While most information technology enabled services (ITES) firms have introduced HRM (human resource management) practices such as performance-based pay, empowerment, and employee communication, they have not been able to increase employee discretion or their opportunities for promotion, rues Subesh Das in ‘Managing People at Work: Employment relations in globalizing India’ (www.sagepublications.com). Adding that their employment relations system does not represent the ideal HRM pattern, the author describes their ‘complex hybrid form of work organisation’ as ‘mass customised bureaucracy’ that has some aspects of bureaucratic control and HRM practices.
Performance measurement
A section on ‘performance measurement’ notes that, in call centre operations, the performance-related information on individuals and groups provided by the IT network on a continuous basis is used as the objective data to establish and reinforce performance norms. “In most call centres, there is clear statement about what is expected from the CSRs (customer service representatives). Their tasks are very focused and their performance is measured based on a set of numbers generated by the networked systems.”
The author observes that in general the performance matrix is defined using a set of indicators such as average handling time. And that, besides meeting the targets, adherence to company guidelines is an important aspect of performance management. “The agents, for example, need to use documented legal terms so that customers are not misled and there are no legal complications.”
The concluding chapter laments that not many firms in India adopt the full-grown HRM model which involves strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce and which uses an integrated array of cultural, structural, and personal techniques. The author is, however, happy that most firms in India have focused on improving the skill, knowledge, and attitudes of workers. “Their focus has shifted from cost containment and conflict management to the development of highly skilled, flexible, and productive workforce.”
Of research value.
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