Human resource management in the Spanish call centre sector: the bird cage model of call centre work

This paper examines the nature of human resource management (HRM) in call centres in Spain. After reviewing the institutional perspective and other previous contributions to the characterisation of HRM practices in call centres, the authors present evidence of the use of high commitment working prac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of human resource management 2013-01, Vol.24 (2), p.308-329
Main Authors: Martí-Audí, Neus, Valverde, Mireia, Heraty, Noreen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Call centers
call centre
Commitments
discretion
Economic performance
high commitment working practices
Human resource management
Human resources
institutional theory
Institutionalism
Monitoring
Organization theory
Personnel management
Service industry
Spain
Studies
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Summary:This paper examines the nature of human resource management (HRM) in call centres in Spain. After reviewing the institutional perspective and other previous contributions to the characterisation of HRM practices in call centres, the authors present evidence of the use of high commitment working practices (HCWP) in this sector. The findings report only a moderate presence of HCWP in the sector generally, but the analysis points towards the existence of four significant and distinct clusters of HRM practices. The results also show categorical evidence that work discretion is almost non-existent across all of the clusters, even in those with more evolved high commitment practices. This lack of autonomy, as well as an intensive use of performance monitoring systems, leads us to model the results in a bird-cage analogy.
ISSN:0958-5192
1466-4399
DOI:10.1080/09585192.2012.677463