Articles producció científica> Gestió d'Empreses

Language as raw material, scripts as tools and conversations as product: effects of linguistic production on job categories in outsourced call centres

  • Identification data

    Identifier: imarina:6389780
    Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/imarina6389780
    Authors:
    Alarcón AUbalde JMc Heyman J
    Abstract:
    © 2020 Brian Towers (BRITOW) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd The article shows how linguistic criteria have become central when defining job categories in the outsourced call centre sector in Spain. Language occupies a central role in the production processes of informational capitalism: in call centres, language functions as the raw material, scripts as tools and conversations as a product. Yet the ways in which linguistic production affects key elements of job categories have received little attention. Drawing on in-depth interviews in the call centre sector, the analysis of scripts and collective agreements, this article shows how trade unions and workers are pushing to adapt Fordist arguments based on job autonomy to informational production, arguing that job categories may depend on linguistic autonomy from the scripts during the labour process.

  • Others:

    Author, as appears in the article.: Alarcón A; Ubalde J; Mc Heyman J
    Department: Gestió d'Empreses
    URV's Author/s: Alarcón Alarcón, Amado / UBALDE BUENAFUENTE, JOSEP
    Keywords: Call centres Employment conditions Globalization Human-resource management Job categories Labor process Language skills Line Linguistic standardisation Monitoring Quality Work
    Abstract: © 2020 Brian Towers (BRITOW) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd The article shows how linguistic criteria have become central when defining job categories in the outsourced call centre sector in Spain. Language occupies a central role in the production processes of informational capitalism: in call centres, language functions as the raw material, scripts as tools and conversations as a product. Yet the ways in which linguistic production affects key elements of job categories have received little attention. Drawing on in-depth interviews in the call centre sector, the analysis of scripts and collective agreements, this article shows how trade unions and workers are pushing to adapt Fordist arguments based on job autonomy to informational production, arguing that job categories may depend on linguistic autonomy from the scripts during the labour process.
    Thematic Areas: Administração pública e de empresas, ciências contábeis e turismo Business and management Ciencias sociales Economia Ergonomics General o multidisciplinar Human factors and ergonomics Interdisciplinary research in the social sciences Management Management of technology and innovation Planejamento urbano e regional / demografia Sociologia i política Strategy and management
    licence for use: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
    Author's mail: amado.alarcon@urv.cat
    ISSN: 1468005X
    Author identifier: 0000-0003-4640-2681
    Record's date: 2023-02-19
    Papper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
    Papper original source: New Technology Work And Employment. 35 (1): 97-113
    APA: Alarcón A; Ubalde J; Mc Heyman J (2020). Language as raw material, scripts as tools and conversations as product: effects of linguistic production on job categories in outsourced call centres. New Technology Work And Employment, 35(1), 97-113. DOI: 10.1111/ntwe.12156
    Licence document URL: https://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/
    Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili
    Journal publication year: 2020
    Publication Type: Journal Publications

  • Keywords:

    Ergonomics,Human Factors and Ergonomics,Management,Management of Technology and Innovation,Strategy and Management
    Call centres
    Employment conditions
    Globalization
    Human-resource management
    Job categories
    Labor process
    Language skills
    Line
    Linguistic standardisation
    Monitoring
    Quality
    Work
    Administração pública e de empresas, ciências contábeis e turismo
    Business and management
    Ciencias sociales
    Economia
    Ergonomics
    General o multidisciplinar
    Human factors and ergonomics
    Interdisciplinary research in the social sciences
    Management
    Management of technology and innovation
    Planejamento urbano e regional / demografia
    Sociologia i política
    Strategy and management
    1468005X

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