Call Centre Management Research Articles

Advanced workforce management for effective customer services

Because almost 60–80% of the total costs for operating a contact centre involve wage and benefit expenses for personnel, determining the optimal number of agents available is of great importance in call centre management. In modern call centres, working hours are divided into planning intervals with identical lengths. Each planning interval is typically assumed to be a homogeneous Poisson process in a steady state, and simple queuing models, such as Erlang-C (M/M/c), are often applied to determine the optimal staffing levels of the planning intervals. However, since the actual length of the planning interval in practice is relatively short, the basic assumption of staffing analysis could be violated. In this paper, we numerically analyze an M/M/c+M call centre’s behavior in a transient state. As a result, we can determine appropriate staffing levels of a call centre with short planning intervals which do not assume to be in a steady state.

The efficiency and quality dilemma: What drives South African call centre management performance indicators?

Orientation: Call centres have become principal channels of communication with customers. Therefore, companies attempt to reduce costs and improve the quality of their interactions with customers simultaneously. These objectives are often conflicting and call centre managers struggle to balance the efficiency and quality priorities of the business. Research purpose: This study explored the key performance indicators that drive management practices in the South African call centre industry in the context of the dilemma between efficiency and quality. Motivation for the study: The South African government has identified call centres as a method of creating jobs and foreign investment. Management practices affect centres’ performance. Understanding these practices will help to achieve these aims. Research design: The researchers used a web-based questionnaire in a survey with South African call centre managers in more than 44 different organisations that represented nine industry sectors. Main findings: This study indicated that the dilemma between efficiency and quality is prevalent in South African call centres and that efficiency key performance indicators drive management practices. Practical/managerial implications: The inconsistencies the study reported mean that South African organisations should assess the alignment between their organisational visions, the strategic intentions of their call centres and the performance measures they use to assess their call centre managers. Contribution/value-add: This study adds to the relatively small amount of empirical research available on the call centre industry in South Africa. It contributes to the industry’s attempt to position itself favourably for local and international outsourcing opportunities.

The efficiency and quality dilemma: What drives South African call centre management performance indicators?

Orientation: Call centres have become principal channels of communication with customers. Therefore, companies attempt to reduce costs and improve the quality of their interactions with customers simultaneously. These objectives are often conflicting and call centre managers struggle to balance the efficiency and quality priorities of the business.Research purpose: This study explored the key performance indicators that drive management practices in the South African call centre industry in the context of the dilemma between efficiency and quality.Motivation for the study: The South African government has identified call centres as a method of creating jobs and foreign investment. Management practices affect centres’ performance. Understanding these practices will help to achieve these aims.Research design: The researchers used a web-based questionnaire in a survey with South African call centre managers in more than 44 different organisations that represented nine industry sectors.Main findings: This study indicated that the dilemma between efficiency and quality is prevalent in South African call centres and that efficiency key performance indicators drive management practices.Practical/managerial implications: The inconsistencies the study reported mean that South African organisations should assess the alignment between their organisational visions, the strategic intentions of their call centres and the performance measures they use to assess their call centre managers.Contribution/value-add: This study adds to the relatively small amount of empirical research available on the call centre industry in South Africa. It contributes to the industry’s attempt to position itself favourably for local and international outsourcing opportunities.

Mandatory adoption of customer relationship management information technology: the role of customer support in an attitude-intention model

We explore the applicability of attitude-intention models in predicting customer relationship management (CRM) information technology use in call centres, where information technology use is mandatory and the information technology application is integral to job performance. In voluntary adoption contexts, information technology use attitude is not a significant predictor of intention. However, information technology use attitude has not been investigated in mandatory adoption contexts. Our analysis of qualitative data from call centre managers, supervisors and agents suggests that both attitudes and intentions are necessary in obtaining use of CRM information technology systems. Additionally, we identify two new constructs causally linked in the manner suggested by the theory of reasoned action: attitude toward supporting customers and intention to support customers. The uncovering of these additional antecedents to CRM information technology adoption suggests that basic customer support training should be included in information system training.

Cross-trained versus specialized agents in an inbound call centre: a simulation-based methodology for trade-off analysis

While advances in call-centre technologies offer increased capabilities and efficiencies, the expanded possibilities for alternative configurations and operating policies complicate call-centre design and management correspondingly. Discrete-event simulation can capture these complexities and assist call-centre management in leveraging new technologies. In this study, we describe a simulation-based methodology developed for the inbound call centres of a leading catalog retailer of consumer electronics. Management sought to understand the implications of exploiting the capabilities of advanced telephone switches to migrate from a staff comprised entirely of cross-trained agents to a staff of dedicated product specialists. At issue was the trade-off between the efficiency of the single-channel generalist configuration and the potential effectiveness of a dual-channel specialist configuration. We describe the resolution of a range of technical issues embodied in this methodology, including modelling non-stationary call-arrival processes, deriving service-delay distributions from aggregate call-duration data, modelling call flow and control processes, adaptation of a framework for proper statistical comparison of multiple alternatives, and a software utility developed to integrate experiment design, run control, and output analysis.

Customer satisfaction and service quality measurement in Indian call centres

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to examine customer satisfaction and service quality measurement practices followed in call centres.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses qualitative methodology involving in‐depth interviews. The respondents were senior managers belonging to quality or operation divisions in four large call centres in India.FindingsIt is found that service quality management in call centres disregards customers. The study suggests that call centre managers overly depend on operational measures. Customer orientation in assessing service performance is either low or absent in most call centres.Research limitations/implicationsSince the study has used qualitative methodology, observations and findings need to be validated with empirical data.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests that call centres need to develop systematic and comprehensive measurement of perceived service quality in order to provide superior call centre experience to their customers.Originality/valueThe paper is the first systematic study that examines customer satisfaction and service quality measurement practices in call centres in India, a country which has emerged as a leading player in the global business process outsourcing industry.

Call centre service quality for the public: a Scottish framework for the future

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate the quality of service provided by the Stirling Council call centre with a view to determining the essential elements of best practice.Design/methodology/approachThe method involves questionnaires to Scottish local authorities about their use of call centres, interviews with Stirling Council managers and call centre employees and some participant observation to gain a detailed view of both the management and operations of the call centre.FindingsThe findings are grouped into the topics of communication, training, quality and systems/technology, with improvements suggested in a few areas. Overall, the approach to service quality in the call centre tends to be more qualitative than quantitative with a good awareness of learning and management related issues.Originality/valueThe value/contribution of the paper lies in the definition of essential best practice call centre management components, presented in a framework involving aims, enablers and results. This model is proposed for generalised use in both the public and private sectors; it would henceforth benefit from some testing and further refinements.

Promotion in call centres: opportunities and determinants

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the quality of jobs in call centres by focusing on the opportunities for promotion in this sector. More specifically, the research questions focus on discovering whether promotion is common practise in the call centre sector and on identifying the factors that affect this.Design/methodology/approachA survey questionnaire was administered to call centre directors or their human resource managers. A least square regression analysis was carried out to examine how training, job security and knowledge about employees' abilities, affect the use of promotion in call centres, as well as three structural variables of the organisations: size, being part of a larger organisation and whether the call centre was in‐house or outsourced.FindingsThe results suggest a limited use of promotion and the absence of consolidated internal labour markets in this sector. Nevertheless, a diverse range of call centres exists in terms of the use of promotion. The analysis identifies structural and managerial variables that identify where promotion is likely to be employed more intensively in call centres.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of the paper is related to the variables used to examine training. An important implication of the results for managers is the suggestion to employ promotion policies with other human resource management practices.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this paper is the finding that the use of promotion has been determined by structural factors and other management practices. Therefore, call centre managers are encouraged to establish these practices in order to subsequently facilitate the use of promotion.

Running the electronic sweatshop: Call centre managers' views on call centres

AbstractCall centres have been described as ‘electronic sweatshops’ and ‘slave galleons of the twenty first century’ and, contrarily as progressive, team based and career fulfilling work environments. Drawing on data from a survey of call centre managers in Australia, it is shown that there are elements of call centre management with practices from both extremes of the descriptive continuum and in some instances these elements coexist in the one centre. Whilst call centres are managed with a high level of control and the work of call centre agents is subject to intense scrutiny and monitoring, the simplistic notion that they are electronic sweatshops, or that the metaphor of the Panopticon applies, is rejected.

Running the electronic sweatshop: Call centre managers' views on call centres

AbstractCall centres have been described as ‘electronic sweatshops’ and ‘slave galleons of the twenty first century’ and, contrarily as progressive, team based and career fulfilling work environments. Drawing on data from a survey of call centre managers in Australia, it is shown that there are elements of call centre management with practices from both extremes of the descriptive continuum and in some instances these elements coexist in the one centre. Whilst call centres are managed with a high level of control and the work of call centre agents is subject to intense scrutiny and monitoring, the simplistic notion that they are electronic sweatshops, or that the metaphor of the Panopticon applies, is rejected.

Contextuality and cultural texts: a case study of workplace learning in call centres

PurposeThe paper seeks to show the contextualisation of call centres as a work‐specific ethnographically and culturally based community, which, in turn, influences pedagogical practices through the encoding and decoding of cultural texts in relation to two logics: cost‐efficiency and customer‐orientation.Design/methodology/approachThe paper includes a qualitative, interpretive research‐based case study involving three Australian incoming customer service call centres and seven call centre managers.FindingsThe paper finds cultural texts with high management structure and control and low workplace socialisation and semiotic literacy favour constructions of meaning which prioritise qualitative (customer‐orientated logic) performance by a customer service representative (CSR) at early cultural junctures. This position subsequently transitions to favour the prioritisation of quantitative (cost‐efficient logic) performance as the CSR progresses. The shift occurs through a process of relayered knowledge constructs wherein a corresponding reduction in management control and structure of the texts is counter‐balanced by an increase in workplace socialisation and semiotic literacy.Practical implicationsThe paper includes enriched understandings of call centre contextuality and shows that fresh perspectives on contextually influenced pedagogical practices have the potential to direct and harness more informed approaches to call centre teaching and learning, particularly in relation to the logics of cost‐efficiency and customer‐orientation.Originality/valueA thought‐provoking paper for call centre managers and human resource learning and development professionals which foregrounds the concepts of work‐specific ethnographic community, cultural texts, encoding and decoding, socialisation and semiotic literacy as influential workplace teaching and learning conduits.

Call centre management: responsibilities and performance

PurposeTo investigate call centre management from the perspective of the managers, particularly what the key management responsibilities are in managing call centres and the key performance indicators (KPIs) used in managing call centres.Design/methodology/approachA survey of call centre managers, followed by in‐depth interviews.FindingsThere is confusion over the strategic intent of call centres. Centres are primarily used by organisations as a means of reducing costs, with customer service delivery a secondary consideration. Call centre managers, however, declared customer service as their main management responsibility.Practical implicationsThe metrics employed in the call centres resulted in managers concentrating on the call itself rather than the outcome of the call from the perspective of the customer or the organisation. Some quantitative measures were used as proxies for customer service, but the achievement of the relevant KPI became a goal in its own right. There appears to be an insatiable appetite for quantitative performance measures, despite their limitations, almost to the exclusion of all other performance measures.Originality/valueThe implication of the results for call centre managers, and their managers, is that call centres could be better managed if a wider range of means and measures were used.

Improving call centre agent performance

PurposeThe study was designed to understand important aspects of the call centre agents' job, from their point of view, and the relationships between these aspects and agent effectiveness as perceived by agents' supervisors.Design/methodology/approachQualitative data gathering (from 113 agents) involved three methods: critical incidents, behavioural events interviews and focus group interviews. Based on the items thus identified, a questionnaire was administered (n=169) to agents in two call centres, and the results were analysed using factor analysis and correlation analysis.FindingsFour distinct factors emerged from the analysis: intrinsic motivation (IM,α=0.91), reward/recognition (RR,α=0.56), customer stress (CS,α=0.85) and stress management (SM,α=0.74). IM correlated positively with effectiveness, especially among experienced agents. CS correlated negatively with IM and positively with RR; SM correlated positively with IM.Research limitations/implicationsSome limitations are: self‐reported data, representing one point in time, and with only two call centres. IM and CS present opportunities for further in‐depth study, among frontline employees in general.Practical implicationsThe study has many significant practical implications for call centre managers to improve agents' performance by tapping into IM rather than control. Further, higher levels of IM are likely to lead to a less stressed workforce.Originality/valueOur study has indicated two new and important constructs (IM and CS) that emerged from agents, and established important links between these constructs, and with effectiveness.

Customer Service Versus Performance Metrics in an Electronic Sweatshop?: Managers' Perspectives on Issues in Running Call Centres

Call centres have been described as 'electronic sweatshops' and 'slave galleons of the twenty first century' and, contrarily as progressive, team based and career fulfilling work environments. Drawing on data from a survey of call centre managers in Australia, it is shown that there are elements of call centre management with practices from both extremes of the descriptive continuum and in some instances these elements coexist in the one centre. Whilst call centres are managed with a high level of control and the work of call centre agents is subject to intense scrutiny and monitoring, the simplistic notion that they are electronic sweatshops, or that the metaphor of the Panopticon applies, is rejected.

Putting Call Centres in their Place

As the popularity of call centres has grown, so too has research on the call centre industry. The existing literature on call centres can be viewed as contributing to four areas; call centre organisations, call centre management, call centre employees, and call centre customers. Despite the large amount of research that has been conducted on the industry in recent times, there are some areas that are often overlooked, in particular, gender, history and development of the industry and, importantly, the impact of place. Call centres remove the need for face-to-face contact with customers. This, combined with the technology used, results in the call centre industry being geographically mobile, with call centres located across the world, serving customers from across the world. The geographically mobile nature of the industry highlights the importance of considering place in research on call centres, both generally and specifically. Important questions that emerge include the impact of place on location decisions, on the nature of work performed, and the impact of place on the way call centre employees are managed. Following a review of the literature, this paper focuses on considering if, and how, place impacts on the HR policies and practices on call centres. The paper concludes by examining the implications of the analysis for future research.

How to Manage the IT Helpdesk: A Guide for User Support and Call Centre Managers (2nd ed.)

How to Manage the IT Helpdesk: A Guide for User Support and Call Centre Managers (2nd ed.)

Calling on Compensation in Australian Call Centres

ABSTRACTWhile there is a growing body of research on telephone call centre management in the U.K. and the U.S.A., empirical studies in Australia are at an embryonic stage. To date, most of the studies have focussed on the management of employee performance. The principal aim of this study was to provide data on current compensation practices in Australian call centres and to determine the extent of their strategic and best-practice orientation. A second aim was to explore whether the strategic management of compensation can help to balance the tension between commitment to customer service and commitment to employee motivation.Using data collected through a mail questionnaire survey of telephone call centres operating in a range of industries in Australia, the paper explores the effect of compensation practices on employee performance, absenteeism and turnover. Following a review of the literature on call centre management and the literature on compensation strategies, the findings are presented. Key findings include: a) a significant negative correlation between annual salary and the number of calls handled by full-time customer service representatives (CSRs); b) a significant positive correlation between casual CSRs' pay rates and turnover; c) a significant negative correlation between full-time CSRs' pay and absenteeism; d) a highly significant difference between the compensation strategies currently practiced in Australian call centres and the strategies call centre managers think should be practiced and e) Australian call centre managers report their compensation strategies are not very effective in increasing performance or employee satisfaction.

Calling on Compensation in Australian Call Centres

ABSTRACTWhile there is a growing body of research on telephone call centre management in the U.K. and the U.S.A., empirical studies in Australia are at an embryonic stage. To date, most of the studies have focussed on the management of employee performance. The principal aim of this study was to provide data on current compensation practices in Australian call centres and to determine the extent of their strategic and best-practice orientation. A second aim was to explore whether the strategic management of compensation can help to balance the tension between commitment to customer service and commitment to employee motivation.Using data collected through a mail questionnaire survey of telephone call centres operating in a range of industries in Australia, the paper explores the effect of compensation practices on employee performance, absenteeism and turnover. Following a review of the literature on call centre management and the literature on compensation strategies, the findings are presented. Key findings include: a) a significant negative correlation between annual salary and the number of calls handled by full-time customer service representatives (CSRs); b) a significant positive correlation between casual CSRs' pay rates and turnover; c) a significant negative correlation between full-time CSRs' pay and absenteeism; d) a highly significant difference between the compensation strategies currently practiced in Australian call centres and the strategies call centre managers think should be practiced and e) Australian call centre managers report their compensation strategies are not very effective in increasing performance or employee satisfaction.

Taylorism, targets and the pursuit of quantity and quality by call centre management

The paper locates the rise of the call centre within the context of the development of Taylorist methods and technological change in office work in general. Managerial utilisation of targets to impose and measure employees’ quantitative and qualitative performance is analysed in four case–study organisations. The paper concludes that call centre work reflects a pardigmic re–configuration of customer servicing operations, and that the continuing application of Taylorist methods appears likely.

The viability of alternative call centre production models

In this article we outline three alternative production models and discuss their applicability to call centre management. These include the classic mass production model, the professional service model and the mass customisation model. We then develop a theoretical framework that identifies potential causal links between management practices, workers‚ affective and cognitive reactions, and performance outcomes. We use this framework to review literature on service workplaces in organisational behaviour and HR studies and to assess the empirical evidence regarding these causal explanations. Finally, we present two recent quantitative studies of call centre performance – one that examines affective explanations and one that explores cognitive explanations for the HRperformance link. We conclude with directions for future research.