The Next Available Operator: Managing Human Resources in the Indian Business Process Outsourcing Industry discusses managing people in the Indian call centre/ BPO sector. It features empirical research and conceptual advances, presented by well-known academics and researchers from around the world and captures the voices of key stakeholders. Apart from covering key individual aspects of human resource management in Indian call centres, such as work organization and employee attrition, it also provides a comparative perspective from call centres in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia.

The research data presented in the book offers fresh perspectives on call centres within a globalised business and work environment. It includes large scale employee survey results that help unearth the fundamental forces behind attraction and retention challenges threatening the future viability of global outsourcing strategies.

The editors present diversity of theoretical paradigms, methodological approaches and, ‘voices’ from the field. The book is a useful compendium of cutting-edge work on the HRM issues, challenges and strategies in the Indian call centre industry. It aims to deepen the reader's understanding of managing human resources in a new and fast growing industry (info services) and in a new context (off-shoring).

Introduction

Introduction
MohanThite and BobRussell

‘Your call is important to us. Please hold the line and the next available operator will be with you shortly.’ Most of us are familiar with this recorded message from call centres. It is also a message that has the potential to make or break a customer's relationship with an organisation, depending on how long one has to wait and how satisfactorily the call is resolved. In an increasingly global world, the call may be directed to just about anywhere, often without the knowledge of the customer. This book focuses on India, home to the largest number of offshored call centres and commonly regarded as the ‘electronic housekeeper of the world’.

In any service industry, customer service is mainly dictated by the quality ...

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