CALL CENTERS (CENTRES) - Faculty of Industrial Engineering and ...

Keywords: Call centres, Service, Efficiency, HR strategy
29. de Ruyter, Ko, Martin Wetzels and Richard Feinberg. Role stress in call centers: Its effects on
employee performance and satisfaction, Journal of Interactive Marketing, 15 (2), 2001, 23–35.
Abstract. Call centers have become an important customer access channel as well as an important
source of customer-related information. Frequently, call center employees experience
role stress as a result of the conflicting demands of the company, supervisors, and customers.
In a study, antecedents and consequences of role stress in a call center setting are examined.
Specifically, which forms of empowerment and leadership styles decrease role stress and how this
subsequently effects job satisfaction, organizational commitment, performance, and turnover
intentions, are investigated. It was found that particularly the autonomy dimension of empowerment
has a role-stress-reducing effect. Interesting substantive direct positive effects of
empowerment competence and leadership consideration on job satisfaction were found.
Keywords: Call centers, Studies, Roles, Stress, Employee problems
30. Dilevko, J. An ideological analysis of digital reference service models, Library Trends, 50 (2),
2001, 218–244.
Abstract. Using the theories of Pierre Boudieu about occupational fields of struggle and species
of capital, this article examines the ideological implications of the digital reference call-center
model. This model has the potential to lead to deprofessionalization of reference work because of
increased automation and the replication of employment conditions prevailing in private sector
call centers. Call-center work typically involves unskilled women earning low wages in jobs that
present little opportunity for career building. Library directors who advocate digital reference
call centers as models of the future have neglected the negative aspects of call centers in their
rush to cut costs and provide efficient services. One answer to the deskilling dilemma is the
simple act of reading: the more a librarian reads, the more he or she becomes an irreplaceable
contributor in the reference transaction.
(Appears also in Section VIII.)
31. Gilmore, Audrey. Call centre management: Is service quality a priority? Managing Service
Quality, 11 (3), 2001, 153–159.
Abstract. In recent years the call centre industry has grown rapidly in size and popularity. In so
doing, the industry has been perceived to suffer from some of the problems associated with industrial
mass production. The nature of the requirement to answer a high number of calls in these
centres had led to the use of a traditional “production-line” management approach. Recently,
as a result of both customers’ and employees’ expectations rising in relation to service delivery,
the trend is for call centre operations to become more focused on staff empowerment, moving
away from the traditional production-line approach. For many companies, this has become a
difficult management problem. This paper reports on one such company. Following a number of
years’ reliance on carrying out surveys of customer perceptions, and a history of subsequent lack
of service improvement, this research used an in-depth case study approach incorporating observation
studies, interviews with different levels of managers, and focus-group discussions with
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