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

such work ‘virtual’, ‘poly-authored’ and ‘market supervised’. These new forms of work are now
spreading beyond conventional call centres, partly because of the new expectations of customers,
partly because of the migration of call centre employees into other areas of the enterprise.
Keywords: Studies, Call centres, Customer relations, Organisational structure
75. Ayios, Angela and Lisa Harris. Customer relationships in the e-economy: Mutual friends or just
a veneering? Qualitative Market Research, 8 (4), 2005, 454–469.
Abstract. This paper investigates whether technological developments can be used in call center
environments to build trust and hence lasting customer relationships beyond the usual focus
on efficiency gains through automation. It draws upon depth interviews with management and
staff in three very different types of call center to critically examine the ways in which caring
attitudes and competent behavior of call center staff can contribute to building durable bases
for customer trust. While one of the case studies exemplifies a purely economic rationale for
call center operations, the other two demonstrate that a truly optimal application of technology
creates a shared system of which customers and employees form an integrated part. Employees’
knowledge of the system and the product it underpins are applied in a positive way to create
relationships and trust with the customers with whom they transact.
Keywords: Call centers, Customer relations, Loyalty, Competitive advantage, Models, Electronic
commerce, Studies
76. Baumgartner, Marc and Ivars Udris. Call center ist nicht gleich call center: Personalselektion
und -entwicklung in einer dynamischen branche (auch in der Schweiz), Arbeit, 14 (1), 2005, 3–17.
Abstract. Investigations in 14 Swiss call centers identified four types, which differ according to
work and communication direction: 1. consulting and complaint-management, 2. information
management, 3. ordering management, and 4. customer- and campaign management. This also
has effects on the personnel structure, personnel selection and personnel development in the call
center. Further research is made on the different work skills that are demanded in those call
center types and how the personnel selection and personnel development strategies, like initial
training, further training and coaching, differ among those types. Perspectives for the future of
call center work are also discussed.
Keywords: Call centers, Studies, Statistical analysis, Organizational behavior, Personnel selection,
Skills
77. Bolton, Sharon C. and Maeve Houlihan. The (mis)representation of customer service, Work,
Employment & Society, 19 (4), 2005, 685–703.
Abstract. The growth of service work has introduced the customer as a third party to the employment
relationship. Yet dominant images of customer relations portray docile service workers
offering de-personalized care to sometimes aggressive but otherwise not much more agential customers.
This paper seeks to bring humanity back into an analysis of customer service, and to
reinterpret customer service interaction as a human relationship. Using labour process analysis
and data from call-centre workers and their customers, we rerepresent customers as many-faceted,
115