Dissertations / Theses: 'Customer service call centres'

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Dean, Alison Mary 1950. "Delivering service quality in call centres : customers' responses and frontline employees' views." Monash University, Dept. of Management, 2004. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/5255.

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Jason, Bronwin Anastasia. "An adaptive user interface model for contact centres." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/989.

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Contact centres (CC), are the primary interaction point between a company and its customers and these are rapidly expanding in terms of both workforce and economic scope. An important challenge for today's CC solutions is to increase the speed at which CCAs retrieve information to answer customer queries. CCAs, however, differ in their ability to respond to these queries and do not interact with the computer user interface (UI) in the same way as they each have different capabilities, experience and expertise. Studies have provided empirical support that user performance can be increased when the computer UI characteristics match the user skill level. Adaptive user interfaces (AUIs) are the key to creating personalised systems. Their sole task is to provide an interface most suitable to users' needs whilst facilitating the users' varying skill levels. The aim of this research was to develop an AUI model for CCs to support and improve the expertise level of CCAs. A literature review of CCs, user expertise, AUIs and existing AUI models resulted in the proposal of an AUI model for CCs. The proposed AUI model was described in terms of its architecture, component-level and interface design. An AUI prototype was developed as a proof-of-concept of the proposed AUI model. A literature review on existing AUI evaluation approaches resulted in an evaluation strategy for the proposed AUI model. The AUI prototype was evaluated according to the evaluation strategy that was identified. User testing incorporating eye-tracking and a post-test questionnaire was used to determine the usefulness and usability of the AUI prototype. Significant results were found with regards to user satisfaction ratings, the learnability of the AUI prototype and its effectiveness. This dissertation makes an important contribution in the design of an AUI model that supports and improves the expertise level of CCAs. The model could be used to assist the development of CC applications incorporating AUIs. Future research is however needed to evaluate the effect of the proposed AUI model in a larger CC environment.

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Kotze, Theo. "The effect of national culture on customer satisfaction in call centres across national borders." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/23069.

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Characteristics of national cultures have frequently been claimed to influence service quality perception and customer satisfaction. This inquiry investigates this claim by analysing a multinational company’s call centre servicing two markets across national borders. Hypotheses are derived which relate the cultural and customer characteristics of age, gender and socio-economic status to customer satisfaction and perceived service quality within each country.Using multiple regression and CHAID models as well as Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests, the hypotheses are tested by analysing call centre service feedback data on 245 customers in the South African and 201 customers in the British market. Empirical support for the effect of national culture on perceived service quality and customer satisfaction is found.Empirical proof that females report higher levels of satisfaction than males is found while the importance customers place on service quality constructs are proven to vary by age and gender. A call centre management model integrating culture and customer characteristics, which provides a richer perspective of the mechanics of value creation, is suggested.
Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
unrestricted

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Chicu, Doriana. "Employees and customers in call centres: confirmatory and exploratory study." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/396290.

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Aquest estudi tracta de connectar les disciplines de RH i Màrqueting, i examina el model de service-profit chain (SPC) en el sector de Call Centre, caracteritzat per un servei remot i un negoci basat en la reducció de costos. Les dades s'han col·lectat del Projecte "Global Call Center Project". Hem realitzat dos estudis. En el primer estudi (confirmatori) s'ha emprat una mostra internacional (n = 937). En el segon estudi (exploratori) vam utilitzar una mostra espanyola (n = 109). Els resultats revelen que el model SPC té una aplicació diferent en els call centres. Encara que a nivell general podem confirmar la majoria de les relacions del model, els resultats indiquen que la satisfacció del client és un resultat separat, i no un precursor del rendiment de l'empresa. També trobem una alternativa de mesurar el constructe individual de la satisfacció de l'empleat amb dades disponibles de la organització. Addicionalment, vam descobrir certes discrepàncies en la relació entre la productivitat i la satisfacció dels empleats.
El presente estudio es una conexión entre las disciplinas de RH y Marketing, y examina el modelo service-profit chain (SPC) en el sector de Call Centre, caracterizado por un servicio remoto y un negocio basado en la reducción de costes. Los datos se han colectado del Proyecto “Global Call Center Project”. Hemos realizado dos estudios. En el primer estudio (confirmatorio) se ha empleado una muestra internacional (n = 937). En el segundo estudio (exploratorio) utilizamos una muestra española (n = 109). Los resultados revelan que el modelo SPC tiene una aplicación diferente en los call centres. Aunque a nivel general podemos confirmar la mayoría de las relaciones del modelo, los resultados indican que la satisfacción del cliente es un resultado separado, y no un precursor de rendimiento de la empresa. También encontramos una alternativa de medir el constructo individual de satisfacción del empleado con los datos organizacionales disponibles. Adicionalmente, descubrimos ciertas discrepancias en la relación entre la productividad y la satisfacción de los empleados.
This thesis is an interface between HR and Marketing discipline, by examining the Service-Profit Chain (SPC) model in the context of call centre, characterized by remote service and cost cutting business models. Data was gathered from the Global Call Centre Project. We carried out two studies. The first one is a confirmatory study, using an international sample (n=937). In the second study we use a Spanish sample (n=109) and carry out an exploratory study. Findings reveal that the SPC model behaves somewhat differently in call centres. Although there is general support for most of the links in the model, the results indicate that customer satisfaction in the call centre industry is a separate outcome, rather than a precursor to company performance. In addition, we found a way to measure the individual level of employee satisfaction construct with organizational available data. We also discovered some discrepancies in the relationship between employee satisfaction and employee productivity.

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Barnes, Alison Kate School of Industrial Relations &amp Organisational Behaviour UNSW. "'The centre cannot hold': resistance, accommodation and control in three Australian call centres." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Industrial Relations and Organisational Behaviour, 2005. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/22026.

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Drawing upon case studies of three organisations operating six call centres in Australia, this thesis explores the manifestations and interplay of employee resistance and accommodation in response to five facets of employer control: electronic monitoring; repetitious work; emotional control; the built environment; and workplace flexibility. Accommodation refers to the ways workers protect themselves from and adapt to the pressures that make up their day-to-day experiences of work. Accommodation, unlike resistance, which implies opposition to control, may superficially resemble consent to control. I argue that resistance and accommodation are not polar opposites; rather they are both reflections of the conflict and tensions that lie at the heart of the employment relationship. At the study sites, employees utilised resistance and accommodation both separately and concurrently. An explanation of these seemingly contradictory responses and of the links among accommodation individual resistance and collective resistance lies in the concept of ???self???. In this thesis, ???self??? refers to workers??? perceptions of fairness, dignity and autonomy. I examine how these notions frame worker discontent and promote employee solidarity. ???Everyday resistance???, a concept first developed by Scott (1985) in relation to peasant struggles, is employed to highlight the existence of subterranean struggles in workplaces that otherwise appear to be harmonious. At the study sites, everyday resistance was a multi-faceted, widely employed strategy whose strength lay primarily in its immediate impact. There was, however, no necessary sequential development from accommodation, through everyday resistance to overt, formal forms of conflict. What was evident was that multiple responses to employer control could co-exist and inhibit or promote one another. But it was through organised collective resistance that more formalised gains were made and widely held grievances addressed. I suggest that, although everyday resistance may lay the groundwork for more formal struggles, one should not conclude that traditional collective resistance is ???genuine??? resistance and everyday resistance is simply a second-best prelude to it. Although conflict is always present, its intensity differs. If we are to understand the complexity of worker responses to managerial control, we need to expand the theoretical frameworks within which we analyse and interpret conflict.

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Chu, Qiao M. Eng Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Nisha Palvia. "Enhancing the customer service experience in call centers using preemptive solutions and queuing theory." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/112874.

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Thesis: M. Eng. in Supply Chain Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Supply Chain Management Program, 2017.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (page 79).
The security alarms services market in the United States delivers hardware equipment and services to homeowners and businesses to help monitor and enhance personal property protection. Customer satisfaction via wait time reduction, first call resolution, and cost minimization are key drivers of success to players in this market. Most companies invest heavily in customer service systems including call centers. Our client, AlarmCo, a top provider of property protection, manages an inbound call center that supports a range of questions from customers who call within thirty days from the alarm installation date. Often, security companies fail to utilize strategic solutions when managing inbound customer call traffic and default to reactive measures which unnecessarily increase customer wait times. The key question the team aims to address in this thesis is: "How can we improve the customer service experience for customers of a major security service provider in the United States?" For this thesis, MIT partnered with OnProcess Technology, a managed services provider specializing in complex, global service supply chain operations, to develop a robust framework to preemptively reduce the number of inbound customer calls, and thereby improve customer service. Using ABC segmentation, the team categorized customers by reason code and demographics. To simulate the client's call center queue, the team calculated the key inputs for the queuing model including average wait time, interarrival rates and number of servers. The team then chose and developed the M/M/n stochastic queuing model for the simulation. The M/M/n queue reflects a simple system with parallel servers, arrivals with a Poisson distribution and service times that are exponentially distributed. Next, the customer segmentation was used to develop targeted preemptive solutions. Taking into account feasibility ratings, the team assigned success rates to each solution and adjusted the inbound call data accordingly. By analyzing the outputs of the simulation before and after adjusting the dataset, the team quantified the impact of preemptive solutions on the call center queue. Ultimately, narrowing to twelve strategic preemptive solutions led to the enhancement of the as-is queuing model by reducing average wait time by up to 35%.
by Qiao Chu and Nisha Palvia.
M. Eng. in Supply Chain Management

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Spies, Marelise. "Emotional labour and the experience of emotional exhaustion amongst customer service representatives in a call centre." Thesis, Link to the online version, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10019/1221.

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Visser, Willem Alfonzo. "Daily hassles, resilience, and burnout of call centre staff / Willem Alfonzo Visser." Thesis, North-West University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10394/1701.

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Fernandes, Joaquim Márcio Sousa. "A liderança no Call Center: o caso da TMN/PT Contact." Master's thesis, Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/5171.

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Dissertação de Mestrado em Sociologia das Organizações e Trabalho
A liderança é um tema muito importante a nível das organizações, pois é vital para o seu sucesso. Pode ser definida como um processo de influência social através do qual o líder procura obter a participação voluntária dos outros elementos do grupo no sentido de atingirem a causa comum. O enquadramento deste trabalho orientou-se para a definição das várias teorias da liderança e conceitos correlatos, no sentido de permitir contextualizar a liderança num ambiente organizacional particular: o call center, ambiente que já foi sociologicamente descrito como um caso notório de neo-taylorismo terciário. Com apoio na teoria situacionista, constatou-se que existe a expectativa teórica da relação entre tarefas simples, repetitivas e rotineiras (como as que caracterizam o call center) com uma adequação e sucesso particulares da liderança autocrática. O estudo empírico que empreendemos desenvolveu-se em torno dessa premissa, orientado para o teste da seguinte hipótese: Existe uma predominância do estilo de liderança autocrático por parte dos supervisores no call center. Para a testar recorreu-se ao inquérito por questionário aplicado a supervisores (auto-avaliação) e comunicadores (hetero-avaliação). Os resultados do estudo invalidaram a hipótese pois mostram que a maioria dos líderes analisados tem um estilo democrático e nenhum tem um estilo autocrático.
Leadership is a very important topic at the level of organizations because it is vital to its success. It can be defined as a process of social influence through which the leader seeks the voluntary participation of other group members in order to achieve the common cause. The framework of this dissertation was directed toward the definition of the various theories of leadership and related concepts, in order to allow a deep understanding of leadership in a particular organizational environment: the call centre, an environment that has been described sociologically as a notorious case of tertiary neo-taylorism. With support in the situationist theory, it was found that there is a theoretical expectation about the relationship between simple, repetitive and routine tasks (such as those that characterize the call centre) with a particular suitability and success of autocratic leadership. The empirical study we have undertaken has developed around this premise, aimed to test the following hypothesis: There is a predominance of autocratic style of leadership among supervisors in the call centre. For testing we used the survey questionnaire administered to supervisors (self assessment) and communicators (hetero-evaluation). The study results invalidate the hypothesis because they show that most leaders have a democratic style and none has an autocratic style.

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Blažej, Michal. "Postavení a úloha call center." Master's thesis, Vysoké učení technické v Brně. Fakulta podnikatelská, 2008. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-221646.

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This diploma thesis deals with the topic of „Position and Function of Call Centres in Telecommunications”. It focuses on alternative ways of customer´s communication with the company mainly by mobile phone. The content of this work is the characteristics of services, the specification of ways of communication between the customer and the company, the description of T-Mobile´s products using the alternative ways of communication with the company, the survey of T-Mobile´s Call centre´s activities and the research part. The aim of this work is to find out recomandations and progressions for improvement of working and standing of Call centre within the T-Mobile group. At the end of the work there are added some appendixes.

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Perez, Gustavo A. "Measuring the Perceived Transfer of Learning and Training for a Customer Service Training Program Delivered by Line Managers to Call Center Employees in a Fortune 200 Financial Services Company." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2006. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5401/.

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The purpose of this study was to explore what effect manager involvement in the delivery of training has on employee learning (transfer of learning) and on student behavior after training (transfer of training). Study participants were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups and a customer service training program was delivered with and without manager involvement. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected immediately after training using a retrospective pretest-then/posttest-now instrument developed to measure the participants' perceived transfer of learning. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected approximately 4 weeks after training also using a retrospective pretest-then/posttest-now instrument developed to measure the participants' perceived transfer of training. Quality assurance data generated by the organization for the first full month after the training program was completed were collected to measure the actual transfer of training. A 13-item version of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC-C) was included with the perceived transfer of training survey to measure the potential for self-perception bias with the perceived transfer of learning and the perceived transfer of training data. ANOVA results for the perceived transfer of learning and perceived transfer of training data indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups. ANOVA results for the actual transfer of training data mirrored the results found for the perceived transfer of training. The possibility of self-perception bias in using the retrospective pretest-then/posttest-now instruments was recognized as a study concern with MC-C data indicating a much higher level of social desirability with the sample population than with reported non-forensic norms. A slight positive influence on the transfer of learning and on the transfer of training was found when a participant's direct manager was involved in the delivery of training.

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Magoqwana, Babalwa Mirianda. "Call centres as a vehicle to improve customer satisfaction in local government: a case study of front line workers in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004339.

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This dissertation provides an account of 'Batho Pele' (People First) and 'new public management' as applied in two government call-centres in the Eastern Cape. Focusing on the workers at these call-centres, this research examines the workplace organisation of these call-centres based in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality. The study involved interviews with managers, call-centre operators and trade unionists. The findings show how the work environment is not conducive to the goals of customer satisfaction as presented in the Batho Pele policies. The research investigates the conditions of workers as one explanatory factor for poor call-centre service. If workers are a key element in the success of the 'new public management', their work environment and conditions have to facilitate their job satisfaction and their improved customer service. The research demonstrated the evident lack of professionalism in the call-centre, customer care designed as a matter of compliance rather the need to change the culture and the persistent lack of discipline and supervision. The call centre operator's experiences include issues of surveillance, stress, emotional labour, lack of training, internal conflicts and bad 'customer service' as perceived by the citizens of the Metro.

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Oliveira, Alexandre Ferreira. "Uma investigação empírico-exploratória acerca da causalidade dos indicadores operacionais de call center com a satisfação dos clientes." reponame:Repositório Institucional do FGV, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10438/4105.

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Made available in DSpace on 2009-11-18T19:01:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alexandre_Oliveira.pdf: 6992425 bytes, checksum: 9b93b9986c23a742d3c23be866aa20a6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006
Year after year the call center industry comes presenting high growth, either in Brazil or the world, using increasing contingent of people and receiving large amount of financial resources. Supporting all this industry, exists a theoretical reference that privileges the search of the improvement of diverse operational performance indicators. This study, empirically examines the relationship between caller satisfaction and diverse operational performance indicators currently used for call center management in Brazil. For in such a way, a group of telecommunications segment call centers will be used searching to determine which indicators are really more significantly correlated with the customer satisfaction. Of this form, it is aimed at to add new evidences and explanations to existing literature, in way that companies of call center industry can give a more adequate service to their customer, opposite to solely focus its efforts in the improvement of a great set of performance pointers that, effectively, can not become related with the customer satisfaction.
Ano após ano, a indústria de call center vem apresentando elevado crescimento, seja no Brasil ou no mundo, empregando crescente contingente de pessoas e recebendo expressivas somas de recursos financeiros. Suportando toda esta indústria, existe um referencial teórico que privilegia a busca da melhoria de diversos indicadores de desempenho operacional. Essa dissertação tem por objetivo examinar, empiricamente, a relação dos diversos indicadores de desempenho operacional utilizados atualmente na gestão de call centers, no Brasil, com a satisfação do cliente . Para tanto, será utilizado um conjunto de call centers de uma empresa do segmento de telecomunicações, buscando determinar quais são realmente os indicadores mais significativamente correlacionados com a satisfação do cliente. Dessa forma, visa-se acrescentar novas evidências e explicações à literatura existente, de modo a que as empresas da indústria de call center possam prestar um serviço mais adequado ao cliente, ao invés de unicamente focalizar seus esforços na melhoria de um grande conjunto de indicadores de desempenho que, efetivamente, podem não se relacionar com a satisfação do cliente.

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Smogner, Peter, and Niklas Johnson. "How to enhance Shareholder Value through a Customer support in the Insurance industry : A BUSINESS DRIVEN APPROACH TOWARDS MOBILE- AND SELF-SERVICE- BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE." Thesis, KTH, Industriell Management, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-133359.

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An increased competitive climate has enhanced the importance for companies to differentiate from other companies. Today, the customer support within service organizations are often disregarded as a source of value due to the focus on costs. Further, it has become more important to leverage the contact with the customer at all encounters. New technological advancements within Business Intelligence have also enabled companies to increase their competitiveness through improved decision support. The objective of this thesis is through a case study investigate how an insurance company could leverage its customer support as a source of creating shareholder value as well as how to apply trends within Business Intelligence for increased decision support. This was done through developing a conceptual model based on academic theory in order to provide a tool for analysis and development of a customer support. The research questions intends to investigate how an customer support can contribute to, and balance a focus on service quality, costs and sales in order to enhance shareholder value. A business driven approach was further used in order to understand how a customer support could leverage the emerging trends of Business Intelligence. This since the thesis also aims to provide some first insights into how to leverage the trends of mobile- and Self-Service- Business Intelligence within the customer support within insurance companies. The research emphasizes the need to have a holistic view of what drives value and costs with regard to the retention, growth and acquisition of customers when viewing the customer support as a source of value. The thesis concludes that both the trends of mobile- and Self-Service- Business Intelligence could enable an insurance company to gain new insights through utilizing existing internal as well as external data in order to conduct a more continuous and flexible analysis of important matters.

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Ellway, Benjamin Piers William. "Call centres : work, service, & technologies." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.609748.

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Chinhamo, Edmore. "The application of quality management systems at a computer customer contact centre in Cape Town." Thesis, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/2310.

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Thesis (MTech (Public Relations Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011.
This research investigates the application of the quality management systems at a computer contact centre in Cape Town. It examines the issues around brand switching from the products supported by the computer customer contact centre to those manufactured by competitors. Its main interest is to interrogate the reasons customers give to call centre agents when they decide to switch brands. It also hopes to find out whether call agents understand the interrelation between quality management, brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the project uses employee responses to ascertain whether the concept of quality management is synonymous with customer satisfaction and whether employee fulfilment leads to innovation and customer satisfaction. To address the main concerns of this project, Deming's model of quality management is used as the main conceptual framework. The key concepts underlying this model are visionary leadership, internal and external cooperation, learning/training, process management, continuous improvement, employee fulfilment and customer satisfaction. To find out the reasons that customers give to call centre agents when they decide to switch brands and also to respond to sub research questions, a quantitative research method was selected. A questionnaire was administered to 100 employees out of a 300 population. Although the customers' voices would have added value to the research project, the researcher decided to concentrate on employees because of the following reasons: 1) the interaction with customer begins and ends with agents, therefore agents are always aware of the reasons why customers switch brands; 2) the customers are in excess of 100,000,000 and selecting a representative sample for a mini thesis was not very feasible, given that the thesis is constrained by time and volume.

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Sankar, Gopal Ravi. "An investigation into a natural language interface for contact centers." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/890.

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Contact centres are the first point of contact between a company and a customer after the purchase of a product or service. These centres make use of contact centre agents to service customer queries. In the past contact centres hired as many agents as they could in order to service customers, which have led to an increase in personnel costs causing contact centres to become costly to run. Automation techniques were introduced to decrease personnel costs and one such technique is the Interactive Voice Response (IVR). The usability of IVR systems is, however, dismal. Customers would rather speak to a contact centre agent than navigate through the menu structure found in these systems. The menu structure has come under scrutiny because it is difficult to use and navigate, is often not aligned to caller usage patterns, and the menu options are long and vague. This research investigated whether a Natural Language Interface (NLI) could alleviate the problems inherent to IVR. NLIs, however, come with their own disadvantages of which the main ones are ambiguity and the loss of context of a conversation. Two prototypes were implemented, one of which resembled an IVR and the other an NLI (using ALICE concepts). An evaluation of two prototypes confirmed the advantages and disadvantages of these concepts in accordance to theory. A Hybrid prototype was proposed with the aid of two models. The model which proposed an NLI using a rule base was chosen for implementation. The Hybrid prototype was then evaluated against the NLI and IVR prototypes to deduce which prototype was the most effective, efficient and satisfying. The evaluation through the aid of descriptive and inferential statistics showed that the Hybrid prototype was the most usable prototype. The evaluation of the Hybrid prototype confirmed that a Hybrid approach could limit the shortcomings of IVR through the elimination of the menu structure found in these systems, thereby allowing users to state their queries in natural language. The incorporated rule base provided the Hybrid system with long term memory, eliminating one of the main disadvantages of NLIs.

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Singh, Akash. "An intelligent user interface model for contact centre operations." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1011399.

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Contact Centres (CCs) are at the forefront of interaction between an organisation and its customers. Currently, 17 percent of all inbound calls are not resolved on the first call by the first agent attending to that call. This is due to the inability of the contact centre agents (CCAs) to diagnose customer queries and find adequate solutions in an effective and efficient manner. The aim of this research is to develop an intelligent user interface (IUI) model to support and improve CC operations. A literature review of existing IUI architectures, modelbased design and existing CC software together with a field study of CCs has resulted in the design of an IUI model for CCs. The proposed IUI model is described in terms of its architecture, component-level design and interface design. An IUI prototype has been developed as a proof of concept of the proposed IUI model. The IUI prototype was evaluated in order to determine to what extent it supports problem identification and query resolution. User testing, incorporating the use of eye tracking and a post-test questionnaire, was used in order to determine the usability and usefulness of the prototype. The results of this evaluation show that the users were highly satisfied with the task support and query resolution assistance provided by the IUI prototype. This research resulted in the design of an IUI model for the domain of CCs. This model can be used to assist the development of CC applications incorporating IUIs. Use of the proposed IUI model is expected to support and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of CC operations. Further research is needed to conduct a longitudinal study to determine the impact of IUIs in the CC domain.

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Free, Alex. "Workplace selves, interactive service work and outsourcing : labour in Kenya's call centres." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2015. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3135/.

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The consequences for workers of the expansion of interactive service work in Nairobi, Kenya, are explored in this thesis. I investigate workplace power relations as forms of control that are implicated in managerial strategies by examining workers' experiences in the call centre sector. The Foucauldian-inspired conceptual framework for this study privileges workplace selves, enabling a focus on how call centre agent conduct is problematized by management. The empirical part of the study uses a multimethod approach that includes interviews, workplace observations and a questionnaire. The empirical analysis demonstrates that while management tends to approach in-house or captive agents as low-status subordinate selves, business process outsourcing (BPO) agents are best regarded as flexible selves, owing to their selectively autonomous working roles and the relative insecurity of their work. As a ‘development’ project, the BPO sector is shown to have a mixed record with respect to agent livelihoods. It has given rise to new opportunities for workers but without providing stable employment. Examining the rationalities underpinning workplace control, my analysis indicates that captive agents can be understood as being subject to a rationality of directed conduct, while their BPO counterparts are more likely to be managed according to a rationality of strategic egalitarianism. Consequently, BPO agents are shown to be implicated in a relatively more complex configuration of workplace power relations than captive agents, with the result that they tend to speak more favourably about work that they also depict as onerous. The empirical analysis provides a basis for advancing theoretical understanding achieved by introducing novel concepts, the most important of which concern modes of workplace 'subjectification': comprehensive observation, selfproblematization and recognizing individualism. These help to position the analysis of managerial strategies in a way that neither regards agents as fully empowered nor assumes worker exploitation as the main outcome. The study demonstrates how management endeavours to oversee the intensive monitoring of conduct while also securing agents' commitment to their roles by providing fulfilling workplace experiences.

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Álvarez-Galván, José-Luis. "Service work and subcontracting in the new economy : call centres in Mexico City." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2010. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2207/.

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This dissertation analyses the subcontracting of front-line service work in the new economy. Its aim is to examine how workers' experiences and employment conditions are affected by how subcontractors respond to the challenges and problems of coordination and negotiation with client firms. In recent years, subcontracting has gained popularity as a mechanism to deal with the uncertainty of increasingly challenging business environments. According to mainstream business scholars and social scientists, intense competition, variations in demand and technical change have forced organizations to substitute hierarchical arrangements by market mediated transactions. Nonetheless, the practice of subcontracting also raises important concerns. Subcontracting might blur organizational boundaries, fragmenting employers' authority and affecting coordination between organizations. In other words, subcontracting might involve problems that, in practice, increase transaction costs and affect workers' experiences. This research is based on extensive information collected through 65 in-depth interviews with workers and managers concerning their work experiences in call centres in Mexico City. Call centres are often seen as a flag-ship industry of the new economy, rapidly growing and subject to constant pressures for cost reduction. The Mexican case is also relevant as it is characterized by a weak institutional setting where labour protection is low and business competition is largely unregulated. The findings of this research identify those managerial practices that can be more affected or associated with the difficulties of negotiation and coordination between subcontractors and client firms; narrowed job designs; customer segmentation; the use of contracts for services; supervision approach; union avoidance; the use of internal labour markets to secure management loyalty; and reinforcing social divisions in the workplace. These findings also suggest that a number of practices that were common in the old economy are still relevant in the organization of work in the twenty-first century.

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Schefe, Neville Lindsay. "The systematic improvement of advice given by public sector call centres." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2006. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16279/1/Neville_Schefe_Thesis.pdf.

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The persistent demand for increased accountability and value for money in the public sector from both the public and governments raises the issue of quality of service in advice-giving by governmental agencies. The goal of this study is to develop a model to validate frameworks able to contribute to improved advice-giving through the application of knowledge management principles. Zack's (2001) Four Knowledge Problem Model, Brogowicz, Delene, and Lyth's (1990) Synthesised Service Quality Model, and Markus's (2001) Theory of Knowledge Reuse are used to examine knowledge strategies in advice-giving through the application of a case study methodology. Two Queensland public-sector call centres are investigated. This study confirms that although the studied call centres operate under differing business drivers, agents have developed strategies generally consistent with those suggested by Zack (2001) to deal with uncertain, complex, and ambiguous problem types. No equivocal problems were encountered in the study. The solution of the former problem pair of uncertainty and complexity relies on knowledge that is codified and stored in databases, while the latter equivocality and ambiguity, seeks out experts who apply both technical and functional knowledge to the problem resolution. Roles performed by call-centre agents predominantly align with those described by Markus (2001), with the opportunity to enhance performance through contribution by shared-work producers to knowledge repositories. The problem-solving strategies employed by agents and the technical capabilities of the call centres combine to deliver a level of service quality which, although meeting client expectations, has been able to be improved through the application of knowledge strategies targeting efficient problem resolution through knowledge reuse.

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Schefe, Neville Lindsay. "The systematic improvement of advice given by public sector call centres." Queensland University of Technology, 2006. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16279/.

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The persistent demand for increased accountability and value for money in the public sector from both the public and governments raises the issue of quality of service in advice-giving by governmental agencies. The goal of this study is to develop a model to validate frameworks able to contribute to improved advice-giving through the application of knowledge management principles. Zack's (2001) Four Knowledge Problem Model, Brogowicz, Delene, and Lyth's (1990) Synthesised Service Quality Model, and Markus's (2001) Theory of Knowledge Reuse are used to examine knowledge strategies in advice-giving through the application of a case study methodology. Two Queensland public-sector call centres are investigated. This study confirms that although the studied call centres operate under differing business drivers, agents have developed strategies generally consistent with those suggested by Zack (2001) to deal with uncertain, complex, and ambiguous problem types. No equivocal problems were encountered in the study. The solution of the former problem pair of uncertainty and complexity relies on knowledge that is codified and stored in databases, while the latter equivocality and ambiguity, seeks out experts who apply both technical and functional knowledge to the problem resolution. Roles performed by call-centre agents predominantly align with those described by Markus (2001), with the opportunity to enhance performance through contribution by shared-work producers to knowledge repositories. The problem-solving strategies employed by agents and the technical capabilities of the call centres combine to deliver a level of service quality which, although meeting client expectations, has been able to be improved through the application of knowledge strategies targeting efficient problem resolution through knowledge reuse.

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Pandey, Pushkal Kumar. "An exploratory investigation into determinants of service quality in technology-mediated service interactions characteristic of call centres." Thesis, Ulster University, 2014. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.604656.

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The paucity of research in performance management of call centres is evident from the confusion regarding what is desired by the customer from this mode of service. A variety of recommendations have been put forward in various studies, but a holistic perspective on what constitutes quality is still lacking. This research is an attempt to investigate key factors which determine performance measurement in technology mediated call centre environment with the help of a conceptual model. A combination of qualitative and quantitative approach has been used to develop and test survey items on direct customer response. The case call centres are selected on the basis of service classification model proposed in the study. A conceptual model is formulated based on preliminary literature review. Qualitative stage has involved semi-structured interviews with senior executives, followed by focus groups conducted with call centre agents. The analysis of survey developed hence has been performed using methods of quantitative data analysis. To the best of our knowledge this study is the first to apply communication theory to an exploration of relational (socio-emotional) aspect in call centres service performance. Identifying the association formed between the customer and service provider in its discreet sociological context, it is argued here that being susceptible to limitations attributed to technology-mediated communication channels, call centres are a unique context of study and therefore performance evaluation should take account of this inherent unique.

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Nel, Heidemarie. "'n Bedryfsielkundige ondersoek na die verband tussen emosionele intelligensie en werksprestasie in die oproepsentrum-omgewing." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/52351.

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Thesis (MA.)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Worldwide call centres are being used by organisations to provide services and products to their clients in an immediate, interactive and cost-effective way. Taking into consideration the characteristics of call centres, the important contribution they make to the economical success of present day organisations, as well as the demands that this environment makes on employees, the question arises whether emotional intelligence is related to performance in call centres. A literature study of the nature and extent of emotional intelligence, with specific reference to the workplace, was carried out. Focus was further placed on call centres and the influence emotional competencies have on success in this environment. Emotional intelligence is conceptualised, as competencies that may enable individuals to use emotions to their advantage to achieve desired outcomes. In the literature emotional intelligence is regarded as a factor that influences an individual's performance. The primary goal of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between emotional intelligence and performance in the call centre environment. The sample in this study is compiled of 135 call centre agents, working respectively in client service, sales and administrative environments, in a life assurance company. A questionnaire consisting of biographical items, the "Emotional Competency Inventory" and a performance rating, was used to obtain the necessary data from the subjects. rThe results of this study revealed that a statistically significant and positive correlation exists between emotional intelligence and performance in call centres. No statistical significant difference was found between the correlation of emotional intelligence and performance in the respective call centre environments of client service, sales and administration. A positive and statistically significant correlation was found between performance and the four areas of emotional intelligence, namely self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and social skills. With regard to the mean scores of emotional intelligence and performance, the results of the study suggest no statistically significant difference between the respective call centre environments. It was also established which combination of emotional competencies serves as best predictors of performance in the call centre environment. The main objectives of this study were successfully achieved. General conclusions and possible explanations for the above-mentioned findings are presented. Finally the implementation value of the study is discussed and recommendations for future research are made.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Oproepsentrums word wereldwyd deur organisasies aangewend om hul kliente op 'n onmiddellike, interaktiewe en koste-effektiewe wyse van dienste en produkte te voorsien. Teen die agtergrond van die kenmerke van oproepsentrums, die betekenisvolle bydrae wat dit tot die ekonomiese sukses van vandag se organisasies lewer, asook die eise wat hierdie omgewing aan werknemers stel, ontstaan die vraag of emosionele intelligensie met werksprestasie in oproepsentrums verb and hou. 'n Literatuurstudie oor die aard en omvang van emosionele intelligensie, met spesifieke verwysing na die werksplek, is uitgevoer. Verder is op oproepsentrums en die invloed van emosionele bevoegdheid op die werksukses in hierdie omgewing gefokus. Emosionele intelligensie word gekonseptualiseer as bevoegdhede wat individue in staat mag stel om emosie tot hul voordeel aan te wend ten einde die verlangde uitkomste te bereik. Emosionele intelligensie word in die literatuur as 'n faktor wat 'n invloed op 'n persoon se werksprestasie kan he geidentifiseer. Die primere doelstelling van hierdie studie was om te bepaal of daar 'n verband tussen emosionele intelligensie en werksprestasie in die oproepsentrum-omgewing bestaan. Die steekproef in hierdie studie bestaan uit 135 oproepsentrum-agente in 'n lewensversekeringsmaatskappy wat onderskeidelik in klientediens, verkoops- en administratiewe omgewings werksaam is. Daar is van 'n vraelys bestaande uit biografiese items, die "Emotional Competency Inventory" en 'n werksprestasietelling, gebruik gemaak om die nodige inligting van die proefpersone te bekom. Die resultate van hierdie ondersoek toon dat daar 'n statisties beduidende en positiewe verband tussen emosionele intelligensie en werksprestasie in oproepsentrums bestaan. Geen statisties beduidende verskil is aangetref tussen die korrelasies van emosionele intelligensie en werksprestasie in die onderskeie oproepsentrum-omgewings, naamIik klientediens, verkope en administrasie, nie. 'n Positiewe en statisties beduidende verb and is gevind tussen werksprestasie en die vier areas van emosionele intelligensie, naamlik selfbewussyn, selfbestuur, sosiale bewussyn en sosiale vaardigheid. Ten opsigte van die gemiddelde tellings van emosionele intelligensie en werksprestasie dui die resultate van die studie op geen statisties beduidende verskille in die onderskeie oproepsentrurn-omgewings rue. Verder is vasgestel watter kombinasie van emosionele bevoegdhede as die beste voorspellers van werksprestasie in die oproepsentrum-omgewing funksioneer. Die vemaamste doelstellings van hierdie studie IS suksesvol bereik. Algemene gevolgtrekkings en moontlike verklarings vir bogenoemde bevindings word aangebied. Laastens word die implementeringswaarde van die studie bespreek en aanbevelings vir verdere navorsing gedoen.

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Belt, Vicki. "Women's work and restructuring in the service economy : the case of telephone call centres." Thesis, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.394739.

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Marlow, David W. "Writing under the gun : a multimodal analysis of technical trouble tickets as an itext genre." Virtual Press, 2004. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1290972.

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Based on a multimodal approach combining elements of ethnographic participant/observer methodology, rhetorical genre analysis, and corpus analysis, this study examines trouble ticket discourse as a genre of digital communication (IText), interpreting the findings through the lens of 18 months the author spent working in the environment.Trouble tickets are the basic form of documentation used in call centers. They record details of all actions and interactions in the call center environment that is the setting for this study. One section employs the Ethnography of Communication as a foundational model to provide a rich description of both text and environment. Trouble ticket text is written in a fragmentary style which internal and external audiences alike find difficult to process.The rhetorical moves analysis (Swales 1990) uses the rich description as a basis for interpreting and explaining its findings. Key findings are that trouble tickets are rhetorical, and that they seamlessly incorporate actions by the automated system into the human rhetoric. The corpus analysis builds on both the rich description and rhetorical moves analysis, finding that trouble tickets use grammatical structures differently than traditional spoken and written communication.This study concludes that trouble tickets are used simultaneously for direct and archival communication, are collaboratively concatenative in generation and that a new model is required for understanding the variation between speech, writing and IText.
Department of English

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Tam, Kwok-hung, and 談國雄. "An evaluation of service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in shopping centres in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2010. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B44401929.

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Jouini, Oualid. "Stochastic modeling in call centers operations management." Châtenay-Malabry, Ecole centrale de Paris, 2006. http://www.theses.fr/2006ECAP1022.

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Le sujet de cette thèse porte sur le développement et l'analyse de modèles stochastiques pour l'aide à la décision dans les centres d'appels. Dans la première partrie, nous considérons un centre d'appels où tous les agents sont groupés ensemble. Nous étudions les bénéfices de la migration depuis cette configuration à celle où les agents sont organisés en pool. Chaque pool est responsable d'un portefeuille de clients. Ensuite, nous considérons un centre d'appel avec des clients impatients. Nous développons des politiques dynamiques pour l'affectation des clients aux différentes files d'attente. L'objectif est lié aux qualités de service différenciées exprimées en terme du pourcentage de clients perdus. Enfin, nous étudions un centre d'appel qui annonce les délais d'attente aux clients. Nous montrons les avantages de l'annonce des délais sur les performances du système. Dans la deuxième partie, nous considérons un processus de naissance et de mort de forme générale. Nous calculons les moments de plusieurs variables aléatoires liées aux temps de premier passage d'un état à un autre. Ensuite, nous montrons un résultat de concavité dans une d'attente avec des clients impatients. Nous montrons que la probabilité d'entrer en service est strictement croissante et concave en fonction de la taille de la file d'attente
In this thesis, we focus on various operations management issues of call centers. We derive both qualitative and quantitative results for practical management. In the first part of the thesis, we investigate the impact of team-based organizations in call centers management. We develop queueing models that show the benefits of the team-based organization in providing better performances. Next, we consider a multicall call center with impatient customers. We develop dynamic scheduling policies that assign customers to the waiting lines. We focus on differentiated service levels criteria related to the fraction of abandoning customers. Finally, we propose a call center model in which we provide information about queueing delays to customers, and we quantify its effect upon performance. In the second part of the thesis, we tackled the quantitative analysis of stochastic processes ans queueing models. First, we derive several closed-form expressions of the moments of first passage times in general birth-death processes. Second, we investigate some monotonicity properties for the probability of being served in markovian queueing systems with impatient customers

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Kasturi, Anand. "Delivering service at call centres : a critical realist's view of the front line employees' world of work and effectiveness." Thesis, University of Buckingham, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.289702.

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Garcia, Colette R. "A mentor program to improve performance and retention of customer service representatives." [Denver, Colo.] : Regis University, 2009. http://165.236.235.140/lib/CGarcia2009.pdf.

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Hultgren, Anna Kristina. "Linguistic regulation and interactional reality : a sociolinguistic study of call centre service transactions." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2008. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:9ca16ff8-8975-4e25-9193-06016aa2b503.

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This thesis aims to contribute to the study of workplace talk, language and gender, and the sociolinguistics of globalization by exploring the phenomenon of ‘linguistic regulation’ in call centres. ‘Linguistic regulation’ refers to the practice, now widespread in the globalized service economy, of codifying and enforcing rules for employees’ use of language in service interactions with customers. Drawing on authentic service interactions from call centres in the UK and Denmark, and interviews and communication material from both those countries as well as Hong Kong and the Philippines, this study shows that linguistic regulation exerts a significant influence on the language used by call centre agents, and suggests that this has implications for all three areas of inquiry. In relation to the study of workplace talk, the findings raise questions about the degree of local management and individual speaker agency that has often been asserted in previous work. In the area of language and gender studies, the finding that female speakers in both countries show a higher degree of compliance with linguistic regulation than male ones is related to ongoing debates about the local variability of gender. It is argued that the field may benefit from supplementing the currently favoured locally-based methods with one which seeks to link linguistic behaviour with supra-local systems of inequality. Finally, in relation to the sociolinguistics of globalization, this thesis documents the existence of a distinct, globally prescribed, call centre style which is culturally marked as North-American. In practice, this style is locally inflected, with British agents exhibiting greater conformity to the prescriptions than their Danish counterparts. It is argued that this may be because the prescribed style conflicts with the Danish cultural preference for ‘getting to the point’. These findings highlight the importance of considering language in the context of a global system. The thesis concludes by considering what the research it is based on may contribute, not only to academic debates in sociolinguistics and the sociology of work, but also to professional discussions within the call centre industry.

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Barth, Nelson Lerner. "Avaliação do uso de tecnologia de atendimento telefônico automático nos serviços ao consumidor." reponame:Repositório Institucional do FGV, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10438/2558.

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For several purposes, including costs reduction and simplification of information delivery, many services companies adopt automated interaction technologies at their receptive call centers. Under the eyes of the users, they may have expectations about the service they will get and show preferences about the automated interaction resources. Using automated interaction technologies, call centers may or may not satisfy users’ expectations and preferences. For the determination of evidences that support the assumptions raised during the literature review, a research, divided in three parts, took place: a) a focus group with some call center users; b) a field study with call center users; c) interviews with specialists (experience survey). Using Conjoint Analysis we suggest a preference model related to call centers automated interaction. This model cannot be generalized due to the sampling method used in this exploratory study. Three distinct groups of users have been determined, in accordance with preference similarities. Forms of using automated interaction technologies have been determined, in tune with these preferences. Finally, based upon the Balanced Scorecard concept, we suggest a model for managerial evaluation of the use of automated interaction technologies at call centers in consumer services companies.
Com vários propósitos, inclusive o de redução de custos e o de facilitar a obtenção das informações desejadas pelo usuário, muitas empresas prestadoras de serviços ao consumidor adotam em suas CATs (Centrais de Atendimento Telefônico) recursos tecnológicos de automação da interação. Examinando-se sob a ótica dos usuários das CATs, estes poderão ter expectativas sobre o serviço que encontrarão e manifestar preferências com relação aos recursos de interação automática. As CATs, ao utilizarem tecnologias de automação da interação, podem estar ou não satisfazendo as expectativas e as preferências dos usuários. Para a determinação de argumentos que suportem as proposições levantadas durante a revisão bibliográfica sobre o tema, realizou-se uma pesquisa dividida em três partes: a) um focus group com alguns usuários de CATs; b) um estudo de campo com usuários de CATs; c) entrevistas com especialistas (levantamento de experiência). Com a técnica Análise de Preferência, propõe-se um modelo das preferências dos usuários em relação ao atendimento automático em CATs. Esse modelo, em princípio, não é generalizável devido às características do processo de amostragem utilizado nesse estudo exploratório. Determinaram-se três grupos distintos de usuários, de acordo com a similaridade entre suas preferências. Determinaram-se usos da tecnologia de atendimento automático que estão em sintonia com as preferências dos usuários. Finalmente, usando os conceitos do Balanced Scorecard, propõe-se um modelo de avaliação gerencial para o uso da tecnologia de atendimento automatizado nas Centrais de Atendimento Telefônico das empresas prestadoras de serviços ao consumidor.

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Nusshold, Patricio. "Organisation du travail et souffrance psychique dans les activités de service : le cas des centres d'appel en Argentine." Thesis, Paris, CNAM, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015CNAM1023/document.

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Cette recherche est le résultat de deux travaux d’analyse de l’activité dans deux centres d’appels téléphoniques en Argentine. Un travail de terrain, ainsi qu'une appréciation de plusieurs autres centres d’appels téléphoniques dans différents pays, auront servi de point de départ pour étudier deux grands axes: d’une part, l’étude des conséquences du travail dans les call centers sur la santé mentale et d’autre part, l'analyse des différentes approches de cette problématique en vue de sa transformation. La psychodynamique du travail et l’ergonomie de l’activité proposent différents regards, aujourd’hui confrontés aux questionnaires d’évaluation des risques psychosociaux. Cette thèse vise à mieux appréhender le lien entre l’organisation du travail, le contenu des tâches et les conséquences pour les travailleurs argentins, et compare ces résultats avec ceux d' autres pays où des investigations similaires ont été menées
This research is the result of a thorough analysis of the work of two call centers in Argentina. This fieldwork, building on call center visits undertaken in other countries, is the starting point for the study of two main issues. Firstly, the study of the consequences of call center work for mental health. Secondly, the study of different approaches that support the development of ways to improve it such work. Work psychodynamics and activity ergonomics are two disciplines that propose different points of view on these issues. Nowadays, they both find themselves confronted by quantitative scales that seek to measure psychosocial risks. The aim of this thesis is to increase knowledge on the relationship between work organization and tasks content and highlight the consequences for workers in Argentina. The thesis shall also compare results of the study with those found in other countries

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Malhotra, Neeru. "Analysing relationships among frontline employee perceptions of rewards, attitudes and service quality in banking call centres : an internal marketing perspective." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/3465.

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The basic purpose of the research is to understand the significance of internal marketing in influencing frontline employees'job-related attitudes and service quality. Since rewards are considered to be an important compqnent of internal marketing, this research investigates relationships among frontline employee perceptions of rewards (extrinsic and intrinsic), attitudes (three components of organisational commitment viz. affective, normative and continuance, and job satisfaction), and service quality, in banking call centres. In this context, a conceptual model is presented comprising rewards as the antecedentsa, ttitudes as the mediating variables, and service quality of the frontline employees as the outcome variable. The model is empirically tested through a large sample study that is conducted among 4 call centres of a major retail bank in the UK. Following certain qualitative in-depth interviews at the exploratory stage, structural equation modelling (using AMOS) is carried out on 342 useable questionnaires (response rate of more than 50%), to empirically test the proposed framework for the study. The measurement and structural models, after validation and purification, provided satisfactory fit estimates across absolute, incremental and parsimonious measures. The results highlight the importance of rewards, as part of internal marketing, in maintaining employee attitudes, and improving service quality. Intrinsic rewards (like role clarity, training and skill variety) emerged as the most significant of all, as they were found to impact on service quality directly. Extrinsic social rewards (like supervision and team support) were not found to be significant, while the finding regarding extrinsic organisational rewards-service quality relationship was surprising. Although assumed important for perfon-nance, some had no direct effect (pay, and benefits satisfaction, extrinsic exchange), while others (working conditions and promotional opportunities) exerted a negative direct effect on service quality, although the indirect effect of most of these rewards was found to be positive. However, these rewards were considered important for influencing employee attitudes, which in turn influence service quality. In this context, the importance of employee attitudes like affective commitment and job satisfaction is emphasisedfor service quality. The empirical results of the study also reveal that it is the nature of commitment that matters in commitment-service quality relationship. Affective commitment emerged as the only attitude variable to bear a significant positive relationship with service quality. Job satisfaction was not found to impact on service quality directly, although the indirect effect was found to be positive. Normative commitment impacted on service quality indirectly, while continuance commitment was not found to be effective at all. Besides theoretical and methodological contributions, the thesis also provides strong managerial implications and directions for future research in applying internal marketing for improving service quality of frontline employees in call centres. Keywords: internal marketing, rewards, service quality, commitment, job satisfaction, UK banks, call centres, frontline employees.

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Legros, Benjamin. "Optimization of multi-channel and multi-skill call centers." Phd thesis, Ecole Centrale Paris, 2013. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00997410.

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Call centers have been introduced with great success by many service‐oriented companies. They become the main point of contact with the customer, and an integral part of the majority of corporations. The large‐scale emergence of call centers has created a fertile source of management issues. In this PhD thesis, we focus on various operations management issues of multi‐skill and multichannel call centers. The objective of our work is to derive, both qualitative and quantitative, results for practical management. In the first part, we focus on architectures with limited flexibility for multi‐skill call centers. The context is that of call centers with asymmetric parameters: unbalanced workload, different service requirements, a predominant customer type, unbalanced abandonments and high costs of crosstraining. The most knowing architectures with limited flexibility such as chaining fail against such asymmetry. We propose a new architecture referred to as single pooling with only two skills per agent and we demonstrate its efficiency under various situations of asymmetry. In the second part, we focus on routing problems in multi‐channel call centers. In the first study, we consider a blended call center with calls arriving over time and an infinitely backlogged queue of emails. The call service is characterized by three successive stages where the second one is a break. We focus on the optimization of the email routing to agents. The objective is to maximize the throughput of emails subject to a constraint on the call waiting time. Various guidelines to call center managers are provided. In particular, we prove for the optimal routing that all the time at least one of the two email routing parameters has an extreme value. In the second study, we examine a threshold policy on the reservation of agents for the inbound calls. We study a general non‐stationary model where the call arrival follows a non‐homogeneous Poisson process. The optimization problem consists on maximizing the throughput of outbound tasks under a constraint on the waiting time of inbound calls. We propose an efficient adaptive threshold policy easy to implement. This scheduling policy is evaluated through a comparison with the optimal performance measures found in the case of a constant stationary arrival rate, and also a comparison with other intuitive adaptive threshold policies in the general non‐stationary case. In the third study, we consider a call center model with a call back option, which allows to transform an inbound call into an outbound one. The optimization problem consists on minimizing the expected waiting time of the outbound calls while respecting a service level constraint on the inbound ones. We propose a routing policy with two thresholds, one on the reservation of the agents for inbound calls, and another on the number of waiting outbound calls. A curve relating the two thresholds is determined.

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Bedser, Mark Bernard. "Servant leadership: antecedent to Quality of Worklife of customer service frontline employees." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62144.

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Contact Centre agents operate in closely monitored and highly controlled environments and their work consists of solving service requests or assisting customers with information on products or services. Consequently their work involves a great deal of emotional labour and stress. It is not surprising then, that the working environment of the Contact Centre is reported to have a negative impact on the levels of Quality of Worklife of Contact Centre agents, and that in the Contact Centre context, it is likely that low levels of Quality of Worklife exist. It is argued that it is important for organisations to be particularly aware of the Quality of Worklife perceptions of their employees should they want to address Quality of Worklife levels and benefit from the positive consequences of higher levels of the construct. Numerous variables are reported to play either an antecedent, moderating, mediating, or consequential role in relation to the Quality of Worklife construct. A systems model of Quality of Worklife is developed, which illustrates the inter-relationships of these variables and how they affect and are affected by the Quality of Worklife construct. It is argued that leadership is an important antecedent to Quality of Worklife, and this is the antecedent of interest in this study. It is proposed that it is not just any leadership that will contribute to an improved Quality of Worklife, particularly within a challenging context such as the Contact Centre environment. Rather, it is suggested that certain qualities of leaders will have a greater influence on Quality of Worklife. For example, leaders who focus on relationships and are caring - characteristics associated with servant leaders - are deemed more suitable for the Contact Centre context. The research also proposes that there are close associations between Servant Leadership and Trust, which in turn has the potential to affect Quality of Worklife positively. It is argued, therefore, that Trust mediates the relationship between Servant Leadership and Quality of Worklife in the customer service frontline context. While there is a broad base of literature available on servant leadership that focuses on the senior or executive level of leadership, Van Dierendonck and Nuijten (2011) have argued that it is also relevant at the middle level of management and have validated an eight dimensional measure of servant leadership that is suitable for this management level. The Van Laar, Edwards and Easton (2007) Quality of Worklife model is also argued to be an appropriate model and measure of the Quality of Worklife construct, due to the robustness of the instrument design and the appropriateness of its underlying theory to the context of this research. Research has shown that leadership can have a significant relationship with Quality of Worklife. Moreover, a review of the literature on servant leadership reveals that trust, satisfaction, general well-being, and commitment to their jobs increases when employees are exposed to leadership behaviours associated with servant leadership. There is however, no evidence in the literature of any investigation of the relationship between Servant Leadership and Quality of Worklife, or of research investigating the partial mediating effects of Trust between these two constructs. Research was conducted to test this relationship. A survey questionnaire was administered amongst a sample of 555 Contact Centre agents, who were employed in eight different organisations. Confirmatory factor analysis procedures were conducted in STATA (V15.0), to test and validate the factor structure of Servant Leadership and Quality of Worklife models. The research also produced a Servant Leadership, Trust and Quality of Worklife structural equation model that supported the hypotheses of the relationships between the constructs. Mediation analysis confirmed Trust’s role as a mediator between Servant Leadership and Quality of Worklife. The structural equation model confirmed that synergies between Servant Leadership, Trust and Quality of Worklife exist, and that Trust partially mediates the relationship between Servant Leadership and Quality of Worklife. It is therefore argued that an increase in Servant Leadership behaviour by the manager or supervisor of frontline staff has a positive association with increases of Trust, as well as positive associations with Quality of Worklife experienced by employees in the frontline context. Moreover, it is also posited that the relationship between Servant Leadership and Quality of Worklife is partially mediated by Trust of the supervisor. The implications of these results are discussed, and recommendations made for management practice and further research.

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Poykayil, Jayananda Panicker Abhishek. "Evaluation of the Performance of Customer Service Representatives in a Call Center Using DEA/ Network Model/ Fuzzy Sets." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/31704.

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Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is a linear programming technique that has been used extensively in the literature to measure relative efficiency. One of the main attributes of DEA is that it can model multiple inputs and multiple outputs in the model. In this research work, attributes pertaining to service quality have been modeled using the Network model.The primary research is the augmentation of the existing Network model to include input/ output variables that are imprecise from a measurement point of view. These variables are qualitative assessments that have a linguistic representation/ interpretation. A very good example of this variable would be "Pleasantness". Given the fact that there are different evaluators, there is a certain degree of impreciseness associated with the representation of each of these qualitative variables. This imprecision is captured using the fuzzy sets. The triangular membership functions were used to describe the membership functions. So a unique network model that captured fuzzy variables was created. The second main research contribution is that this is the first attempt of capturing service quality and efficiency of customer service representatives. The generic model that was created was used to evaluate the performance of the customer service representatives in a major airline. The results that were obtained, was shared with the decision makers at the airline for validation. The results that were obtained from the model also helped us validate the model with the other existing models.One of the main advantages of using the DEA/ Network/ Fuzzy model was that the imprecision involved in measuring the customer service representatives were accounted for. This enabled the decision maker in making the right decisions and not penalizing a customer service representative for imprecision in the data. Graphical Interpretations were also provided for the results that were obtained from the analysis.
Master of Science

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Strehl, Benjamin. "Innovationsmanagement im Service Center." Doctoral thesis, Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, 2012. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa-94810.

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Aus Sicht der Innovationsforschung besteht der Kern eines erfolgreichen Unternehmens aus folgender Formel: Innovative Ideen + Gute Umsetzung = Unternehmenserfolg. Hierbei spielten Service Center in der allgemeinen Managementwahrnehmung bislang eine untergeordnete Rolle. Damit wird ihnen Unrecht getan. Denn im Innovationsprozess stehen die Service Center am Ende des Produktzyklus. Was übersehen wird, ist, dass sie zugleich den Anfang eines neuen Produktzyklus bilden können. Insbesondere da in den Service Centern alle Erfahrungen zusammen laufen - vor allem die der Kunden. Um dieses Missverhältnis zwischen allgemeiner Wahrnehmung und effektiver Bedeutung von Service Centern für den Innovationsprozess herauszuarbeiten und Korrekturmöglichkeiten aufzuzeigen, wurden im Rahmen der Dissertation informationstechnische Methoden und Werkzeuge entworfen, entwickelt und eingesetzt. Am Ende entstand daraus sogar ein eigenes Produkt, das in Kundensituationen eingesetzt werden kann.

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Allgurén, Olivia, and Sanna Patama. "Securing the just-in-time delivery for the after-market : Study at Volvo car customer service." Thesis, Högskolan Väst, Avdelningen för maskinteknik och naturvetenskap, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-7786.

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The thesis has been performed at Volvo Car Customer Service in Gothenburg, Sweden. The output from the study will support Volvo to secure the Just-In-Time delivery of referrals for the after-market. The scope was limited to referrals from pre-planned orders, which occurs when there is no availability in the distribution centre where the orders were placed. Volvo's main warehouse in Europe is the Central Distribution Centre, which process referrals. The warehouse had an ongoing organisational change during this study. The concern was that the change would not lead to optimal conditions for processing referrals for different markets. It was therefore important to preserve the market knowledge in order to maintain a reliable referral service. A qualitative study was used and the information was gathered primarily through semi-structured interviews. Literature was studied both initially and continuously through the study. Analyse of the literature, current situation and data collection generated ideas for possible ways of securing the referral process and improvements. Benchmarking and Workshop was also performed in order to obtain further ideas. The result of this study was an information material containing information about all concerned markets, overview of referral flow and information regarding how the Central Distribution Centre needs to print referrals. The proposals suggested for future work were explained in long- and short-term. The short-term suggestions include use of the developed material in order to preserve the knowledge along with providing correct working conditions. For long-term suggestions focus has been on how to reduce or remove the printing problem. For future work Volvo Car Customer Service should consider these proposals in order to secure and improve the referral service.

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Feriel, Emilie. "Rapport salarial, rationalisation des modèles productifs et relation de service : le cas des centres d'appels téléphoniques." Thesis, Aix-Marseille 2, 2011. http://www.theses.fr/2011AIX24011.

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Notre thèse se propose d’analyser les transformations des rapports salariaux à partir d’une lecture croisée de la dynamique des modèles productifs et de l’expansion de la relation de service. Nous formulons l’hypothèse que la relation entretenue avec le client devient, sous différentes facettes, une source de profit obtenue à partir du travail salarié, ce qui conduit à une transformation des modes de production caractérisée par une division du travail et des emploi plus prononcée. L’exploration de cette hypothèse est effectuée pour le cas particulier des centres d’appels téléphoniques, sur la base d’une analyse empirique réalisée à partir d’entretiens sectoriels et de huit études de cas. Au regard de l’abondante littérature portant sur cet objet d’étude, notre recherche propose d’adopter un angle d’analyse original, qui consiste à prendre en compte les centres d’appels du point de vue de leur ancrage au sein des organisations productives. Nous partons de l’idée que l’activité des centres d’appels n’est pas totalement nouvelle et qu’elle résulte d’une transformation de situations antérieures. Il s’agit alors d’étudier cette activité au regard de son insertion au sein d’un processus de division du travail. L’application de la grille d’analyse d’un modèle productif permet dans ce cadre de mettre en exergue une recomposition et un découpage des différentes dimensions de la relation de service à travers l’ensemble de l’entreprise, qui entraîne une segmentation flexible des emplois et une rationalisation commune du travail empruntant à la fois à une logique industrielle et professionnelle, mais qui mobilise fortement l’implication subjective des salariés
Our thesis offers to analyze the transformation of wage earner relations through a cross reading of the productive models dynamics and the growth of the service relation. We venture the hypothesis that the relationship with the customer becomes a source of profit achieved by paid work at different level, which leads to a transformation of productive models characterized by a stronger division in work and employment. The analysis of this hypothesis is made for the specific case of call centers on the basis of a purely practical analysis carried through sectorial interviews and eight case studies. With regard to abundant sources about this study, our research offers to adopt an original angle of analysis consisting in taking into account call centers regarding their base within productive organization. We start by assuming that call centers activity isn’t entirely new and that it ensues from a transformation of former situation. Thus we have to study the activity with regard to its integration within a work division process. The implementation of the frame of reference of a productive model allows us to underline in this context a reconstruction and a division of the various dimensions of service relation through the whole industry. It leads to a flexible segmentation of jobs and a common rationalization of works borrowing an industrial and professional reasoning but which highly uses employees subjective commitment

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Menezes, Liziane Silva. "Contribuições do QFD para priorização e execução de melhorias em serviços: resultados de uma pesquisa-ação em uma central de atendimento ao cliente." Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, 2011. http://www.repositorio.jesuita.org.br/handle/UNISINOS/3538.

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Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T17:57:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 LizianeSilvaMenezes.pdf: 4918464 bytes, checksum: 2a4190164c3f6313abf6dcd3d0e8a09f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-12-15
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Estudos demonstram a crescente importância estabelecida pelo mercado ao serviço de atendimento ao cliente. Uma vez que tal processo permite às organizações a compreensão de necessidades explícitas ou implícitas dos clientes atuais e futuros, a partir da sistematização e análise das interações recebidas nos diferentes canais de atendimento, tal movimento tem gerado questionamentos sobre como este pode ser mais bem gerenciado, visando assim qualificar os serviços prestados pelas Centrais de Atendimento atuais. Sendo a Matriz da Qualidade parte do QFD, que é um método que visa aprimorar o desenvolvimento de produtos/serviços a partir da escuta, tradução e transmissão, de forma priorizada, das necessidades dos clientes para dentro da empresa, questionou-se: como esta poderia contribuir para aprimorar os serviços prestados por uma Central de Atendimento? Desta forma, este trabalho se propôs a explorar tal questão, por meio de um estudo que objetivou analisar os resultados da aplicação desta Matriz em tal contexto. Para tanto, a pesquisa foi realizada em três etapas: (i) a primeira, de caráter Exploratório, em que foram identificadas alternativas para resposta à questão de pesquisa, a partir de uma revisão na literatura existente; (ii) a segunda, de caráter Aplicado, por meio de uma pesquisa-ação realizada na Central de Atendimento de uma Instituição de Ensino Superior de grande porte (com aproximadamente 27.000 alunos), localizada no estado do Rio Grande do Sul; tal etapa foi constituída por três fases, sendo que na primeira delas foi feita a aplicação da Matriz como ferramenta para triagem e estabelecimento das prioridades a serem trabalhadas nas etapas subsequentes; e (iii) a terceira para elaboração de análises e conclusões dos resultados. De modo geral, entende-se que os objetivos pré-estabelecidos para o estudo tenham sido atingidos, uma vez que os resultados apresentam uma análise detalhada da aplicação da Matriz em uma Central de Atendimento real, com reflexões e contribuições para pesquisas futuras sobre o tema. Entre as principais contribuições encontradas destacam-se as melhorias realizadas na infraestrutura e nos processos de gestão de pessoas e de falhas da Central de Atendimento estudada, as quais foram percebidas positivamente tanto pelos usuários como pelos gestores da Instituição após a finalização do trabalho, demonstrando assim a efetividade do método utilizado. Visando colaborar para pesquisas futuras, ao término das análises é apresentado um roteiro para possível uso em Centrais de Atendimento que estejam em busca de objetivos semelhantes. Acredita-se também que tal roteiro possa ser visto como uma ferramenta gerencial, sendo útil no apoio ao cumprimento de estratégias voltadas para gestão da qualidade.
Studies show the increasing importance established by the market at the service of customer service. Once this process enables organizations to understand the stated or implied needs of current and future customers, based on the systematization and analysis of interactions received from different service channels, such movement has generated questions about how this process can be better managed, by that means, aiming to qualify the services provided by customer service center nowadays. As the Quality Matrix part of QFD, which is a method that aims to improve the system development of products/services from listening, translating and transmission, prioritizing the needs of customers into the company, it was questioned: How could this help improving services provided by a customer service center? Therefore, this work proposes to explore this question through a study that aimed to analyze the results of the application of the Quality Matrix in this context. With this objective, the survey was conducted in three steps: (i) the first, exploratory, where there were identified alternatives to answer to the research question, from a review of existing literature, (ii) the second, applied, through an action research conducted in the customer service center of a large Higher Education Institution (approximately 27,000 students) located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil); this step was consisted of three phases, and the first of these was the application of the Matrix as a tool for screening and establishing priorities to be worked on in subsequent steps, and (iii) the third, for the analysis and conclusion of the results. In general, it is understood that the pre-established goals for the study have been achieved, since the final work is a detailed analysis of the results of a Quality Matrix application in a real Service Center, with reflections and contributions for future research on the subject. Among the main contributions found are the improvements made in infrastructure and people management processes, and failures of the customer service center study, which were discerned positively by both users and managers of the institution after the conclusion of the work, in this manner demonstrating the effec tiveness of the method used. Aiming to contribute to future research, at the end of the analysis is presented a roadmap for possible use in customer service center that are seeking similar objectives. It is also believed that this script can be seen as a management tool and is useful in supporting the achievement of strategies for quality management.

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Magoqwana, Babalwa Mirianda. "The call centre labour process : a study of work and workers’ experiences at Joburg Connect, South Africa." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018569.

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This thesis is an investigation of the call centre labour process focusing on both the way work is organised and experienced by the operators and the management of employee relations inside a local government workplace – The City of Johannesburg (COJ) Call Centre. The City of Johannesburg is used to understand labour process dynamics in local government. Johannesburg was recently named the ‘World’s Second Most Inspiring City’ (by Global City Index, 2014) possessing economic and political influence within and around South Africa. Johannesburg is the economic hub of the country, contributing nine per cent to the South African GDP. But it needs to be emphasised that the focus of this thesis is on the labour process rather than the City of Johannesburg. The nature of work in the COJ local government call centre involves answering calls about water, electricity, refuse removal, accounts and other general municipal services. The government’s objective was to have a more customer centred service delivery plan in compliance with the Batho Pele (People first) framework (RSA, 1997, White Paper on Local Government). This resulted in a shift in the government ‘mantra’ and philosophy from viewing Johannesburg residents as customers rather than citizens. This shift from public administration to New Public Management (NPM) has meant the introduction of private sector business principles into public services. This seeks to improve organisational and individual performance to enhance service delivery within South African municipalities. This is also meant to promote responsive and performance management culture. The study uses Labour Process Theory set out in Labour and Monopoly Capital (LMC-1974) by Harry Braverman to argue for the need to contextualise the labour process debate within the socio-political understanding of work in South Africa. In developing the argument about the narrow analysis of public sector call centres based on economic lines I have reviewed literature on call centres which is influenced by Michel Foucault and Harry Braverman to understand the public sector call centre labour process. Inspired by Adesina (2002) and Mafeje (1981) this study uses a ‘complementarity’ approach to knowledge. This means the local context tends to complement the global trends though not without contradictions within the local context. The case study approach was used for in-depth analysis of the local context through different methods (semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, observations and survey questionnaires) to collect data from different stakeholders within the City of Johannesburg between 2010 and 2013. The concept of a ‘(dis)connecting city’ is fitting for the COJ as this city connects the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa to the world through its commerce and political influence. Based on the challenges experienced in this local government call centre I attempt to show the the politicised nature of the public sector call centre labour process. I use the differential power relations in the frontline between customer and Joburg connect workers to illustrate this point. The lack of emphasis on the politicised nature of public sector call centres within literature is informed by the de-contextualised nature of these call centres. In the end, I argue that public sector call centre labour process is multilayered, contradictory and complicated because of these workers’ role as citizens, customers, community members and service providers from a politicised community environment.

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Lundmark, Isabelle, Joanna Mainaud, and Katarina Sjögren. "The link between consumer perception and satisfaction : A comparative study of shopping malls and city centres." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för marknadsföring (MF), 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-34686.

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Background: It is a known phenomenon that when external shopping malls arise next to cities the business of the city centres can be affected. This situation occurs since many years and in various places in the world, even Sweden. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to examine what factors are important to the consumers when they are shopping in general, and then to evaluate how these factors influence consumer satisfaction with regard to shopping malls and city centres. Methodology: The research is based on a cross-sectional design with a quantitative strategy. The data collection is conducted through an internet based questionnaire with a snowball sampling approach. Conclusion: The results are that, for consumers, store variety, atmosphere and service quality are quite important aspects when shopping. They also shows that store variety influences consumer satisfaction in both the shopping mall and the city centre. Finally, convenience influences satisfaction in the city centre and the social aspect influences customer satisfaction in shopping malls.

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Benedetti, Alison A. "Whatever happens, I'll support you: The effects of autonomy support during aggressive customer service interactions." University of Akron / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1445334732.

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García, Sánchez Daisy Jazmín del Rocío, and Caycho Claudia Antuaned Vargas. "Modelo PDCA aplicado en el call center de una empresa peruana del sector telecomunicaciones para mejorar el grado de satisfacción de clientes postpago." Bachelor's thesis, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC), 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10757/653271.

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La presente investigación tiene como propósito mejorar el grado de satisfacción de los clientes móviles postpago en una empresa peruana del sector telecomunicaciones. El indicador utilizado para medir el grado de satisfacción es el NPS, el cual se obtiene mediante una encuesta a usuarios, y es calculado como la resta de clientes promotores y detractores. Al realizar el análisis de este indicador se determinó que la mayor proporción de clientes detractores se encuentra insatisfecho con la atención call center. Por ello, se analizaron las actividades y tiempos promedio de duración de llamada (TMO) de los cuatro gestores de atención. Así, se encontraron las siguientes causas raíz: Descripción desactualizada e incorrecta del procedimiento de trabajo, falta de impacto visual del sistema, marcaciones erróneas e incompletas en el sistema, y método no estandarizado. Estas fueron solucionadas implementando la filosofía lean a través de un modelo basado en Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA), y sus herramientas 5S, Jidoka, Poka Yoke y Estandarización de procesos. Como resultado de la implementación del sistema planteado, se logró reducir el TMO de cada gestor traducido en un aumento en el NPS del segmento móvil postpago en 5 puntos porcentuales. Con el cumplimiento de los objetivos trazados en las gestiones del call center, se garantizó una solución más rápida y efectiva a los clientes; como consecuencia, se mejoró la percepción de los clientes con la atención brindada.
The purpose of this research is to improve the degree of satisfaction of postpaid mobile customers in a Peruvian company in the telecommunications sector. The indicator used to measure the degree of satisfaction is the NPS, which is obtained through a user survey, and is calculated as the subtraction of promoter and detractor clients. When carrying out the analysis of this indicator, it was determined that the largest proportion of detracting clients are dissatisfied with the call center service. Therefore, the activities and average call duration times (TMO) of the four service managers were analyzed. Thus, the following root causes were found: outdated and incorrect description of the work procedure, lack of visual impact of the system, erroneous and incomplete markings in the system, and non-standardized method. These were solved by implementing the lean philosophy through a model based on Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA), and its 5S, Jidoka, Poka Yoke and Process Standardization tools. As a result of the implementation of the proposed system, it was possible to reduce the TMO of each manager, translated into an increase in the NPS of the postpaid mobile segment by 5 percentage points. With the fulfillment of the objectives outlined in the call center management, a faster and more effective solution was guaranteed to the clients; As a consequence, the perception of clients with the care provided improved.
Trabajo de investigación

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Petitdemange, Eva. "SAMUFLUX : une démarche outillée de diagnostic et d'amélioration à base de doubles numériques : application aux centres d'appels d'urgence de trois SAMU." Thesis, Ecole nationale des Mines d'Albi-Carmaux, 2020. http://www.theses.fr/2020EMAC0012.

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L’engorgement des structures d’urgence médicale est une réalité à laquelle les SAMU (Service d’Aide Médicale Urgente) n’échappent pas (5 à 15% d’augmentation des appels par an). De récents événements comme la pandémie de Covid-19 montrent les limites du système actuel pour faire face aux situations de crise. Le renfort en moyens humains ne peut être la seule solution face à ce constat et il devient incontournable de construire de nouveaux modèles organisationnels tout en visant une qualité de service permettant de répondre à 99% des appels entrants en moins de 60 secondes. Toutefois, ces modèles doivent prendre en compte la grande hétérogénéité des SAMU et de leur fonctionnement. A la lumière de ces constats, le travail de recherche présenté dans ce manuscrit a pour but d'évaluer l'efficacité organisationnelle et la résilience des SAMU dans la prise en charge des flux d'appels téléphoniques d'urgence pour faire face au quotidien et aux situations de crise. Cette évaluation nous permet de proposer et de tester de nouveaux schémas organisationnels afin de faire des préconisations adaptées aux particularités des centres d'appels d'urgence. Dans une première partie, nous proposons une méthodologie outillée pour le diagnostic et l'amélioration des centres d'appels d'urgence. Elle se décompose en deux grands volets : l'étude des données issues des centres d'appel d'urgence puis la conception et l'utilisation d'un double numérique. Pour chaque étape de cette méthodologie, nous proposons un outil associé. Dans une seconde partie, nous appliquons le premier volet de la méthodologie aux données de nos SAMU partenaires. Il s'agit d'être capable d'extraire de l'information et des connaissances des données de téléphonies ainsi que des processus métiers pour le traitement des appels d'urgence. La connaissance ainsi extraite permet de concevoir un double numérique qui soit proche du comportement réel des SAMU. Enfin dans une troisième partie, nous utilisons la matière produite précédemment pour modéliser et paramétrer un double numérique déployé sur un moteur de simulation à événements discret. Il nous permet de tester plusieurs scénarios en jouant sur différentes organisations de gestion de l'appel. Grâce à cela, nous faisons des préconisations sur les types d'organisations à adopter afin d'améliorer les performances des centres d'appel
The demand for emergency medical services has been significant and increasing over the last decade. In a constrained medico-economic context, the maintenance of operational capacities represents a strategic strake in front of the risk of congestion and insufficient accessibility for the population. Recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemic show the limits of the current system to face crisis situations. Reinforcement in human resources cannot be the only solution in front of this observation and it becomes unavoidable to build new organizational models while aiming at a quality of service allowing to answer 99% of the incoming calls in less than 60 seconds (90% in 15s and 99% in 30s MARCUS report and HAS recommendation October 2020). However, these models must take into account the great heterogeneity of EMS and their operation. In the light of these findings, the research work presented in this manuscript aims to evaluate the organizational effiectiveness and resilience of EMS in managing the flow of emergency telephone calls to deal with daily life and crisis situations. This evaluation allows us to propose and test new organizational schemes in order to make recommendations adpated to the particularities of emergency call centers. In a first part, we propose a methodology equipped for the diagnosis and improvement of emergency call centers. It can be broken down into two main parts: the study of data from emergency call centers, and then the design and use of a dual digital system. For each step of this methodology, we propose an associated tool. In a second part, we apply the first part of the methodology to our partner EMS data. The aim is to be able to extract information and knowledge from the telephony data as well as from the business processes for handling emergency calls. The knowledge thus extracted makes it possible to design a digital duplicate that is close to the real behavior of the EMS. Finally, in a third part, we use the material produced previously to model and parameterize a digital duplicate deployed on a discrete event simulation engine. It allows us to test several scenarios by playing on different call management organizations. Thanks to this, we make recommendations on the types of organizations to adopt in order to improve the performance of call centers

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Asadullah, Muhammad Ali. "Comparative perspective of training evaluation practices : a study of ‘Entry Level Professional Training’ of call center agents inside Pakistan." Thesis, Aix-Marseille, 2012. http://www.theses.fr/2012AIXM1064.

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Le taux élevé de rotation et recrutement, la complexité du travail et le manque de formation professionelles a augmenté la demande de la formation d'intégration professionnelle pour Représentatives des Services Clients (RSC). La question est: ‘comment est-ce-que les professionnels des centres d'appels déterminent la valeur de la formation d'intégration professionnelle des RSC. Les centres d'appels peuvent être divisés en deux groupes «In-House» et «Subcontractor» à propos la propriété. L'objectif de cette étude est d'étudier la différence dans l'évaluation de la formation d'intégration professionnelle des RSC entre ces deux groupes. «Le modèle de Kirkpatrick» de l'évaluation de formation a été utilisé avec le 5ème niveau de rentabilité de l'investissement. Ensuite, nous avons identifier les groupes de parties prenantes les plus importantes qui peuvent bénéficier d'information de l'évaluation concernant à chaque niveau de «TKM». Les données qualitatives ont été recueillies par 15 entretiens avec des groupes des professionnels de 13 centres d'appels aux Pakistan. Les données quantitatives ont été recueillies des 203 professionnels des 90 centres d'appels du Lahore, Karachi et Islamabad. Sauf pour «Réaction», il n'y avait aucune différence dans les pratiques d'évaluation des centres d'appels ‘In-House' et ‘Subcontractors.' En outre, «taille» de centre d'appels et la «durée» de la formation d'intégration professionnelle a eu un effet significatif sur la différence dans les pratiques d'évaluation. En plus, les données d'évaluation est important pour tous les groupes d'intervenants internes
Higher turnover, increased recruitment, job complexity and lack of vocational training for call center agents has increased the demand of entry level professional training of call center agents. The question is that how call center professionals determine the value of entry level professional training of call center agents. Call centers can be divided in two groups ‘In-House' and ‘Subcontractor' with respect to the ownership. The objective of this study is to investigate the difference in evaluation of entry level professional training of call center agents among these two groups of call centers. ‘The Kirkpatrick Model' of training evaluation was used to study these differences with addition of 5th level return on investment. Further, we identified stakeholder groups inside call centers. Then we attempted to identify the most important stakeholder groups who may benefit from evaluation information obtained at each level of ‘TKM' model. Data was collected from call centers inside Pakistan by using a mixed methods approach for data collection. Qualitative data was collected through 15 group interviews which were conducted with professionals of 13 call centers inside Pakistan. Quantitative data was collected from almost 203 call center professionals of 90 call centers from three cities Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. We found that except for first level ‘Reaction' there was no difference in evaluation practices of in-house and subcontractor call centers. Moreover, ‘size' of call center and ‘duration' of entry level professional training had a significant effect on the difference in evaluation practices

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Stamfjord, Niclas, and Mats Thunell. "RAMVERK FÖR EFFEKTIV KUNDSUPPORT : Utifrån ITIL, CRM och supporthantering på mjukvaruföretaget Medius AB." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-52260.

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The goal of customer support is to help clients achieve maximum value in their services and products. Customer support is the public face of a company, which means that it is important to give the customer a positive experience and live up to customer expectations. Efficient customer support has become more important and studies show that customers who leave a company do so because of poor service. Customers' growing demands for higher quality and easier access to services means that companies must recognize the need to satisfy each customer. It is important that each customer receives the attention required and that customer needs are met quickly and flawlessly. The primary objective for an efficient customer support is to provide quick answers and solutions to achieve customer satisfaction. This master thesis aims to examine how the support and case management process can be improved for smaller software companies with customer support. The thesis deals with four issues: how should the support process be designed in smaller software companies, which important aspects must be considered in the support-handling process, how can a case management system contribute to a better customer support and what is the customer role in the management process. Case company for this thesis has been Medius in Linköping, which is a provider of process-related IT support. Interviews have been conducted with both employees at Medius and customers to Medius. The thesis has resulted in a framework and a recommendation for how efficient customer support should be handled in a small software company. To obtain an efficient customer support it is important that the client knows how the customer support should be contacted and what information is required. It should be possible for the customer to contact the customer support through multiple communication channels. The customer support has to work efficiently internally. It is important to prioritize, escalate and document tasks. Between the customer support and the customer, it is beneficial to have a satisfactory communication with regular feedback. Ultimately, it is also important to regularly measure and evaluate the customer support service in order to maintain efficient customer support. A case management system that supports the business is required for the customer support. The case management system is needed to solve problems faster and to provide the support with an overview of the business. A case management system also acts as a knowledge database with relevant information. This thesis work has combined existing frameworks and theories about customer support. This has been supplemented with interviews in order to adapt the framework to smaller software companies. An efficient customer support is achieved by using the authors' framework and recommendations.
Målet med kundsupport är att hjälpa sina kunder uppnå maximalt värde i deras tjänster och produkter. Kundsupporten är ett företags ansikte utåt, vilket innebär att det är viktigt att ge kunden en positiv upplevelse och leva upp till kundens förväntningar. Effektiv kundsupport har blivit allt viktigare och studier visar att de kunder som lämnar företag gör det på grund av dålig service. Kundernas ökade krav på högre kvalité och enklare tillgång till service har lett till att företag måste inse vikten av att tillfredställa varje enskild kund. Det är viktigt att varje enskild kund erhåller den uppmärksamhet som krävs och att kundens behov tillgodoses snabbt och felfritt. Det primära för en effektiv kundsupport är att ge snabba svar och lösningar för att uppnå kundnöjdhet. Det här examensarbetet syftar till att undersöka hur support- och ärendehanteringsprocessen kan förbättras för mindre mjukvaruföretag med kundsupport. Examensarbetet behandlar fyra frågeställningar: hur bör supportprocessen utformas i ett mindre mjukvaruföretag, vilka viktiga aspekter ska beaktas i supporthanteringsprocessen, betydelsen av ett ärendehanteringssystem samt kundens roll i supporthanteringsprocessen. Fallföretaget för det här examensarbetet har varit Medius i Linköping som är en leverantör av processrelaterat IT-stöd. Intervjuer har genomförts med såväl anställda på Medius som kunder till Medius. Examensarbetet har resulterat i ett ramverk samt en rekommendation för hur effektiv kundsupport ska hanteras i ett mindre mjukvaruföretag. För att kundsupporten i ett mindre mjukvaruföretag ska fungera effektivt krävs att kunden vet hur kundsupporten ska kontaktas och vilken information som ska tillhandahållas. Det ska vara möjligt för kunden att kontakta kundsupporten via flera olika kommunikationskanaler. Kundsupporten ska i sin tur fungera effektivt internt. Det är viktigt att prioritera, eskalera och dokumentera ärenden på ett korrekt sätt. Mellan kundsupporten och kunden ska det finnas en tillfredställande kommunikation med regelbunden återkoppling. I slutändan är det viktigt att regelbundet mäta och utvärdera kundsupportens servicenivåer för att kunna upprätthålla en effektiv kundsupport. För att kundsupporten ska kunna fungera effektiv internt krävs ett ärendehanteringssystem som stödjer verksamheten. Ett ärendehanteringssystems behövs för att kunna lösa problem snabbare och för att ge supporten en överblick över verksamheten. Ärendehanteringssystemet fungerar också som en kunskapsdatabas med relevant information. Det här examensarbetet har kombinerat befintliga ramverk och teorier kring kundsupport. Detta har kompletterats med intervjuer för att anpassa ramverket till det mindre mjukvaruföretaget. Genom att använda författarnas ramverk och rekommendationer kommer en effektiv kundsupport att erhållas.

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Gounder, Deenan. "Managing customer queries in outsourced telecommunication contact centres." Diss., 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/13868.

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Call centres have been described as an enabling resource for enhanced customer service, as a cost saving strategy, and a combination of both. Call centres are people intensive, resource demanding environments with complex management challenges. The call centre industry is growing rapidly and South Africa is fast becoming a desired destination for outsourced call centres. The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of outsourced call centre management specifically regarding their roles and challenges experienced when executing their daily activities. This study contributes to the understanding of the challenges outsourced call centre managers encounter and provide suggestions to help address major challenges faced in relation to effective call centre management. The methodology used was of a qualitative nature as data was gathered through semi-structured interviews. Inductive reasoning was applied in this study. The call centre managers were purposively selected for the study based on their experience within the industry. The data gathered was transcribed, coded and organised into themes, categories and sub-categories. The study had five objectives and once analysed the following results were obtained: profiles of call centre management was determined, people management surfaced as a major challenge for call centre managers, numerous strategies are in place to deal with challenges, however they are limited due to company policies, cost efficiency was not the main reason organisations outsource their call centres and finally call centre managers perceive their roles to be the overall responsibility of the call centre, its employees and performance. The results revealed that scientific management principles and continuous improvement are major focus areas within the call centre environment. This is mainly driven by the fact that outsourced call centres have contractual obligations that need to be met otherwise they face financial penalties. The findings also revealed that being a manager in an outsourced call centre today is a dynamic and challenging task with many pressures both internally and externally. The study recommends that outsourced call centre managers be empowered and supported by the relevant support divisions as they assume a great responsibility while operating in a dynamic environment and they play a pivotal role in ensuring the success of outsourced call centres. The main limitation of this study is that it relies on outsourced contact centres situated in the Gauteng area that only services one telecommunication organisations customer queries limiting the ability to generalise to other populations.
Business Management
M. Tech. (Business Administration)

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Bodri, Sonil. "Customer satisfaction of call centre service delivery in South Africa." Thesis, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/8119.

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The call centre is often the first human interaction a customer has with a company and many customers form their perception of a company based on their experience with that call centre. The call centre industry is growing rapidly and South Africa is fast becoming a desired destination for outsourced call centres. The main aim of this study was to determine the level to which people are satisfied with call centre service delivery in South Africa and the reasons causing customer dissatisfaction. A non probability sample of 106 consumers was drawn from the city of Durban with respondents being over the age of 21 years. The sample was composed of 61% females and 39% males. Of the sample, 55% were between the age group of 21-30 years, 25% were between the age group of 31-40 years, 12% between the age group of 41-50 years and 8% between the age group of 41-50 years. Data was collected using a self administered questionnaire as this proved to be most effective for this study. Respondents from all companies and parts of Durban were recruited as participant for the study. The SPSS software package was used to capture and analyse the data. Frequency bar graphs and cross tabulation frequency results were used to present the data. Statistical results showed that there was a positive association between service quality and customer satisfaction. Descriptive frequency analysis highlighted issues that are causing most dissatisfaction to people using the call centre. Results indicated that users of the call centres found customer service levels to be acceptable which was in contrast to international findings where results indicated that consumers were less than 30% happy with call centre service delivery. Results showed that consumers increasingly wish to communicate with companies using newer technologies, and value having access to multiple channels. It was found that web chat followed by SMS and email was a preferred medium of communicating with the call centre. The findings of the study indicated that long waiting times on the phone, calls being dropped, lack of accountability, irrelevant voice menus and repetition were the main reasons for their causes of customer dissatisfaction.
Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2009.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Customer service call centres'

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