Abstract
Purpose – Utilising data from 18 in-depth case studies, this study seeks to explore training, development and human resource development (HRD) practices in European call centres. It aims to argue that the complexity and diversity of training, development and HRD practices is best understood by studying the multilayered contexts within which call centres operate. Call centres operate as open systems and training, development and HRD practices are influenced by environmental, strategic, organisational and temporal conditions. Design/methodology/approach – The study utilised a range of research methods, including in-depth interviews with multiple stakeholders, documentary analysis and observation. The study was conducted over a two-year period. Findings – The results indicate that normative models of HRD are not particularly valuable and that training, development and HRD in call centres is emergent and highly complex. Originality/value – This study represents one of the first studies to investigate training and development and HRD practices and systems in European call centres.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 612-728 |
| Journal | Journal of European Industrial Training, ():. |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published (in print/issue) - 1 Aug 2008 |
Bibliographical note
Reference text: ACA Research Institute (1998), Call Centre Hang-ups: The Call Centre Agent Report: The Impacton Profit and Productivity, ACA Research Institute, North Sydney, July.
Acemoglu, D. and Pischke, J. (1998), “Why do firms train? Theory and evidence”, Quarterly
Journal of Economics, Vol. 113 No. 1, pp. 79-119.
Adecco (2004), Call Centre Census, Adecco, Borehamwood, September.
Alferoff, C. and Knights, D. (2001), “Organizational knowledge as resistance and disciplinary
mechanism in the social relations of the call centre”, paper presented at the 19th
International Labour Process Conference, Royal Holloway College, London, 26-28 March.
Anton, J. (1997), Call Centre Management by Numbers, Purdue University Press/Call Centre
Press, Annapolis, MD.
Argyris, C. and Scho¨n, D. (1978), Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective,
Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
Armistead, C., Kiely, J., Hole, L. and Prescott, J. (2002), “An exploration of managerial issues in
call centres”, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 246-56.
Arthur, M. and Hendry, C. (1992), “HRM and the emergent strategy of small to medium sized
business units”, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 3 No. 3,
pp. 233-50.
Ashforth, B.E. and Humphrey, R.H. (1993), “Emotional labour in service roles: the influence of
identity”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 88-115.
Ashton, D.N. and Sung, J. (2006), “How competitive strategy matters? Understanding the drivers
of training, learning and performance at the firm level”, Research Paper No. 66, Centre for
Skills, Knowledge and Organizational Performance, Oxford and Warwick Universities,
Oxford and Coventry.
Asundi, J. and Arora, A. (2002), “Quality certification and the economics of contract software
development: a study of the Indian software industry”, paper presented at the Workshop
of Information Systems Economics (WISE – 2002), Barcelona.
Bain, P. and Taylor, P. (1999), “Employee relations, worker attitudes and trade union
representation in call centres”, paper presented at the 17th International Labour Process
Conference, Royal Holloway College, London, April.
Bain, P. and Taylor, P. (2000), “Entrapped by the ‘electronic panopticon’? Worker resistance in
the call centre”, New Technology, Work, and Employment, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 2-18.
Bain, P. and Taylor, P. (2001), “Two steps forward, one step back: interest definition,
organization and deflected mobilization amongst call centre workers”, paper presented at
the 19th International Labour Process Conference, Royal Holloway College, London, 26-28
March.
Banerjee, P. (2004), The Indian Software Industry: Business Strategy and Dynamic Co-ordination,
Palgrave Macmillan, New Delhi.
Barrett, R. and Rainnie, A. (2002), “What’s so special about small firms? Developing an
integrated approach to analysing small firms”, Industrial Relations, Work Employment
and Society, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 415-32.
Bartel, A.P. and Lichtenberg, F.R. (1987), “The comparative advantage of educated workers in
implementing new technology”, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 69 No. 1,
pp. 1-11.
HRD in
European call
centres
719
Batt, R. (1999), “Work organization, technology and performance in customer service and sales”,
Industrial Relations and Labor Review, Vol. 52 No. 4, pp. 539-62.
Batt, R. (2001), “Explaining wage inequality in telecommunications services: customer
segmentation, human resource practices and union decline”, Industrial and Labor
Relations Review, Vol. 54 No. 2A, pp. 425-48.
Batt, R. (2002), “Managing customer services: human resource practices, quit rates and sales
growth”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 445 No. 3, pp. 587-97.
Batt, R. and Moynihan, L. (2002), “The variability of alternative call centre production models”,
Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 587-97.
Batt, R. and Moynihan, L. (2004a), “Human resource practices, service quality and economics
performance in call centres”, CAHRS Working Paper 04-6, CAHRS, Cornell University,
Ithaca, NY.
Batt, R. and Moynihan, L. (2004b), “The viability of alternative call centre production models”,
in Deery, S. and Kinnie, N. (Eds), Call Centres and Human Resource Management: A Cross
National Report, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Baum, P., Watson, A., Mulvey, G., Taylor, P. and Gall, G. (2002), “Taylorism, targets and the
pursuit of quantity and quality by call centre management”, New Technology, Work and
Employment, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 170-85.
Beaumont, P.B., Hunter, L.C. and Sinclair, D. (1996), “Customer-supplier relations and the
diffusion of employee relations change”, Employee Relations, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 9-19.
Belt, V. (2003), “Work, employment and skill in the new economy: training for call centre work in
the north-east England”, paper presented at the 21st Annual International Labour Process
Conference, Bristol.
Belt, V. and Richardson, R. (2005), “Social labour, employability and social exclusion:
pre-employment training for call centre work”, Urban Studies, Vol. 42 No. 2, pp. 257-70.
Belt, V., Richardson, R. and Webster, J. (2000), “Women’s work in the information economy:
the case of telephone call centres”, Information, Communication and Society, Vol. 3 No. 3,
pp. 366-85.
Belt, V., Richardson, R. and Webster, J. (2002), “Women, social skill and interactive service work
in telephone call centres”, New Technology, Work and Employment, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 20-34.
Belt, V., Richardson, R., Webster, M., van Kiaveren, M. and Tidjens, K. (1999), Work
Opportunities for Women in the Information Society: Call Centre Teleworking (WOWIS),
Executive Summary of Final Report to the Information Society Project Office of the
European Commission, CURDS, Newcastle.
Betts, A., Meadows, M. and Walley, P. (2000), “Call centre capacity management”, International
Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 185-96.
Birdi, K., Patterson, M. and Wood, S.J. (2007), “Learning to perform? A comparison of learning
practices and organizational performance in profit- and non-profit-making sectors in the
UK”, International Journal of Training and Development, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 265-81.
Bjorkman, I. (2004), “Transfer of HRM to MNC affiliates in Asia-Pacific”, in Budhwar, P. (Ed.),
Managing Human Resources in Asia-Pacific, Routledge, London, pp. 253-67.
Boddy, D. (2000), “Implementing interorganizational IT systems: lessons from a call centre
project”, Journal of Information Technology, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 29-37.
Bowen, J. and Ford, R. (2002), “Managing service organizations: does having a ‘thing’ make a
difference?”, Journal of Management, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 447-69.
Boxall, P. (2003), “HR strategy and competitive advantage in the service sector”, Human
Resource Management Journal, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 5-20.
JEIT
32,8/9
720
Buchanan, R. and Koch-Schulte, S. (2000), Gender on the Line: Technology, Restructuring and the
Reorganization of Work in the Call Centre Industry, Status of Women Canada, Ottawa.
Buckley, F. and Monks, K. (2004), “The implications for meta-qualities for HR roles”, Human
Resource Management Journal, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 41-56.
Budhwar, P.S., Luthar, H.K. and Bhatnagar, J. (2006), “The dynamics of HRM systems in Indian
BPO firms”, Journal of Labor Research, Vol. XXVII No. 3, pp. 339-60.
Caldwell, R. (2008), “HR business partner competency models: re-contextualising effectiveness”,
Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 275-94.
(The) Call Center School (2002), “How do your supervisors measure up?”, available at: www.
thecallcenterschool.com/articles/howdoyourcallcenterpupervisorsmeasureup.pdf
Call Centre Association (CCA) Research Institute (2001), The State of the Centres: An Investigation
of the Skills Level in the Industry, and of Training Requirements, Report for the
Department for Education and Skills, CCA Research Institute, Glasgow, September.
Callaghan, G. and Thompson, P. (2001), “Edwards revisited: technical control and call centres”,
Economic and Industrial Democracy, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 13-37.
Callahan, G. and Thompson, A. (2002), “We recruit attitude: the selection and shaping of routine
call centre labor”, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 233-54.
CallNorthWest (2005), “Good practice network”, Training and People Development White Paper
No. 1, CallNorthWest, Preston.
Cameron, D. (2000a), Good to Talk?, Sage Publications, London.
Cameron, D. (2000b), “Styling the worker: gender and the commodification of language in the
globalized service economy”, Journal of Sociolinguistics, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 323-47.
Central Office of Information (2005), Government Contact Centres, COI Communications, London,
available at: http://coi.gov.uk/documents/gcc-second-edition.pdf
Chamber Business Enterprises (2002), “Customer contact centres – action plan”, available at:
http://manchester-enterprises.com/aboutus/publications/SSAPCC Centres.doc
Chanda, R. (2005), “Spreading the benefits of BPO growth”, Financial Express, 5 April, p. 6.
Collin-Jacques, C. (2004), “Professionals at work: a study of autonomy and skill utilisation in
nurse call centres in England and Canada”, in Deery, S. and Kinnie, N. (Eds), Call Centres
and Human Resource Management: A Cross National Report, Palgrave Macmillan,
Basingstoke.
ContactBabel (2005), The UK Contact Centre Operational Review, ContactBabel, Sedgefield.
Cooke, F.L., Shen, J. and McBride, N. (2005), “Outsourcing HR implications for the role of the HR
function ad the workforce”, Human Resource Management, Vol. 44 No. 4, pp. 413-32.
Crome, M. (1998), “Call centres: battery farming or free range?”, Industrial and Commercial
Training, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 137-41.
Deery, S. and Kinnie, N. (Eds) (2004), Call Centres and Human Resource Management: A Cross
National Report, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Deery, S., Iverson, R. and Walsh, J. (2002), “Work relationships in telephone call centres:
understanding emotional exhaustion and employee withdrawal”, Journal of Management
Studies, Vol. 39 No. 4, pp. 471-96.
Deery, S., Iverson, R. and Walsh, J. (2004), “The effect of customer service encounters on job
satisfaction and emotional exhaustion”, in Deery, S. and Kinnie, N. (Eds), Call Centres and
Human Resource Management: A Cross National Report, Palgrave Macmillan,
Basingstoke.
Dimension Data (2005), Merchants Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report, Dimension Data,
London, January.
HRD in
European call
centres
721
Dostie, B. and Montmarquette, C. (2007), Employer Sponsored Training in Canada: Synthesis of
Using Data from the Workplace and Employee Survey, Human Resources and Social
Development Canada, Quebec.
DTI (2004), The UK Contact Centre Industry: A Study, Department for Trade and Industry,
London, May.
Ellinger, A.D., Ellinger, A.E. and Keller, S.B. (2003), “Supervisory coaching behaviour, employee
satisfaction and performance: a dyadic perspective”, Human Resource Development
Quarterly, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 435-58.
Ellinger, A.E., Elmadag, A.B. and Ellinger, A.D. (2007), “An examination of organizations’
frontline service employee development practices”, Human Resource Development
Quarterly, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 293-314.
Fernie, S. (2004), “Call centre HRM and performance outcomes: does workplace governance
matter?”, in Deery, S. and Kinnie, N. (Eds), Call Centres and Human Resource
Management: A Cross National Report, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Fernie, S. and Metcalf, D. (1998), (Not) Hanging on the Telephone: Payment Systems in the New
Sweatshops, Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics, London.
Francis, H. and Keegan, A. (2006), “The changing face of HRM in search of balance”, Human
Resource Management Journal, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 231-49.
Frenkel, S. and Donoghue, C. (1996), “Call centres and service excellence”, CCC Paper No. 666.
Australian Graduate School of Management, University of New South Wales, Sydney.
Frenkel, S., Korczynski, M., Donoghue, L. and Shire, K. (1995), “Re-constituting work: trends
towards knowledge work and info-normative control”, Work, Employment and Society,
Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 773-96.
Frenkel, S., Korczynski, M., Shire, K. and Tam, M. (1999), On the Front-line: Organization of
Work in the Information Economy, Cornwell University Press, Ithaca, NY.
Frenkel, S., Tam, M., Korczynski, M. and Shire, K. (1998), “Beyond bureaucracy? Work
organization in call centres”, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 9
No. 6, pp. 957-79.
Fuller, L. and Smith, V. (1991), “‘Consumers’ reports: management by customers in a changing
economy”, Work, Employment and Society, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 1-16.
Gall, G. (2004), “British employer resistance to trade union recognition”, Human Resource
Management Journal, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 36-53.
Garavan, T.N., Collins, E. and Brady, S. (2003), Training and Development in Ireland: Results of
the 2003 National Survey of Benchmarks, CIPD, Dublin.
Gibson, K. and Deepak, K. (2005), “Getting more from call centres”, McKinsey Quarterly, April.
Gilley, J.W., Eggland, S.A. and Maycunich Gilley, A. (2002), Principles of Human Resource
Development, 2nd ed., Perseus, Cambridge, MA.
Gilmore, A. and Moreland, L. (2000), “Call centres: how can service quality be managed?”, Irish
Marketing Review, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 3-11.
Grandey, A.A. (2000), “Emotion regulation in the workplace: a new way to conceptualize
emotional labor”, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 95-110.
Granered, E. (2005), Global Call Centres: Achieving Outstanding Customer Service across Cultures
and Time Zones, Nicholas Brealey International, Boston, MA.
Grebner, S., Semmer, N.K., Faso, L.L., Gut, S., Kalen, W. and Elfering, A. (2003), “Working
conditions, wellbeing and job related attitudes among call centre agents”, European
Journal of Work Organization Psychology, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 341-65.
JEIT
32,8/9
722
Green, F., Mayhew, K. and Molloy, E. (2003), Employers’ Perspectives Survey 2000, Department
for Education and Skills, Sheffield.
Gross, S.E. (1997), “When jobs become team roles, what do you pay for?”, Compensation and
Benefits Review, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 48-51.
Gutek, B. (1997), “Dyadic interactions in organizations”, in Cooper, C.L. and Jackson, S.E. (Eds),
Creating Tomorrow’s Organizations Today, Wiley, Chichester.
Halliden, B. and Monks, K. (2005), “Employee-centred management in a call centre”, Personnel
Review, Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 370-83.
Hannah, C.J. (2004), “Improving intermediate skills through workplace coaching: a case study
within the UK rail industry”, International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and
Mentoring, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 22-49.
Harney, B. and Dundon, T. (2007), “An emergent theory of HRM: a theoretical and empirical
exploration of determinants of HRM among Irish small-to-medium sized enterprises
(SMEs)”, Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations, Vol. 15, pp. 109-59.
Harney, B. and Jordan, C. (2008), “Unlocking the black box: line managers and HRM performance
in a call centre context”, International Journal of Productivity and Performance
Management, Vol. 57 No. 4, pp. 275-96.
Hayton, G., McIntyre, J., Smart, R., McDonald, R., Noble, C. and Smith, A. (1996), Final Report:
Enterprise Training in Australia, Office of Training and Further Education, Melbourne.
Hendry, C. and Pettigrew, A. (1989), “The factors that trigger training”, Personnel Management,
December, pp. 28-32.
Higgs, M. (2004), “A study of the relationship between emotional intelligence and performance in
UK call centres”, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 442-54.
Holman, D. (2002), “Employee stress in call centres”, Human Resource Management Journal,
Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 35-50.
Holman, D. (2004), “Employee well-being in call centres”, in Deery, S. and Kinnie, N. (Eds), Call
Centres and Human Resource Management: A Cross National Report, Palgrave
Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Holman, D. (2005), “Call centres”, in Holman, D., Wall, T.D., Clegg, C.W., Sparrow, P. and
Howard, D. (Eds), The Essentials of the New Workplace: A Guide to the Human Impact of
Modern Working Practices, John Wiley & Sons, London.
Holman, D. and Fernie, C. (2000), “Can I help you? Call centres and job satisfaction centrepiece”,
The Magazine of Economic Performance, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 2-5.
Holman, D. and Wood, S.J. (2004), Human Resource Management and Call Centre Performance in
the UK, Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield.
Hope-Hailey, V., Farndale, E. and Truss, C. (2005), “The HR department’s role in organisational
performance”, Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 49-66.
Houlihan, M. (2000), “Eyes wide shut? Querying the depth of call centre learning”, Journal of
European Industrial Training, Vol. 24 Nos 2/3/4, pp. 228-40.
Houlihan, M. (2002), “Tensions and variations in call centre management strategies”, Human
Resource Management Journal, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 67-85.
Houlihan, M. (2004), “Tensions and variations in call centre management strategies”, in Deery, S.
and Kinnie, N. (Eds), Call Centres and Human Resource Management: A Cross National
Report, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Hui, C., Lam, S.S.K. and Schawbrock, J. (2001), “Can good citizens lead the way in providing
quality service? A field quasi-experiment”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 44 No. 5,
pp. 988-95.
HRD in
European call
centres
723
Johnston, R. (1995), “The zone of tolerance: exploring the relationship between service
transactions and satisfaction with the overall service”, International Journal of Service
Industry Management, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 46-61.
Kinnie, N. and Parsons, J. (2004), “Managing client, employee and customer relations: constrained
strategic choice in the management of human resources in a commercial call centre”,
in Deery, S. and Kinnie, N. (Eds), Call Centres and Human Resource Management: A Cross
National Report, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Kinnie, N., Purcell, J. and Adams, M. (2008), “Explaining employees’ experience of work in
outsourced call centres: the influence of clients, owners and temporary work agencies”,
Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 50 No. 2, pp. 209-27.
Kinnie, N., Purcell, J. and Hutchinson, S. (1999), “Modeling HR practices and business strategy in
telephone call centres”, paper presented at the Workshop on Call Centres, Center for
Economic Performance, London School of Economics, London, 19 March.
Kinnie, N., Purcell, J. and Hutchinson, S. (2000), “Fun and surveillance: the paradox of high
commitment management in call centres”, International Journal of Human Resource
Management, Vol. 11 No. 5, pp. 967-85.
Knights, D. and McCabe, D. (1998), “What happens when the phone goes wild? Staff, stress and
spaces for escape in a BPR telephone banking work regime”, Journal of Management
Studies, Vol. 35 No. 2, pp. 163-94.
Korczynski, M., Shire, K., Frenkel, S. and Tam, M. (2000), “Service work in consumer capitalism:
customers, control and contradictions”, Work Employment and Society, Vol. 14 No. 4,
pp. 669-87.
Lankshear, G. and Mason, D. (2001), “Within the panopticon? Surveillance, privacy and the social
relations of work in two call centres”, paper presented at the Work, Employment and
Society Conference, 11-13 September.
Lankshear, G., Cook, P., Mason, D., Coates, S. and Button, G. (2001), “Notes and issues: call centre
employees’ responses to electronic monitoring: some research findings”, Work,
Employment and Society, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 595-605.
Larner, W. (2001), “Governing globalisation: the New Zealand call centre attraction initiative”,
Environment and Planning A, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 297-312.
Leidner, R. (1996), “Rethinking questions of control: lessons from McDonald’s”, in Macdonald, C.L.
and Sirianni, C. (Eds), Working in the Service Society, Temple University Press, Philadelphia,
PA.
Macdonald, C.L. and Sirianni, C. (1996), “The service society and the changing experience of
work”, in Macdonald, C.L. and Sirianni, C. (Eds), Working in the Service Society, Temple
University Press, Philadelphia, PA.
McDowell, L. (2000), “Learning to serve? Employment aspirations and attitudes of young
working-class men in an era of labour market restructuring”, Gender, Place and Culture,
Vol. 7 No. 4, pp. 389-416.
Mackay, C. (2004), “The future of customer service”, Public Service Review: Trade and Industry,
No. 7, pp. 40-1.
Malik, A. (2008), “Training drivers, competitive strategy and client needs: case studies of three
business process outsourcing organisations”, paper presented at the 9th International
Conference on Human Resource Development. Lille, 22-25 May.
Marchington, M. (2004), “Employee involvement: patterns and explanations”, in Harley, B.,
Hyman, J. and Thompson, P. (Eds), Participation and Democracy at Work: Essays in
Honour of Harvie Ramsay, Palgrave, London.
JEIT
32,8/9
724
Mason, D., Button, G., Lankshear, G. and Coates, S. (2001), “Getting real about surveillance and
privacy at work”, in Woolgar, S. (Ed.), Virtual Society? Get Real!, Oxford University Press,
Oxford.
Mason, G. (2005), In Search of High Value Added Production: How Important Are Skills?, NIESR,
London.
Mulholland, K. (2002), “Gender, emotional labour and teamwork in a call centre”, Personnel
Review, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 283-303.
Nayak, A. (2002), “Last of the ‘real Geordies’? White masculinities and the subcultural response
to deindustrialisation”, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Vol. 20, pp. 7-25.
Nishii, L.H. (2003), “The psychology of strategic human resource management: the effect of
employee attributions for HR practices in unit commitment, satisfaction, organizational
citizsenship, behavior, and customer satisfaction”, unpublished dissertation, University of
Maryland, College Park, MD.
Nishii, L.H. and Schneider, B. (2005), “HRM in service: the contingencies abound”, in Burke, R.J.
and Cooper, C.L. (Eds), Reinventing HRM: Challenges and New Directions, Routledge,
London.
Nohria, N. and Eccles, R.G. (1992), Networks and Organizations, Harvard Business School Press,
Boston, MA.
Nonaka, I. (1994), “A dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation”, Organizational
Science, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 14-37.
Peccei, R. and Rosenthal, P. (1997), “The antecedents of employee commitment to customer
service: evidence from a UK service context”, International Journal of Human Resource
Management, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 66-86.
Purcell, J. and Hutchinson, S. (2007), “Front line managers as agents in the HRM performance
causal chain: theory, analysis and evidence”, Human Resource Management Journal,
Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 3-20.
Ram, M., Edwards, P. and Gilman, M. (2001), “The dynamics of informality: employment
relations in small firms and the effects of regulatory work change”, Work, Employment
and Society, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 845-61.
Raman, S.R., Budhwar, P. and Balasubramanian, G. (2007), “People management issues in Indian
KPOs”, Employee Relations, Vol. 29 No. 6, pp. 696-710.
Redman, T. and Mathews, B.P. (1998), “Service quality and human resource management:
a review and research agenda”, Personnel Review, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 57-77.
Reilly, P., Tamkin, P. and Boughton, A. (2007), The Changing HR Functions: Transforming HR?,
CIPD, London.
Richardson, R. and Belt, V. (2001), “Saved by the bell? Call centres and economic development in
less favoured regions”, Economic and Industrial Democracy, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 67-98.
Richardson, R., Belt, V. and Marshall, N. (2000), “Taking calls to Newcastle: the regional
implications of the growth in call centers”, Regional Studies, Vol. 34 No. 4, pp. 357-69.
Ridoutt, L., Dutneall, R., Hummell, K. and Smith, A. (2002), Factors Influencing Training and
Learning in the Workplace, NCVER, Learbrook.
Robinson, G. and Morley, C. (2006), “Call centre management: responsibilities and performance”,
International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 284-300.
Rose, E. and Wright, G. (2005), “Satisfaction and dimensions of control among call centre
customer service representatives”, The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 136-60.
HRD in
European call
centres
725
Russell, B. (2002), “The talk shop and shop talk: employment and work in a call centre”,
The Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 44 No. 4, pp. 467-90.
Sako, M. (1992), Prices, Quality and Trust: Inter-organisational Relations in Britain and Japan,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Salas, E. and Cannon-Bowers, J.A. (2001), “The science of training: a decade of progress”, Annual
Review of Psychology, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 471-99.
Salas, E., Korczynski, M., Tannenbaum, S.I. and Carnegie, D. (2005), “Aligning work teams and
HR practices: best practices”, in Burke, R.L. and Cooper, C.L. (Eds), Reinventing HRM:
Challenges and New Directions, Routledge, London.
Schneider, B. (1994), “HRM – a service perspective: towards a customer focused HRM”,
International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 64-76.
Schneider, B. and Bowen, D.E. (1993), “The service organization: human resources management
is crucial”, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 39-52.
Seiben, I. and de Grip, A. (2004), “Training and expectations on job mobility in the call centres
sector”, Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 28 Nos 2/3/4, pp. 257-71.
Sen, F. and Shiel, M. (2006), “From business process outsourcing (BPO) to knowledge to
knowledge process outsourcing (KPO): some issues”, Human Systems Management,
Vol. 25, pp. 145-55.
Senge, P. (1990), The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation,
Doubleday, New York, NY.
Shah, V. and Bandi, R.K. (2003), “Capability development in knowledge intensive IT enabled
services”, European Journal of Work and Organisational Psychology, Vol. 12 No. 4,
pp. 418-27.
Sheehan, C., Holland, P. and DeCieri, H. (2006), “Current developments in HRM in Australian
organizations”, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 44 No. 2, pp. 132-52.
Sinclair, D., Hunter, L. and Beuamont, P. (1996), “Models of customer-supplier relations”, Journal
of General Management, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 56-75.
Sitkin, S.B., Sutcliffe, K.M. and Schroeder, R.G. (1994), “Distinguishing control from learning in
total quality management: a contingency perspective”, Academy of Management Review,
Vol. 19 No. 3, pp. 537-64.
Smith, A. and Dowling, P.L. (2001), “Analyzing firm training: five propositions for future
research”, Human Resource Development Quarterly, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 147-67.
Smith, A. and Smith, E. (2007), “The role of training in the development of human resource
management in Australian organizations”, Human Resource Development International,
Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 263-80.
Smith, A. and Smith, E. (2008), “Learning to control: training and work organization in
Australian call centres”, Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 50 No. 2, pp. 243-56.
Smith, E., Pickersgill, R., Smith, A. and Rushbrook, P. (2005), Enterprise Commitment of
Nationally Recognised Training, NCVER, Adelaide.
Sprigg, C.A., Smith, P.R. and Jackson, P.R. (2003), Psychological Risk Factors in Call Centres:
An Evaluation of Work Design and Well-being, HSE Research Report, HSE Books,
Sudbury.
Stanworth, C. (1997), “Telework in the information age”, New Technology, Work and
Employment, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 51-62.
Stanworth, S. (2000), “Women and work in the information age”, Gender, Work and
Organization, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 20-32.
JEIT
32,8/9
726
Strauss, A. and Corbin, J. (1998), Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for
Developing Grounded Theory, 2nd ed., Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Sturdy, A. (2000), “Training in service – importing and imparting customer service culture as an
interactive process”, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 11 No. 6,
pp. 1082-103.
Sugrue, B. (2003), State of the Industry: ASTD’s Annual Review of US and International Trends
in Workplace Learning and Performance, ASTD, Alexandria, VA.
Taylor, P. and Bain, P. (1999), “An assembly line in the head: work and employee relations in the
call centre”, Industrial Relations Journal, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 101-17.
Taylor, P. and Bain, P. (2001), “Trade unions, workers’ rights and the frontier of control in UK
call centres”, Economic and Industrial Democracy, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 39-66.
Tharenou, P., Saks, A.M. and Moore, C. (2007), “A review and critique of research on training and
organisational-level outcomes”, Human Resource Management Review, Vol. 17, pp. 251-73.
Thomas, A. (2003), “Is knowledge management in call centres worth the effort? From information
to knowledge management in a call centre”, MBA dissertation, University of Sheffield,
Sheffield.
Thompson, P., Callaghan, G. and Van den Brock, D. (2004), “Keeping up appearances:
recruitment, skills and normative control in call centres”, in Deery, S. and Kinnie, K. (Eds),
Call Centres and Human Resource Management: A Cross National Report, Palgrave
Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Thompson, P., Warhurst, C. and Callaghan, G. (2001), “Ignorant theory and knowledgeable
workers: interrogating the connections between knowledge, skills and services”, Journal of
Management Studies, Vol. 38 No. 7, pp. 923-42.
Totterdel, P. and Holman, D. (2003), “Emotional relations in customer service roles: testing a model
of emotional labor”, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 55-73.
Townsend, K. (2007), “Recruitment, training and turnover: another call centre paradox”,
Personnel Review, Vol. 36 No. 3, pp. 476-90.
Tsoukas, H. and Vladimirou, E. (2001), “What is organizational knowledge?”, Journal of
Management Studies, Vol. 38 No. 7, pp. 973-93.
TUC (2001), It’s Your Call: Call Centre Workers’ Campaign, Trades Union Congress, London.
Ulrich, D. and Brockbank, W. (2005), The HR Value Proposition, Harvard University Press,
Boston, MA.
Valverde, M., Ryan, G. and Soler, C. (2006), “Distributing HRM responsibilities: a classification of
organisations”, Personnel Review, Vol. 35 No. 6, pp. 611-36.
Van den Broek, D. (2004), “We have the values: customers, control and corporate ideology in call
centre operations”, New Technology, Work and Employment, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 1-14.
Wallace, C.M., Eagleson, G. and Waldersee, R. (2000), “The sacrificial HR strategy in call
centres”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 174-84.
Webster, J. (2001), “‘Is this job holding me back?’ Women’s skills and prospects in European
service employment”, paper presented at the 19th International Labour Process
Conference, Royal Holloway College, London, 26-28 March.
Wood, S., Holman, D. and Stride, O. (2006), “Human resource management and performance in
UK call centres”, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 44 No. 1, pp. 99-124.
Wozniak, G. (1984), “The adoption of interrelated innovations: a human capital approach”,
The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 66 No. 1, pp. 70-9.
Wright, C. (2008), “A consultant to the business: professionalizing the human resource function”,
Human Relations, forthcoming.
HRD in
European call
centres
727
Wright, P.M., Gardner, T.M. and Moynihan, L.M. (2003), “The impact of HR practices on the
performance of business units”, Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 13 No. 3,
pp. 21-36.
Zapf, D., Isic, A., Beechtoldi, M. and Blau, P. (2003), “What is typical for call centre jobs? Job
characteristics and service interactions in different call centres”, European Journal of
Work and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 311-40.
Zeithaml, V.A., Berry, L.L. and Parasuraman, A. (1993), “The nature and determinants of
customer expectations of service”, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 21 No. 1,
pp. 1-12.
Zwick, T. (2006), “The impact of training intensity on establishment productivity”, Industrial
Relations, Vol. 45 No. 1, pp. 26-46.
Further reading
Gratton, L., Hope-Hailey, V., Stiles, P. and Truss, C. (1999), “Linking individual performance to
business strategy: the people process model”, Human Resource Management, Vol. 38 No. 1,
pp. 17-31.
Moore, J.E. (2000), “Why is this happening? A causal attribution approach to work exhaustion
consequences”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 335-49.
About the authors
Thomas N. Garavan is based in the Department of Personnel and Employment Relations,
Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
John P. Wilson is based at the Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield,
UK.
Christine Cross is based in the Department of Personnel and Employment Relations, Kemmy
Business School, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
Ronan Carbery is based in the Department of Personnel and Employment Relations, Kemmy
Business School, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
Inga Sieben is based at the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA),
Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Andres de Grip is based at the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA),
Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Christer Strandberg is based in the Department of Social Sciences, Mid Sweden University,
Sundsvall, Sweden.
Claire Gubbins is based in the Department of Management and Marketing, University College
Cork, Cork, Ireland.
Valerie Shanahan is based in the Department of Personnel and Employment Relations,
Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
Carole Hogan is based at Carole Hogan Associates, Killarney, Ireland.
Martin McCracken is based at the School of Business Organisation and Management,
University of Ulster, Jordanstown, UK.
Norma Heaton is based at the School of Business Organisation and Management, University
of Ulster, Jordanstown, UK.
JEIT
32,8/9
728