Once More With Feeling: Ethnographic Reflections on the Mediation of Tension in a Small Team of Call Centre Workers

Abstract

This article explores the labour process of a team of call-centre workers based in a multi-client call centre in the West Midlands. Founded on the basis of a 13-month ethnographic study into workplace resistance in callcentre environments, this article provides insights into control in call centres, focusing on sexuality, internal team dynamics and discipline. It is argued that control is exerted through management and information technology but it is crucially exerted laterally in the team and sexuality is an important medium of such control. This article focuses specifically on how worker sexuality is deployed to regulate the tension between contradictory imperatives faced by workers. The article then considers the emotional content of the call-centre labour process, arguing that the apparent resolution of potentially contradictory logic, in fact, depends upon the development by call-centre workers, encouraged by more senior employees, of informal, pseudo-sexualized client relations at the point of production. Crucially however the fieldwork reveals that the demands placed upon customer service representatives are subtly gendered.

25 Years On: Reflecting on the Past and Looking to the Future in Gender and Management Research

“…In a similar vein, Alvesson (1998) has shown how men working in the 'feminized' context of an advertising agency, where creativity and sensitivity in relationships were required, re-activated a traditional masculinity through a sexually appraising and subordinating 'gaze' of women. Managerialist discourses of targets, accountability and control, culturally coded masculinity (Kerfoot and Knights, 1998), have been found to drive many practices in the 'feminized' service and caring professions (Bolton, 2007;Brannen, 2005;Broadbridge, 2010b;Korczynski, 2001) -suggestive of a re-masculinization of emotional labour skills . Thus, as Korczynski (2001) suggests, the emotional labour of front line service workers such as in call centres (and also in retailing and hospitality) is being harnessed and controlled by management through 'masculine' practices involving targets, observation systems and remote monitoring in order to deliver a 'quality service'.…”

Örgütlerde Cinselliğin Düzen Bozucu ve Düzen Kurucu Rolünün Eros ve Oyun Açısından İncelenmesi

“…Örgütlerde yönetim belirli cinselliklerin ifade edilmesini teşvik edilebilir. Örneğin, çalışanların cinselliği müşterilerle sorunsuz bir etkileşim kurmak için kullanılabilir (Brannan, 2005). Özellikle turizm ve eğlence sektörlerinde kadın çalışanların pasif cinselliklerinin işin parçası olduğu belirtilmiştir (Adkins, 1995).…”

“…Erkek çalışanlardan da müşterilerle etkileşimlerinde örgütsel amaçlar için cinselliklerini kullanmaları beklenebilir. Brannan (2005), çağrı merkezlerinde yaptığı etnografik çalışmada erkek çalışanların kadın müşterilerle cinsel içerikli şakalar yaparak flörtleştiklerini, kadınların da erkek müşterilere karşı "dişil alımlılık ve sempatikliği" kullandıklarını belirtmiştir (ss. 433-434).…”

“…433-434). Brannan (2005), kadın çalışanların erkek çalışanlara göre cinselliklerinin pasif bir biçimde kullanmalarından rahatsızlık duyduklarını, erkeklerinse kadın müşterilerle oyunsal olan cinselleşmiş hizmet ilişkilerinden memnun olduklarını belirtmiştir (ss. 433-434).…”

A Study on Human Resource Perspectives of Emotional Labour in Service Sector

“…The focal point of such program is on customers' feelings-how to make them feel comfortable and welcomed. While it is still acceptable that the emphasis is on customers 3 and not employees' emotions at this stage, the service needs to be aware of the fact that eventually employees will be vulnerable to the negative consequences of emotional labor. Hence, training programs must also at some point focus on employees' feelings and well-being in order to provide the opportunity for employees to discuss their feelings and how to more effectively manage their emotions.…”