines Call Centers. Je nach Situation und Anwendungsfall regeln die Verwendungsmöglichkeiten dieser Daten in Call Centern das allgemeine Persönlichkeitsrecht und das Bundesdatenschutzgesetz (BDSG). Daraus ergibt sich für die Entwicklung und den Einsatz von Call Center-spezifischen Anwendungssystemen (z.B. Kampagnenmanagement-Systeme, Dialer) die Herausforderung, zum einen die Einhaltung rechtlicher Bestimmungen sicherzustellen, aber zum anderen den häufig detailreichen Informationsbedarfen der Call Center-Leitungsebenen zu entsprechen. Neben rechtlichen Beschränkungen bei der Handhabung von Kundendaten sind hier die Grenzen und Grauzonen bezüglich der Verwendungsmöglichkeiten von Leistungsdaten zur Mitarbeiterüberwachung und -beurteilung (z.B. verdecktes Mithören oder Gesprächsaufzeichnung) zu berücksichtigen.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2005. / Also available online.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between perceived emotional intelligence and job performance among inbound call centre leaders in the medical aid environment. The sample consisted of 268 participants (45 leaders and 223 raters) across different age and race groups. A convenience sample was used, since it was easier to focus on call centre leaders working in the same office. All of the participants completed the 360º Emotional Competency Profiler (ECP) in order to measure emotional intelligence whereas the job performance data were obtained from the management team and an average score of their performance over a one-year period was examined. The research results show that there was no statistically significant relationship between emotional intelligence and job performance among the call centre leaders. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology )

Magister Commercii - MCom / The increasing demand for client-centred services in a highly competitive business environment has resulted in a substantial increase in the number of call centres world wide (Knight 2004 cited in Carrim, Basson & Coetzee, 2006; Nel & De Villiers 2004 cited in Carrim et al., 2006; Williams, 2000 cited in Carrim et al., 2006). According to Holdsworth and Cartwright (2003); Malhotra and Mukherjee (2004); Singh and Goolsby (1994), the work of a customer service representative is seen as one of the ten most stressful jobs in the present-day world economy. Customer service representatives are highly susceptible to elevated levels of stress and burnout, more so than in any other work environment. Within the call centre environment specifically, turnover has been identified as one of the most pressing problems in terms of scope (levels or percentages of turnover), cost and productivity (O’Herron, 2003 cited in Spies, 2006). Factors that lead to unhappiness in call centres are, inter alia, the monotony and repetitiveness of the job content. This situation is aggravated by lack of opportunities for promotion and by stress (Worldroom Digest, 2004 cited in Carrim et al., 2006). In addition, Hochschild (1983) posits that organisations in the service industry do not hesitate to “commercialize” employees’ emotions as a means to attract and retain customers. Research suggests that service providers are under implicit and explicit pressure to regulate their emotions as a tool to lure customers into patronizing the organisation. In recent studies, several key factors were identified that are commonly associated with turnover intention among customer service representatives, namely, work overload, monitoring and surveillance of employees, competing management goals, upward career movement, lack of skill variety, and emotional labour (Cordes & Dougherty, 1993; Deery et al., 2002; Deery & Kinnie, 2004; Holman, 2004; Singh, 2000; Zapf, Isic, Bechtoldt & Blau, 2003). If not dealt with appropriately, stress, burnout and emotional labour can increase the turnover rate, which accordingly can be damaging to the organisation. The current research was conducted at an outbound call centre in a retail organisation in the Western Cape. The sample comprised of a hundred and sixty three call centre employees who are employed in the collections/outbound department. Convenience sampling was utilised. A self-developed Biographical Questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach & Jackson, 1981), the Emotional Labour Scale (Brotheridge & Lee, 2003), the Experience of Work and Life Circumstances Questionnaire (Van Zyl &Van der walt, 1994), and the Turnover Intentions Questionnaire (Roodt, 2004) were used to collect the data. The data was analysed using SPSS and the results were interpreted by means of descriptive and inferential statistics (the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient, T-Test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Multiple Regression Analysis. The results indicate that there is a moderate relationship between stress and intention to leave the organisation amongst the sample of employees. There was also a significant relationship between burnout and intention to leave the organisation. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between emotional labour and intention to leave the organisation. Further findings of the current study are: there are significant differences in stress based on employees’ gender and tenure, a significant difference in burnout with regards to gender and employment type, and significant differences between emotional labour based on gender and tenure. However, no significant difference was found between burnout and tenure, nor was there a significant difference between emotional labour and employment type. Recommendations are made to alleviate the effects of stress on call centre employees which in turn, will minimise the effects of burnout and emotional labour. Recommendations included the development of wellness programmes, stress management programmes, coping programmes and effective communications as a mean to shape employee perceptions regarding their interpretation of organisational demands, threats or opportunities and to enhance call centre employees’ performance within their work. / South Africa