Dissertation Report Submitted Towards the Partial Fulfillment of Graduate Degree in Bachelors of Business Administration

8/2/2019 Dissertation Report Submitted Towards the Partial Fulfillment of Graduate Degree in Bachelors of Business Administ

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DISSERTATION REPORT SUBMITTED TOWARDS THE PARTIAL

FULFILLMENT OF GRADUATE DEGREE IN BACHELORS OF

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION.

Stress management in business processing

Outsourcing sector

SUBMITTED BY:

_HIMANI SINGHAL_

BBA- GENERAL (2009-2012)

ENROLLMENT NUMBER. : A3906409364

`FACULTY GUIDE -MRS.NITI SAXENA

AMITY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS,

NOIDA

AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my sincere gratitude to my faculty guide Ms.NITI SAXENA, forher able guidance, continuous support and cooperation throughout my

project, without which the present work would not have been possible.

Also, I am thankful to A.I.I of my institute, for their continued guidance andinvaluable encouragement.

Signatur

e

(Student)


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DECLARATION

IHimani singhal, Enrollment no.A3906409364, student of Amity School

Of Business, Noida, hereby declare that the project report on stressmanagement in bpo sector`. is an original and authenticated workdone by me.I further declare that it has not been submitted elsewhere by any

other person in any of the institutes for the award of any degree ordiploma.

Name of the studentHIMANI SINGHAL

Date 02.03.2012


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INDEX

1.Introduction

2.History Of Stress

3.Types Of Stress

4.Myth About stress

5. Strategies For Coping Up With Stress

6.Work Life Balance

7.Stress Management

8.Call Center

9.Factors Creating Stress In a Call Center

10.Suggestions


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INTRODUCTION:

More and more employees are experiencing stress at work. They may becoping with too much pressure, long hours or rapid change. The nature ofemployment has now changed and the idea of a job for life has beenreplaced by an emphasis on performance. Stress is now recognized as a validhealth and safety issue at work. Litigation is on the increase and there have

been successful claims for compensation for work-related stress. We live ina much faster-paced world that we used to and most people accept andexpect stress in their lives as they strive to balance the demands of theirwork and home lives. Deadlines to meet, changing priorities, longer workinghours, e-mails, commuting. Most of us are put under pressure to handlesituations that are not life-threatening but nevertheless provoke stress

signals. These can lead to a range of unpleasant and debilitating feelings andsymptoms, such as headache, backache, stomach upsets, anxiety attacks andlethargy. This in turn leads to lack of productivity, burn-out and long-termillness if not prevented

Todays age is called The Age of Anxiety and this century is called The

Century of Stress. Today vast majorities of people are in a state of Stress.Their fast-paced lifestyle demands that they are raring to go always and are

always under pressure to perform. This pressure usually leads to Stress.

Stress can be due to various reasons. And Stress in many cases causes

Tension, Depression, Anxiety, etc. A lot of research has been conducted into

stress over the last hundred years. Some theories about it are now settled

and accepted; others are still being researched and debated. Hans Selye was

one of the founding fathers of research on stress. He stated in 1956 that

Stress is not necessarily something bad it all depends on how we take it.

The stressof exhilarating, creative successful that of failure, humiliation or

infection is detrimental. Since then, a great deal of further research has been


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conducted on the subject, and new ideashave come to light. Stress is now

viewed as a "bad thing", with a range of harmful biochemical and long-term

effects. These effects have rarely been observed in positive situations. Stress

is that stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceivesthat demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able

to mobilize. In short, it is what we feel when we think we have lost control

over events. There are very many proven skills that we can use to manage

stress. These help us to remain calm and effective in high-pressure

situations, and help us avoid the problems of long term stress. Stress is

something that occurs all the time and affects everyone one way or another

at least some of the time. Stress can be a good thing. It can be a source of

motivation to help get something done or help one to react quickly to a

potentially dangerous situation.


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HISTORY OF STRESS

Since the origin of the term stress it is ambiguous stress began life as a

variant on distress in the 14th century. It meant the experience of physical

hardship, starvation, torture, and pain. These days, however, the term

revolves around the medieval definition, in which stress simply meant

hardship. The recent scientific Developments inform us that stress is actually

good for us. Stress is derived from the Latin word stranger, meaning to drawtight, and was used in the 17th century to describe hardships or affliction.

During the late 18thcentury stress denoted "force, pressure, strain or strong

effort," referring primarily to an individual or to an individuals organs or

mental powers (Hinkle, 1973). As has already been noted, stress has been

defined as a stimulus, a response, or the result of an interaction between the

two, with the interaction described in terms of some imbalance between the

person developed, particularly that surrounding the person-environment (P-

E) interaction, researches have considered the nature of that interaction and,

more importantly,

psychological processes which it takes place (Dewey, 1992). Stress is a

physiological and psychological imbalance. It arises due to the demand son a

person and that persons inability to meet these demands. Stress is thebodys way of reacting to any situation and it can have serious repercussions

on an individuals life. Yet, people fail to realize the importance of stress

management in their lives. Effective managers can stay in control of life,


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without panicking even under stressful situations. They handle stress by

planning work, taking regular breaks, and rejuvenating them.

STRESS! What is it???STRESS IS THE DEMAND MADE UPON THE

ADAPTIVE CAPACITY OF MINDAND BODY --- DAVID FONTANA.

It isnt easy to find a generally acceptable definition of stress. The word

withdifferent people takes different meanings be it professionals,

psychologists, doctors,engineers, management consultants, all use the word

in their own distinctive ways.Management consultants talk in terms of

organizational challenges, psychologists in termsof human behaviour and

doctors in terms of psychological mechanisms. The word stress is defined

by the Oxford Dictionary as a state of affair involving demand on physical

or mental energy". A condition or circumstance (not always adverse), which

can disturb the normal physical and mental health of an individual. In

medical parlance stress is defined as a perturbation of the bodys

homeostasis. At one end of a scale, stress represents those challenges that

excite us and keeps on our toes whereas on the other end, stress representsthose conditions under which individuals have demands made upon them

that they cannot physically and psychologically meet. Hence, at one end,

stress is a life- saver and the other it is a life-destroyer. TO DEFINE

STRESS It is a demand made upon the adaptive capacities of mind and

body. This definition is useful in three ways Firstly, it makes clear not

only that stress can be both, good or bad, but also that since there is wide

range of things that can make demand over the mind and the body, thereis

wide range of things that can cause stress. Secondly, it infers the point that it

isnt the events that determine that we are stressed or not, but it is our

reactions to The environment


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And thirdly, as the definition says that stress is a demand made upon

thebodys capacities, its nature and the extent of these capacities determine

our response to thedemand. If our capacities are good enough we will

respond well. If they arent we giveaway. Stress is the "wear and tear" our

bodies experience as we adjust to our continuallychanging environment; it

has physical and emotional effects on us and can createpositive or negative

feelings. As a positive influence, stress can help compel us toaction; it canresult in a new awareness and an exciting new perspective. As anegative

influence, it can result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger, and

depression,which in turn can lead to health problems such as headaches,

upset stomach, rashes,insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease,

and stroke. With the death of aloved one, the birth of a child, a job

promotion, or a new relationship, weexperience stress as we read just our

lives. In so adjusting to different circumstances,stress will help or hinder us

depending on how we react to it. Stress is a fact of life. But too much stress

can break down a persons physical,mental, and emotional health. Planning

can help people to manage stress in their lives.They must begin to make

choices that support their values and develop a personal plan totake charge

of their lives.


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TYPES OF STRESS

- SOME GOOD, SOME BAD Did you know that some types of stress can be

good for you? Thats right! Someforms of stress can be good for you, but othertypes of stress disorders can cause majorhealth problems and even be life

threatening.There are four main types of stress that people

experience.EUSTRESS Eustress is a type of short-term stress that provides

immediate strength. Eustress arisesat points of increased physical activity,

enthusiasm, and creativity. Eustress is a positivestress that arises when

motivation and inspiration are needed. A gymnast experienceseustress before acompetition.DISTRESS Distress is a negative stress brought about by constant

readjustments or alterations in aroutine. Distress creates feelings of discomfort

and unfamiliarity.There are two types of distress.1. Acute stress is an intense

stress that arrives and disappears quickly. Acute stress is the most common

form of stress. It comes from demands and pressures of the recent past and

anticipated demands and pressures of the near future. Acute stress is thrilling

and exciting in small doses, but too much is exhausting. Because it is short

term, acute stress doesnt have enough time to do the extensive damage

associated with long-term stress. Acute stress can crop up in anyones life, and it

is highly treatable and manageable.2. Chronic stress is a prolonged stress that

exists for weeks, months, or even years. Someone who is constantly relocating

or changing jobs may experience distress. While acute stress can be thrilling

and exciting, chronic stress is not. This is the grinding stress that wears peopleaway day after day, year after year. Chronic stress destroys bodies

minds and lives. It wreaks havoc through long-term attrition. Its the

stress of poverty, of dysfunctional families, of being trapped in an


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unhappy marriage or in a despised job or career The worst aspect of

chronic stress is that people get used to it. They forget its there.

People are immediately aware of acute stress because it is new; they

ignore chronic stress because it is old, familiar, and sometimes, almostcomfortable. HYPERSTRESS Hyper stress occurs when an individual

is pushed beyond what he or she can handle.Hyper stress results from

being overloaded or overworked. When someone is hyperstressed,

even little things can trigger a strong emotional response. A Wall

Street trader islikely to experience hyper stress.HYPOSTRESS Hypo

stress is the opposite of hyper stress. Hypo stress occurs when an

individual isbored or unchallenged. People who experience hypo

stress are often restless anduninspired. A factory worker who

performs repetitive tasks might experience hypo stress.

SIX MYTHS ABOUT STRESS

Six myths surround stress. Dispelling them enables us to understand ourproblemsand then take action against them. Lets look at these myths.

Myth 1: Stress is the same for everybody.Completely wrong. Stress is different

for each of us. What is stressful for one person may ormay not be stressful for

another; each of us responds to stress in an entirely different way.

Myth 2: Stress is always bad for you.According to this view, zero stress makesus happy and health. Wrong. Stress is to thehuman condition what tension is to

the violin string: too little and the music is dull andraspy; too much and the

music is shrill or the string snaps. Stress can be the kiss of death orthe spice of


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life. The issue, really, is how to manage it. Managed stress makes us

productiveand happy; mismanaged stress hurts and even kills us

.Myth 3: Stress is everywhere, so you cant do anything about it.Not so. You can

plan your life so that stress does not overwhelm you. Effective

planninginvolves setting priorities and working on simple problems first,

solving them, and thengoing on to more complex difficulties. When stress is

mismanaged, its difficult to prioritize.All your problems seem to be equal and

stress seems to be everywhere.

Myth 4: The most popular techniques for reducing stress are the bestones.Again, not so. No universally effective stress reduction techniques exist.

We are all different,our lives are different, our situations are different, and our

reactions are different. Only acomprehensive program tailored to the individual

works

Myth 5: No symptoms, no stress.Absence of symptoms does not mean the

absence of stress. In fact, camouflaging symptomswith medication may deprive

you of the signals you need for reducing the strain on yourphysiological and

psychological systems.

Myth 6: Only major symptoms of stress require attention.This myth assumes

that the "minor" symptoms, such as headaches or stomach acid, may besafely

ignored. Minor symptoms of stress are the early warnings that your life is

getting outof hand and that you need to do a better job of managing stress.

STRESS AND GENDER Does stress tend to affect the male of the species

more than the female? Opinionsvary, since there are differentiating factors

between the sexes. All parameters being equal,however, the preponderant view


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is that women are more adept at handling stress, thanks tobetter coping

mechanisms.EFFECTS OF STRESS The human bodys reaction to stress is

natural. It results from the need to resist astressful situation. For example, when

a person is nervous, there is an increase in his/herpulse rate. This is a fight orflight response. However, things can go out of control if toomuch stress is

present. The person can have a heart attack or a nervous breakdown. Toomuch

of stress can tell upon a persons health. If neglected, it can lead to serious

healthdisorders at a later stage. Stress has both physical and psychological

effects on an individual

.


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STRATEGIES FOR COPING WITH STRESS After

understanding the sources of stress and the effects of stress on individuals, let

us discuss some strategies to fight stress.

Relaxation

The best strategy to reduce stress is to relax. Relaxation is not being idle. It is

doingwhat one wants to do, rather than what one should do. It is very important

for a person toschedule some time for relaxation. This relaxation time should

disconnect the person fromall his/her tensions, worries. This is the time when

the person rebuilds his/her energy levels.Relaxation techniques vary from

person to person.Projectsformba.blogspot.com


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Exercise e

Exercise is another good stress-buster. It keeps an individual physically and

mentally alert. When a person is nervous, tense, or angry, exercise is the best

outlet for giving vents tohis/her emotions. Regular exercise lowers blood

pressure, lowers pulse rate, boosts blood circulation in the body, increases

artery suppleness, lowers cholesterol, and reduces fatigue and tension. These

benefits help an individual to tackle the physiological changes that occur during

stress. Exercise should increase blood circulation to the heart.


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Laughter

Laughter is a good de-stressor. An individual can relax and de-stress by

watching humorous movie, reading comics, etc. A sense of humor allows an

individual to perceive and appreciate the imbalances of life and provides

moments of delight. A day without laughter is a day wasted for life. This is

very true. Laughter is the bestoutlet for stress. It is a great stress buster.

Laughter is a no cost, no side effect medicine. Aperson with a sense of humor is

less likely to be under stress. A sense of humor allows anindividual to perceive

and appreciate the imbalances of life and provides moments ofdelight. 11.


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Sleep

Sleep is a weapon. During sleep, a person prepares himself/herself to face

another day.Stress makes a person sleepless or very sleepy. A stressed person

may feel sleepy throughout the day and awake during nights. On an average,

everyone needs at leDiet A good balanced diet plays a vital role in reducing

stress. A person tends to neglectdiet when under stress. This may lead to

overeating or under-eating. This improper eatingresults in a weak immune

system and creates health problems. A well-balanced meal that iseaten on time

is very important to minimize stress.


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Meditation

Meditation is one of the most effective techniques in reducing and avoiding

stress.Regular meditation helps in stress reduction. It enables one to control

the thought process enables one to take effective decisions helps in physical

and mental relaxation Improves concentration Meditation is a technique to

achieve a thoughtless or mindless state. In this state, aperson has no thoughts.

This kind of state thus acts a stress reliever and a great rejuvenatorast 7-8 hours


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of sleepper day. Some may need more sleep or some less. After a good nights

sleep, a person feelsfresh. An individual must adopt a bedtime routine that

induces sleep like reading a book thatis soothing, and listening to music that is

relaxing. One must go to bed at the same timeevery day.


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Yoga

Yoga is another important stress reliever. Yoga has been tried and tested since

ancienttimes. According to Patanjali Maharishi, yoga is the cessation of mind. It

is a state of no-mind. Yoga is not for bodybuilding. It simply focuses on gentle


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postures that improvecirculation of blood to vital parts of the body. The

increase in blood circulation rejuvenatesthe organs and releases stress

Importance of Work-life balance

The corporate world is realizing the importance of the work-life balance.

Companiesare realizing the fact that the work-life balance of employees has a

direct effect on theproductivity of their organizations. Exhibit 5 explains the

various practices that companiesfollow to maintain work-life balance..com

Maintaining work-life balance Work-life balance means a harmonious balance

of work and domestic life. It allows anemployee to fulfill all the roles in his/her

life effectively and efficiently. Researches haveproved that employees are at

their best when they are contented and motivated both at workand at home.

Achieving a work-life balance is not as easy as it seems. In the corporate world,

changeis constant and imminent. The impact of globalization has further fuelled

these changes. Thecorporate world signifies uncertainties, too many

responsibilities, and long work hours.These changes in the environment disturbthe balance between domestic and work-life ofemployees. The increasing

competition and demands of society further aggravate thesituation. All this adds

up to stress. .

.The importance of work-life balance is due to the following reasons:Changing

social scene: In todays world, maintaining work-life balance is the greatest

challenge employeesface. Employees have realized that their personal lives

have an effect on their work life.Hence, they are striving hard to maintain the

balance.Changing work culture: There is a shift in the organizational work

culture. Todays work culture providesflexible work hours, focus on results, and


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recognition of achievements. However, this hasmade the workplace even more

competitive as employees are expected to always give theirbest, and this leads

to stress.Increased work time: With globalization, organizations are working

365 days, 24 hours, and 7 days a weekirrespective of time zones. Businesses arefocusing more and more on customer care. Withthe coming of call centers, this

focus has doubled. The technology has added to the speed ofwork but the

workload remains the same.Dual income families: The shift in attitudes, work

styles, and cultures has disturbed the work-life balance.Working mothers have

major responsibilities of managing both home and work place. Thismakes it all

the more important for them to balance work and life. Organizations are helping

women by providing facilities like work from home, day care etc.

Benefits of Work-life Balance

Achieving a work-life balance benefits both employers and employees. While

theemployers get the benefit of productive and active employees, the employees

feel secure andloyal. It also improves confidence, concentration, self-esteem,and loyalty among theemployees. The concept of work-life balance is still fresh

in India. Indian IT companies areprobably the first ones to provide a fun-work

environment. Some companies are nowinvesting in recreational facilities at the

worksite.Steps to achieve work-life balance: To build up an awareness of the

importance of work-life balance in employees,companies should conduct

regular workshops and programs on work-life balance.The following measureshave to be taken by employers: Discourage employees from working late

Take a regular employee satisfaction survey that can identify the pitfalls in the

work pattern Provide vacations and encourage employees to take breaks


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Provide opportunities like work from home, flexi

timesProjectsformba.blogspot.com

STRESS MANAGEMENT

Every one wants stress-free life. Yet, stress is ubiquitous. Of course, it cannot

becontrolled by more nutrients as the real cause of stress is anxiety or pressure

which mayultimately lead to the neglect or proper dietary habits. Stress refers to

the circumstances thatthreaten ones well being and thereby tax ones copingabilities. Stress is inevitable part of modern life. Like Janus, stress has two

faces. It is a goodservant, but a bad master. In other words, it can be ones best

friend or worst enemy. Acertain amount of stress is necessary to achieve

success. But, undue stress causes distress. Stress is received by different people

differently. If two people experience the sameamount or pressure, one may be

healthy while the other is sick. This is so because ourpersonalities do influence

the level of stress. The present days lifestyle breeds stress andtension. When

tension lasts long, depression sets in. According to Dr. Raw Baum, a Pittsburgh,

Pennsylvanian bioenergetics analyst andstress educator, Stress is our bodys

bio-chemical reaction to how we live our lives. Stresscan develop into distress

and disease through your personal adaptations to internal andexternal

environments. Stress is the bodys reaction to the external demands placed

upon it by theenvironment. Stress can be either good or bad. Good stress creates

the necessary excitementto perform an activity. This type of stress is temporary

and has no long-term effects on thebody. Bad stress creates an alarming

reaction in the body. It affects the bodys immunesystem and has detrimental


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affects on the body over a period. There are many sources of stress for an

individual. It can be family, friends, workplace,superiors, and colleagues. The

sources of stress for an individual should be identified. Theeffects of stress may

include minor symptoms like headache, irritability, loss ofconcentration, loss ofappetite to major symptoms like insomnia, amnesia, heart attack,ulcers etc.

Stress should be identified and treated in the early stages or it could result in

aburnout. A severe case or neglected case of stress leads to burnout. Exercise,

diet, and restplay a vital role in stress handling. A healthy person is better at

handling stressful situationsthan an unhealthy person.

A working person should learn to balance work and personal life to

lead a happy life.This work- life balance can be achieved by giving

importance to both work and personal life.Organizations should help

their employees achieve work-life balance, as this has an effect onthe

productivity of the organizations. Spirituality at the workplace has

become a necessity in todays world. The practice ofspirituality at the

workplace enables an individual to deal with stressful situations.Itprovides an individual with the strength to face unforeseen situations

without panic.Spirituality helps a manager to deal with stress

internally instead of looking for externalsolutions.Action

PointsManagers should: Identify sources of stress and their effects

on you. Adopt a de-stressing routine like going for a solitary walk at

the end of the day. Spend time with family, friends. Make time for

vacations. Practice relaxation methods like deep breathing,

meditation, and yoga. Sleep for at least 6-8 hours. Plan, prioritize,

and delegate work. Try to maintain a work-life balance.Managers

should not: Ignore symptoms like frequent headaches, coughs, and


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colds. Take on too may responsibilities or demands that are outside

your capabilities. Use drugs, tobacco, alcohol to handle stress. Use

self-medication. Wait for deadlines to approach. Set unrealistic

goals.

STRESS AT WORKPLACE

Job stress is a consequence of two key ingredients: a high level of job demands

andlittle control over ones work. -PAUL FROILAND.WHATS IT? In this

difficult economy, you may find it harder than ever to cope with challenges

onthe job. Both the stress we take with us when we go to work and the stress

that awaits us onthe job are on the rise and employers, managers, and workers

all feel the added pressure.While some stress is a normal part of life, excessive

stress interferes with your productivityand reduces your physical and emotional

health, so its important to find ways to keep itunder control. Fortunately, there

is a lot that you can do to manage and reduce stress at work.

CALL CENTERS

Call center is a generalized term that embraces a number of activities like

reservationcenters, help desks, information lines or customer service centers,

irrespective of how theyare organized or what types of transactions they handle.

Call center is generally referred to arefined voice operations setting that

provides a full range of high-volume, inbound oroutbound call-handling


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services, including customer support, operator services, directoryassistance,

multilingual customer support, credit services, card services, inbound

andoutbound telemarketing, interactive voice response and web-based services.

Call centers are becoming increasingly popular in todays business, wheremanycompanies have centralized customer service and support functions. Call

centers aregenerally large offices with representatives who either make or

receive phone calls.Depending on the type of work, call centers may have a

single office employing a fewpeople or large office with thousands of

employees. The main activity in some call centers isanswering inbound calls,

such as a bank that gives out a toll-free number for customersneeding help. At

the same time there are some call centers that focus on outbound calls too. With

increase in outsourcing, call centers are also becoming popular. By way

ofoutsourcing, companies contract out some functions to other companies

located mostly incost effective destinations like India. In this field India enjoys

several advantages over anumber of developed counties. In India, we a have

large pool of qualified people; Englishspeaking graduates and IT professionals.

In addition to this India have some otheradvantages like cheap labor, flexibility

in working hours and time zone difference. This isthe reason why a number of

MNCs are outsourcing their business activities to India. Call centres are

comparatively a recent introduction to the world of career options inIndia. The

career avenues provided by Call centres is one of the best suited and

growingoption which even a fresher can opt for. With the opening up of the

Indian economy and theadvent of globalisation more and more companies fromabroad are basing or outsourcingtheir call centre services to India, a trend

started by GE when it established a call centre nearNew Delhi in 1998.


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A call centre is a service centre with adequate telecom facilities,

access to internetand wide database, which provide voice based or

web-based information and support tocustomers in the country or

abroad through trained personnel. Call centres exist in all sectorsofbusiness including banking, utilities, manufacturing, security, market

research,pharmaceuticals, catalogue sales, order desk, customer

service, technical queries (help desk),emergency dispatch, credit

collections, food service, airline/hotel reservations etc. The widearea

of services provided by the call centres makes it a lucrative career

with a range ofopportunities.

UNDERSTANDING - THE CALL CENTER

INDUSTRY

There has been some dispute amongst researchers as to whether it is appropriate

torefer to such a thing as the call center industry. As Bain and Taylor point

out, despitesimilarities in the integration of computer and telephone

technologies, centers differ inrelation to a number of important variablessize,

industrial sector and market, complexityand length of call cycle time, nature of

operations (inbound, outbound or combined), thenature and effectiveness of

representative institutions including trade unions, andmanagement styles and

priorities. To this list of variables, Callaghan and Thompson wouldadd the

degree of product complexity and variability and the depth of knowledge

requiredto deal with the service interaction. Bain and Taylor argue that it is

more appropriate to usethe term sector, as call Centers are found across a

wide range of industries and may besimilar primarily in terms of their core

technologies. They do note, however, that there is aprofessional literature and a


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collective identity that is maintained and developed throughconferences and

forums. Belt, Richardson and Webster (2000) agree that call centers are notan

industry as the term is generally defined, but rather represent certain ways of

deliveringvarious services using the telephone and computer technologiesacross traditional industryboundaries. However, these authors provide three

strong reasons defending the practice ofreferring to call centers as an industry:

First, the call center community often defines itself as an industry, with

numerousnational and international call center conferences and workshops

taking place each year,industry journals and call center forums organized at

local levels. Second, the labor force requirements of call centers are often the

same across sectors.This means that many, though not all, call centers share a

common labor pool.Third, the organizational templates and technologies used

tend to be very similar, regardlessof the sector. To this one might add the

remarkable similarities that international researchers havefound between

technologies used, work practices and key issues including monitoring,control,

training, and labor demographics for workers in countries as diverse as

Germany,Japan, Australia, Greece, Canada, the US, the UK and the

Netherlands.

STRESS IN CALL CENTERS Stress exists in every call center. Call

centers are stressful work environments. Thedemands of serving the

customer in real-time helps to lay the foundation. Add to this

factorthings such as job repetition, potential job dissatisfaction, poor

ergonomics or low pay andthe stress level climbs higher. If stress in

the workplace (i.e. the call center) is not on the agenda the results of

stressare revealed through higher absenteeism than other parts of the

company, higher WorkersCompensation claims and ultimately in


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reduced customer satisfaction. This Operations Topic focuses on

various approaches to managing stress. Raising thepay isnt necessarily

the solution. There are many other creative means of managing stress

inyour call center. Factors that Create a Stressful Call Center Emotional Labor Stress Levels, Staff Turnover and Some Suggested

Solutions Customer Centric Attitude and StressRecommended

Solutions to Solving Stress in the Call Center Involve Front Line

Staff in Creating Solutions Attention to Ergonomic Factors Helps

Reduce Stress Develop an Internal Ergonomic Program Employee

Assistance Programs Can Contribute Consider Massage Therapy

Services or Yoga As Possible Solutions Resources Wake Up Your

Call Center: Humanizing Your Interaction Hub Managing

Workplace Chaos: Workplace Solutions for Managing Information,

Paper, Time and

Tele-Stress - Relief For Call Center Stress Syndrome HUMAN

ISSUES IN CALL-CENTER INDUSTRY[ STRESS For many employed in

call center sector, daily experience is of repetitive, intensiveand stressful

work, based upon Taylorist principles, which frequently results in

employeeburnout. Brown characterizes work as repetitive brain strain.

These descriptions arehardly surprising, in a way, given that call centers are

established by organizations to createan environment in which work can be

standardized to create relatively uniform andrepetitious activities so as toachieve economies of scale and consistent quality of customerservice. In

other words, that workplaces are organized in ways that weaken

employeeautonomy and enhance potential for management control, and a

loss of control is generallyunderstood to be an important indicator of work-


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related stress. There is almost universal consensus that call center work is

stressful. Even in studiesthat report the observation that some staff actually

enjoys their work, mention of stress isstill the norm, and a significant portion

of the call center literature is devoted to detailing thesources of stress in callcenter work.FOUR KEY STRESSORS- Can we get off the phone for a

while? The primary source of stress reported is inherent to the nature of the

job: spending allday on the phone dealing with people one after another, day

after day, is difficult. Doing itunder constant pressure to keep call volumes

up, with no time between calls to recoverfrom an awkward call or from

customer rejection is even more difficult. And doing it withvery little

authority or autonomy to rectify problems that arise is perhaps the most

difficultof all. Many studies report agents as wanting to just get off the

phones. For example, Beltand colleagues note agents in all three sectors

[financial services, IT, and third-partyservices] spoke of the phenomenon of

burnout, caused by the pressure of workingexclusively on the phones. In

the same study, the authors mention that the issue ofburnout was also

recognized by some managers: It was pointed out that managers face

cominherent conflict between the need to reduce staff boredom and

labor turnover, and thepressure to concentrate staff energies on

telephone based work. The question of how call center employees

deal with stress is an important one,particularly in view of evidence

that a build-up of stress leads to illness, absenteeism andturnover,

writes Houlihan. Many authors agree, and there are a variety of

individual coping mechanisms described in the literature. Tricks to

circumvent control mechanisms, such asthose discussed above are

sometimes mentioned as attempts at stress reduction, althoughthey are


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unreliable in this role as they may also increase stress. Others mention

social interaction squeezed into brief moments--Callaghan

andThompson describe agents using humorous (or rude) gestures

towards the phone, or making faces at colleagues to defuse stress overangry or abusive callers, and making jokes tocombat the tedium of the

day. Lank shear and Mason describe a similarly social approach to

reducing tension in one of the sites they observed, where staff often

laughed and joked with one another in intervals between calls, with

managements approval. More formally, somecall centers include

stress management as a component in training programs, and many

have,or claim to have, team de-briefings which permit staff to vent

frustrations while discussingdifficult calls or dissatisfactions with

elements of work. Knights and McCabe take a different approach to

stress in the workplace. They notethat although much organizational

analysis and most of the call center literature tends toconceptualize

stress as an individual problem, it is actually located within a

framework thatemphasizes the interrelationships between structural

relations of power and the subjectiveinterpretations and actions of

employees. This more nuance positioning may provide moreinsight

into call center conditions, as it allows a researcher to consider the

response ofemployees forced to interpret the often contradictory

demands management place uponthem including contradictions

over service quality versus the quantity of work output.Clearly,these authors write, staffs face some fundamental contradictions over

unityversus conflict, uncertainty versus certainty, quality versus

quantity and these are at the heartof the reproduction of stress,

resistance and control. This focus on the contradictory


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.commixture of demands strikes at the heart of the second inherent

sources of stress in (primarily inbound) call center works: the

quality/quantity conflict. QUALITY/QUANTITY CONFLICT

Typically, organizational rhetoric in inbound call centers is concernedwith customer care, or keeping customers happy (providing quality

service), yet these goals arejuxtaposed with an ongoing pressure to

keep call times down and call volumes up. Callcenters are rooted in

contradictory tensions and structural paradoxes, and confront a

numberof trades-offs on that basis. These set a context for attitudes

towards the organization and canimpose conflicting role requirements

on agents. A core example is that of the pressure forquantity versus

the aspiration for quality, the guiding logic of which is the conundrum

oftrying to get closer to the customer while routinising, centralizing,

reducing costs andprescribing standards. The dichotomy is not

completely straightforward, it is important to note. Part ofproviding

quality service from a management perspective is making sure

customers do notwait too long for their calls to be answered, even

though the push to keep queue waitingtimes short is typically

categorized as part of the pressure towards quantity. As Bain

pointsout, efforts to attain what is perceived to be the desired balance

between the quantity andthe quality of calls presents a perennial

challenge. The practice of ongoing work practice modification and

target revision asmanagement swings from one side to another of thequality/quantity debate is a major sourceof stress for call center

agents. As Houlihan notes: The practice of putting a drive

onparticular targets for improvement (for example, the collection of

renewal dates, the up-selling or cross-selling of products, the quality


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of data input, or the intensity of sales push)and continual

reprioritisation means that the goalposts are constantly shifting.

Virtually allof the call center authors who write about work conditions

mention the difficulty of dealingwith these competing goals.Korczynski and colleagues suggest that this dilemma isparticularly

difficult for front-line workers because they may be likely to identify

withembodied individual customers, for interactions with specific

customers may be animportant arena for meaning and satisfaction

within the work. They contrast this customer-as-individual

orientation to the managerial goal of balancing customer orientation

withProjectsformba.blogspot.com

26. efficiency, which they suggest leads management to prefer

workers to identify with a genericcategory, the customer, since such a

disembodied image of the customer will encourageworkers to deal with

individual customers efficiently because they will be conscious of

theconcerns of other customers waiting in a queue.INTENSITY The thirdcentral stressor in call center work is its intensity. As Bain (2001)

argues,far from being either in terminal decline or on the wane, Taylorism

in conjunction with arange of other control mechanismsis not only

alive, well and deeply embedded in the callcenter labour process, but its

malevolent influence appears to be spreading to previouslyuncharted

territory. There is widespread consensus that call centers are a new,

andparticularly effective, manifestation of the increasingly capital intensive

industrialization ofservice sector work, and work performed in them is

highly intensive and routine. Buchanan and Koch-Schulte quote one call

center worker who describes the constantpressure graphically:Ellen: Its


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almost like the army. Its much regimented. You punch in with a time

clock.You come in and you sit down, and the numbers are all computerized.

As soon as you finisha call, the minute you hang up another call comes up

just this constant, all day, repetitiousconstant sort of like beating on adrum, but day after day. The pace of work is determined by the combination

of technologies that deliver callsto the headset and account details to the

screen, and workers often have no control over thisprocess. Descriptions

such as exhausting, robotic, controlled, and agents discussing

thenature of their work often use machine-like. Houlihan expands on the

idea of controlled,machine-like agents by suggesting that this is in fact

exactly the way that the organizationconceives of them: Call centers are

information handling organizations. As currently characterized, thejob of the

agent is to be the voice of the organization, interfacing with the client or

customer.

The organization rehashing it wants said and feeds them through the agent. The agent is

largely constructed as a mouthpiece rather than as a brain. Buchanan and Koch-Schultespoke with a call-center worker who articulated herfeelings about the organizations

expectations of its agents in very similar terms:Rosa: You are standing waiting to be

used by the technology, and its a physicalembodiment of that. You are standing, waiting

until that call comes in to use you to makemoney. And you are simply another part of

that machine. When this feeling of being a cog in a machine which never stops as it

grinds on,repeating the same actions over and over again, is combined with the

cumulative emotionaldemands presented by the interpersonal nature of the work, stress

is inevitable.Targets There is a fourth feature of some call center work that may

engender stress:performance targets. There are various types of targets, which may vary

between inboundand outbound centers. Inbound centers typically have targets for call


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duration, wrap time,and daily call volume. Outbound centers often also have sales or

completion targets, whichare closely monitored and upon which pay may be partially

based. In addition, in somesectors, inbound call centers are attempting to introduce the

practice of cross selling, whereagents attempt to sell additional products to the customerswho call in for another purpose.In these centers, sales targets similar to those in

outbound centers are often in place. Taylor and Bain argue that particularly in the

financial services industry in the UK,targets are a significant source of stress for workers

as more and more importance is placedupon meeting them in an increasingly

competitive business environment. Sales targets, inparticular, are difficult to accept, or

meet, for staff who often consider themselves as servicepersonnel, particularly when

they are set centrally and implemented locally: Cross-selling is seen by employees, not

as an opportunity to engage in creativework, but as an additional and acute source of

pressure. This is especially the case

consoles targets are parachuted in on top of service targets set

originally when there was nopressure to produce sales. As a CSR in

Taylor and Bains study emphasizes: When somebody phones in forabalance you have to try to get a sale or get them interested as well as

turning the call roundin 155 seconds. Even in centers that claim not

to prioritize targets, researchers have found that staffoften feels

significant pressure. Targets simply intensify the stress produced by

the quantity/quality debate, or, as one agent is quoted as saying, They

say that theyre not reallyinterested in numbers. They say that they are

more into quality. Well, thats a lie. Theyreusually more into

numbers than anything. It is important not to over generalize

however.While most call centers do have some targets, they are a

source of stress that is directlyunder management control. Some call


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centers are managed in such a way that targets are setto realistically

reflect local conditions, are interpreted in light of other, more

subjectiveinformation, and are not used punitively or to intensify

work. In some they are even usedeffectively to motivate andencourage staff. For example, Lankshear and Mason describe aseries

of conversations with managers in their call center site where

managementconsistently conceptualized their performance reports

(for example, one commented that itshuman nature for productivity

to drop before and after a holiday), and used their stats as anexcuse to

praise good performance and coach those who consistently had

difficulty meetingtargets: Our best bet is to develop the people we

have got one manager is quoted as saying.Other Health issues The

result of intense, stressful work may be an effect on workers health.

There areoften high rates of absenteeism and sick leave reported in the

literature, although there isrelatively little exploration of these issues,

particularly when compared to turnover. Mostoften, authors provide a

brief list of known health issues. For example, Richardson, Belt

andMarshall write that Health concerns have been expressed,

including tension, sleeplessness,headaches, eye-strain, repetitive strain

injury (RSI), voice loss, hearing problems and burn-out, but they do

not develop the point. More detailed descriptions of the causes and

effectsof these ailments can be found in industry and trades union

reports. For example, the TradesUnion Council (TUC) in its brochuretargeted at call center workers, cites the main

which call center staff are prone: back strain and RSI, stress,

eyestrain, and voice andhearing loss. Also in the UK, regulators have


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been proactive in their examination of the industry,with the Health

and Safety Executive issuing a bulletin on call center regulations,

healthrisks and best practices in December 2001. They looked

specifically at health issuesincluding stress, noise levels,musculoskeletal disorders (such as back problems) and voiceloss, and

also at display screen issues, working environments, requirements for

workstations, daily work routines, training, organizational working

practices and shifts.Sleeping Disorders : No prizes for guessing the

most severe ailment afflicting people working in Indiancall centers.

Since this is a unique Indian problem, again, no solution appears in

sight.Obviously this affects first timers more severely, as they take

time to acclimatize theirbiological clocks, but even experienced

people or managers are not able to completelyescape from it. Some

call centers are looking at devising innovative mechanisms

likeflexible shifts with sleeping arrangements in the office premises as

possible solutions.Digestive System Related Disorders: Working long

and odd hours without any sleep, and eating food supplied by

externalcaterers everyday, has led to 41.9% of the respondents

suffering from digestive problems.Especially for the large number of

girls working in the industry, the problem is even moresevere. Many

call centers are now taking additional care to ensure their caterers

supplyhygienic food; besides stipulating strict conditions to maintain

the quality of the food theyserve.[ Depression: In last years survey,this was not among the top disorders, but this year it hasclimbed up

the chart, affecting nearly one-fourth of the respondents. Not

surprising, since, asthe industry matures, the initial glitz and glamour

wears away and the real problems come tothe fore. Not only are there


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several health related issues, but, on top of that, the gradualrealization

that there is limited scope in developing a career owing to fewer

growthopportunities is increasing the frustration levels. Coupled with

growing mental fatigue andProjectsformba.blogspot.com

30increasingly punishing physical environments, depression is the

obvious end result. Somecall centers have now devised different stress

management programs mainly to counterdepression. Severe Stomach

Related ProblemsContinuing digestive problems lead to

severestomach disorders like gastroenteritis, as endorsed by more than

24% of the respondents.Even doctors in major cities agree-in recent

times many of the patients with various stomachailments are from call

centers.Eyesight Problems: Globally call center industry employees

are considered a high-risk group for eye-related problems. While the

quality of monitors might impact these disorders, sittingcontinually

without adequate breaks seems to be the truer reason. The number of

peopleaffected seems to be on the rise-last year only 19% complained;this year it has gone up to23%. At some point of time, this problem

might also afflict the IT services industry, but forthe call center

industry, no remedy seems to be in sight.Ear Problems: More than

16% of the respondents inform that they have hearing problems.

Again, nosurprises here, since a call center job involves taking calls

throughout the shift, sitting withheadphones. While quality of

headphones does make a difference, it would not be correct

tocompletely wish the problem away by thinking that changing

headphones will solve it.Some other Human Issues, in Call-Centers,

which need ImmediateAttention Personal habits: The young


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executives are getting more than five figure salaries per month in an

earlyage. They tend to develop certain bad habits such as alcohol,

smoking etc. It is not easy toidentify such individuals. It is also very

sensitive to talk to them. The professionalcounselors can conductgroup-counseling, workshops, educative film shows in order tocreate

awareness on effects of bad habits. Such actions will enable

individuals to realize

co importance of good habits and they could seek one to one

Counseling sessions to solve theirproblems.Discipline and behavioral

issues: Call centers provide excellent working environment, free food

and transportation.There is always a situation where individual or

group of youngsters tend to commit mistakesand abuse the freedom.

They start behaving like in college campus where they have

morefreedom. However, the call center executives have more

responsibility and accountability,they need to follow discipline and do

well in the job. The most common behavior is misuseof food, behaveerratically in vans, and smoke in public places, misuse of telephones

andother resources of the company. The supervisors always

concentrate on performance andachieving targets. They do not have

time or interest to go deep into these matters and findout the reasons

for such behavior. The professional counselor can play a major role

ineducating the youngsters on discipline; provide advice to erring

executives. The counselorswith their wisdom and experience can

tackle such issues tactfully and bring change withinthe individuals. As

said earlier, to majority of them this is the first employment and they

arefresh out of the colleges. Few tend to behave differently and they


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have the do not careattitude. Such executives will not take their job

seriously, they indulge in teasing, and joking,talking over mobile

phones, have friction within the team. These aspects may go noticed

orunnoticed by the supervisors. The fact remains that suchunacceptable behaviors will causedisturbance to others and overall it

affects the productivity. Sleeping while on duty, readingnovels and

playing games on the computer during working hours brings down

productivityand quality suffers. The HR representatives and

professional counselors jointly have a role tobring behavioral change

starting from the training days. Continuous education andCounseling

will help to mitigate such problems and it is possible to prevent

seriousproblems.Inter-personal relationship and friendship:

Executives develop friendship quickly and sometime the friendship

breaks and therewill be misunderstanding among the team members

and naturally affects the teamperformance. The supervisors and

counselors can play a major role to sort out theinterpersonal

relationship and develop team spirit. Healthy relationship among the

co members has always helped the team to out perform. When the

relationship fails theindividuals will also break down mentally. They

either absent for duties or fall ill or theperformance will come down.

It is also true that due to misunderstanding and break infriendship they

change jobs quickly.Love affair and marriages: Few of the boys and

girls fall in love quickly. They maintain the healthy

relationship,behave in a matured manner, plan the future course of

action and such persons have gotmarried with the consent of their

parents. They work together in the same organization forlonger


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duration. There are instances, where lovers fall apart, start disliking,

creating troublesto each other and vitiating the atmosphere. They are

immature, take instant decisions tobreak or unite and sometimes go to

an extent of damaging others reputation. Theprofessional counselorscan play an important role in explaining the importance of

marriage,preparation required for marriage, how to enter the

institution of marriage, which isacceptable to both parents and society

and about the new role and responsibility after gettingmarried.

Counseling services can definitely give emotional support to

individuals.Absenteeism: Absenteeism is very high in calls centers.

Employees tend to be very irregular to theduty due to various reasons.

Professional counseling services to such irregular employees onone to

one basis will help to bring down absenteeism. Counselor can educate

and explain theimportance of attending duties to earn salary and also

to meet organizational goals. Eachindividual are unique and the

problem they face are also different in nature. Professionalcounselors

can understand, analyze and provide long lasting solutions for the

individuals.Higher education and part time jobs: It is possible to do

higher education while working in BPO units. Few

organizationsencourage and offer support services to pursue higher

education. However, timemanagement by the executives is crucial to

go forward in education as well as to maintainperformance and career

growth. Programmes on time management, tips to study, tips tokeepfit and such other programmes can be offered. These steps would

help to seek the loyalty ofemployees to organizations and helps

greatly for retention of employees. Organizations donot grant

permission to pursue part time jobs while working in BPO units. In


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order to makequick money and to have options open to change jobs in

future will drive employees to

compart time work. Human body does not permit to stretch beyond

ones capacity. Executivesneed to take sufficient rest in daytime so

that energy levels are maintained. Either due to lackof experience or

due to compulsions, executives keep their one feet in call center and

anotherin part time jobs. In the long run this would affect individuals

health. The HR executivesmust identify such persons and offer

professional Counseling services to them.REMEDIAL MEASURES

FOR STRESS MANAGEMENT Understanding that the Stress is a

major concern for all Call-Center Employees, itis a duty of HR-heads

of Call-Centers to address it properly.Some of the common signs and

symptoms of stress Although we all experience stress in different

ways, there are certain signs that aremost frequently reported. These

signs fall into two major categories; physical/behavioralsigns and

emotional signs. If we become aware of our own stress symptoms, wewill bemore effective in dealing with them sooner rather than later.

What follows is a list of someof the most experienced symptoms of

stress. The physical/behavioral symptoms include; muscular tension,

muscle spasms andtics, rapid heart beat, shortness of breath and high

blood pressure, cold hands and feet,backaches, headaches and neck

aches, stomach problems, indigestion, irritable bowel andulcers,

feeling fatigued, irritable, decreased ability to concentrate, insomnia

and changes ineating behavior. Since these physical symptoms may be

related to physical problems, youshould consult with your medical

doctor before you assume that your symptoms are purelystress-


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related. The emotional symptoms include; anxiety in a variety of

situations not limited to thestressful situation, depression,

hopelessness and a strong urge to cry without specificincident,

withdrawal from social interactions and avoidance of previouslyenjoyed activities,powerlessness and decreased self esteem, hostility,

anger and resentment, fears, phobias andunwanted thoughts. Learning

to become more aware of your own stress symptoms is the first major

stepin the stress management and healing process. It is often helpful to

monitor your dailysymptoms in a stress diary where you match the

stressful events with the

co experienced. For example; you made find that if you are stuck in

early morning traffic youmay experience irritability and headaches. In

this case it will be important to use thesesymptoms as a cue that you

have to begin managing that stress more effectively when

ithappens.What are the consequences of unmanaged stress? We all

know that stress is something that doesnt feel good to us physicallyandemotionally. What is even more compelling is what happens

below the surface each time weexperience stress. Stress researcher

Hans Selye, determined what happens internally eachtime we

experience something as threatening or stressful. According to Selye,

when weperceive a threat in the environment the thinking part of the

brain sends an alarm message tothe nervous system via the

hypothalamus. The nervous system then makes changes in thebody

that prepare you to handle the perceived danger ahead. These changes

includeincreases in heart rate and blood pressure as well as pupil

dilation. In addition, there arehormones and chemicals secreted such


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as adrenaline, that give the body the necessary pushto be able to

manage the threat ahead. Although there are situations in which these

adrenaline surges are very helpful inhelping us mobilize, the constant

adrenaline surges due to repeatedly perceived threats, havea toxiceffect on the body. For example, recurrent adrenaline surges inhibit

some of the otherimportant functions in the body including growth

and tissue repair, digestion and theimmune response. Just as the

thinking part of your brain is responsible for turning the

stressresponse on, you can turn it off by changing the threatening

appraisals you are making. Onceyou are able to determine that a threat

does not exist or that it can be effectively managed,your thinking

brain stops sending panic messages to the nervous system. As a result

of thisreappraisal, the hormones and chemicals cease to be released

and the body returns to normal. Bringing the body back to an "un-

stressed" state is very important since almost everysystem in the body

can be damaged by stress. Although our bodies are adaptive and

canrecover from periodic stressors, chronic stress has serious

consequences. We experience theconsequences of stress on three

important levels; physically, emotionally and behaviorally.What

follows is a description of the specific consequences in these three

categories.

Physically, the body is likely to develop a stress-related disease as a

result of thestress toxins that are released. For example, chronic stress

can lead to cardiovascular diseaseby elevating blood pressure,

damaging the heart and arteries and increasing blood

sugar.Respiratory conditions such as asthma and bronchitis can result


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from stress-triggeredchanges in the lungs. When stress inhibits the

bodys digestive functions, diseases such as ulcers, colitisand chronic

diarrhea can occur. In addition, stress contributes to inhibited growth

of tissueand bone which can lead to decalcification and osteoporosis.The immune system is alsoinhibited by the reduced efficiency of the

white blood cells, making the body moresusceptible to disease.

Increased muscle tension, fatigue and headaches are

additionalconsequences of chronic stress.The second category of

consequences of chronic stress is the emotional consequences.

Depression can result form chronic stress due to the constant release

and depletion ofnorepinephrine. What also contributes to the

depression is the thought that life is terrible andthat it is never going

to get better. What then results is a feeling of helplessness

andineffectiveness, feeling like a failure and a reduction in self-

confidence. Individuals who aredepressed are also likely to withdraw

from relationships and isolate themselves which oftenincreases the

intensity of the depression. In addition, anxiety and fearfulness are

commonlyfelt emotions if someone constantly perceives threats

around the corner. In addition,individuals who are chronically stressed

are likely to exhibit increased cynicism, rigidity,sarcasm and

irritability since they believe that their situation is not likely to

improve.Chronic stress also has significant behavioral consequences.

Behavioral consequences oftenresult from innate survival urge wehave to seek relief, to fight or to flee. Unfortunately,these relief-

seeking behaviors eventually become problematic. For example,

"addictivebehaviors" can result from the repeated efforts to soothe or

escape the painful stress.Alcohol, drugs, smoking and overeating are


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often seen as tools to help manage the stresseven though their effects

are short lived and the consequences of chronic use are destructiveto

the body and mind. Unfortunately the minds ability to deny the long-

term consequencesin order to fill short-term need to escapeperpetuates the problem and increases excessive usebehavior.

Similarly, procrastination, poor planning, excessive sleeping and

avoidance ofresponsibility are examples of behaviors used by stressed

individuals to temporarily fleefrom the pain. What is most significant

about these behaviors is their ability to

.comadditional problems that are as severe as the original stressor. For

example, procrastinationor avoidance of the management of a stressor

only serves to increase anxiety and exacerbatethe stress experience.

Stress consequences reviewed above suggest that in addition to

beingphysically and psychologically distressing, they reduce the

likelihood of effective goalreaching. Rationale for properly managing

and coping with the stress is for health protectionin future as well asmaking present more productive and satisfying.MANAGING

STRESS Since stress is an inevitable fact of life that we cant always

prevent, our efforts needto be focused on coping with stress more

effectively. What follows is a description of a threepronged approach

to stress management which includes behavioral/practical

techniques,relaxation techniques and cognitive/thinking techniques.

The behavioral/practical approaches to stress management include

exercise andeating a healthy, balanced diet, which includes selections

from the basic food groups. Inaddition, it is recommended that one

avoid the excessive use of alcohol, caffeine and sugar,which


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contribute to fatigue and vulnerability to mood swings. It is also

important to allowthe body to rest and replenish to help inoculate the

body against future stress. Building thisstress resistance also includes

scheduling time for leisure and pleasure, which provides for amorebalanced, fulfilling life. Anticipating and preparing for recurrent

stressors by managingtime, setting priorities and limits, delegating

responsibility, and not procrastinating arehelpful stress reducing

strategies. These techniques are effective stress management

toolsbecause their utilizationis within our control. The relaxation

approaches to stress management include a variety of

techniquesdesigned to help you effectively manage the body/mind

tension. Progressive musclerelaxation is an active form of relaxation

where you individually contract the major musclegroups of your body

for about five seconds and then you relax the individual muscle

groupsfor a five second holds. The contrast experienced by this

exercise relieves muscle tensionand relaxes the body. Some of the

more passive relaxation approaches include listening tomusic, reading

and using saunas and hot tubs to relieve tension. Techniques used to

relax themind include meditation and visual imagery. Meditation

teaches you how to clear the mindof stressful and distracting thoughts

by focusing the mental energy on positive copingthoughts. Visual

imagery is designed to help the individual visualize him/herself

co effectively with a stressor that was previously experienced as

overwhelming. The behavioraland relaxation approaches described

above are necessary but not sufficient conditions forstress

management. The third prong to stress management, the cognitive or


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thinkingapproach, is essential to effective coping with stress. The

cognitive or thinking approaches are an integral part of coping

effectively withstress and now the primary focus of many stress

management programs. Since it has beendetermined that we can turnoff the stress response by changing our threatening/dangerousevent

appraisals to appraisals that help us view these events as manageable

challenges, wehave a direct link to controlling the stress response. The

first step in the cognitive approachis to identify our thoughts or

internal dialog that is negative, perfectionist, black and white,rigid and

demanding. In other words, you are more likely to experience stress if

you believethat you, the world and other people "should or must"

behave in a manner consistent withyour demands and standards. For

example, you are likely to experience stress if you believethat the

world and your life should be stress free and that you do not have the

resources tohandle stress if it does occur. In addition, demands of

perfection on yourself and on othersimportant to you, increases the

chance of feeling stressed since these expectations areunrealistic and

rigid. After identifying your stress producing thoughts you are then

able tomove onto the second step in the cognitive approach;

recognizing the consequences of thisnegative, rigid dialog. The

motivation to change the stress-producing dialog comes from the

determinationthat there are serious consequences that result form

these negative, rigid thoughts. When youtalk to yourself in a defeated,pessimistic or rigid way, you deny your ability to cope and arenot

likely to manage situations effectively or meet goals you set. In

addition, perfectionistdemands are experienced as appropriately

unrealistic and contribute to a "why bother"attitude. This attitude


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reduces the likelihood that you will address these demands since it is

arealistic fact that no one or nothing is ever perfect. Once you are

convinced that the dialog isnegative and counterproductive, you are

ready to move on to the third step in the cognitiveapproach;challenging and replacing the negative internal dialog with a healthier,

moreproductive internal dialog. This important step in the reappraisal

process requires that you challenge your rigiddialog by asking

yourself a series of questions about that rigid dialog. For example,

commust I perform perfectly in order to believe I am a valuable

human being?" In addition,"Does that demand for perfection increase

my anxiety and reduce the likelihood that Iperform well at all?" "What

would I feel like and would I be more motivated if I changed

mydemand for perfection to a desire to do well?" Another example of

this reappraisal processcan be seen in the area of criticism and

rejection. A negative internal dialog that would create stress in this

area is "I am worthlessbecause I was rejected and this proves that noone will ever love me." A healthy challenge tothis belief would be,

"How does the opinion of this person reflect my personal worth?

"Howdoes it follow that this rejection will lead to future rejections?" It

is also important to add, "Even if I were to get rejected repeatedly,

could I work to make desired changes in mypersonality without

condemning myself or feeling worthless?" By replacing the

negative,rigid dialog with more realistic, flexible dialog, you are more

likely to feel healthieremotionally and behave more rationally and

productively. The behavioral, relaxation and cognitive techniques

described above have beendetermined to be effective ways to manage


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and cope more effectively with stress. Thetechniques give the control

back to the individual and empower him/her to manage theinevitable

stressors that will occur in life.

FACTORS THAT CREATE A STRESSFUL CALL

CENTER

Stress in the Call Center will affect the agent, manager, director, or anyone in

the call centerwhen they let stress gain control. When this happens, they lose

self control and have thefeeling of being overwhelmed. The first step in gainingcontrol is and identifying what thestressors are and understanding the causes

and effects. Stress is caused by many things. Timepressures, high expectations,

lack of communication, high call volume, inexperience, ill-prepared, to name a

few. The effects are decreased productivity, anxiety, low morale, poorcustomer

service levels, and increased turnover. When faced with these stressors, training

isthe tool to resolve the issues. You must go to your training programs and

processes and askyourself if the training you are providing the call center

employees delivers the toolsrequired for them to accomplish their goals without

the negative stress. Approach dealingwith the stress in the Call Center with

assertiveness and confidence. One of the mosteffective things I have done, in

my own call center experience, as well as seen in other callcenters, is to have a

specific workshop covering stress. Let employees voice their specificstressors

and develop actions to overcome them and resolve what is inhibiting

theirperformance. Their minds are then clear and mentally prepared. It will then

be motivated fortraining to make them a more confident and capable call center

employee.


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LACK OF COMMUNICATION This is a call center disease that some call

centers just gravitate to simply becauseeveryone is too busy with their job

duties and with doing someone elses jobs that we simplyforget to communicate.

Sounds harmless but if you dont address it could slowly but surelydrag downyour centers morale, employees self esteems, work life balance, job

security,employees productivities, etc. HIGH VOLUME This one is a little

tougher because the causes could be variety of different issues. Themore

common symptom of high volume is poor workforce mgmt. Put, workforce

teamneeds to be very proactive in correctly forecasting your volume two weeks

in

(within 98% of the actual volume) and be ready with a staffing analysis of how

efficientCSR schedules are by day for you. If this is every week from your

workforce team, you willbe well aware of your holes every day for the next two

weeks and you can make staffingdecisions before the day happens. If your

workforce team is good, then you will betterprepare to handle spikes/lull in

your volume. Another symptom of high volume is poor attendance/retention - ifyou consistentlydont have the reps that you planned for, then you might as well

stay home too. Issues likethese are harder to address because the root causes are

never the same. You have to go theemployees and find out why they are not

coming to work or why they are leaving you. Onceyou have an idea of the root

causes, then you and your team can creatively find solutions orcreate new

policies to address them. High volume is a self feeding animal - if you dont get

control of it, it will surelybrings down your operation. Your frontline

supervisors will have to help out on the phonesall the time and they cant work

with their CSRs. Employees are constantly going from onecall to the next

without much breaks in between. Your boss is constantly on you for highASAs


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and Abandon %s, blah - the story goes on and on and the picture doesnt look

pretty. Common causes include understaffing, impossible service levels,

inappropriate or oppressive management style, mis-match between agent skills

and job requirements, mis-match between the stated aims of the job and theactual work being done (e.g. a sales centre that is swamped with technical

service complaints), jobs that require no thought on the part of the operator and

that could/should be automated (directory enquiries, bank balance requests etc).

EMOTIONAL LABOUR

"Emotional labor is defined as the effort expended (and the

concomitantphysiological arousal) to manage or regulate ones emotional

reactions at work. This effortis necessary for exhibiting those performance

behaviors valued by the organization, andsuppressing the expression of less

acceptable behaviors. Service employees are particularlyvulnerable to a demand

for emotional labor, because their jobs generally require maintaininga friendly

and positive demeanor despite job characteristics that may engendernegativeemotional reactions (e.g., irate customers, complex problem solving, or

hectic work pace).Any work setting which engenders negative emotional

reactions from employees, whilerequiring the suppression of certain behaviors

associated with these emotions (e.g., yelling,abruptly hanging up the phone, or

scowling), is fertile ground for emotional labor. Thestereotypical customer

service call center is such a work place

. SUGGESTIONS

HANDLING THE ABUSE


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Agents handle an average of 110 calls a day, and 80 percent of the calls that

come inhave some level of emotion. Usually a caller is calling in because theyre

frustrated, angry,upset, concernedsomething has happened and theyre not

happy. Therefore, it is crucial that agents and especially the call center managernote theseoccurrences and become better prepared and informed on handling

them for the sake of theirworkers and their callers. In these situations the task

should become how to handle this typeof emotional call rather than instantly

labeling it "abusive" and not acceptable.

JOB ROTATION

We instituted job sharing/intern program in our call center. CSRs who meet or

exceed job expectations are eligible to do a rotation for three months in other

groups. CSRs work half a day on the phones, the other half in the

Correspondence Dept, or in the Researched, Work Force Management, or

Quality Assurance. This breaks up their day, teaches them new skills, &

provides us with a pool of trained staff whenever we need it. have a job rotationprogram that alternate telephone staff to do administrative tasks to break up the

dayto day grind. SPORTS ACTIVITIES In our call center, what we followed

recently is that we organised a sports weekwhere we asked the agents and their

supervisours to organise and also take part in the same.This has brought a

change in their working performance as far as we can see. I

compel that you should organise something that will allow the agents change

their daily routineand do something routine.

BUDGET FOR ACTIVITIES


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Documents

Dissertation Report Submitted Towards the Partial Fulfillment of Graduate Degree in Bachelors of Business Administration