Aileen Watson

Bio: Aileen Watson is an academic researcher from University of Strathclyde. The author has contributed to research in topics: Call centre & Lifelong learning. The author has an hindex of 7, co-authored 10 publications receiving 545 citations.

Taylorism, Targets and the Pursuit of Quantity and Quality by Call Centre Management

Abstract: The paper locates the rise of the call centre within the context of the development of Taylorist methods and technological change in office work in general. Managerial utilisation of targets to impose and measure employees' quantitative and qualitative performance is analysed in four case-study organisations. The paper concludes that call centre work reflects a pardigmic re-configuration of customer servicing operations, and that the continuing application of Taylorist methods appears likely.

Taylorism, targets and the pursuit of quantity and quality by call centre management

Abstract: The paper locates the rise of the call centre within the context of the development of Taylorist methods and technological change in office work in general. Managerial utilisation of targets to impose and measure employees’ quantitative and qualitative performance is analysed in four case–study organisations. The paper concludes that call centre work reflects a pardigmic re–configuration of customer servicing operations, and that the continuing application of Taylorist methods appears likely.

The Meaning of Work in the New Economy

Abstract: Towards the end of the century many grandiose assertions were made about changes in the workplace and what these implied for the role of work in our lives. Many of these were incorporated into the idea of the 'knowledge economy' in which working with the new technologies was supposed to be more intrinsically satisfying, knowledge workers displayed higher levels of commitment and work in general was becoming a 'central life interest'. This book critically investigates the evidence for such trends by taking two new and expanding information-intensive employment sectors - call centres and software development. Through observation, survey and interview data from nine case studies, the book records, analyses and tries to understand the multiple levels of meaning which people attach to work today. It records not only the changes to the contemporary workplace but also the continuities with the past. Work today is the same mixture of satisfaction and unpleasantness as it has always been, but the contemporary workplace is perhaps a more unstable environment than we have been used to for some time.

Participation, reflection and integration for business and lifelong learning: Pedagogical challenges of the integrative studies programme at the University of Strathclyde Business School

Abstract: This paper gives a succinct account of current debates in the literature on graduate attributes as they are related to employment and lifelong learning, and argues the limitations of a “key skills” agenda as a guide to curriculum practice. Development of a curricular innovation that addresses key skills, “integrative studies” at the Strathclyde University Business School, is described and located in a wider framework of work‐related facets that extend thinking beyond key skills. Those facets include the idea of a learning organisation and the concept of student identity formation. A research‐based approach to further development of the curriculum is outlined, which takes the experiences of students and the perceptions and practices of specific employers to be key influences.

Taylorism, Targets and the Quantity-Quality Dichotomy in Call Centres

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The Modern Call Center: A Multi-Disciplinary Perspective on Operations Management Research

Abstract: Call centers are an increasingly important part of today's business world, employing millions of agents across the globe and serving as a primary customer-facing channel for firms in many different industries. Call centers have been a fertile area for operations management researchers in several domains, including forecasting, capacity planning, queueing, and personnel scheduling. In addition, as telecommunications and information technology have advanced over the past several years, the operational challenges faced by call center managers have become more complicated. Issues associated with human resources management, sales, and marketing have also become increasingly relevant to call center operations and associated academic research. In this paper, we provide a survey of the recent literature on call center operations management. Along with traditional research areas, we pay special attention to new management challenges that have been caused by emerging technologies, to behavioral issues associated with both call center agents and customers, and to the interface between call center operations and sales and marketing. We identify a handful of broad themes for future investigation while also pointing out several very specific research opportunities.

The his and hers of prosocial behavior: An examination of the social psychology of gender.

Abstract: Prosocial behavior consists of behaviors regarded as beneficial to others, including helping, sharing, comforting, guiding, rescuing, and defending others. Although women and men are similar in engaging in extensive prosocial behavior, they are different in their emphasis on particular classes of these behaviors. The specialty of women is prosocial behaviors that are more communal and relational, and that of men is behaviors that are more agentic and collectively oriented as well as strength intensive. These sex differences, which appear in research in various settings, match widely shared gender role beliefs. The origins of these beliefs lie in the division of labor, which reflects a biosocial interaction between male and female physical attributes and the social structure. The effects of gender roles on behavior are mediated by hormonal processes, social expectations, and individual dispositions.

India calling to the far away towns: the call centre labour process and globalization

Abstract: In recent years prominent companies have migrated call centre services to India provoking much-publicized fears for the future of UK employment. This article challenges the widely-held assumption that offshoring voice services is a seamless undertaking, principally through an investigation of the Indian call centre labour process. This enquiry is informed initially by an analysis of the political-economic factors driving offshoring and shaping the forms of work organization to have emerged in India. A critical review of literature on call centre work organization provides a conceptual framework, through which Indian developments are analysed. Data comes from fieldwork conducted in India and a complete audit of the Scottish industry, through which UK trends can be evaluated. We conclude that the Indian industry reproduces in exaggerated and culturally-distinctive forms, a labour process that has proved problematical for employers and employees alike in the UK and elsewhere.

Review article: Enhancing employability: Human, cultural, and social capital in an era of turbulent unpredictability

Abstract: Turbulence and unpredictability in 21st-century labor markets arguably magnify the importance of maintaining employability. Drawing on recent research, I discuss three mechanisms for enhancing employability in this context: identity work, training and networking, and laboring in unpaid and marginal paid positions. Few of these activities are counted as ‘work’ because they are mostly unpaid and they often take place outside formal job structures. By specifying how a range of employment-related activities are essential to and even constitute work, this article contributes to debates about the scope and boundaries of employment and shows how everyday actions build and reinforce new economic structures — how individual actions make the new economy possible. It also provides greater specification of the concept of employability.