A Study of Job Satisfaction in a Call Centre with Special Reference to Pune in India

The purpose of this paper is to examine the significance of job satisfaction in call centre on employees. The approach implemented in this study was a quantitative research. This was conducted via self-designed questionnaire, based on critical analysis of the literature available on Job satisfaction in call centres. The findings suggest that high stress, odd working time, and work environment have a negative impact on employees’ job satisfaction. Health issues are created in the call centres. Although there have been many works presented on call centres over the years and the sector has matured, the business still seems to struggle with similar problems. In the wake of social media and other communication channels, call centres might have to go through changes. In order to progress managers must understand the value of their employee and their impact on the customer. The findings of this paper may contribute to employee or a manager working in the call centre environment who is interested in transforming their centres into customer contact centres, and improving circumstances for employees and customers. The research may also contribute the already existing literature

Impact of English Language Training on Linguistic and Cultural Identity of Call Center Employees

The Call Center Industry in the Philippines has been attracting employees from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Such industry requires employees to have a strong command of the English language. More specifically, American English serves as the model for English language requirements. The problem is that these requirements may have a negative impact on linguistic and cultural identity of Filipino employees. This study explored the Filipino English language trainers’ integration with the American culture and language and whether this has any influence on the way they teach the language. It also investigated whether the Call Center Industry training has any impact on the language and cultural identity of employees. Methodologically, this study was a critical ethnography that was conducted by an experienced customer service representative. The results of the study can be useful to socio-linguists, school administrators, psychologists, families and educators, the Philippine government, the business process outsourcing employers, managers, and agents

Exploring the lives of youth in the BPO sector: Findings from a study in Gurgaon

This report seeks to fill gaps in information on the lives of unmarried youth in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector in India. Specifically, it documents young people’s self-efficacy and their connections with their family and peers, as well as their sexual experiences and substance use practices. The findings presented in this report reiterate the fact that BPO employment not only provides young adults with a profitable and challenging work environment, but also has other positive outcomes: many young BPO employees associated their increased independence and self-efficacy to their employment in this sector, many reported close peer networks, and many reported a savings orientation. However, several areas of concern calling for a variety of interventions for youth in this sector were also observed: high levels of stress; a lack of sexual and reproductive health awareness; a need for contraceptive supplies and referrals for counseling and infection; and awareness-building efforts that address the harmful effects of alcohol, tobacco, and drug abuse

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

Global and regional sourcing of ICT-enabled business services: upgrading of China, Hong Kong and Singapore along the global value chain

Offshoring, as part of globalisation, first started decades ago with manufacturing processes disintegrated along the global value chain and dramatically redistributed to low-cost regions. The next global shift of work involving ICT-enabled business services has arisen since the 1990s, especially featuring the success of India’s supplier role. The possibilities for the Global South to move up the value ladder are well demonstrated by the achievements of the newly industrialised economies in East Asia in the first shift and of India in the second. In the services sector, however, potential for upgrading is conditioned by quality-based elements, such as trust, culture and language, which vary both between producing and market areas. Flows are increasingly multi-directional, requiring attention to the neglected issue of demands from fast-growing Southern economies. So how do locations and firms in the Global South attempt to upgrade in the regime of rising services offshoring? The Indian experience especially in serving Anglophone markets in the Global North has been widely documented – but not that of East Asian economies, with their distinct characteristics and strong historic, ethnic and cultural ties with each other. This study examines the upgrading possibilities and constraints of China, Hong Kong and Singapore along the global services chain. For cross-case analysis, it focuses on three specific sets of services, including information technology, finance and accounting, and customer contact services. The concepts of global value chain, competitive advantage and capabilities are applied to reconstruct the phenomenon of services offshoring from both the demand and supply perspectives in the selected locations, and synthesise the dynamics between locational characteristics and firm strategies. A series of distinct upgrading strategies are identified, involving mixes of manufacturisation, knowledge-intensification and deepening relational capabilities to exploit both regional advantages of language/cultural proximity and established global links

Staff motivation in a contact centre environment : an empirical study of contact centres in the Durban area.

Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, 2003.Staff motivation in a contact centre environment was analysed from the perspective of Herzberg's Motivation- Hygiene theory in the present study using survey data from seven contact centres in the Kwa-Zulu Natal region. The study investigates the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors and the extent of the existence of equity factors in the and the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors with equity factors in the South African environment, specifically favouritism, discrimination and consistency. The findings confirm that contact centre agents need to be highly skilled and adequately supported by management in order to fulfil the significant role that they play in an organisation. The support required goes further than technical skill and training but moves into the emotional well being of the agent. The emphasis shifts from the agent providing a service to the customers and the organisation and moves from the organisation providing its agents with the recognition and incentives to motivate them to strive for their very best at their jobs