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

IV Human Resource Management
1. Karlin, J.E. The changing and expanding role of human factors in telecommunications engineering
at Bell Laboratories. Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium on Human Factors
in Telecommunications. Standard Telecommunication Labs, Harlow, UK, 1977, 329–333.
Abstract. In recent years it has become clear that the continued growth and profitability of
common carrier telecommunications will depend much more on people considerations than was
the case in the past. In part this derives from the need to automate work force job design to
offset sharply rising labor costs; in part from the need to increase revenues by expanding the
range of customer services. The former raises questions regarding the impact on the customer
of dealing more with machines and less with telephone operators and other employees as well
as impact on employee satisfaction with the change in the job. The latter raises questions regarding
new and future customer communication needs as well as efficient and economical ways
of satisfying them. At Bell Laboratories, the total human factors effort is being reorganized to
enhance its effectiveness.
Keywords: Human factors, Telecommunications engineering, Common carrier telecommunications
2. Klenke, M. ACDs get skills-based routing, Business Communications Review, 25 (7), 1995, 48–
51.
Abstract. The goal of automated call distributor (ACD) technology has always been to spread
incoming calls among call center agents so that each agent handled an equitable share of the
load and the caller had the best chance of being served quickly. Now, a new kind of thinking
skills-based routing has entered the call center arena. It takes ACDs one step further and ensures
that an incoming call is routed to the available agent whose skills are best matched to the
caller’s needs. Skills-based routing software works by linking call center agents with predefined
skills groups. The author discusses the identification of customer needs, defining agent skills,
and setting up a routing scheme which allows callers and agents to come together efficiently.
Keywords: ACD, Skills-based routing, Automated call distributor technology, Incoming calls,
Call center agents, Routing software, Skills groups, Customer needs, Agent skills
(Appears also in Section VI.)
3. Hoekstra, Edward J., Joseph Hurrell, Naomi G. Swanson and Allison Tepper. Ergonomic job
task, and psychosocial risk factors for work-related musculoskeletal disorders among teleservice
center representatives, International Journal of Human Computer Interaction, 8 (4), 1996, 421–
431.
Abstract. Evaluated the association between work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMDs)
and work conditions, perceived exhaustion, job dissatisfaction, and job-stress issues at two teleservice
centers (TSCs). One facility had upgraded workstation furniture while the other did not
have such ergonomic upgrades. A questionnaire survey among 114 teleservice representatives
and an ergonomic evaluation were conducted to determine WRMDs and their risk factors. A
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