The role of strategic context, operational requirements, and work design in in‐house call centres in the financial sector

Strandberg, Christer; Dalin, Rolf

doi:10.1108/09604521011092884

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Management may shift between emphasising efficiency and quality (Knights and Odih, 2002) or may temporarily support quality but over time let quantitative targets regain dominance (Gilmore and Moreland, 2000;Knights et al, 1999). Furthermore, management may claim to favour quality but not support this is practice (Raz and Blank, 2007), either by not using appropriate performance evaluation measures or appropriate work design ( Jaiswal, 2008;Strandberg and Dalin, 2010). The findings from this study strengthen existing evidence and demonstrate the benefits of seeing quality and efficiency as mutually reinforcing.…”

Section: Practical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 54%

“…Quality and productivity conflict Jaiswal (2008) Empirical Despite efforts to evaluate service quality, most operational measures in the call centres related to efficiency rather than to perceived service quality or customer satisfaction Strandberg and Dalin (2010) Conceptual and empirical Links the relative focus upon transactional (quantity) or relationship (quality) work design with strategic industry context. Despite management claims that they wish to emphasise quality, the actual work design does not support this in practice Banks and Roodt (2011) Empirical Many call centre managers explicitly emphasise a quality orientation, but this is not reflected in how their own performance is measured Table I.…”

Section: Empiricalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This will help to establish how quantity and quality operate within other call centre sites. Given that companies operate call centres within a diverse range of industries and sectors, it would be interesting to investigate the dynamics of quantity-quality in these settings, especially in relation to the different strategic contexts within which they operate (Strandberg and Dalin, 2010). A further limitation of this study is that it has examined quantity-quality in terms of call handling.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The call centre has always been an important topic of research in MSQ because it was quickly realised that the call centre could be part of an effective customer contact strategy to improve service quality (Burns, 1995). Research has focused upon investigating managerial challenges and practices in relation to service quality (Armistead et al, 2002;Gilmore, 2001), and considering broader operational and strategic challenges ( Jack et al, 2006;Strandberg and Dalin, 2010). The stressful working environment and its impact upon burnout in call centre advisors has also been an important topic (Choi et al, 2012;Rod and Ashill, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Is the quantity-quality trade-off in call centres a false dichotomy?

Ellway

2014

Managing Service Quality

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine the existing conceptualisation of quantity and quality in call centres as conflicting or contradictory, and through qualitative analysis, demonstrate that quantity and quality may not necessarily operate as a trade-off. Design/methodology/approach -Existing literature is reviewed to show how quantity-quality has been conceptualised to date, followed by an analysis of quantity-quality manifestations based upon an in-depth field study of work and service in a large and complex call centre operation. Advisors' work practices were observed during their interactions with customers, which provided rich insights into the nature of live calls and service provision in 13 different teams, supplemented with informal semi-structured interviews with team managers, coaches, and centre managers. Findings -The paper demonstrates that quantity and quality operate as a trade-off when the unit of analysis is the individual advisor or individual call fragment. However, if the entire customer enquiry is examined, quantity and quality are manifest differently: emphasising quality may also simultaneously support efficiency; favouring quantity may not only undermine quality but also ultimately circumvent efficiency gains.Research limitations/implications -The paper is based upon a single case study so further research is required to investigate whether findings concerning quantity-quality are manifest in other call centres, particularly of differing size and complexity. Practical implications -Call centre management must recognise the negative consequences of focusing upon quantity, the potential benefits of instead emphasising quality, and also acknowledge the limitations of conventional quantitative and qualitative measures. Management should also consider attempting to foster and improve relations between teams and functions within call centres. Originality/value -The paper provides a qualitative study of quantity and quality in call centres. Quantity and quality are examined beyond the conventional unit of analysis of the individual advisor or call, to explicate interdependence between past, current, and future actions and events involved in customer enquiries. Thus, quantity and quality are analysed in terms of the immediate focus during call handling and the longer run consequences for the efficiency and effectiveness of service provided by the call centre operation.

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Section: Practical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 54%

Section: Empiricalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Limitations and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Is the quantity-quality trade-off in call centres a false dichotomy?

Ellway

2014

Managing Service Quality

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“…Employees may become dissatisfied in their jobs because they undertake routine tasks that do not challenge them. This may be pronounced in the case of call center agents who, in addition to having repetitive and structured tasks, lack decision autonomy (Strandberg and Dalin 2010). This is likely to cause boredom or burnout and ultimately job dissatisfaction.…”

Section: Intention To Quitmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Structural Equation Modelling Evaluation of Antecedents and Interconnections of Call Centre Agents’ Intention to Quit

Iwu

Opute²,

Aliyu

et al. 2021

JRFM

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Call centers play a significant role in the operational dynamics of different types of businesses. This is especially the case because a call center agent’s demeanor can impair or engender customer satisfaction, which has ramifications for business patronage. Unfortunately, the pressures associated with the role of the call center agent have made staff attrition a norm in the industry. While this does not augur well for the call center or the organizations that they serve, the role of possible antecedents in the equation of staff attrition in South African call centers remains largely unexplored. Using a structural equation modeling approach, this study examined the interconnections between customer orientation, knowledge management, job satisfaction, and employees’ intention to quit. Additionally, the mediating influence of job satisfaction on the association between customer orientation and knowledge management of the intention to quit is examined. This study found significant relationships between knowledge management, customer orientation, and job satisfaction and the dependent variable (intention to quit). In addition, this study establishes that the extent to which job satisfaction may mediate the influence on the intention to quit hinges on the organizational element considered. Two factors limit the extent to which the findings from this study can be generalized. First, this study focused on the call center setting in South Africa. Second, convenience sampling was used in this study. This study points to critical operational practices that call center managers can embrace toward enhancing job satisfaction and reducing intention to quit propensity. Using structural equation analysis, we contend that call centers in the South African setting would effectively address staff attrition if appropriate organizational practices are endorsed toward ensuring employee job satisfaction.

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The impact of call centre stressors on inbound and outbound call‐centre agent burnout

Rod

Ashill

2013

Managing Service Quality: An International Journal

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PurposeThe aim of this study is to draw on various models of burnout and test hypotheses relating to anticipated differences in the burnout process between inbound versus outbound call centre agents. This is achieved by comparing the magnitude of the relationships in the sequence of customer stressors → emotional exhaustion → depersonalization → reduced personal accomplishment across a sample of inbound and outbound call centre agents working in a large retail bank call centre in New Zealand.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from inbound and outbound call centre agents of a large retail bank call centre in New Zealand via a self‐administered survey questionnaire electronically distributed to all 195 call centre agents working in the bank's two call centre locations. Data obtained from the call centre agents were analysed using the SEM‐based partial least squares (PLS) methodology.FindingsThe findings of the study reveal significant differences between inbound and outbound call centre agents in terms of the extent to which emotional exhaustion impacts depersonalisation as well as the extent to which depersonalisation influences feelings of reduced personal accomplishment.Practical implicationsThe research advances understanding of differences in the burnout process as perceived by inbound versus outbound call centre agents. Call centre management might consider improving the work environment to bring about greater job discretion/autonomy, greater job variety and performance monitoring in order to attenuate the stronger impact of these relationships in an inbound context.Originality/valueThese findings extend our understanding of these phenomena in the largely unexplored yet important context of call centre agent‐customer interaction in specifically highlighting differences between inbound and outbound call centre agent burnout.

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The role of strategic context, operational requirements, and work design in in‐house call centres in the financial sector

Cited by 4 publications

References 39 publications

Is the quantity-quality trade-off in call centres a false dichotomy?

Is the quantity-quality trade-off in call centres a false dichotomy?

A Structural Equation Modelling Evaluation of Antecedents and Interconnections of Call Centre Agents’ Intention to Quit

The impact of call centre stressors on inbound and outbound call‐centre agent burnout

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