1

INTRODUCTION

The field of organizational behavior (OB) draws from the behavioral science disciplines of

psychology, social psychology, and cultural anthropology. The areas on which OB focuses are

individuals who will often be working within groups, which themselves work within

organizations. OB is as much a practical set of tools as an area of theoretical interest.

Organizational Behavior is field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and

structure have on behavior within organization. It is the study and application of knowledge

about how people act within organizations. It is a human tool for human benefit. It applies

broadly to the behavior of people in all types of organizations, such as business, government,

schools and services organizations. It covers three determinants of behavior in organizations:

individuals, groups, and structure. OB is an applied field. It applies the knowledge gained about

individuals, and the effect of structure on behavior, in order to make organizations work more

effectively. OB covers the core topics of motivation, leadership behavior and power,

interpersonal communication, group structure and process, learning, attitude development and

perception, change process, conflict, job design and work stress.

Definitions

According to Luthans

OB is directly concerned with the understanding, predicting and controlling of human

behavior in organizations.

According to LM Prasad

The study and application of knowledge about human behavior related to other elements

of an organization such as structure, technology and social systems

According to Stephen P Robins

Organizational behavior as a systematic study of the actions and attitudes that people

exhibit within organizations.

According to Roman J. Alday

O.B as a branch of the social science that seeks to build theories that can be applied to

predicting understanding and controlling behavior in work organizations.

2

HISTORY OF BPO

The concept of outsourcing started with Ross Perot when he founded Electronic Data Systems in

1962. EDS would tell a prospective client, "You are familiar with designing, manufacturing and

selling furniture, but we're familiar with managing information technology. We can sell you the

information technology you need, and you pay us monthly for the service with a minimum

commitment of two to ten years.

BPO is the act of transferring some of an organization's repeated non-core and core business

processes to an outside provider to achieve cost reductions while improving service quality.

Because the processes are repeated and a long-term contract is used, outsourcing goes far beyond

the use of consultants. If done well, BPO results in increasing shareholder value. The main

difference between BPO and more traditional IT outsourcing is that BPO offers companies a way

of achieving transformational outcomes much more quickly. In a typical BPO contract, a service

provider takes over a specific corporate function. Effective BPO encompasses much more than

just changing who is responsible for performing the process. In BPO, the outside provider not

only takes on the responsibility to manage the function or business process, but also re-engineers

the way the process has been traditionally done.

The next generation of Business Process Outsourcing has emerged as a priority for businesses

looking to better options in managing their application portfolios. The first wave offered low-

cost, off-shore development labor, but today firms are demanding new, less risky options for

applications that are strategic, complex, or mission-critical, while still taking cost into

consideration. Outsourcing has moved from a niche technology management tool to a

mainstream strategic weapon. Business Process Outsourcing leverages process driven

efficiencies in terms of organizational excellence, responsiveness & branding, financial

efficiency and customer relationship. BPO is emerging as a powerful and flexible approach that

business leaders can use to achieve a wide range of tactical and strategic aims. The most

common business process that gets outsourced is call centers. Call centers and Help Desks of

many multinational and fortune 500 companies are being outsourced to low waged, English

speaking countries such as Philippines and India. Countries like India with vast IT human

resources are also attracting outsourcing from American IT/Technology companies to outsource

their IT Help Desks. Many of these help desks are state of the art with latest Help Desk software

3

and help desk hardware with technical savvy IT graduates behind them answering your

questions.

It can be defined as the transfer of an organization's entire non-core but critical business

process/function to an external vendor who uses an IT-based service delivery. By doing so, BPO

helps an organization concentrate on its core competencies, improve efficiency, reduce cost and

improve shareholders' value. Though IT outsourcing has been happening for so many years, an

increased momentum has been witnessed since the late 1990s due to the rise of Internet and

Communication technologies. Several global giants from various industries have begun to realize

the importance of BPO and have started outsourcing their non-core business functions. This has

given rise to many specialized BPO vendors across the globe, with India being a major hub

owing to its large computer-literate English-speaking population, low billing rates, strategically

favorable time zone and high quality. The BPO market in India is expected to grow

exponentially in the coming years.

Although the term "business process outsourcing" (BPO) has gained visibility in the IT services

industry only in the past four to five years, the service offering itself has existed for decades. For

example, several of the largest service providers have significant legacy revenue streams that are

derived from medical claims processing contracts. In many instances, these contracts include the

entire back-office function. The outsourcing of payroll administration, an accepted practice for

many years, is another illustration of the true age of the BPO market.

This market is now experiencing noticeable momentum in terms of wider user acceptance and

the emergence of new service offering categories, as well as a proliferation of providers from

which to choose. Service providers offer BPO for literally hundreds of business processes. Some

of these service offerings are very stable; some are just emerging and are, therefore, largely

untested.

4

CALL CENTERS

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

help desks, information lines or customer service centers, irrespective of how they are organized

or what types of transactions they handle. Call center is generally referred to are fined voice

operations setting that provides a full range of high-volume, inbound or outbound call-handling

services, including customer support, operator services, directory assistance, multilingual

customer support, credit services, card services, inbound and outbound telemarketing, interactive

voice response and web-based services. Call centers are becoming increasingly popular in

today‟s business, where many companies have centralized customer service and support

functions. Call centers are generally 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 few people or large office with thousands of employees. The main activity in some

call centers is answering inbound calls, such as a bank that gives out a toll-free number for

customers needing 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 of

outsourcing, companies‟ contract out some functions to other companies located mostly in cost

effective destinations like India. In this field India enjoys several advantages over a number of

developed counties. In India, we a have large pool of qualified people; English speaking

graduates and IT professionals. In addition to this India have some other advantages like cheap

labor, flexibility in working hours and time zone difference. This is the reason why a number of

MNCs are outsourcing their business activities to India. Call centers are comparatively a recent

introduction to the world of career options in India. The career avenues provided by Call centers

is one of the best suited and growing option which even a fresher can opt for. With the opening

up of the Indian economy and the advent of globalisation more and more companies from abroad

are basing or outsourcing their call center services to India, a trend started by GE when it

established a call center near New Delhi in 1998.A call center is a service center with adequate

telecom facilities, access to internet and wide database, which provide voice based or web-based

information and support to customers in the country or abroad through trained personnel. Call

centers exist in all sectors of business 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

5

reservations etc. The wide area of services provided by the call centers makes it a lucrative

career with a range of opportunities.

UNDERSTANDING - THE CALL CENTER “INDUSTRY”

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

a thing as the “call center industry”. As Bain and Taylor point out, “despite similarities in the

integration of computer and telephone technologies, centers differ in relation to a number of

important variables—size, industrial sector and market, complexity and length of call cycle time,

nature of operations (inbound, outbound or combined), the nature and effectiveness of

representative institutions including trade unions, and management styles and priorities”. To this

list of variables, Callaghan and Thompson would add the “degree of product complexity and

variability and the depth of knowledge required to deal with the service interaction”. Bain and

Taylor argue that it is more appropriate to use the term “sector”, as call Centers are found across

a wide range of industries and may be similar primarily in terms of their core technologies. They

do note, however, that there is a professional literature and a collective identity that is maintained

and developed through conferences and forums. Belt, Richardson and Webster (2000) agree that

call centers are not an industry as the term is generally defined, but rather represent certain ways

of delivering various services using the telephone and computer technologies across traditional

industry boundaries. However, these authors provide three strong reasons defending the practice

of referring to call centers as an industry: First, the call center community often defines itself as

an industry, with numerous national 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, regardless of the sector. To this one might add the

remarkable similarities that international researchers have found 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.

6

STRESS IN CALL CENTERS

Stress exists in every call center. Call centers are stressful work environments. The demands of

serving the customer in real-time helps to lay the foundation. Add to this factor things such as

job repetition, potential job dissatisfaction, poor ergonomics or low pay and the stress level

climbs higher.

If stress in the workplace (i.e. the call center) is not on the agenda the results of stress are

revealed through higher absenteeism than other parts of the company, higher Workers

Compensation claims and ultimately in reduced customer satisfaction.

This Operations Topic focuses on various approaches to managing stress. Raising the pay is not

necessarily the solution. There are many other creative means of managing stress in your call

center.

Factors that Create a Stressful Call Center

Emotional Labor

Stress Levels Staff Turnover and Some Suggested Solutions

Customer Centric Attitude and Stress

Recommended 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 Stress

Tele-Stress - Relief For Call Center Stress Syndrome

7

HUMAN ISSUES IN CALL-CENTER INDUSTRY

STRESS

For many employed in the call center sector, "the daily experience is of repetitive, intensive and

stressful work, based upon Taylorist principles, which frequently results in employee "burnout".

Brown, more vividly, characterizes the work as "repetitive brain strain". These descriptions are

hardly surprising, in a way, given that call centers are established by organizations to "create an

environment in which work can be standardized to create relatively uniform and repetitious

activities so as to achieve economies of scale and consistent quality of customer service". This

means, in other words, that workplaces are organized in ways that weaken employee autonomy

and enhance the potential for management control, and "a loss of control is generally understood

to be an important indicator of work-related stress".

There is almost universal consensus that call center work is stressful. Even in studies that report

the observation that some staff actually enjoys their work, mention of stress is still the norm, and

a significant portion of the call center literature is devoted to detailing the sources of stress in call

center 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 all day on the

phone dealing with people one after another, day after day, is difficult. Doing it under constant

pressure to keep call volumes up, with no time between calls to "recover from an awkward call

or from 'customer rejection'" is even more difficult. And doing it with "very little authority or

autonomy to rectify problems" that arise is perhaps the most difficult of all. Many studies report

agents as wanting to 'just get off the phones'. For example, Belt and colleagues note "agents in all

8

three sectors [financial services, IT, and third-party services] spoke of the phenomenon of

'burnout', caused by the pressure of working exclusively 'on the phones'". In the same study, the

authors mention that the issue of 'burnout' was also recognized by some managers: "It was

pointed out that managers face an inherent conflict between the need to reduce staff boredom

and labor turnover, and the pressure 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 and turnover," writes

Houlihan. Many authors agree, and there are a variety of individual coping mechanisms

described in the literature. Tricks to circumvent control mechanisms, such as those discussed

above are sometimes mentioned as attempts at stress reduction, although they are unreliable in

this role as they may also increase stress. Others mention social interaction squeezed into brief

moments--Callaghan and Thompson describe agents using humorous (or rude) gestures towards

the phone, or making faces at colleagues to defuse stress over angry or abusive callers, and

making jokes to combat the tedium of the day. Lankshear 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 management's approval. More formally,

some call 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 discussing

difficult calls or dissatisfactions with elements of work.

Knights and McCabe takes a different approach to stress in the workplace. They note that

although much organizational analysis and most of the call center literature tends to

conceptualize stress as an individual problem, it is actually located within "a framework that

emphasizes the interrelationships between structural relations of power and the subjective

interpretations and actions of employees". This more nuance positioning may provide more

insight into call center conditions, as it allows a researcher to consider the response of employees

"forced to interpret the often contradictory demands management place upon them" including

"contradictions…over service quality versus the quantity of work output". "Clearly," these

authors write, "staffs face some fundamental contradictions over unity versus conflict,

uncertainty versus certainty, quality versus quantity and these are at the heart of the reproduction

of stress, resistance and control". This focus on the "contradictory" nature of demands strikes at

9

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 concerned with 'customer care', or

'keeping customers happy' (providing quality service), yet these goals are juxtaposed with an

ongoing pressure to keep call times down and call volumes up. Houlihan describes the difficulty

concisely:

Call centers are rooted in contradictory tensions and structural paradoxes, and confront a number

of trades-offs on that basis. These set a context for attitudes towards the organization and can

impose conflicting role requirements on agents. A core example is that of the pressure for

quantity versus the aspiration for quality, the guiding logic of which is the conundrum of trying

to get closer to the customer while routinising, centralizing, reducing costs and prescribing

standards.

The dichotomy is not completely straightforward, it is important to note. Part of providing

quality service from a management perspective is making sure customers do not wait too long

for their calls to be answered, even though the push to keep queue waiting times short is typically

categorized as part of the pressure towards quantity. As Bain points out, "efforts to attain what is

perceived to be the desired balance between the quantity and the quality of calls presents a

perennial challenge".

The practice of ongoing work practice modification and target revision as management swings

from one side to another of the quality/quantity debate is a major source of stress for call center

agents. As Houlihan notes: "The practice of putting a 'drive' on particular targets for

improvement (for example, the collection of renewal dates, the up-selling or cross-selling of

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

means that the 'goalposts' are constantly shifting". Virtually all of the call center authors who

write about work conditions mention the difficulty of dealing with these competing goals.

Korczynski and colleagues suggest that this dilemma is particularly difficult for front-line

10

workers because they may be likely "to identify with embodied individual customers, for

interactions with specific customers may be an important arena for meaning and satisfaction

within the work". They contrast this customer-as-individual orientation to the managerial goal of

balancing customer orientation with efficiency, which they suggest leads management to prefer

workers to identify with a generic category, 'the customer', since "such a disembodied image of

the customer will encourage workers to deal with individual customers efficiently because they

will be conscious of the concerns of other customers waiting in a queue".

INTENSITY

The third central 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 a range of other

control mechanisms-is not only alive, well and deeply embedded in the call center labour

process, but its malevolent influence appears to be spreading to previously uncharted territory".

There is widespread consensus that "call centers are a new, and particularly effective,

manifestation of the increasingly capital intensive 'industrialization' of service sector work, and

work performed in them is highly intensive and routine".

Buchanan and Koch-Schulte quote one call center worker who describes the constant pressure

graphically: Ellen: It's almost like the army. It's 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 finish a

call, the minute you hang up another call comes up just this constant, all day, repetitious…

constant sort of like beating on a drum, but day after day.

The pace of work is determined by the combination of technologies that deliver calls to the

headset and account details to the screen, and workers often have no control over this process.

Descriptions such as "exhausting," "robotic," "controlled," and agents discussing the nature 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 organization conceives of them:

11

Call centers are information handling organizations. As currently characterized, the job of the

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

organization rehearses the things 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-Schulte spoke with a call-center worker who articulated her feelings about

the organization's expectations of its agents in very similar terms: Rosa: You are standing

waiting to be used by the technology, and it's a physical embodiment of that. You are standing,

waiting until that call comes in to use you to make money. 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 emotional

demands 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 inbound and outbound centers.

Inbound centers typically have targets for call duration, 'wrap time', and daily call volume.

Outbound centers often also have sales or 'completion' targets, which are closely monitored and

upon which pay may be partially based. In addition, in some sectors, inbound call centers are

attempting to introduce the practice of cross selling, where agents attempt to sell additional

products to the customers who 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 placed upon meeting

them in an increasingly competitive business environment. Sales targets, in particular, are

difficult to accept, or meet, for staff who often consider themselves as service personnel,

particularly when they are set centrally and implemented locally: "Cross-selling is seen by

employees, not as an opportunity to engage in creative work, but as an additional and acute

source of pressure". This is especially the case when sales targets are parachuted in on top of

service targets set originally when there was no pressure to produce sales.

12

As a CSR in Taylor and Bain's study emphasizes: "When somebody phones in for a balance you

have to try to get a sale or get them interested as well as turning the call round in 155 seconds".

Even in centers that claim not to prioritize targets, researchers have found that staff often 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 they're not really interested in numbers. They

say that they are more into quality. Well, that's a lie. They're usually 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 directly under management control. Some call centers

are managed in such a way that targets are set to realistically reflect local conditions, are

interpreted in light of other, more subjective information, and are not used punitively or to

intensify work. In some they are even used effectively to motivate and encourage staff. For

example, Lankshear and Mason describe a series of conversations with managers in their call

center site where management consistently conceptualized their performance reports (for

example, one commented that it's 'human nature' for productivity to drop before and after a

holiday), and used their status as an excuse to praise good performance and coach those who

consistently had difficulty meeting targets: "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 are often high

rates of absenteeism and sick leave reported in the literature, although there is relatively little

exploration of these issues, particularly when compared to turnover. Most often, authors provide

a brief list of known health issues. For example, Richardson, Belt and Marshall 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 effects of these ailments can be

found in industry and trades union reports. For example, the Trades Union Council (TUC) in its

brochure targeted at call center workers, cites the main illnesses to which call center staff are

prone: "back strain and RSI, stress, eyestrain, and voice and hearing loss".

13

Also in the UK, regulators have been proactive in their examination of the industry, with the

Health and Safety Executive issuing a bulletin on call center regulations, health risks and best

practices in December 2001. They looked specifically at health issues including stress, noise

levels, musculoskeletal disorders (such as back problems) and voice loss, and also at display

screen issues, working environments, requirements for work stations, daily work routines,

training, organizational working practices and shifts.

SLEEPING DISORDERS

No prizes for guessing the most severe ailment afflicting people working in Indian call 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 their biological clocks, but even

experienced people or managers are not able to completely escape from it. Some call centers are

looking at devising innovative mechanisms like flexible 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 external caterers

every day, 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 more severe. Many call

centers are now taking additional care to ensure their caterers supply hygienic food; besides

stipulating strict conditions to maintain the quality of the food they serve.

DEPRESSION

In last year's survey, this was not among the top disorders, but this year it has climbed up the

chart, affecting nearly one-fourth of the respondents. Not surprising, since, as the industry

matures, the initial glitz and glamour wears away and the real problems come to the fore. Not

only are there several health related issues, but, on top of that, the gradual realization that there is

14

limited scope in developing a career owing to fewer growth opportunities is increasing the

frustration levels. Coupled with growing mental fatigue and increasingly punishing physical

environments, depression is the obvious end result. Some call centers have now devised different

stress management programs mainly to counter depression.

SEVERE STOMACH RELATED PROBLEMS

Continuing digestive problems lead to severe stomach 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 stomach ailments 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, sitting continually without

adequate breaks seems to be the truer reason. The number of people affected seems to be on the

rise-last year only 19% complained; this year it has gone up to 23%. At some point of time, this

problem might also afflict the IT services industry, but for the 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, no surprises

here, since a call center job involves taking calls throughout the shift, sitting with headphones.

While quality of headphones does make a difference, it would not be correct to completely wish

the problem away by thinking that changing headphones will solve it. Some other Human Issues,

in Call-Centers, which need Immediate Attention

15

PERSONAL HABITS

The young executives are getting more than five figure salaries per month in an early age. They

tend to develop certain bad habits such as alcohol, smoking etc. It is not easy to identify such

individuals. It is also very sensitive to talk to them. The professional counsellors can conduct

group-counselling, workshops, educative film shows in order to create awareness on effects of

bad habits. Such actions will enable individuals to realize the importance of good habits and they

could seek one to one Counselling sessions to solve their problems.

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 mistakes and abuse

the freedom. They start behaving like in college campus where they have more freedom.

However, the call center executives have more responsibility and accountability, they need to

follow discipline and do well in the job. The most common behaviour is misuse of food, behave

erratically in vans, and smoke in public places, misuse of telephones and other resources of the

company.

The supervisors always concentrate on performance and achieving targets. They do not have

time or interest to go deep into these matters and find out the reasons for such behaviour. The

professional counsellor can play a major role in educating the youngsters on discipline; provide

advice to erring executives. The counsellors with their wisdom and experience can tackle such

issues tactfully and bring change within the individuals. As said earlier, to majority of them this

is the first employment and they are fresh out of the colleges. Few tend to behave differently and

they have the "do not care" attitude. 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 or unnoticed by the supervisors.

The fact remains that such unacceptable behaviours will cause disturbance to others and overall

it affects the productivity. Sleeping while on duty, reading novels and playing games on the

computer during working hours brings down productivity and quality suffers. The HR

16

representatives and professional counsellors jointly have a role to bring behavioural change

starting from the training days. Continuous education and Counselling will help to mitigate such

problems and it is possible to prevent serious problems.

INTER-PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP AND FRIENDSHIP

Executives develop friendship quickly and sometime the friendship breaks and there will be

misunderstanding among the team members and naturally affects the team performance. The

supervisors and counsellors can play a major role to sort out the interpersonal relationship and

develop team spirit. Healthy relationship among the team members has always helped the team

to outperform. When the relationship fails the individuals will also break down mentally. They

either absent for duties or fall ill or the performance will come down. It is also true that due to

misunderstanding and break in friendship 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 got married with the

consent of their parents. They work together in the same organization for longer duration. There

are instances, where lovers fall apart, start disliking, creating troubles to each other and vitiating

the atmosphere. They are immature, take instant decisions to break or unite and sometimes go to

an extent of damaging others reputation. The professional counsellors can play an important role

in explaining the importance of marriage, preparation required for marriage, how to enter the

institution of marriage, which is acceptable to both parents and society and about the new role

and responsibility after getting married. Counselling services can definitely give emotional

support to individuals.

17

ABSENTEEISM

Absenteeism is very high in calls centers. Employees tend to be very irregular to the duty due to

various reasons. The professional counselling services to such irregular employees on one to one

basis will help to bring down the absenteeism. The counsellor can educate and explain the

importance of attending duties to earn the salary and also to meet the organizational goals. Each

individual are unique and the problem they face are also different in nature. Only the

professional counsellors 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 organizations encourage

and offer support services to pursue higher education. However, the time management by the

executives is crucial to go forward in education as well as to maintain the performance and

career growth. Programmes on time management, tips to study, tips to keep fit and such other

programmes can be offered. These steps would help to seek the loyalty of employees to the

organizations and helps greatly for the retention of employees.

Organizations do not grant permission to pursue part time jobs while working in BPO units. In

order to make quick money and to have options open to change the jobs in future will drive the

employees to do part time work. Human body does not permit to stretch beyond one's capacity.

The executives need to take sufficient rest in the daytime so that energy levels are maintained.

Either due to lack of experience or due to compulsions, the executives keep their one foot in call

center and another in part time jobs. In the long run this would affect individual‟s health. The HR

executives must identify such persons and offer professional Counselling services to them.

18

REMEDIAL MEASURES FOR STRESS MANAGEMENT

Understanding that the “Stress” is a major concern for all Call-Center Employees, it is 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 are most

frequently reported. These signs fall into two major categories; physical/behavioral signs and

emotional signs. If we become aware of our own stress symptoms, we will be more effective in

dealing with them sooner rather than later. What follows is a list of some of the most experienced

symptoms of stress.

The physical/behavioral symptoms include; muscular tension, muscle spasms and tics, rapid

heart-beat, shortness of breath and high blood pressure, cold hands and feet, backaches,

headaches and neck aches, stomach problems, indigestion, irritable bowel and ulcers, feeling

fatigued, irritable, decreased ability to concentrate, insomnia and changes in eating behavior.

Since these physical symptoms may be related to physical problems, you should consult with

your medical doctor before you assume that your symptoms are purely stress-related.

The emotional symptoms include; anxiety in a variety of situations not limited to the stressful

situation, depression, hopelessness and a strong urge to cry without specific incident, withdrawal

from social interactions and avoidance of previously enjoyed activities, powerlessness and

decreased self-esteem, hostility, anger and resentment, fears, phobias and unwanted thoughts.

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

management and healing process. It is often helpful to monitor your daily symptoms in a stress

diary where you match the stressful events with the symptom experienced. For example; you

made find that if you are stuck in early morning traffic you may experience irritability and

headaches. In this case it will be important to use these symptoms as a cue that you have to begin

managing that stress more effectively when it happens.

19

What are the Consequences of Unmanaged Stress?

We all know that stress is something that doesn‟t feel good to us physically and emotionally.

What is even more compelling is what happens below the surface each time we experience

stress. Stress researcher Hans Selye, determined what happens internally each time we

experience something as threatening or stressful. According to Selye, when we perceive a threat

in the environment the thinking part of the brain sends an alarm message to the nervous system

via the hypothalamus. The nervous system then makes changes in the body that prepare you to

handle the perceived danger ahead. These changes include increases in heart rate and blood

pressure as well as pupil dilation. In addition, there are hormones and chemicals secreted such as

adrenaline, that give the body the necessary push to be able to manage the threat a head.

Although there are situations in which these adrenaline surges are very helpful in helping us

mobilize, the constant adrenaline surges due to repeatedly perceived threats, have a toxic effect

on the body. For example, recurrent adrenaline surges inhibit some of the other important

functions in the body including growth and tissue repair, digestion and the immune response.

Just as the thinking part of your brain is responsible for turning the stress response on, you can

turn it off by changing the threatening appraisals you are making. Once you are able to determine

that a threat does not exist or that it can be effectively managed, you thinking brain stops sending

panic messages to the nervous system. As a result of this reappraisal, 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 every system in

the body can be damaged by stress. Although our bodies are adaptive and can recover from

periodic stressors, chronic stress has serious consequences. We experience the consequences 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 the stress toxins

that are released. For example, chronic stress can lead to cardiovascular disease by elevating

blood pressure, damaging the heart and arteries and increasing blood sugar. Respiratory

conditions such as asthma and bronchitis can result from stress-triggered changes in the lungs.

20

When stress inhibits the body‟s digestive functions, diseases such as ulcers, colitis and chronic

diarrhea can occur. In addition, stress contributes to inhibited growth of tissue and bone which

can lead to decalcification and osteoporosis. The immune system is also inhibited by the reduced

efficiency of the white blood cells, making the body more susceptible to disease. Increased

muscle tension, fatigue and headaches are additional consequences of chronic stress.

The Second Category of Consequences of Chronic Stress is the Emotional Consequences

Depression can result from chronic stress due to the constant release and depletion of no repine

prime. What also contributes to the depression is the thought that life is terrible and that it is

never going to get better. What then results is a feeling of helplessness and ineffectiveness,

feeling like a failure and a reduction in self-confidence. Individuals who are depressed are also

likely to withdraw from relationships and isolate themselves which often increases the intensity

of the depression. In addition, anxiety and fearfulness are commonly felt 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 often result from innate survival urge we have to seek

relief, to fight or to flee. Unfortunately, these relief-seeking behaviors eventually become

problematic. For example, "addictive behaviors" can result from the repeated efforts to soothe or

escape the painful stress. Alcohol, drugs, smoking and overeating are often seen as tools to help

manage the stress even though their effects are short lived and the consequences of chronic use

are destructive to the body and mind. Unfortunately the mind‟s ability to deny the long-term

consequences in order to fill short-term need to escape perpetuates the problem and increases

excessive use behavior. Similarly, procrastination, poor planning, excessive sleeping and

avoidance of responsibility are examples of behaviors used by stressed individuals to temporarily

flee from the pain. What is most significant about these behaviors is their ability to generate

additional problems that are as severe as the original stressor. For example, procrastination or

avoidance of the management of a stressor only serves to increase anxiety and exacerbate the

stress experience. Stress consequences reviewed above suggest that in addition to being

physically and psychologically distressing, they reduce the likelihood of effective goal reaching.

21

Rationale for properly managing and coping with the stress is for health protection in future as

well as making present more productive and satisfying.

MANAGING STRESS

Since stress is an inevitable fact of life that we can‟t always prevent, our efforts need to be

focused on coping with stress more effectively. What follows is a description of a three pronged

approach to stress management which includes behavioral/practical techniques, relaxation

techniques and cognitive/thinking techniques.

The behavioral/practical approaches to stress management include exercise and eating a healthy,

balanced diet, which includes selections from the basic food groups. In addition, it is

recommended that one avoid the excessive use of alcohol, caffeine and sugar, which contribute

to fatigue and vulnerability to mood swings. It is also important to allow the body to rest and

replenish to help inoculate the body against future stress. Building this stress resistance also

includes scheduling time for leisure and pleasure, which provides for a more balanced, fulfilling

life. Anticipating and preparing for recurrent stressors by managing time, setting priorities and

limits, delegating responsibility, and not procrastinating are helpful stress reducing strategies.

These techniques are effective stress management tools because their utilizations within our

control.

The relaxation approaches to stress management include a variety of techniques designed to help

you effectively manage the body/mind tension. Progressive muscle relaxation is an active form

of relaxation where you individually contract the major muscle groups of your body for about

five seconds and then you relax the individual muscle groups for a five second holds. The

contrast experienced by this exercise relieves muscle tension and relaxes the body. Some of the

more passive relaxation approaches include listening to music, reading and using saunas and hot

tubs to relieve tension. Techniques used to relax the mind include meditation and visual imagery.

Meditation teaches you how to clear the mind of stressful and distracting thoughts by focusing

the mental energy on positive coping thoughts. Visual imagery is designed to help the individual

visualize him/herself coping effectively with a stressor that was previously experienced as

overwhelming. The behavioral and relaxation approaches described above are necessary but not

22

sufficient conditions for stress management. The third prong to stress management, the cognitive

or thinking approach, is essential to effective coping with stress.

The cognitive or thinking approaches are an integral part of coping effectively with stress and

now the primary focus of many stress management programs. Since it has been determined that

we can turn off the stress response by changing our threatening/dangerous event appraisals to

appraisals that help us view these events as manageable challenges, we have a direct link to

controlling the stress response. The first step in the cognitive approach is 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 believe that you, the world and other

people "should or must" behave in a manner consistent with your demands and standards. For

example, you are likely to experience stress if you believe that the world and your life should be

stress free and that you do not have the resources to handle stress if it does occur. In addition,

demands of perfection on yourself and on others important to you, increases the chance of

feeling stressed since these expectations are unrealistic and rigid. After identifying your stress

producing thoughts you are then able to move onto the second step in the cognitive approach;

recognizing the consequences of this negative, rigid dialog.

The motivation to change the stress-producing dialog comes from the determination that there

are serious consequences that result form these negative, rigid thoughts. When you talk to

yourself in a defeated, pessimistic or rigid way, you deny your ability to cope and are not likely

to manage situations effectively or meet goals you set. In addition, perfectionist demands are

experienced as appropriately unrealistic and contribute to a "why bother" attitude. This attitude

reduces the likelihood that you will address these demands since it is a realistic fact that no one

or nothing is ever perfect. Once you are convinced that the dialog is negative and

counterproductive, you are ready to move on to the third step in the cognitive approach;

challenging and replacing the negative internal dialog with a healthier, more productive internal

dialog.

This important step in the reappraisal process requires that you challenge your rigid dialog by

asking yourself a series of questions about that rigid dialog. For example, "Why must 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 I perform well at all?" "What

23

would I feel like and would I be more motivated if I changed my demand for perfection to a

desire to do well?" Another example of this reappraisal process can be seen in the area of

criticism and rejection.

A negative internal dialog that would create stress in this area is "I am worthless because I was

rejected and this proves that no one will ever love me." A healthy challenge to this belief would

be, "How does the opinion of this person reflect my personal worth?‟ "How does 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 my personality without condemning

myself or feeling worthless?" By replacing the negative, rigid dialog with more realistic, flexible

dialog, you are more likely to feel healthier emotionally and behave more rationally and

productively.

The behavioral, relaxation and cognitive techniques described above have been determined to be

effective ways to manage and cope more effectively with stress. The techniques give the control

back to the individual and empower him/her to manage the inevitable 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 center

when they let stress gain control. When this happens, they lose self-control and have the feeling

of being overwhelmed. The first step in gaining control is and identifying what the stressors are

and understanding the causes and effects. Stress is caused by many things. Time pressures, high

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

few. The effects are decreased productivity, anxiety, low morale, poor customer service levels,

and increased turnover. When faced with these stressors, training is the tool to resolve the issues.

You must go to your training programs and processes and ask yourself if the training you are

providing the call center employees delivers the tools required for them to accomplish their goals

without the negative stress. Approach dealing with the stress in the Call Center with

assertiveness and confidence. One of the most effective things I have done, in my own call center

experience, as well as seen in other call centers, is to have a specific workshop covering stress.

Let employees voice their specific stressors and develop actions to overcome them and resolve

24

what is inhibiting their performance. Their minds are then clear and mentally prepared. It will

then be motivated for training to make them a more confident and capable call center employee.

LACK OF COMMUNICATION

This is a call center disease that some call centers just gravitate to simply because everyone is

too busy with their job duties and with doing someone else‟s jobs that we simply forget to

communicate. Sounds harmless but if you dont address it could slowly but surely drag down

your 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. The more

common symptom of high volume is poor workforce mgmt. Put, workforce team needs to be

very proactive in correctly forecasting your volume two weeks in advance(within 98% of the

actual volume) and be ready with a staffing analysis of how efficient CSR schedules are by day

for you. If this is every week from your workforce team, you will be well aware of your holes

every day for the next two weeks and you can make staffing decisions before the day happens. If

your workforce team is good, then you will better prepare to handle spikes/lull in your volume.

Another symptom of high volume is poor attendance/retention - if you consistently don‟t have

the reps that you planned for, then you might as well stay home too. Issues like these are harder

to address because the root causes are never the same. You have to go the employees and find

out why they are not coming to work or why they are leaving you. Once you have an idea of the

root causes, then you and your team can creatively find solutions or create new policies to

address them.

High volume is a self-feeding animal - if you dont get control of it, it will surely bring down your

operation. Your frontline supervisors will have to help out on the phones all the time and they

can‟t work with their CSRs. Employees are constantly going from one call to the next without

much breaks in between. Your boss is constantly on you for high ASAs and Abandon %, blah -

the story goes on and on and the picture doesn‟t look pretty.

25

COMMON CAUSES

It includes 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 the actual work being done (e.g. a sales center 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 concomitant physiological arousal) to

manage or regulate one‟s emotional reactions at work. This effort is necessary for exhibiting

those performance behaviors valued by the organization, and suppressing the expression of less

acceptable behaviors. Service employees are particularly vulnerable to a demand for emotional

labor, because their jobs generally require maintaining a friendly and positive demeanor despite

job characteristics that may engender negative emotional reactions(e.g., irate customers, complex

problem solving, or hectic work pace). Any work setting which engenders negative emotional

reactions from employees, while requiring 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. The stereo typical customer service call center is such a work place."

26

CONCLUSIONS

SUGGESTIONS

HANDLING THE ABUSE

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

some level of emotion. Usually a caller is calling in because they are frustrated, angry,

upset, concerned—something has happened and they are not happy. Therefore, it is

crucial that agents and especially the call center manager note these occurrences and

become better prepared and informed on handling them for the sake of their workers and

their callers. In these situations the task should become how to handle this type of

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 department, or in the

Research department, 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 rotation program that alternate telephone staff to do administrative

tasks to break up the day to day grind.

SPORTS ACTIVITIES

In call center, what we followed recently is that we organised a sports week where we

asked the agents and their supervisors 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 personally feel that

you should organise something that will allow the agents change their daily routine and

do something routine.

BUDGET FOR ACTIVITIES

If employee turnover is a major problem, you may want to budget money for employee

activities / incentives. I have a activity committee that plans birthday decorating, holiday

potlucks, contests, etc. Involve the staff to join and participate in the committee.

27

WEEKLY EMPLOYEE FOCUS GROUP

Any employee can come to a weekly or bi weekly focus group with the call center

manager and human resource manager. Questions from the employees are posted publicly

and the date that the issues were addressed. Over time, I have seen focus groups that

started with very serious issues slowly evolve to sessions that become more like rap

sessions - more fun and less serious.

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FROM THE COMPANY

Yes, this is a time consuming endeavor but if done right and done consistently, could be a

great medium to communicate new/revised policies, reward employees/teams, train your

employees, and build strong team spirits.

DAILY DEPARTMENT HUDDLE

Each team/department should be highly encouraged to have this quickly huddle daily

with their employees. This goes a long way in building that strong bond between

employees and supervisors and yes, you can also use this time to communicate.

MONTHLY LETTER FROM THE BOSS

It could be from the VP of Ops, or it could be from the CCM. The point is, the company

will have an opportunity every month to speak to the workforce.

STEPS TAKEN BY COMPANIES TO HANDLE STRESS FACTORS

“Good Call Center Training Alleviates Stress”

1. Acknowledge the Emotion:- Listen to the caller and acknowledge that something has

happened to make them emotional. Acknowledge it and move on to the next step before it

escalates to an abusive call.

2. Take Control of the Call:- Strong words choices will immediately diffuse the emotional

aspect of the call. By using strong "I can" statements and proper word choices such as

"Absolutely, I would be glad to help you with …", "I can look that information up for

you” instead of emphasizing the "you" in statements like, "can you tell me what

happened?"--where the customer immediately feels like they are speaking with the wrong

person—after all they wouldn‟t be calling if they knew what was wrong.

28

3. Transition into the Problem Solving Pat:- Finally, to get the caller out of their

emotional state, transition them into a problem solving path. Once they have had a chance

to get through the emotional part, move on so their issues can be resolved.

BPOs HELP STAFF COPE WITH STRESS

MUMBAI:- Blame the nature of the job, deadline pressure or customer expectations. BPO jobs

undoubtedly involve high stress. Prashant Chawla, COO, Integreon, a Mumbai-based KPO, says

that there are three types of stress an employee may experience — tight deadlines, repetitive

nature of the job and late night shifts.

Aashu Calappa, VP-HR, ICICI OneSource, says, “Everything gets measured and this puts

employees under pressure.” Companies are now making efforts to help their employees cope

with stress because it is an occupational hazard. For example, night shifts are rotated on a regular

basis. However, deadlines can‟t be controlled.

Most of the BPOs arrange „feel good‟ activities like an outdoor picnic or an official dinner once

in three months. This helps employees talk to their senior management in an informal

environment. Employees are also given recognition by being designated as „employee of the

week‟ and „employee of the month‟. Vineet Mittal, president and MD, Stream, says that they

conduct in-house workshops at frequent intervals in which employees play games and indulge in

activities like dumb charades and scrabble.

Mr Calappa says they organise various events like family gatherings and Valentine‟s Day

celebrations to lighten the atmosphere in the office. According to him, an employee could be

stressed because of a tough supervisor or if he is not able to perform well in his job. So, there is a

lot of emphasis on the training of team leaders (TL) and supervisors to avoid a strained

relationship between the employee and the TL.

BPOs like Stream have appointed „fun officers‟ whose job is to arrange a party or a movie for the

entire office once in a month. Similarly, ICICI OneSource has an executive who is required to

spend at least two hours daily at the shop floor talking to employees about their day-to-day life.

3Global, a Hutchison-Whampoa BPO, has also appointed an executive to arrange sports events

on a monthly basis.

29

Shirish Kerkar, general manager, HR, 3Global, says, “We organise sports events like cricket

tournaments to ensure that our employees are engaged in physical activities.” The company

recently concluded a cricket tournament where 300 employees participated (10 people perteam).

Shilpa Shetty, a BPO employee, who heads a 200-member team says, “Our deadlines are in

hours and not days or weeks. So the stress is obviously high. I‟m heading a large team. So,

managing it is a big challenge, which at times, may stress me out.” She has adopted an

interactive way of dealing with workplace stress. She makes sure that she talks to her team

members on a daily basis, which may not necessarily be about work. “I do a lot of catching up

with my team members, which helps me to understand them better,” she adds.

Another BPO employee, Prashant Warrier, who interacts with the company‟s clients across the

globe says, “People at my level are the first ones from the company to interact with the clients,

so its puts pressure on us to present our company well because clients are demanding.” Sanjay

Salooja, a Delhi-based counsellor visits BPOs to counsel the employees.

He says generally, front-line employees and team leaders talk to him about both professional and

personal problems like long working hours and family demands. Besides teaching them

breathing exercises and yoga, the employees are taught to look at things from a different

perspective. They are encouraged to take ownership and be accountable for their job in the

organisation

Traditionally, call centers meant only voice-based customer support. But now most call centers

are more of a contact center, offering E-CRM services, that include voice based customer

support as well as e-mail response, web-based text-chat services and other customer interaction

channels. The call center services can be inbound where in calls are received from customers

enquiring about a service or product that an organisation provides. The call center services can

be outbound where in calls are made to customers to sell products or collect information/money

etc. Call center services can also specialised say in business processing where in calls are made

from one company to another company.

Some call centers stick to only domestic businesses dealing with customers within the country

called domestic call centers while others such as an International call center mainly deal with

clients from abroad say from US, Europe etc. There is a great scope for Call centers in India,

30

with a large population of educated English speaking people. The wide range of opportunities,

comparatively well-paid jobs for the minimum qualification it requires and the facilities the

companies provide like to and fro transport, subsidized meals and medical facilities makes Call

centers a good option.

Experts point out that continued high growth in an industry can be an issue because it strains

systems and governance processes that need time to mature and to be institutionalized. Indian

BPO industry is currently facing the challenges arising out of its stupendous growth. The major

challenges being faced by the ITES or BPO industry in India can be classified into internal and

external challenges. The internal challenges include shortage of competent managers for the

middle and senior management and the high attrition rates. The external challenge is in the form

of opposition from the US politicians and the UK labor unions against shifting of the BPO

operations by local companies to India. We suggest to do physiological analyse in BPO sector by

HR and do steps accordingly.

It is desirable to employ professional HR Professionals with knowledge of Human Psychology in

BPO units/call centers. The services offered by professionals may not be felt in the initial stages.

Companies like Tata, L&T, MICO and few others have employed professionals in their factories.

The professionals can do wonders in BPO sectors as well. People are the backbone of BPO

industry and it is certain that professional HR or Human Psychologist can make inroad in this

emerging organization and facilitate the growth of organization in an immense way.