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4 - In the pursuit of quality and quantity: the competing demands in call centers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2009

By
Steffanie L. Wilk
Edited by
Peter Cappelli
Steffanie L. Wilk
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of Management and Human Resources, Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University
Peter Cappelli
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
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Summary

Introduction

To some, call centers represent the modern-day “factory floor.” With strict controls over the quality and quantity of work, Taylorism seems to be alive and well in the call center. The reality is not that simple, however. Call centers, with virtually constant customer contact and attendant interpersonal demands on workers, will always be stressful for workers to a point. How the organization balances the demands of quantity and quality, by controlling the pace and the content (through the scripting and monitoring) of calls, can have a profound effect on the workplace. It can even influence how stressful the interpersonal demands of the job are for workers. Indeed, the choices employers make about how to manage call centers can be more important than the call center context per se in determining employee outcomes.

This chapter starts by providing a basic overview of the call center, highlighting the different types of calls and callers, and the power of technology to control both the quantity and the quality of the service interactions. Much of the chapter is dedicated to a study of how workers struggle to meet the competing demands of quantity and quality. Then I examine all the parties in the interpersonal context for call center workers and highlight the role that supervisors and co-workers may play in mitigating or exacerbating the stresses of the work with customers.

Type
Chapter
Information
Employment Relationships
New Models of White-Collar Work
 , pp. 112 - 141
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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