Although Icelandic and Norwegian killer whales are thought to have been in contact prior to the collapse of the herring stock in the 1960s, the Northeast Atlantic killer whales currently seem to show high site fidelity. So far, photoidentification data have suggested movement of a few individuals between East Iceland and North Scotland, and two calls have been shown to be shared by the Icelandic and Norwegian populations. Based on previous and newly analysed call samples, the aim of this study was to describe the geographic variation in the vocal repertoire of the Northeast Atlantic killer whales. Recordings have been conducted off Southwest Iceland in the summers 2004, 2008 and 2009 using sound recording tags attached using suction cups (Dtags), a 4-element vertical hydrophone array and a 2-element towed hydrophone array. From the 57 hours of recording analysed, 1742 calls were classified. In total, 56 distinct call categories composed of 35 call types and 31 subtypes were identified. This discrete call repertoire contained less biphonic calls but more calls composed of buzzes and/or clicks than the Norwegian repertoire. The reasons for these differences remain unknown. One Icelandic call subtype was defined as a compound call, a type of call that is common in the Norwegian population. The comparison of the different vocal repertoires of Northeast Atlantic showed four good or likely call matches in herring-eating killer whales (one between Southwest Iceland and Shetland, one between East Iceland and Norway, and two between Shetland and Norway). No matches were found between Southwest Iceland and East Iceland. I suggest that the four shared calls are most likely to have come from a common ancestral pod and have been transmitted through vocal learning. Over time, geographic isolation of the groups induced by changes in the migratory patterns of the herring might have been accompanied by divergence in their call repertoires.

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

Zugl.: Clausthal, Techn. Univ., Diss., 2008

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 description available.

No description available.

This study explores aspects of the nature and experience of call centre employment. In 1972 only 42% of UK households had a home-based telephone (BIFU, 1996). By 2000 98% of UK homes had access to either fixed-line or mobile telephone services (Oftel, 2001). The commercial exploitation of this artifact is now being realised through call centres employing sophisticated information and communications technologies. Virtually unheard of a decade ago, UK call centres provided jobs for an estimated 264,000 people in 2001 (Datamonitor, 1999). They have increasingly attracted public and academic attention, much of the latter focused on issues of employee control and surveilance. This study uses analyses of call centre-related newspaper articles, a survey of Scottish recruitment and employment agencies, covert participant observation, and interviews with agency representatives and call centre employees to explore issues such as recruitment and selection, the nature and experience of employment, and employee turnover in call centres. The ethics of using covert methods are discussed. Four main conclusions emerge from the study. First, call centre employment can be differentiated from other occupations on the basis of recruitment and selection practices, employee skils and differences in work environments, performance monitoring and supervision practices and regulation of workplace behaviour. Second, job characteristics may predispose employees to low levels of job-related well-being and burnout. Third, levels of employee turnover may be linked to occupational novelty and the availability of pre-employment realistic job information. Fourth, automated systems are beginning to replace routine, repetitive, low value tasks, resulting in changes in the nature of call centre employment. Those jobs that remain seem likely to be more demanding with complex tasks and an emphasis on quality rather than quantity of interactions. The implications of the study's findings and conclusions for future research and for call centre employers and their employees are considered.

Problema de Investigación Hay mucha dificultad en implementar la interfaz ICallbackEventHandler cuando se desea agregar varias llamadas asíncronas en una misma página web. Existen una serie de pasos que se deben realizar cada vez que se quiera ejecutar un evento que tenga las características asíncronas utilizando ICallbackEventHandler, esto demanda un exceso de tiempo y esfuerzo que podría ser reducido. A continuación se describen los pasos: a) Implementar la interface b) Implementar los métodos de la interface c) Colocar el script del servidor d) Colocar el script del lado del cliente e) Modificar los métodos de la interface según el funcionamiento que se desea obtener. f) Realizar llamada asíncrona Este es justamente el problema que se ha encontrado y se atacará, para reducir los pasos y dar facilidad para implementar más eventos en una misma interfaz de una manera más fácil y rápida. Objetivo General Bajar la dificultad de uso de ICallbackEventHandler al desarrollar páginas Web. Se reduce la implementación a un mínimo de 4 pasos que además son más óptimos. Objetivos Específicos a) Usar varios métodos personalizables en la aplicación, ocultando los métodos en el lado del servidor: RaiseCallbackEvent y GetCallbackResult. b) Permitir que los métodos personalizables tengan varios parámetros de tipos numéricos y tipo String. c) Facilitar la tarea de implementar más de una llamada asíncrona. Se cuenta con métodos indefinidos en el servidor d) Permitir controlar las Excepciones e) Utilizar la función estándar “ICallBackFunction” para la comunicación con el servidor

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.

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.