CONTENT AREAS AND FORMS OF DELIVERY

The main purpose of categorizing learning provision and constructing diagrams based on this provision is so that it can be understood more clearly and therefore properly managed and directed. It is possible to categorize call centre training along a number of dimensions: general training (handling difficult customers, IT training); sector-specific training (work procedures, telephone sales techniques); and firm-specific training (product knowledge, firm knowledge) (Sieben and de Grip, 2004). Another approach is to classify learning as on-the-job and off-the-job, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: On-the-job and off-the-job learning

On-the-job	Off-the-job
Coaching Monitoring colleagues Buddying Mentoring Computer-based learning Work-based learning	Coaching Monitoring colleagues Buddying Mentoring Computer-based learning Work-based learning

Learning and development can also be classified into what Granered called ‘training modalities’. These were:

• classroom-based training;
• e-learning;
• learning by doing;
• coaching.

Whichever modality is chosen the most important consideration is that, ‘We are trying to create the most effective transfer of knowledge with the greatest amount of impact, at the lowest cost’.

e-learning

The use of e-learning would appear to be growing and approximately half of contact centres use web-based learning. The reasons for this growth are:

• It provides a single learning experience that is common to all learners.
• It can be transmitted to each participant.
• It is interactive and involves the learner.
• It can be self-paced and go at the speed of the learner.
• Once produced it can be cheaply disseminated.
• It can be targeted at specific needs.
• Learning can be assessed online.
• It can be used to confirm that people have completed compulsory training, eg health and safety.
• It can assess and target specific learning needs.
• It can be carried out at the learner’s work desk.
• It can be studied during quiet call periods.
• It can be used to simulate the customer transaction. There are, however, limitations to e-learning too:
• Classroom-based learning is still considered to be more interesting and appealing to learners 
• It is expensive to produce.
• It is not viable for small training needs, with classroom-based learning or other forms being cheaper.
• With the quality of computer games, many e-learning materials are considered inferior and boring.
• It is not as portable as print-based materials.
• There is no social interaction.
• Many of the skills such as speaking cannot be accurately developed.
• The content is not always appropriate.
• It is poorly suited to so skills training.

E-learning presents a number of advantages and disadvantages for the individual and the organization. To manage this to best effect many organizations have instituted a policy of blended learning in which the benefits of more traditional forms of learning and those of e-learning are combined to best effect.

---

ORGANIZATION OF TRAINING IN AN INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY

Background

The Dutch operations of this international telecommunications company are clearly structured into specific stages in order to provide continuity and progression. It was decided to use stages in CSR training, because the original induction training became too extensive and too long. Trainees just didn’t remember everything they learnt, as they couldn’t apply it immediately. Moreover, most CSRs develop themselves very well in the period between training, just by doing their job. Not everything can be trained, and CSRs pick up the training much faster once they have some work experience.

First, there is a two-week induction training programme, followed by a one-week traineeship in which CSRs listen in to calls and handle calls with experienced CSRs sitting next to them all the time. After the traineeship, CSRs will work for six to 12 weeks performing normal tasks. After this period, they follow the second part of the training, for example four days training on billing. Again, after a period of work, the third part of the training is given. This could be a two-day training course on technical issues regarding mobile phones and networks.

The first two-week induction training programme deals with the following topics:

• company: organization, vision, mission;
• role of customer management;
• knowledge of products and services;
• system skills;
• communication (dealing with questions, asking questions, handling difficult customers);
• commercial skills (sales).

The induction training is blended and appeals to different learning styles. For example, different training techniques are used: class teaching, e-learning (maximum of two modules a day), quizzes, role plays, working with professional certified actors, games, and listening to taped calls. All standard explanations (ie, trainers telling the same story over and over again) are automated as much as possible in e-learning modules. These modules are all audiovisual, and deal with written text as little as possible.

Experienced CSRs follow refresher training on communication and analytical skills once or twice a year. This training is given in class and takes about six hours. It repeats the induction training elements on communication skills like general telephone etiquette, opening and closing a conversation, dealing with emotions, etc. In the refresher course, CSRs bring their own observations to the training.

In addition, experienced CSRs follow e-learning about new services and products. This training is needed to be able to move to a higher CSR level. The e-learning is scheduled by the traffic department and takes place in down-time periods. To accommodate this, all e-learning modules take about 10–20 minutes (maximum of half an hour) to complete. Another reason to limit the amount of time spent on an e-learning module is that it is believed this is the maximum amount of information people can take in, as e-learning is quite intensive.

All the e-learning modules are developed in The Netherlands and it is intended that they will be implemented in other countries as well. Five people developed the e-learning modules in close cooperation with the trainers. This ensures that the same concepts are used, and that there is a good harmony between e-learning and the rest of the classroom training.

When e-learning is used in a classroom, the trainer walks around and answers questions from CSRs working on the module. The trainers also keep an eye on the pace at which CSRs are progressing so they know where everyone is in the module. If there are many CSRs struggling with the same problem, the trainer will explain concepts in class. The e-learning module is also followed up in class to verify whether everyone understands the meaning of the new concept. Examples of real-life situations are given, as well as exceptions to the rule. Using assignments, additional skills are taught in the classroom.

The contact centre organized workshops for all trainers on how to give e-learning training, since this role is quite different from classroom teaching. In addition, all trainers are required to follow the e-learning modules themselves. In this way, trainers see what the relationships are between the e-learning module and the rest of the training. Trainers get additional information on the module, for example on which questions to expect at which point.

After each module there is a self-test, so CSRs can check whether they mastered every aspect of the e-learning module. It is not an exam; CSRs do not have to pass this test. They are working towards a final exam at the end of induction training. In addition, there could be an interim exam. However, the company still thinks that trainers are the best to judge the capacities of the CSRs. Trainers talk about these issues with the team leaders before the CSRs start working.

---

Informal learning

Most contact centres emphasize the development of teams to reduce the negative aspects of individual working and use the physical architecture of the building and workstations clustered in pods to build camaraderie. Close proximity enables agents to consult with each other during and after calls to share information and experience.

The social nature of call centres is also encouraged during breaks. Even here, agents share stories about work experiences and thus create a constructive cultural environment and an informal individual and collective memory system. In effect, this informal communication builds up communities of practice and these support networks complement the on-screen information.

Operators also develop their own improvised forms of personal information systems that are used for learning and gathering information. These files and personal notes are used to record and store information that is not generally available or easy to locate through the formal systems.

A SKILLED OCCUPATION | Call Centre Training

Thankfully, not everyone considers the negative views expressed above as a full and accurate picture of call centres. Some researchers said, ‘We would resist the use of the term “deskilling” in a call centre context’. They maintained that this was because interactive service work was different to that of white collar work, eg banking. A second reason is that emotional labour and social competencies are not easily placed within the traditional mental/manual categories.

A third argument is that contact centres are not homogenized and require different levels of skills and competencies depending upon the business model that operates. In standardized high-volume contact centres a wide range of skills may not be needed but this is not the case where a higher level of customer service and interactivity is required.

Although there is a public perception that jobs in call centres are relatively easy, in reality a mixture of abilities, attitudes, characteristics and skills are needed. Research in the UK noted the failure to acknowledge the skills of contact centre advisers. In Ireland, a similar vie ‘Agent work is a complex blend of knowing, sensing and rule applying. As discussed, agents use a complex, largely unacknowledged set of personal skills.’

Identifying what a customer wants is not always an easy task and, indeed, sometimes even the customer is not always clear about his or her own expectations. One adviser said that, ‘It is like diagnosing the disease without seeing the patient’. Thus, to achieve a satisfactory resolution to the call, the adviser has to develop and apply a considerable level of knowledge and expertise eg, when handling a difficult caller or identifying a technical fault. It is skills like these that can only be developed as a result of experience and knowledge.

One reason for this failure to recognize the skills, knowledge and attitudes of advisers is that they are not always immediately obvious. Between explicit knowledge, which is systematic and formalized, and tacit knowledge ie, internalized skills, understanding, etc, which are hidden and difficult to describe and which a person may not easily articulate. Significantly, he described how explicit knowledge becomes tacit to such an extent that an individual might become unaware of using it and find it almost impossible to communicate. When agents were asked to describe how they approached specific problems they were unable to explain, stating, ‘You feel it’, ‘You know so’, ‘I just knew it’.

The Shortage of Skilled and Technical Workers: An Inquiry Into Selected Occupations in Short Supply

It would appear that employees gradually absorb conscious competence so that eventually it becomes unconscious competence. Explained:

Through experience and their participation in a ‘community of operators’ they develop a set of diagnostic skills which over time become instrumentalized, that is to say, tacit. This enables them to think quickly, ‘on their feet’, and serve customers speedily. Over time, operators learn to dwell in these skills, feel them as extensions of their own body and thus gradually become subsidiarily aware of them, which enables operators to focus on the task at hand.

If an organization can internalize skills and make them tacit and hidden these then become very difficult for competitors to copy and this provides a competitive advantage to the holder. For example, ‘The historic HR practices of the Bell system had created a highly skilled workforce with tremendous tacit knowledge of the customers, the telecommunications infrastructure, and the use of information systems’.

Given this difficulty in expressing the hidden skills of advisers it is not surprising that training manuals, etc find difficulty in comprehensively describing all the skills:

Quality service requires that workers rely on inner arsenals of affective and interpersonal skills, capabilities which cannot be successfully codified, standardized or dissected into discrete components and set forth in a company handbook.

While it may be difficult for organizations to comprehensively formalize tacit knowledge, efforts should be made. If tacit knowledge could be articulated then it would become explicit, allowing it to be communicated to others. The work done by e-skills illustrates a classic attempt to systematize and formalize the skills of those working in contact centres

A guide to Michigan's skilled occupations: Entering the job market

A DESKILLED OCCUPATION? | Call Center

Contact centres are designed to act as the interface between the customer and the organization and to handle high volumes of calls each day. To do so systematically, economically and with consistent quality, most organizations have tended to incorporate mechanisms that limit the freedom of the operator. This approach tends to standardize processes, language, etc and restrict the scope of the customer service adviser.

With standardization the organization determines the messages it wants communicating to the customer and gets the operator to deliver the words. It has been argued that the use of scripts and information technology has restructured the organization of work to reduce not only the skills of agents but also their need to think. Essentially, ‘The agent is largely constructed as a mouth-piece rather than a brain’.

In Canada the requirement to follow specific protocols in telephone health assessment has been considered to be classical Taylorism in which the nurses’ skills were dissociated from the labour process. ‘This provides evidence of the fragmentation of knowledge and its separation into “parcels” or “bits” which are coordinated through the system’s algorithm-based logic’.

A lots have argued that the systematization of work in call centres has minimized the requirements for skills. For example, some banks would appear to have created a deskilled workforce that does not require qualifications and can be trained in just three weeks. It would appear that the opportunities for skill enhancement are limited and concluded that, ‘Our findings in this area indicate overwhelmingly that the nature of work organization used in call centres acts toconstrain skill development.’ The reduction of skill demands has other implications: ‘This has the result that many formerly semi-professional jobs have been eroded and made redundant, introducing a loss of career, status and opportunity’.

If only a few of the above points of view are correct there would appear to be problems in some call centres. Importantly, it should not fall upon training and human resource professionals to use learning and development as a ‘sticking plaster’ remedy to cover over gaping wounds caused by some organizational policies and methods. Where there are evident shortcomings in the system that training cannot overcome it is the role of HR and other operational managers to argue the case for a redesign of the system. If this cannot be achieved, the lack of insight and vision elsewhere in the organization will be rewarded with lower productivity, less motivation and higher levels of attrition.