Organising Call Centre Agents: Emerging Issues

Author(s): Ernesto Noronha and Premilla D'Cruz

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 41, No. 21 (May 27 - Jun. 2, 2006), pp. 2115-
2121
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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 Organising Call Centre Agents:
Emerging Issues
Organisations in the information technology enabled services sector have been very successful
in using exclusivist and inclusivist strategies to keep unions at bay. These strategies have
reinforced the notion of culturalism that aims at winning the "hearts and minds" of employees,
by managing what they think and feel, and not just how they behave. The objective is to
illustrate how these management strategies play out in call centres in India.
The article is based on interviews carried out with call centre employees in Bangalore.

ERNESTO NORONHA, PREMILLA D'CRUZ

all centres have emerged out of the major changes that The reaction of the Indian ITES industry to unionisation seems
to be no different. Recently, fear seemed to have gripped the
have taken place in the sphere of work and employment
in last two decades or so. A fundamental feature of this BPO industry, this was not related to losing business but to unions
change has been the economic restructuring bolstered by the being formed in call centres. The media highlighted the possibility
phenomenon of outsourcing resulting in the increase in the of investment shying away from the Indian shores as labour
number of jobs in the service sector. One such sector that groups
has begin to organise employees in this sector. Some feared
that unionisation would kill the fledgling BPO boom in the
grown rapidly due to these changes is the information technology
enabled services-business process outsourcing (ITES-BPO) sector.
country while others exhorted one to imagine the situation where
The services offered include customer interaction, back officeBPO workers holding red flags picketed these sophisticated
operations, transcription, content development and education/ organisations. The media argued that there was no room for
complaints against the BPO outfits as they provided exceptionally
training/research. It has emerged as one of the key industries for
good environment and good salaries. The move to unionise
investment in the country. Exports are estimated to have doubled
from $ 3.1 billion in the year 2003-04 to $ 6.3 billion by theworkers was seen as a retrograde step which would spell disaster
end of the year 2005-06. In terms of total employment, the for the industry. It was asserted that third party intervention did
not augur well for the industry. Advocates of this philosophy
projected figure was supposed to have reached 4,09,000 for the
financial year 2005-06. This growth in the Indian ITES-BPO often negate the role of unions while emphasising that sophis-
segment is driven by a steady increase in scale and depth ticated
of human resource management (HRM) strategies have a
existing service lines and the addition of newer vertical specific
significant potential to take care of workers' interests. Thus, the
and niche business services [National Association of Software ground has shifted dramatically from a pluralist to a unitarist
and Services Companies or NASSCOM 2006]. perspective of the employment relationship.
At the organisational level, this process of economic re- This new relationship between employer and employee,
marginalises the role of unions in the workplace or emphasises
structuring buttressed by outsourcing has been accompanied with
a more "customer focused" strategies increasingly used by em- overt union avoidance. Peetz (2002) states that simplistic policies
focus on exclusivist strategies, while a more sophisticated ap-
ployers to achieve competitive advantage in global and national
markets. The introduction of new employment practices, proach embraces both inclusivist human resources management
techniques as well as exclusivist methods. Exclusivist strategies
organisational structures, information and communications techno-
logies, production systems and management techniques have include firms casualising and outsourcing staff, the outright
enabled organisations to focus their strategies on customer refusal to negotiate with unions, while inclusivist strategies
satisfaction [Belt 2002]. For instance, in the call centre space,
involve the use of employee involvement schemes and human
software developments have allowed for extremely complex resource initiatives. Nonetheless, each of these actions has a real
routing of calls, as well as the integration of customer data,and symbolic dimension. The real dimension is the physical
products and process information across the entire range manifestation
of of the action, while the symbolic dimension is the
meaning that is attached to the action, and conveyed to a target
organisational activities and services. The development of manage-
audience about the relationship between an employee and the
ment information systems generates real-time statistics on a range
of activities, such as the number of calls, transactions and sales,
employer. The message it gives may either be inclusivist, that
as well as work process related measures, such as average length isoftelling particular employees that they are an integral part of
calls. On the employee relations front, the expansion of call centres
the organisation; or exclusivist, that is, indicating that particular
made employment more flexible. Call centres have been usedforms to of behaviour or unions, are not welcome. Inclusivist actions
escape from existing collective agreements or challenge them,
seek to increase employee distancing and separation from the
organisation of unions, whose values are inconsistent
disembedding them from the traditional regulatory constraints,
and moving in the direction of the more liberal employment with those of the organisation. The symbolism that is associated
model. Indeed, union avoidance has been the core management with more sophisticated decollectivist actions aims to shape
strategy in call centres [Shire et al 2002; Arzbacher et al 2002].
employees' notions to conceive of themselves as belonging not

Economic and Political Weekly May 27, 2006 2115

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to an employee focused collectivity - a union - but rather to serve as a resource for developing a richer and deeper under-
an employer - focused collectivity - the organisation. This standing of the experience being studied. Though unstructured,
symbolism also aims to shape the reference groups with which the process was disciplined by focusing on the fundamental
employees associate, away from wider notions of occupation or question that prompted the research. Yet the clarity of the research
class, to narrow conceptions based on their immediate work question did not preclude exploring issues that emerged during
environment and their organisation. It will also shape employees' the interview, since the researcher was aware that they could
expectations, so that demands for wages will not be based on generate important insights into the phenomenon under study.
movements in community standards but on improvements in Participants in the study were people who had experienced the
personal productivity. phenomenon. Potential participants were identified through
In the context of call centres, researchers in the west provide snowball sampling and contacted via the telephone. Once the
evidence of the use of both inclusivist and exclusivist strategies. researchers introduced themselves and explained to the participants
Commitment to organisational values was seen by management how they had come to know of them and their contact details, the
as antithetical to trade union membership. Management has purpose of the phone call and the study were explained. Potential
endeavoured to increase commitment via employee involvement participant questions were answered - these questions essentially
schemes that focus on improving management-employee rela- related to the purpose of the study and the length of time for
tions and thereby deflecting the perceived need of call centre the interview. If they agreed to participate, a convenient time
agents to involve unions in representing their interests [van Den and place were set up. Permission to record the interviews was
Broek 2003]. The latter also provides evidence of exclusivist sought, and since participants were explained that recording the
strategies used in Australian call centres. Customer service interview helped to maintain the accuracy of their accounts as
representatives who had unitarist tendencies and were antithetic compared to compiling field notes where accuracy could be compro-
to workplace trade unionism were recruited while those with union mised due to faulty recall later, they agreed. All interviews were
backgrounds or those who previously worked in highly unionised conducted in English and were later transcribed by a research
firms were blacklisted. Moreover, recruits were pressurised to assistant. Forty call centre employees were included in the study.
sign individual non-union contracts at the appointment or pro- During the period of data collection, interviews were translated
motion stage. Nonetheless, the impact of these policies on and transcribed. The researchers then read these transcripts
unionisation has not received the attention that it deserves. A
carefully and repeatedly, immersing themselves in the data
few studies have addressed the issue, though parsimoniously. [Crabtree and Miller 1992]. This approach did not involve
Rose (2002) states substitution policies may have little effect
prefigured categories but allowed the researchers' intuitive and
on the level of commitment shown by an employee to his/her interpretive capacities to prevail. Immersion allowed the re-
organisation. For example, a relatively opulent working environ-
searchers to identify themes, categories and patterns emerging
ment in a non-unionised setting together with the provision of the data [Marshall and Rossman 1996]. Proceeding in this
from
certain benefits such as free private medical and dental caremanner,
do the researchers developed various understandings (such
not detract from the "sweatshop conditions" which prevail. as concepts, causal linkages, processes, and so on) of the phe-
Management control is not uncontested and that the nature of
nomena under study. These understandings were used to inform
further data collection, through which they were tested and
the work can provide opportunities for unions to organise. Much
challenged. Based on newer data, they were further developed,
of what management wants to achieve conflicts with the employ-
ees' interests. Performance targets, minimising the agents' thereby
time feeding back into the analysis [Marshall and Rossman
1996]. Iteration thus formed an integral part of the research
away from the telephones and minimising staffing levels result
in work intensification, besides, lack of career and promotion
process. When all the data were collected, the researchers immersed
prospects and monotony giving rise to resistance, including union
themselves further in the transcripts and the preliminary findings.
representation. The "new" issues of service quality, discretion to not only identified more patterns, themes and categories
They
deviate from standards and recognition of social skills are added
in the data and looked for interpretations at this level, but also
to the more traditional bargaining issues of pay, working hours, subsumed under major themes, those themes, patterns and cate-
holidays, etc, [Taylor and Bain 1999]. However, Todd et al (2003)gories and their linkages within and across respondents, that held
state that management control strategies such as close monitoringtogether in a meaningful yet distinct way. Interpretations based
and nature of the work can make it difficult for unions to on gainthis level of analysis were made.
recognition within the call centres. Management would not want
"outsiders" intruding in such a culture of control and surveillance, Work Context
unless they believed that this would assist with the achievement
of those goals. Our objective in this article is to illustrate how Recent research has described call centres as "electronic
these management policies play out in the context of call centressweatshops" [Fernie and Metcalfe 1998] and "assembly lines
in India. The article is based on the interviews carried on with the head" Taylor and Bain that emphasise factory-like divisi
employees working in the contact centres in Bangalore. of labour [Taylor and Bain 1999; van den Broek 2003], w
jobs being characterised as dead-end, with low complexity, lo
Method control, repetition and routineness [Knights and McCabe 19
Taylor and Bain 1999]. Call centre agents are mouthpieces w
The present paper draws from a larger qualitative study whose
follow scripted dialogues and detailed instructions and their wo
focus was to understand subjective meanings and interpretations
is closely monitored, tightly controlled and highly routinise
of work experiences of employees in the ITES-BPO sector in
thanks to extensive reliance on highly sophisticated compu
Mumbai and Bangalore. The conversational interview was technology
used [Deery and Kinnie 2004]. The pressure for quanti
to explore and gather experiential narrative material that would
versus the aspiration for quality imposes conflicting role

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requirements on employees. The challenge is of trying to get
closer to the customer while reducing costs, prescribing standards
and meeting targets [Houlihan 2000; Korczynski 2002].
Data from the present study highlighted that in the Indian
context, agents working in call centres were trained to believe
that the customer could hear their smiles and sense their moods,
therefore it was mandatory to enthusiastically communicate with
the customer no matter how irate he/she was. Interacting with an
abusive or irate customer was seen as being an integral part of the
agent's job at a call centre. When customers identified the agents
as Indians, they had to face the ignominious situation of callers
hanging up. Agents were helpless and disappointed when cus-
tomers reacted this way due to the loss of jobs in the west. How-
ever, racial overtones of callers were to be handled with a profes-
sional finesse. It was therefore important to have a neutral accent
or take on pseudonyms. Emotions were to be set aside and agents
were urged to attend the very next call with equal attention.
Agents' performance was closely and constantly monitored.
The evaluation parameters in call centres included the number
of calls taken per shift, the average handling time per call and
the maintenance of prescribed procedures while in an outbound
call centre they were evaluated on their ability to convert calls
into sales. Call barging allowed supervisors at various levels such
as team leaders, project managers, operations managers as well
as quality analysts to listen to employees taking a call. Further,
call recording meant that all calls were recorded and any call
could be pulled out of the archives at random to be evaluated.
Through both these processes, employees were given feedback
about their technical and social performance. Though monitoring
for quality was not objected to, the constant pinpointing out of
deficiencies at times irritated agents and affected their pro-
ductivity. Those in outbound sales were constantly haunted and
abused by their supervisors. They were constantly reminded that
their worth lay in making money for the company.
Working for overseas clients whose customers were located
in the US, Canada, the UK or Australia meant that participants
had to work in night shifts in order to respond to different time
zones. There were participants who were able to adjust to night
shifts after an initial period of discomfort. But there were others
who found it difficult to manage night shifts, experiencing health
problems such as loss of appetite, changes in body weight, chronic
fatigue and drowsiness, decreasing vigilance and irritability on
account of disruption in eating, digestion and sleeping patterns,
as a result. Some stated that a major part of their salary was spent
on paying off doctors as their immunity system had suffered.
Therefore agents were preoccupied with getting enough of sleep
so that they could effectively perform at night. Sometimes even
sleep seemed to elude them, as numerous disturbances from
friends and family during the day seemed inevitable. Their work
routines programmed them for the entire week. Even on holidays
they felt the need of following similar schedules to those followed
in the early part of the week so that they did not suffer from
sleeplessness. Shift work also affected family life. Some call
centre employees stated that they had not seen or had a meal
with other family members for weeks on end. When they were
awake the family slept and when the family worked they slept.
Unscheduled breaks during the working hours were not per-
mitted while scheduled breaks were tracked by specially designed
software. Participants had to log in and log out at specified
times. Though normally, during a shift, slots were provided for
two 15-minute breaks and a break of half an hour for lunch/dinner,
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breaks were decided by the team leaders on the basis of call levels
or call queue. Delay even by a minute to take their seats after
a break resulted in yelling and use of abusive language for
everyone to hear across the floor. Long queues in the cafeteria
forced them to choose fast food or skip their meal/snack in order
to log back in time. This also affected their food habits and
nutrition intake. Participants mentioned how such strict obser-
vation of time meant that they could not log out of their systems
or leave their seats even to go to the restrooms (if it was an
emergency, they had to seek permission from the team leader
to do so) or get a breather. Talking non-stop not only tired the
call centre employees but made them victims of parched throats.
Long hours at work extended by the ordeal of road travel had
an impact on their health and left them with no time to take care
of their family chores or attend to several important matters. For
no fault of theirs organisations expected employees to compen-
sate for the delays caused due to traffic snarls. Asking them to
stay beyond the shift hours and to work on off days was also
not uncommon. Employees were expected to be able to adjust
to sudden change in shifts and were at times abruptly summoned
to office. Change in shifts affected their biological rhythms more
so when there was not enough rest provided for between shift
changes to make these adjustments.
Agents were denied leave even in case of serious ailments or
problems. When the call volume was high people were expected
to report to duty no matter how ill the person was. Instances were
cited of those who were denied leave by the management and
were threatened with termination letters. They were not always
paid overtime for the extra work they put in. In fact extra work
was required to be done to impress one's superiors who would
ensure further growth in the organisation. A confirmation letter
did not mean anything, employees could be terminated at any
time without proper notice.
For managers, employees required to have a foremost respon-
sibility to their job rather than to the family. Skipping company
outings in some cases was equated to lack of commitment to the
team and team bonding. Agents' pleas of their inability to spend
quality time with members of their family were ignored by
managers. As a result, in an effort to juggle between family and
work resulted in agents depriving themselves of sleep. Their
weekly breaks were spent entirely with the family or to handle
households chores like washing soiled clothes that had accumu-
lated during the week.
Bain and Taylor argue that these working conditions should
be enough reason for union formation in call centres. However,
our interviews with agents reveal that this may not be so. We
argue that the Peetz (2002) formulation does partly explain the
complex phenomenon, but other forces like organisation culture
and employee identity, besides the context, do also account for
the problem.
Trade Union Formation: A Challenge
Unions as alien and unnecessary entities: At the very outset most
of the agents ruled out the possibility of forming a union. Many
did not know what the term union meant and how unions func-
tioned. When explained to them they found the idea strange and
alien. They nodded with disbelief at suggestions of unions being
formed in call centres. Call centre employees believed that union
formation would never take place in the sector for several decades
to come. For those who had some understanding of the word,
union, the formation of a collective would be unfair, since the
organisation had been upfront about the working conditions at
the time of recruitment, it was not right for employees to later
form a union, because they could not cope.
Footloose capital: This attitude towards union formation was all
pervasive even though job security was a major concern. In their
opinion, it was beyond the union's ability to assuage this constant
tension of keeping ones job since the threat of job security was
greater from the ban on outsourcing than from being fired. A
union would only exacerbate the situation of job insecurity as
it would lead to work stoppages affecting the clients, the company
and the agents themselves. This was something that none of the
stakeholders could afford, more so the agents, as it would render
them unemployed. The footloose nature of capital today made
agents wary of any action that would result in job loss. Having
been abused by agents in the west they knew that their jobs were
also at risk. Technology today enabled transfer of a process from
one city to another or even from one country to another. Formation
of a union in Bangalore would result in a shift to newer locations
like Chennai and result in a job loss. Agents were also aware
of competition from countries like the Philippines and China.
Bangalore had to be a preferred choice for investors and union
formation would only shun away investment and leave the youth
stranded. Agents therefore preferred to bear with the strains and
pressures rather than form unions. The formation of unions would
destabilise the industry and disturb the present status quo which
in their opinion was not unfavourable to them.
There is a difference between the manufacturing sector and the
BPO sector. BPOs can always move, other countries are waiting
to grab opportunities. So if a union is formed in Bangalore and
a strike called, people won't join. And the companies will shift
to Chennai or other place. They can do it so easily. Every small
thing is documented and so it is easy to shift. I don't think unions
will help.
Omnipotent MNCs: It was natural therefore to deny outright that
call centres in India had problems. Issues that concerned many
seemed to pertain to minor problems such as drops and pick ups,
queues in canteens and quality of food. An image had been created
of an MNC being omnipotent - capable of handling any problem
situation. Call centres were considered to be generally reputed
multi-billion dollar companies with an approachable manage-
ment, good human resources (HR) policies and concerned about
the welfare of its employees. In any case, a union had no role
to play in an organisation where people were satisfied and
demands were met. The metaphor of a beautiful picture was used
to describe call centres. There were opportunities for growth
which no other industry could offer. The perception that prospects
were there for everyone, made them believe that there was no
difference between them and their superiors. Calling each other
and one's superior by the first name gave agents a sense of oneness
with the organisation and a seeming appearance of a less
bureaucratic structure. On the other hand, they surmised that
government offices were hierarchy-based and were housed in
ramshackle buildings as compared to the bright air-conditioned
offices which they worked. Agents believed that employers did
all they could to help them to overcome the stress by providing
them with destress rooms, games that help them to unwind, lavish
outings, cultural programmes, doctors on call, etc. Call centres
also had reasonably priced cafeterias with nutrition experts,
recreation rooms with bean bags, computers with internet access,
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music systems, televisions, carrom boards, table tennis equip-
ment, at times badminton courts along with a gym. Keeping with
international standards, the offices were modern, meaning good
looking and well furnished unlike government offices which had
cramped space and a heap of files. Working out of such buildings
gave them a sense of being valued - an asset to the company.
The locality at which the company was situated, the exteriors
and interiors all added to the sense of being professional. There-
fore, unions could only be established in small contact centres
with 45 to 50 seats, having no basic facilities such as these or
grievance procedures for employees to voice their complaints.
The HR department: Rendering unions redundant: In call centres
run by MNCs, team meetings or skip level meetings were ar-
ranged to provide a platform for employees to air their grievances.
In some call centres an email was enough for their managers to
sit up and take notice. If the immediate manager did not consider
their issue, they could take it up with the next immediate senior
manager. Agents believed that they could even talk to the CEO
or send him/her a mail. However, this was rarely required to be
done as their problems were immediately resolved. A simple
complaint to the team leader or operations manager would set
things right. Individual dialogue with one's superiors were en-
couraged to address grievances. Even personal problems were
discussed. People were encouraged to express their frustrations
and feelings so that performance did not suffer. They could also
raise issues in the surveys that regularly happened. For some
agents, the HR department was like a union taking up issues on
the behalf of the employees. Problems with the operation man-
agers could be reported to the HR which would then take up
the issue with the concerned authorities. This was reinforced by
the belief that there was almost no or only a minimal hierarchy
between the agents and the management. The informal atmo-
sphere of using first names and provisions for games and sports
was proof of this. Therefore a union which could take up the
issues on behalf of employees was not required. Thdy often
believed that the numbers reflected their performance. Perfor-
mance mattered and it was natural that those who did not meet
the standards should be told to quit.
I have never seen unions in call centres. Probably because in a
good company, if you complain it will be solved. So they don'"
need to make a union and fight together, because the company
is affected. Unions are never seen because they give you whatever
you want. You have some problem with the cab, you can go and
tell the team leader (TL) and TL will take the issue to higher
authority. If the cab driver is drunk, they will take him off. That's
the way it works.
Maintaining Larger Interests
The unitarist tendencies on the part of employees surfaced when
they pleaded against the criticism of the call centres. The call
centre management was always right and they favoured efforts
that improved the functioning of the organisation. Agents argued
for an alternate organisation that would enhance the call centre
industry's intellectual and financial capabilities rather than b
a debilitating influence. The mandate of such an organisation
should be to maintain the agent's employability. Its objectives
need to coincide with the interest of the corporate organisation's
goals. Any research that raised questions about call centre
management was tc be set aside. Research results that were no.
in line with the corporate organisations perspective were required
to be circumvented. Only research that improved the functioning to meet clients requirements and not to form unions.
of the corporate organisation was to be encouraged. Organisations working in call centres met clients expectations, were dig
should carefully scrutinise the agenda of the researcher. Any confident and responsible for handling several thousand
research findings that did not further the interest of the organisation per day. All in all they considered their jobs to be of high
should be seen as being subjective and not objective. Publicity and themselves to be professional who did not require
that denigrates the companies was to be negated or ignored. Every unionised.
organisation had problems and call centres were no different, I know it's not a factory that we can get together and ask for
therefore, highlighting the problems of call centres only provided something. We are professionals. We are there to serve the client,
uncalled for adverse publicity. Just as "insider trading" on the how can you form a union?
bourses was detrimental to the share markets so was the formation They have unions in government organisations, if something goes
of a collective deleterious to the organisation. Only organisations wrong, they will go on strike and prevent others from working. I
which would help employers achieve their objective rather than think it's all a mess. I think this type of industry does not require that.
scuttle them would be encouraged. Even innocuous programmes Every six months, you have your appraisal. If you are good enough,
such as health awareness would be looked at with suspicion. show your performance and earn the position. That's what I feel.
Programmes like six sigma that contribute to the efficiency of
the company need to be encouraged. Employees should entertain Moving On: Quitting and Attrition as Solutions
questions from outsiders only after due authorisation by the
management. They were sure that management would resist an In the agents' opinion the unions could not resolve their issues
outside organisation interfering in its affairs with its employees or handle their grievances. This notion stemmed from the view
as it would be restrictive. that their frustration like disagreements with one's boss could
be dealt with effectively by simply quitting. Call centres had
Role of 'Professionalism' mushroomed around every nook and corner and better jobs or
higher salaries were easy to come by. They therefore preferred
The industry also provided them with a life style thattothey
smokecould
and relax to overcome their immediate frustration, stress
and pressures,
not otherwise dream of. Compared to employees in other indus- and when an opportunity came by, quit. Some
agents cards,
tries they were well paid, dressed well, acquired credit suggested that it was management that needed to organise
against
enjoyed their weekends and visited discos and pubs. Though such it
behaviour of employees rather than the employees
against the
was true that the companies outsourcing work enhanced management. It was management that was being
their
exploited
profits it was also true that their salaries were higher and not the employees. This method of resolving their
than those
frustration was
they could have earned in any other industry. The difference in not only a problem for management but also put
brakes on union
the salaries that they earned with those of their counterparts in formation. The realisation of the power of a
the west, were explained away as differences due to thecollective to resolve these issues had not emerged. The fear of
standard
being
of living. The call centre agents tried to differentiate fired also deterred them, especially those who in some way
themselves
from their'goverment counterparts who they derided as having on call centres for their earnings. Since mass
were dependent
no work and were good for nothing. Unions were meant recruitment
for thoseregularly happened, mass dismissals was not impos-
who avoid work and to shield poor performers, which sibleinfor not toeing the line of the management. The protective
their
labour
view was being unprofessional. Government employees laws were not effective or did not apply in the case of
formed
unions because their management did not take care callof
centre employees making it difficult for them to join unions.
them.
Nomenclatures such as "cyber coolies" or "slaves Joining
on Roman a union meant losing their jobs, besides creating com-
ships" used to describe their working conditions were plications.
abhorred.The competition between teams and team members
alsosoftware
Call centre agents preferred to be slotted along with the acted as a divisive force. The HR policies of pay differ-
entiation
professionals, rather than with slaves or factory workers. also did not help in union formation. People with similar
Unions
experiences and competence could get different salaries. It all
were only for the working class while they were professionals.
Their education required them to behave in a way thatdepended on how people negotiated. Sometimes an agent could
was not
unbecoming of a professional. They could not be seen be paidslogan
more than a team leader or a quality analyst. Those from
Kerala had an added reason to believe that formation of unions
shouting and picketing on the streets. Joining hands with corrupt
union leaders was a complete no. They considered would not attract investment to Bangalore. They were not keen
themselves
to be intellectuals those who derived their power in that Bangalore be turned into another Kerala which failed to
exchanging
knowledge. The agents considered themselves educated attract investment.
and Thus, union formation received a setback as
the workforce
professional and unlike their government counterparts able to was unstable and moved from one organisation
to another.
handle stress and pressure. Artefacts of the organisation, All this fuelled attrition and kept unions at bay. The
typically
associated with high status, supported the notion ofcomfort of being employed in the most profitable business, the
profession-
certainty that call centres were here to stay, as labour in-the US
alism, strengthening agents' identification with the organisation's
goals and compliance. The atmosphere in the call would centrenotwas
become any cheaper in the years to come, also allowed
informal but professional. The agents were open and the agents
frank withto move ceaselessly. Lack of household responsibilities
and feel
each other. Taking on anglicised names also made them socialthat
and family disapproval of theirjobs were other reasons
they were like the Americans, British or Australiansthat
whomade their stay in the call centre industry temporary affecting
were
union formation.
highly professionalised as compared to Indians. Agents had
developed a confidence to speak to foreigners as compared
Because of to
the high attrition rate in the industry, today you see
other Indians not working in call centres. They were indebted
your colleague here and tomorrow elsewhere. To form a union,
to the customers for providing them with jobs. They were there
you have to stick to the company for certain period of time which

Economic and Political Weekly May 27, 2006 2119

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 never happens. Moreover, we may be working together today, but prevailing labour market conditions, poor awareness about un
tomorrow my colleague may be promoted. He will manage me. a vicious public opinion against any form of employee colle
He can be my TL. Ego problems will arise, you can never have an extremely young work force that would be influenced b
unions in these organisations. unitarist perspective and the construction of the employees ide
In a factory you work for 10-15 years. You depend on that factory Changes in these factors over a period of time could see
to bring up your children, but it is not like that here. First of all, emergence of unions.
the person does not stay here more than a year and everyday new
However for now, organisations in the ITES sector have
people are being recruited. So it is not easy to get together everybody
extremely successful in using both the exclusivist and inclu
to f6rm a union. If you form a union, the company would not hesitate
strategies to keep unions at bay. These strategies have reinf
to throw you out in a minute. They may lose an associate, but get
the notion of corporate culturalism that aims at winnin
rid of the negative effect on the company.
"hearts and minds" of employees by managing what they
Immaturity and gullibility were other reasons for union and feel, and not just how they behave. Programmes of corpo
avoidance. A young workforce lacked maturity. Except for a few culturalism, human resource management and total qu
who had put up some resistance, most employees stated that management have sought to promote a corporate ethos
unions were not required. Shift working, different processes, demands loyalty from employees and it excludes, silenc
stress and constant work pressure did not leave time for union punishes those who question its creed. Through the strengthe
formation or to meet as a group. The only time everybody met of culture, the space within organisations for expressin
was when the company sponsored team outings. Those who had developing awareness of, and allegiance to, alternative n
the inclination of forming a collective did not know how to go or values is reduced and, ideally, eliminated. People will
about it. They only formed informal clusters with no common perform jobs because their sense of purpose and identity is t
agenda of improving conditions of work but to have a good time. coupled to the core values of the corporation [Willmott
Similar was the case of our participants who had develo
Resistance: An Individualised and unitarist perspective and wanted criticism of call centres
Fragmented Response aborted at all cost; of course this was related to their own an
of keeping their jobs, given the footloose nature of capi
The discussion thus far pertained to forces that impede the
When corporate culturalism is entwined with identity o
development of any kind of collective, however, this does notit becomes a potent force by which manage
employees,
rule out the possibility of individual resistance. The controls
agents used
employees. In fact, Alvesson and Willmott (2002)
various methods to take breathers or enjoy a conversation with
that management is about regulating people's identities - e
their friends. For instance, in a technical call centrelishing
employees
standards for how employees should define themse
in order to get some time off would make the customer perform
Identity regulation is increasingly pervasive and an intent
unnecessary tasks like restarting the computer when it was not
modality of organisational control. It is considered to be
required. Even customer satisfaction surveys were tampered with;
obtrusive and potentially more effective, means of organisa
agents played around with alphabets in the email address so that
control than methods that rely upon "external stimuli". M
the survey did not trigger or triggered the wrong address
mentor has
quietly
increasingly regulated employees "insides" - their
inserted their own email ids so that they could mail a good
image, their feelings and identification. When an organi
feedback about themselves. In some call centres agents
becomesalso
a significant source of identification for indivi
resisted attempts to increase the working week from five days
corporate identity then informs (self-)identity work. This
to six. Good performance enabled agents demand professionalism
shows how agents identified themselves as professionals
also from the management. Just as they were expected to be engineers and detested even an iota of sugg
to software
professional, the same was expected of the management. Agentsthem to government employees, leave alone the
that equated
decried any slip in the quality of infrastructure or "slave"
adequacyas of
used by some researchers. D'Cruz and Noronha (f
coming)
transport facilities. Companies who also dabbled in software show that being professional is at the hea
were
organisational
expected to provide similar facilities to both call centres employ- control which allows for placing primac
ees and software engineers. Those who saw the call centresatisfaction and calls for managing the dichoto
customer
employment as a passing phase in their career refused self
to betocowed
enjoy the privilege of being a professional but at the
down by unreasonable demands of performance made time by the
enduring the possibilities of monitoring and surveill
organisation. Customer abuse was dealt with by simply laughing
Having stated this, though the participants were against co
it out with their friends or by making fun of the customer. When
visation, control was not totalising, they resisted managem
the situation got acute they spewed out the choicest bidabuses
to rule by
their hearts and minds as well as bodies. Within a lim
putting the caller on mute. The agents were able to decipher
sphere when
employees used their own ingenuity to overcome ex
their calls were being monitored and accordingly took care
control of
mechanisms so that their employment remained i
their performance during those times. In short, in their Our
own study
words reiterates Russel and Houghton's (2004 ) argum
"they played the 'game' once they got a hang of it". that unions can also draw strength from the fact that l
knowledge about unions or the fact of never being approa
Conclusion by a union representative provides an opportunity to orga
To overcome this handicap will require nothing less tha
The exclusivist and inclusivist human resources highly
taxonomy
visible, daily presence of effective unionism in th
provided by Peetz (2002) does allow for some understanding of
mediate workplace. Given the unitarist views of employ
the situation, but it does not capture the context andunions
the com-
would do well to consider the employability of emp
plexity in its entirety. Union formation was also inhibited by the with the viability of the organisation. Tackling att
in keeping

2120 Economic and Political Weekly May 27, 2006

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is one area in which unions stand to benefit the most. Unions Deery, S and N Kinnie (2004): 'Introduction: The Nature and Management
could be seen as positively contributing to the organisation's of Call Centre Work' in S Deery and N Kinnie (eds), Call Centres and
Human Resource Management, Palgrave, New York.
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Fernie, S and D Metcalfe (1998): '(Not) Hanging on the Telephone: Payment
workforce. As Russel and Houghton (2004) once again emphasise, Systems in the New Sweatshops', Centre for Economic Performance,
employees who may be more committed to the organisations in London School of Economics.
Houlihan, M (2000): 'Eyes Wide Shut? Querying the Depth of Call Centre
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to be union members than those with less organisational com- Learning', Journal of European Industrial Training, 24, 228-40.
Knights, D and D McCabe (1998): 'What Happens When the Phone
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(eds), Re-Organising Service Work: Call Centres in Germany and Britain,
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April 30, 2006 from www.bpo.nasscom.org/artdisplay.aspx?cat_id=619
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