Preliminary draft

Call Centres are not an industry of their own, but a specific type of work organisation which can be realised under various conditions: as a part of already existing companies, through outsourcing or in the shape of independent service providers. It is one of the central objectives of call centres to handle customer contacts by phone as efficiently and economically as possible, by concentrating them in specific organisational units. Call centres tend to be characterised by a pronounced division of labour within companies or between companies, respectively. In many cases, this is also reflected in the organisation of operations. Tasks tend to be highly standar-dised, frequently monotonous and with a short time allowed for completion. It is against this background that call centre work is often described as a form of neo-Taylorism of service activities. At the same time, call centres are claimed to provide excellent service. There can be no doubt that in the area of so-called interactive service work social competences and technical skills of the employees have an important impact on the quality of services rendered