Control, Communication, and Knowledge-Building in Asian Call Centers

Communication within international call centers can be significantly complicated by breakdowns that result from multiple layers of corporate language. This case study explores training sessions and documentation developed and delivered by an American team responsible for training international call center workers located in the Philippines. Findings show that attempts to standardize and control workplace language can limit meaningful two-way communication, leaving workers to both question what they are told and invent new ways of communicating. Recommendations are presented in this study for a workplace writing model that can overcome language differences through authentic interaction.

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Responsible Women

Lives on the Line ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190630652.003.0006 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 109-133

Author(s):

Jeffrey J. Sallaz

Keyword(s):

Birth Control ◽

Migrant Workers ◽

Call Center ◽

Call Centers ◽

The Philippines ◽

The Past ◽

Call Center Agent ◽

At Home

Women in the Philippines, and eldest daughters (ates) in particular, are customarily expected to serve as breadwinners for their families, both immediate and extended. In a country where divorce is illegal and birth control is controversial, too many Filipinas find themselves with a larger network of people to support. Whereas in the past, these “responsible women” would have had to leave the country as migrant workers, call centers offer them a new opportunity to stay at home. Working as a call center agent, in other words, represents a sustainable solution to the dilemma of breadwinning. As a case study of Hannah, a breadwinner, illustrates, these jobs are lifelines.

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THE WORKPLACE, THE SOCIETY AND THE WIDER WORLD: THE OFFSHORING AND OUTSOURCING INDUSTRY

Annual Review of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.1017/s0267190509090126 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 29 ◽

pp. 145-167 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Liz Hamp-Lyons ◽

Jane Lockwood

Keyword(s):

Customer Service ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Call Center ◽

Large Scale ◽

Call Centers ◽

Emerging Market ◽

Language Assessment ◽

Poor Quality ◽

The Philippines ◽

Business Success

Workplace language assessment poses special issues for language testers, but also, when it becomes very large scale, it poses issues for language policy. This article looks at these issues, focusing on the offshore and outsourcing (O&O) industry as it is transitioning from native-speaking (NS) countries into nonnative-speaking (NNS) destinations such as India and the Philippines. This is obviously most impacted in call centers, where the ability of customer service representatives (CSRs) to communicate with ease with their native-English speaking customers is central to business success and can be key to a nation's economy. Having reviewed the (limited) research in this area, we take the Philippines as our example to explore how government, academe, and the business sector are dealing with the language proficiency and personnel-training issues caused by the exponential growth in this industry. Appropriate language assessments that are practical, while also being valid and reliable, are critical if the Philippines is to retain its position in this emerging market. Currently, call centers in Philippines complain of very poor recruitment rates due to poor language ability, and of poor quality communication outcomes measures: But how do they assess these key areas? We describe and evaluate the current situation in call center language assessment in the Philippines and discuss possible ways forward, for the Philippines and for the O&O industry more broadly.

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The Accountability Deficit in the Philippines: Implications and Prospects for Democratic Consolidation

Philippine Political Science Journal ◽

10.1163/2165025x-02601003 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 26 (1) ◽

pp. 63-88 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Aries A. Arugay

Keyword(s):

Democratic Consolidation ◽

The Philippines ◽

State Agencies ◽

Democratic Deficit ◽

Abuse Of Power ◽

Alternative Means ◽

And Control

One of the major challenges that consolidating democracies such as the Philippines needs to address is how to combat and control the problems of corruption, abuse of power, and other forms of particularism. The absence of effective institutions and mechanisms to counter them would result in one major democratic deficit — the lack or weakness of accountability. This article attempts to expose the manifestations of the “accountability deficit” in the Philippines by looking at the problems, limitations, and inadequacies of elections and horizontal state agencies of restraint as institutions of accountability. It also probes into the emergence of an alternative means known as “societal accountability”, using the resignation, impeachment, and ouster (RIO) campaign against then President Joseph Estrada as a case study. This article concludes with some thoughts on the implications of the accountability deficit to the prospects for democratic consolidation in the Philippines.

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Lives on the Line

10.1093/oso/9780190630652.001.0001 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jeffrey J. Sallaz

Keyword(s):

Call Center ◽

Information Technologies ◽

Call Centers ◽

The Philippines ◽

Global Market ◽

Ethnographic Study ◽

Initial Attempt ◽

Strategic Resources ◽

New Information ◽

At Home

The call center industry is booming in the Philippines. Around the year 2005, the country overtook India as the world’s “voice capital,” while industry revenues are now the second largest contributor to national GDP. This ethnographic study traces the assemblage of a global market for voice over the past two decades. New information technologies developed during the 1990s and 2000s fed Western firms’ appetite for cheap, English-speaking workers in offshore locales. An initial attempt to build a stable labor market for voice in India failed, owing in large part to gendered norms regarding work and mobility. In the Philippines, in contrast, there is a remarkable affinity between workers and firms. Decades of failed development policies have produced for educated Filipinos a dismaying choice: migrate abroad in search of prosperity or stay at home as an impoverished professional. Offshored call centers, in this context, represent a middle path. Drawing upon case studies of sixty Filipino call center workers and two years of fieldwork in Manila, this book shows how call center jobs allow Filipinos to earn a decent living and stay at home. Filipina women and transgender Filipinos in particular use their voices as strategic resources. Call centers are for them lifelines and lifestyles. Taken as a whole, this study advances debates concerning global capitalism, the future of work, and the lives of those who labor in offshored jobs.

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Liderazgo orientado a la gente en call centers

Journal of Economics Finance and Administrative Science ◽

10.1108/jefas-03-2017-0058 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 22 (43) ◽

pp. 154-167 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Federico R. León ◽

Oswaldo Morales ◽

Juan D. Ramos ◽

Álvaro Goyenechea ◽

Paul A. Rojas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Call Center ◽

Leadership Effectiveness ◽

Call Centers ◽

Content Type ◽

Future Studies ◽

Work Shifts ◽

Customer Services ◽

The Right ◽

And Control ◽

Organizational Value

Purpose Call centers generate stress and absenteeism in staff and the literature suggests that people-oriented leadership is the right way of supervision for such a situation. This study compared its effects versus those of other types of leadership. Methodology Absentee data of 379 representatives of customer services of a Peruvian call center were analyzed and the representatives answered a questionnaire about the Framework of Values in Competition and its four types of leadership. Day and night work shifts were compared. Results It was observed that absenteeism declines with people-oriented leadership, although only during the day shift, and the addition of leadership oriented to change, results and control devalues models. Limitations/implications Future studies should cover the performance of the worker. The findings suggest a need to re-focus the theoretical focus on environmental contingencies that affect leadership effectiveness. Originality/value Leadership theorists will ask themselves in what circumstances the multiple leadership is effective. Call center managers will appreciate the organizational value of people-oriented leadership at the first level of supervision.

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Forecasting and Controlling Key Performance Indicators in Call Centers

10.21203/rs.3.rs-685949/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Negin Mehrbod ◽

Izunildo Cabral ◽

José Requeijo ◽

Antonio Grilo

Keyword(s):

Call Center ◽

Control Charts ◽

Call Centers ◽

Moving Average ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Customer Relationship ◽

Prediction Errors ◽

Statistical Process ◽

Autocorrelated Data

Abstract This paper proposes a methodology for modeling and controlling the performance of call centers. Most call centers use CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems to record data of all contacts between agents and clients. These data may be autocorrelated. To model autocorrelated processes effectively, the proposed methodology integrates in a logical way ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average) modeling and SPC (Statistical Process Control) tools. ARIMA is used to model the process and identify the model that best fits the time series. The fitted model is used to compute residuals, predict future values for the quality variable(s) being monitored and determine the prediction errors. To achieve these goals, the Box-Jenkins methodology is employed. These outputs are then used to apply SPC, in this case the Shewhart control charts for autocorrelated data. First, the computed residuals are used to build the control charts in Phase I of SPC, verify the process stability and estimate the process parameters. Then, these parameters are used to establish the control limits of the charts used in Phase II of SPC to monitor and control the prediction errors. The proposed methodology is tested in a case study of a large call center in Portugal. The results of the case study suggest that ARIMA modeling and SPC, when properly integrated, provide a set of effective tools for monitoring call center performance when autocorrelated data are available. This paper has important implications for both theory and practice.

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