Cover; Half Title; Title; Copyright; Contents; List of Figures and Tables; List of Contributors; List of Abbreviations; 1 Re-Organising Customer Service Work: An Introduction; PART I INSTITUTIONS AND CONTEXTS: THE MAKING OF AN INDUSTRY?; 2 Call Centres: Constructing Flexibility; 3 Consolidation, 'Cowboys' and the Developing Employment Relationship in British, Dutch and US Call Centres; 4 Call Centres in Germany: Employment, Training and Job Design; 5 Call Centres as Organisational Crystallisation of New Labour Relations, Working Conditions and a New Service Culture?
PART II RATIONALISATION, SKILLS AND CONTROL6 Skill Formation in Call Centres; 7 Capitalising on Femininity: Gender and the Utilisation of Social Skills in Telephone Call Centres; 8 Call Centres and the Contradictions of the Flexible Bureaucracy; PART III CUSTOMER SERVICE WORK AND INTERACTION; 9 Call Centre Consumption and the Enchanting Myth of Customer Sovereignty; 10 Quality Time and the 'Beautiful Call'; 11 Co-Production in Call Centres: The Workers' and Customers' Contribution; Index