Making sense of the organisation from the front line : the call centre context

Sensemaking is a key concept supporting managerial and organisational cognitive research, and the analysis of various intervening processes that mediate how organisational members simplify and make sense of their environments. This study has directly responded to the challenge set by researchers to extend the utility of the sensemaking concept to contexts other than management. Here it was applied in the context of the United Kingdom call centre sector, where concerns have been expressed regarding a variety of key working practices that have been reported to be less than desirable, and focused upon the call centre front line worker. Reflecting a number of recent methodological debates, the study applied a multidisciplinary approach, and the employment of cause mapping data elicitation procedures. The research methodology developed enabled the collection of 200 cause maps across 5 organisations, spanning public and private sectors, in a manner that was meaningful for study participants and sufficiently rigorous to allow comparisons to be made between individual maps and across various subgroups. A variety of situational factors and individual differences variables were taken into consideration in terms of their potential impact upon, and ability to be influenced and shaped by, the processes of sensemaking. It was found that the various attempts to institutionalise call centres into an industry has not yet penetrated the lower reaches of the organisations in this study, and numerous additional insights were revealed regarding the differences in patterns of sensemaking across organisations and various sub-groups. The study has provided insights ultimately enhancing our understanding of the processes required to improve the working conditions of such front line employees. Management and employee relations were particularly salient issues for this study population. However, the variance in sensemaking revealed in this study implies that the realities of management and employee may be quite different, with these multiple realities potentially leading to fundamental misconceptions between the two parties. This has implications in terms of a wide range of organisational factors, for example job design and performance measurement. More attention is now required to take account of the sensemaking of non-managerial populations who, in and beyond the call centre context, make up the largest part of almost any contemporary work organisation

The relationship between supplier networks and industrial clusters: an analysis based on the cluster mapping method

Michael Porter’s concept of competitive advantages emphasizes the importance of regional cooperation of various actors in order to gain competitiveness on globalized markets. Foreign investors may play an important role in forming such cooperation networks. Their local suppliers tend to concentrate regionally. They can form, together with local institutions of education, research, financial and other services, development agencies, the nucleus of cooperative clusters. This paper deals with the relationship between supplier networks and clusters. Two main issues are discussed in more detail: the interest of multinational companies in entering regional clusters and the spillover effects that may stem from their participation. After the discussion on the theoretical background, the paper introduces a relatively new analytical method: “cluster mapping” - a method that can spot regional hot spots of specific economic activities with cluster building potential. Experience with the method was gathered in the US and in the European Union. After the discussion on the existing empirical evidence, the authors introduce their own cluster mapping results, which they obtained by using a refined version of the original methodology.cluster, transnational company, supplier network

Emergence and Development of Industry Clusters in Hungary : Searching for a 'Critical Mass' of Business via Cluster Mapping

In the epoch of globalization, small or medium-sized national companies have great difficulties in finding an appropriate place for themselves in global labor division systems. They most frequently apply either strategies that help them becoming part of global value chains as regular suppliers, or they try to locate in which they might cooperate with other small companies in industrial clusters to compete with larger multinational companies. In both cases, communication, knowledge transfer, and cooperative actions among companies are essential for improving competitive capacities. Since this type of cooperation relies heavily on close, regular contact and face-to-face interaction, the spatial concentration of actors can improve the chances for success. Literature on the topic of supplier networks and spillover effects, as well as that on industrial clusters, emphasizes the importance of a "critical mass" of companies and other organizations and institutions. The authors first define and describe the types of synergies that stem from co-location of cooperating market actors. In addition the potential linkages among the two types of networks, supplier chains and clusters are explained. After a brief overview of the related literature, the authors introduce a new, refined measurement method of spatial concentration with empirical survey results from Hungary.industry cluster, supplier network, foreign direct investment, Hungary

Hotel and Restaurant Strategy: Key Elements for Success

Strategy is the key to success for any hotel or restaurant company, but developing and implementing a strategy is sometimes an elusive goal. A series of presentations at the 2012 Cornell Hospitality Research Summit focused on how to develop and apply strategies in the hotel industry, restaurant industry, and the hospitality industry generally. Perhaps the most important aspect of strategic management is finding an appropriate way to measure whether a particular strategy is successful. Also critical is aligning all stakeholders in a hospitality operation

Strategies Insurance Leaders Use to Reduce Sales Agent Turnover

High turnover of new sales agents costs insurance leaders millions of dollars and adversely impacts profit margins. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the retention strategies that insurance leaders from central New Jersey used to reduce sales agent turnover. Study participants included 5 insurance leaders with sales management experience ranging from 3 to 5 years. Job embeddedness theory was the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected via semistructured interviews, company reports, and archival records. Using thematic analysis, the data were examined and coded and generated 4 key themes: recruiting and selection process; value of coaching, training, and mentoring; leadership engagement; and organizational culture. The implications of this study for social change include the ability of insurance leaders to allocate increased profits to funding local and community-based service organizations and philanthropic initiatives. Additionally, with increased profits, insurance leaders may be able to invest in developing indemnity products and services tailored for underserved populations, such as women, minorities, and low-income individuals and families, thereby contributing to positive social change

Information and communication technology architecture models for the service level management

Supporting business processes through knowledge management technologies is one of the key factors in the today’s industry.Different business processes and the potentials of supporting them need knowledge management measures.We illustrate the applicability and possibilities of knowledge management in business processes especial in the field of incident management requiring tools and measures to assist service support processes

Multiple-fault detection and identification scheme based on hierarchical self-organizing maps applied to an electric machine

Strategies of condition monitoring applied to electric motors play an important role in the competitiveness of multiple industrial sectors. However, the risk of faults coexistence in an electric motor and the overlapping of their effects in the considered physical magnitudes represent, currently, a critical limitation to provide reliable diagnosis outcomes. In this regard, additional investigation efforts are required towards high-dimensional data fusion schemes, particularly over the features calculation and features reduction, which represent two decisive stages in such data-driven approaches. In this study, a novel multiple-fault detection and identification methodology supported by a feature-level fusion strategy and a Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) hierarchical structure is proposed. The condition diagnosis as well as the corresponding estimated probability are obtained. Moreover, the proposed method allows the visualization of the results while preserving the underlying physical phenomenon of the system under monitoring. The proposed scheme is performed sequentially; first, a set of statistical-time based features is estimated from different physical magnitudes. Second, a hybrid feature reduction method is proposed, composed by an initial soft feature reduction, based on sequential floating forward selection to remove the less informative features, and followed by a hierarchical SOM structure which reveals directly the diagnosis and probability assessment. The effectiveness of the proposed detection and identification scheme is validated with a complete set of experimental data including healthy and five faulty conditions. The accuracy’s results are compared with classical condition monitoring approaches in order to validate the competency of the proposed method.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Special Libraries, November 1980

Volume 71, Issue 11https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1980/1009/thumbnail.jp

Home is Where the Work is Women, Direct Sales, and Technologies of Gender

abstract: This dissertation examines how direct selling organizations compel women to believe that direct selling is, among other things, centered on the needs of women. Drawing upon feminist interdisciplinary methodologies, this dissertation brings together qualitative, archival, and ethnographic materials to analyze direct selling through a technologies of gender framework. I argue that multi-level marketing direct selling companies (like Avon, Tupperware, Mary Kay, etc.) are able to turn belief into profits because they strategically tap into gender ideologies. I show that discursive technologies of gender coalesce with race and class discourses and are put to work by direct selling companies to construct a specific type of direct seller. This dissertation attempts to unpack the complex technologies of gender that direct selling women engage with while constructing their identities as workers and women. I argue that the companies in this study deliberately tap into women's anxieties and desires to blend their perceived gender roles with their need for income. I find that direct selling companies are exceptional at branding their businesses as uniquely suited for women and that this branding hinges upon the construction of a direct sales imaginary. I argue that the direct sales imaginary taps into powerful discourses of race, class, and gender to market the American dream to women who are seeking out a space that is empowering and inclusive. Because the direct selling industry tends to see an increase in profits and recruitment during economic recessions, it is likely that the current economic situation has channeled even more women toward direct sales as a fallback for uncertain economic futures. While some women may be inclined to view direct sales as an attractive employment alternative it is not a realistic means of supporting families during difficult economic times and this study might help some women make more informed decisions. Furthermore, this study brings to light how gender might be used to organize structural relationships between markets, people, and businesses.Dissertation/ThesisPh.D. Gender Studies 201