Beyond bureaucracy? Work organization in call centres

Call centres are a rapidly growing, IT-based channel for service and sales delivery, particularly in the financial services and telecom industries. Although little research has been undertaken on the human resource aspects of call centres, two contrasting images are emerging. The first emphasizes the bureaucratic, constraining nature of these work settings, while the second image points towards worker empowerment characteristic of knowledge-intensive settings. Which of these two images more faithfully portrays the nature of work organization in call centres is the subject of our paper. Drawing on qualitative research undertaken in six call centres and a survey of front-line workers, we show that elements of both models coexist and that a hybrid model predominates. The theoretical basis for this contention, and its institutionalization as mass customized bureaucracy, lies in management's on-going attempts to reconcile two conflicting principles: standardization of processes and customization of products. The paper also explores, as key consequences of mass customized bureaucracy, front-line workers' satisfaction with various facets of their job and their overall job satisfaction, in addition to discretionary work effort. Only in relation to job security and co-worker relations could front-line workers be considered satisfied. Overall, these employees were ambivalent in their responses. They were however more likely to give more discretionary work effort than indicated by their extent of satisfaction. We conclude that, although the existing pattern of work organization may be superior to more bureaucratic forms, it is by no means ideal from the standpoint of either front-line workers or management.     

Are there major differences in the attitudes and service quality of standard and seasonal employees? An empirical examination and implications for practice

Despite the increased use of seasonal employees by organizations, few studies have been completed on the attitudes and service quality of seasonal office workers. Using Lautsch's classification model, we analyzed the organizational context in which the standard and seasonal workers in this study were employed. Hypotheses were developed based upon the organizational analysis and social exchange theory. Results from archival data obtained from a web‐based organizational survey of 205 clerical and professional workers indicated contrary to expectations, standard and seasonal employees did not significantly differ in terms of perceptions of overall job conditions, perceived organizational support (POS), or job engagement. However, seasonal employees did report significantly fewer opportunities to work on challenging tasks, less comfortable physical working conditions, and less job security than the standard workers. As predicted, standard employees reported significantly higher levels of service quality performance than seasonal employees. Additionally, job engagement mediated the relationship between POS and service quality for both the standard and seasonal employees. Implications for managing seasonal employees are discussed.     

The influences of internal service quality and job standardization on job satisfaction with supports as mediators: flight attendants at branch workplace

Service organizations commonly achieve job satisfaction through internal service quality (ISQ), job standardization, and enhanced customer orientation. However, unlike employees working at headquarters, branch employees do not have access to timely responses and organizational support. This study, using flight attendants working offsite as research samples, looked at how workplace supervisor and co-worker support mediate ISQ and job standardization that contribute to job satisfaction. The results indicated that ISQ and job standardization in branch offices may, directly or indirectly, affect job satisfaction through support from supervisors and co-workers, which strengthened customer orientation. ISQ had a higher impact on supervisor support than on co-worker support, and job standardization had a higher impact on co-worker support than on supervisor support. Based on these findings, a customer-oriented model was established for the branches, and a number of suggestions on theory and managerial implementation were proposed.     

It Takes Three to Tango: Exploring the Interplay among Training Intensity,Job Autonomy,and Supervisor Support in Predicting Knowledge Sharing

This study explored whether the relationship between perceived training intensity and knowledge sharing is prone to combined moderating influences. We operationalized perceived training intensity as a challenge stressor, in accordance with the challenge‐hindrance framework of work stressors. The results of a study of 129 employees from three Norwegian service industries revealed a positive relationship between perceived training intensity and supervisor‐rated knowledge sharing for employees reporting high levels of perceived job autonomy and high levels of perceived supervisor support. In contrast, we found a negative relationship between perceived training intensity and supervisor‐rated knowledge sharing for employees reporting high levels of perceived job autonomy and low levels of perceived supervisor support. These findings suggest that supervisors are of vital importance in facilitating knowledge sharing among employees in settings where developmental challenges are prevalent and perceptions of job autonomy are high. Implications for future research and practice are also discussed. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Some insights into customer orientation: an investigation of salespeople in Taiwan

Despite the claim that prosocial service behavior ratings influence sales performance (SP), an empirical discrepancy exists in relating prosocial service behavior ratings to actual SP. Furthermore, studies have seldom considered prescribed role and prosocial service behaviors together as important factors in influencing customer attitudes and SP. This article fills this void by examining the relative contribution of prescribed role and prosocial service behavior. Effective triadic data from 37 sales managers, 418 business customers, and 122 SP archives are used for exploring the relationships between customer-oriented behaviors and customer outcomes [customer satisfaction (CS) and loyalty intent] and percentage of sales quota attained. The principal results generally indicate that business customers place greater values on prosocial service behavior in predicting SP and CS, and that CS partially mediates the relationship between prescribed role service behavior and outcome variables.     

Age as double‐edged sword among victims of customer mistreatment: A self‐esteem threat perspective

Service workers are expected to maintain high‐quality service delivery despite customer mistreatment—the poor‐quality treatment of service workers by customers—which can be demeaning and threatening to self‐esteem. Although service work is increasingly delivered by middle‐aged and older workers, very little is known about how employees across the age range navigate abuse from customers on the job. Does advancing age help or hinder service performance in reaction to customer mistreatment? Drawing on strength and vulnerability integration theory, we proposed that age paradoxically both helps and hinders performance after customer mistreatment, albeit at different stages. We tested our proposed model in a two‐sample field investigation of service workers and their supervisors using a time‐lagged, dyadic design. Results showed that age heightens the experience of self‐esteem threat but, nevertheless, dampens reactions to self‐esteem threat, leading to divergent effects on performance at different stages. Implications for age and service work, as well as aging and the sense of self, are discussed.     

The consequences and limits of empowerment in financial services

Empowerment may be one of the answers to the growing competition and increasingly demanding customers in the financial retail sector, but the relation between empowerment and profit-oriented behaviour at the service encounter has been only sparsely documented. This article offers a comparative empirical analysis of the conditions and impact of empowerment and related activities in Danish financial institutions, with a focus on semi-standardised front-line jobs. The results indicate that granting decision-making authority and autonomy to the individual front-line employees has often been a powerful step in the efforts of the financial service companies to increase their competitiveness. In the change process, formal participation has only a moderate supportive impact on performance while changes initiated at the branch offices and the linking of rewards with performance, both have a notably positive impact on the competitiveness and profit-oriented behaviour of front-line employees.     

员工的积分媒介化认知对建言影响——心理授权作为中介变量

本文界定了组织中员工的“积分媒介化认知”的概念,提出了“积分媒介化认知”与建言、心理授权各个维度之间的关系假设,探讨了心理授权在积分媒介化认知和建言之间的中介作用.基于上海某外企业所属三家工厂实施积分员工的样本研究表明：员工的积分媒介化认知与建言呈显著正相关;与心理授权中的工作意义、自主性及工作影响显著正相关;员工整体的心理授权在积分媒介化认知和建言之间起完全中介作用.     

管理人员在服务利润链管理中的作用

服务利润链是将"硬性"的价值建立在"软性"的标准上,将企业的赢利能力、客户忠诚度和满意度与服务价值紧紧相连,而服务价值又是由满意、忠诚和富有活力的员工所创造的。管理者作为服务利润链管理成功的基础,在服务利润链各环节上发挥了重要作用。管理者可以通过"员工为中心"的内部服务质量管理和"顾客导向"的服务战略管理,提升企业的整体服务形象和绩效。     

TQM practice in maquiladora: Antecedents of employee satisfaction and loyalty

In this study, we investigate the transferability of TQM practices to offshore manufacturing firms by validating direct and indirect relationships among top management commitment, HR-focused TQM practices, employee satisfaction, and employee loyalty. Our research objective is to isolate critical TQM practices that would enhance employee satisfaction and loyalty among maquiladora workers. On-site surveys were conducted at two leading maquiladora firms that have long implemented TQM. The statistical results indicate that employee empowerment, teamwork, and employee compensation have a significant and positive influence on employee satisfaction. The improved employee satisfaction leads to a higher level of employee loyalty. In addition, the results indicate that the effects of top management commitment on employee empowerment and teamwork are significantly mediated by employee training, implying that the success of employee empowerment and quality teams can be dependent upon the level of employee training.     

The effect of autonomy,training opportunities,age and salaries on job satisfaction in the South East Asian retail petroleum industry

South East Asian petroleum retailers are under considerable pressure to improve service quality by reducing turnover. An empirical methodology from this industry determined the extent to which job characteristics, training opportunities, age and salary influenced the level of job satisfaction, an indicator of turnover. Responses are reported on a random sample of 165 site employees (a 68% response rate) of a Singaporean retail petroleum firm. A restricted multivariate regression model of autonomy and training opportunities explained the majority (35.4%) of the variability of job satisfaction. Age did not moderate these relationships, except for employees >21 years of age, who reported enhanced job satisfaction with additional salary. Human Capital theory, Life Cycle theory and Job Enrichment theory are invoked and explored in the context of these findings in the South East Asian retail petroleum industry. In the South East Asian retail petroleum industry, jobs providing employees with the opportunity to undertake a variety of tasks that enhanced the experienced meaningfulness of work are likely to promote job satisfaction, reduce turnover and increase the quality of service.     

高职生在物流仓储业中的岗位调查分析

随着我国物流业的迅速发展,物流企业大量涌现,物流企业的业务类型、经营规模以及服务质量有很大的差别。目前物流仓储业普遍发展滞后,岗位分工还不太明确;仓储从业员工熟练工居多,业务提升应结合实际;高职大专生立足仓储工作,主要取决于关键技能。     

FPC公司的管理培训模式

FPC公司是一家管理培训公司,经过10多年的发展,已经是中国最负盛名的管理培训公司之一。本文从FPC管理培训公司的背景入手,分析了其独特的课程培训体系、讲师团队的建立以及客户导向的营销方式。通过介绍FPC在公司发展上的探索,总结了知识型服务企业的管理培训模式。     

Job preferences as revealed by employee-initiated job changes

Many previous studies try to discover job preferences by directly asking individuals. Since it is not sure whether answers to these surveys are relevant for actual behaviour, this empirical examination offers a new approach based on representative German data. Employees who quit their job and find a new one compare the two jobs with respect to eight job characteristics: type of work, pay, chances of promotion, work load, commuting time, work hour regulations, fringe benefits and security against loss of job. It is argued that the observation of many improvements (and few declines) for a certain attribute indicates a particular relevance and high preference for this attribute. It turns out that pay and type of work are most important for employees in this sense. Differences across subgroups of employees with respect to individual characteristics, such as sex and age, are explored. Those between East and West Germany diminish over time.     

Workplace bullying as an antecedent to job insecurity and intention to leave: a 6‐month prospective study

Workplace bullying is a severe problem in contemporary working life, affecting up to 15 per cent of employees. Among the detrimental outcomes of bullying, it is even postulated as a major risk factor for exclusion from work. In support of this claim, the current study demonstrates that exposure to bullying behaviour predicts an increase in both levels of job insecurity and intention to leave over a 6‐month time lag, among a random sample of North Sea workers (n = 734). The findings suggest that bullied employees are insecure about the permanence and content of their job, and they may be at risk of turnover and exclusion from working life. It is recommended that these outcomes are taken into consideration when incidences of workplace bullying are addressed.     

Job satisfaction in teams

This paper analyses and discusses the results of a large sample survey of job satisfaction among clerical employees working in teams. The relative strengths of association between several variables and job satisfaction are assessed and the results support the importance of on-the-job training, participation in decision making and management leadership. Questions are raised about first-line supervisors as team leaders.     

Access to training and its impact on temporary workers

Does temporary work provide a way for individuals to improve their skill levels? Using a sample of more than 4,000 employees of US temporary staffing agencies, we analyse whether blue, white and pink‐collar temps get access to company training, and the impact of skill development on wages and employee retention. We find that less than 25 per cent of temps take part in training. Educated and experienced individuals are more likely to be offered training, but lower‐skilled individuals are more likely to take training when it is offered and spend more hours on it. Office workers who took part in training were more likely still to be with the agency a year later and experienced significant wage growth, while training had no effect on wage growth for blue‐collar workers. Skill development that took place on the job was associated with greater wage growth for all types of temps.     

Parental Leave: An Important Employee Right,But an Organizational Challenge

While parental leave is considered an important right for employees, its application in different work environments is not always straightforward. It is worthwhile to study the implementation in the workplace of the parental leave policy introduced in Québec, especially since this policy has unique characteristics not found anywhere else in North America. We chose to carry out our study in a metropolitan police service. Our results, both quantitative and qualitative, outline significant differences between the perception of all types of parental leave by respondents who have already taken it up and those who have not yet done so. Analysis of these differences brings to light the fact that formal support is not enough: management needs to make sure that employees really feel supported by their work environment when they taking up leave and that they do not feel that they have to pay for it in terms of career opportunities or advancement.     

Stimulating Strategically Aligned Behaviour Among Employees

Strategically aligned behaviour (SAB), i.e. employee action that is consistent with the company's strategy, is of vital importance to companies. This study provides insights into the way managers could promote such behaviour among employees (who can be managers as well) by stimulating employee motivation, by informing employees, and by stimulating the development of their capabilities. The results of surveys conducted in three organizations suggest that, first, perceived efforts by management aimed at motivating and informing employees (both managers and non-managers), and at developing their capabilities, each are related to SAB. Second, among the perceived efforts to stimulate motivation among employees, providing a rationale for the strategy and an open communication climate have a stronger relationship with SAB than participation in decision making and supportiveness. Third, the perceptions of the different types of managerial effort are related to each other. For this reason, the efforts have direct as well as indirect relationships to SAB. Fourth, each of the perceived efforts seems to be complementary to the others, in the sense that the relationship of one type of effort to SAB is stronger when other types of effort are perceived to be higher.     

Bad bosses and self-verification: The moderating role of core self-evaluations with trust in workplace management

Who responds most strongly to supervisor social undermining? Building on self-verification theory (Swann, 1983, 1987), we theorize that employees with positive views of the self (i.e., higher core self-evaluations [CSEs]) who also maintain higher trust in workplace management are more likely to experience heightened stress and turnover intentions when undermined. We argue that this subset of employees (high CSE, high trust) are more likely to feel misunderstood when undermined by their supervisor and that this lack of self-verification partially explains their stronger responses to supervisor undermining. We find initial support for the first part of our model in a study of 259 healthcare workers in the United States and replicate and extend our findings in the second study of 330 employees in the United Kingdom. Our results suggest that the employees Human Resources often wishes to attract and retain—employees with high CSE and high trust in workplace management—react most strongly to supervisor social undermining.